Shibe Park

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Lore & Background

In the early years of the 20th century, the Philadelphia Athletics were so popular that team president Ben Shibe found his team regularly turning away customers from their cramped Columbia Park ballpark. When as many as 28,000 showed up to fill the 9,500 wooden bleacher seats, Shibe and manager/part-owner Connie Mack decided the A's needed a new place to play. Shibe searched for a site and found one on Lehigh Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets, five blocks west of Baker Bowl, straddling the neighborhoods known as Swampoodle and Goosetown. He quietly assembled title to his square block of land early in 1907, spending a total of $67,500 on seven land packages totaling 5.75 acres. For the design and its execution, Shibe hired William Steele and Sons. The Steele design for the Shibe façade was in the ornate French Renaissance style. The signature feature of the exterior design was the octangular tower on the southwest corner. The original 1909 configuration was a double-deck grandstand in the southwest corner of the block, with open pavilion seating extending to the foul poles. The outfield was a large rectangle, surrounded by a 12-foot brick wall. The deepest part of center field was a square corner 515 feet from home plate. It was 378 to the left field foul marker, and 340 to right field. The 1909 seating capacity was 23,000. On Monday, April 12, 1909, more than 30,000 fans showed up and got in; another 15,000 were turned away. The A's beat the Boston Red Sox that day, 8–1.

In Their Own Story

On Monday, April 12, 1909, Opening Day walked a fine line between festival and chaos. Nervous officials closed the gates hours before game time, turning outsiders into a "howling mob of thousands" whose pressure forced open one of the gates. Hundreds poured in without paying. Mayor John E. Reyburn called the new facility a "pride to the city" and threw out the first ball. The A's beat the Boston Red Sox 8–1. In May 1939, the park became the site of the first night game played in the American League. The 1952 All-Star Game held the distinction of being the only All-Star contest shortened by rain, to five innings. The Phillies beat the Montreal Expos 2–1 on October 1, 1970, in the park's final contest. Phillies Hall-of-Fame centerfielder Richie Ashburn remembered: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball."

Reader's Guide

Shibe Park stood on the block bounded by Lehigh Avenue, 20th Street, Somerset Street and 21st Street. It was five blocks west, corner-to-corner, from the Baker Bowl. The stadium hosted eight World Series and two MLB All-Star Games, in 1943 and 1952, with the latter game shortened to five innings by rain. In May 1939, it was the site of the first night game played in the American League. The deepest part of center field in the original 1909 configuration was 515 feet from home plate.

Did You Know?

• The 1952 All-Star Game at Shibe Park was shortened to five innings due to rain and ended in a 3–2 tie, but it was not the only All-Star contest shortened by rain; the 1961 All-Star Game was also shortened by rain.
• The deepest part of center field in the original 1909 configuration was 515 feet from home plate.
• Shibe Park was baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium when it opened in 1909.

Architectural Innovation and Design

When Ben Shibe replaced cramped Columbia Park, he hired William Steele and Sons to build baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. Finished by April 1909, the building mixed French Renaissance style with modern engineering: red brick walls, terra cotta friezes showing baseball scenes, and an octagonal tower holding team offices and Connie Mack's suite. The plan was egalitarian, meant for working fans and the elite alike—a goal Shibe pushed even though the site near a smallpox hospital was once swampy. Ban Johnson, American League president, called it "the greatest place of its character in the world." The original setup had a 515-foot center field and an upslope terrace in left-center, fitting over 23,000 fans in a double-deck grandstand. The souvenir program on Opening Day called it "a fetching combination of color." Gabled dormer windows on the upper deck's copper-trimmed green-slate mansard roof looked out over the streets below. Presiding over all were terra cotta busts of Shibe and Mack above the main entrances on Lehigh and 21st.

A Dual Legacy of Teams

For six decades, this Philadelphia landmark served as the home for two distinct franchises. From its opening in 1909 until 1954, it hosted the American League's Philadelphia Athletics, a powerhouse that produced legendary groups like 'The $100,000 Infield' under Connie Mack's management. Following the Athletics' departure, the venue found new life as the home of the National League's Philadelphia Phillies from 1938 to 1970, becoming the stage for iconic eras such as 'The Whiz Kids' and the memorable '1964 Phold.' The stadium's history is bookended by victories: the Athletics defeated the Boston Red Sox in the very first game on Opening Day 1909, while the Phillies secured a 2–1 win against the Montreal Expos during the final contest on October 1, 1970. The stadium was five blocks west, corner-to-corner, from the Baker Bowl, the Phillies' home from 1887 to 1938.

Historic Milestones and Events

Beyond regular season play, the venue hosted eight World Series and two Major League Baseball All-Star Games, with the 1952 contest holding the unique distinction of being the only All-Star game shortened by rain to just five innings. In May 1939, it became the site of the first night game played in American League history. Located on a block bounded by Lehigh Avenue and 20th through 21st Streets, just five blocks from the old Baker Bowl, the stadium was served by trolleys running up and down Broad Street and back and forth along Lehigh, and both the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads had major stations nearby. The area had been served by public transportation even before the park was built.

Atmosphere and Cultural Memory

The essence of this ballpark cultivated an atmosphere that longtime broadcaster Richie Ashburn described as possessing a unique 'heartbeat' and personality: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball." The design elements, from the copper-trimmed mansard roof to the terra cotta busts of Shibe and Mack presiding over the entrances, created a sense of occasion. Bobby Shantz, pitcher for the A's in their last years at Shibe, wrote that the corner tower entrance "looked almost like a church." Shibe was proud of the egalitarianism of the design; he said it was "for the masses as well as the classes." The Philadelphia Public Ledger called it "a palace for fans, the most beautiful and capacious baseball structure in the world."

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