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103-516: Ashburn Alley's name sake began while Ashburn was still playing. During the Phillies playing days at old Shibe Park , Ashburn was known for dropping bunts down the third baseline, which had slightly overgrown grass that helped the ball stay fair. A bronze statue of Ashburn lies in the center of the alley. Ashburn Alley serves as a history lesson of baseball in Philadelphia . Granite markers on

206-669: A church." Shibe was proud of the egalitarianism of the design; he said it was "for the masses as well as the classes." In April 1908, design in hand, the Shibes and the Steeles broke ground. With the resources of the Steele firm, construction was speedy, efficient and completed in time to open the 1909 season. The city was excited about its new ballpark – the Philadelphia Public Ledger called it "a palace for fans,

309-528: A complicated $ 3.375 million plan to buy the Athletics and move them to Kansas City. He owned Blues Stadium , home to the New York Yankees ' top minor-league affiliate, but intended to sell it to the city for upgrading to major league standards. Roy, Earle and Connie Mack, Sr. would get about $ 1.5 million, Johnson would pay off the remaining mortgage, and he would assume the $ 400,000–$ 800,000 debt to

412-566: A few more years before the operation collapsed entirely. In the meantime, the Macks tried to capitalize on the vestiges of affection in the city for their father, who turned 90 years old in December 1952. They opened a nostalgic Elephant Room, filled with memorabilia from the glory days, under the first base grandstand. They renamed the park Connie Mack Stadium in February 1953 for the opening of

515-414: A great view of the proceedings within, thanks to the low outfield fences. While this changed for the people on Somerset in 1913 when Shibe added the left field bleacher section and blocked the view from that direction. It was still a clear shot in from 20th Street over the low, 12-foot wall in right. The view from the roofs, the bedroom bay windows, and even the porch roofs on 20th was as good as from some of

618-492: A great view of the stadiums' two tiered bullpen . The upper bullpen, in particular, pulls snug against the concourse. On the western end of the Alley is Bull's BBQ, named after former Phillies slugger Greg "The Bull" Luzinski , who also operates it. Bull's BBQ is an outdoor picnic section and serves barbecue pork sandwiches, chicken, and most notably ribs. Luzinski is at most of the games and often socializes with fans. On top of

721-735: A hard "b") known later as Connie Mack Stadium , was a ballpark located in Philadelphia . It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened April 12, 1909, it became baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. In different eras it was home to "The $ 100,000 Infield" , "The Whiz Kids" , and "The 1964 Phold" . The venue's two home teams won both

824-408: A hole in the head", he said. Its upkeep had deteriorated to the point that Carpenter estimated that modernizing the place would cost a million dollars, and even at that he believed it would be impossible to enlarge the seating capacity. He also recognized the growing parking problem, as well as the declining affluence of the neighborhood. He tried to pass on the purchase, reminding Johnson that he had

927-697: A large space to reduce glare on both windshields and a driver's visor. Systems such as this have been common in short track motor racing for many years. The night NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway 's half-mile track in Tennessee is among the most popular events of the season. The first modern oval track over 1 mile (1.609 kilometers) long to install a lighting system was Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1992. NASCAR sanctioned races have been held at night for many years due to systems like these. MotoGP held its first night race at Losail International Circuit in 2008 . Formula One held its first night race at

1030-478: A lease until 1957. Johnson responded by threatening to raise the "rent" to 20 cents a head, and to bill the Phillies for stadium upkeep the A's had always paid for. When Carpenter did not show signs of giving in, Johnson said he would call the entire deal off. Carpenter was now in a bind, since there was no other facility in the Delaware Valley that was suitable even for temporary use. Reluctantly, he bought

1133-526: A new era in professional baseball was about to start. The Independence Producers of Independence, Kansas were a Class C minor league baseball team that played in a stadium known now as Shulthis Stadium . They purchased lights from the Giant Manufacturing Company and installed permanent lights on their field. When Independence played the night game on April 28, 1930, it made Independence the birthplace of professional night baseball. By

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1236-415: A new place to play. He searched for a site for his new park 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. It was still primitive at the time, an area of "high clay bluffs, rain-washed gullies, quagmires, open fields, even ponds" where chickens pecked and pigs rooted. Although a grid of streets

1339-409: A way to make the park profitable. His first thought was to extend the length of his income season by adding a football team. In 1959, he sought to buy an American Football League franchise, but the negotiations failed. Additionally, the neighborhood experienced white flight , leading to perceptions of rising crime; the phrase "Watch your car, mister?" became a catch phrase to game attendees. Indeed,

1442-527: The 1987 Series , have been played at night. The use of floodlights in cricket matches has helped to bring much investment into the game both at a national and an international level since it began in 1977. Today floodlit (day/night) cricket is played in most of the test playing nations although some nations have only started hosting day/night matches in the last 10 to 12 years. Many important tournaments like Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 have become success due to night games. Cricket

1545-656: The Chicago Cardinals played the Providence Steam Roller . Automobile races at night can take on two different forms. Sports car races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and rally races such as Monte Carlo Rally manage to continue running through the night by having the competing cars utilize headlights . The alternate possibility involves installing a system of flood lights along the circuit to illuminate it for cars that do not have headlights. The lights must be designed to diffuse light over

1648-594: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field . The original plan was that the Reds would play seven night games each season, one against each visiting club. Because games were at night, after working hours, many working families began attending night baseball games. As a result night games tended to have better attendance than day ganes. Consequently night baseball quickly found acceptance in other Major League cities and eventually became

1751-596: The Kanaweola Athletic Club , 39–0, at Maple Avenue Driving Park in the first professional football night game. The first night football game west of the Mississippi River was played in Wichita, Kansas in 1905 between Cooper College (now Sterling College of Sterling, Kansas ) and Fairmount College (now Wichita State University ). The first NFL game played at night was in 1929 when

1854-685: The Longines clock perched above it. The board's superficial resemblance to the similarly adorned board in Yankee Stadium gave rise to the urban legend that the board was acquired second-hand from the Yankees. However, the boards differed in many details, and the Yankee Stadium board remained until 1959 when it was replaced, a few years after Connie Mack Stadium's new board had made its appearance. The big scoreboard extended well above

1957-508: The Philadelphia Phillies ) was rained out before it became official. The Cubs still play the fewest home night games of any major league club (35 per season, as of 2014). The first night All-Star Game was held at Philadelphia's Shibe Park in 1943 , while the first World Series night game was Game 4 of the 1971 Series at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. All All-Star Games since 1970 , and all World Series games since Game 6 of

2060-825: The cheesesteak , at both Tony Luke's and Campo's. Another Philadelphia cuisine staple is Chickie's & Pete's crabfries. The Alley also features the '47 Brand store, which sells classic Phillies apparel, classic pennants and banners, and other items. Features of the Alley are: Shibe Park (1925) Left Field – 334 ft Center Field Corner – 468 ft Right Field – 331 ft (1950) Left Field – 334 ft Deep Left Center – 420 ft Center Field – 447 ft Deep Right Center – 405 ft Right Field – 329 ft (1968) Left Field – 334 ft Deep Left Center – 387 ft Center Field – 410 ft Deep Right Center – 390 ft Right Field – 329 ft [REDACTED] Shibe Park , (pronounced "shy," ending with

2163-404: The 1913 open left field bleachers with a double-deck that extended from the foul pole to the center field corner. This construction covered the "terrace" except in the deepest part of center field which still had a slight upslope. Where the upper deck of the main stands abutted the upper deck of the bleachers, there was a slight overhang. Whether this ever affected play is unknown. They also extended

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2266-515: The 1950 "Whiz Kids" Phillies team brought the NL pennant to Philadelphia for the first time in 35 years. As the Phillies improved baseball life in Philadelphia, there was a decline in the fortunes of the A's – in the team, in the owner, and in the ballpark. Mack had alienated many fans in 1915, and again in 1932, when he sold off his pennant-winning teams for cash. His clashes with his neighbors over

2369-516: The 1950 season was a disaster. By May 26, they were 11–21, their season all but finished. On that date, Mack's sons Roy and Earle gently pushed their father into announcing that he would retire at the end of the season. The power vacuum in the wake of "Mr. Baseball's" exit only worsened the problems, however. Roy and Earle Mack, "undistinguished men living in the shadow of their father," were from Mack's first marriage; their half-brother Connie, Jr. – 20 years their junior – came from his second. As

2472-532: The 1953 season, hanging a new metal plate over the old SHIBE PARK inscription, which was "still written in stone" beneath. Many old-timers refused to acknowledge the change. The Macks' bad business decisions finally caught up with them in 1954. While Roy had hoped to keep the team, Earle wanted out, and the meager attendance figures were hard to argue with. The A's business plan required attendance of 550,000 to break even, but in 1954 they drew just 305,000. A "Save The A's" committee formed to help, publishing daily

2575-491: The 1960 season, additional box seats in front of the original grandstand reduced the plate-to-screen distance by about 10 feet (3.0 m). With a couple of years of life left in the park, a curving inner fence across center field reduced the distance from 447 to 410. The final seating capacity of the ballpark, as recorded in the 1970 Sporting News Baseball Guide , was 33,608. Carpenter's reluctance about Connie Mack Stadium soon proved justified. He found it impossible to find

2678-423: The A's with hefty mortgage payments that could have been spent on improving the team and the park. They immediately resumed battling each other, and much of the brothers' discord made the newspapers. In one famous episode, Earle separated from his wife and moved into a small suite he kept at the ballpark; when Roy heard about it, he had the water shut off in the place. Despite undeniable deterioration, it would be

2781-589: The April 1931 edition of Baseball Magazine stated that Independence was the first team in America to play a league night baseball game. After the game in Independence, night baseball "spread like wildfire" across the minor leagues. In addition to that, in 1935, The Sporting News pointed out that Des Moines, Iowa was not the first to install permanent lights, but it was in fact Independence that did so. By

2884-567: The National League's Phillies had been trying to escape their dilapidated home, Baker Bowl , and move to Shibe Park as tenants of the A's. However, it took them until mid-season 1938 to get out of their lease and move the five blocks west on Lehigh to Shibe Park. The Phillies' arrangement with Connie Mack was simple: they would pay rent of ten cents a head for every fan that came through the gates, and would hire and pay their own stadium staff on game days. While moving to Shibe likely saved

2987-590: The Opening Day ceremonies for the 1957 season. Commissioner Ford Frick , AL president Will Harridge and Leo Durocher all attended, as did many former A's players; the ceremony was emceed by sportscaster Bill Campbell . Shortly after, the Philadelphia City Council removed Reyburn's name from the park and replaced it with Mack's. The statue was later moved to Veterans Stadium in 1971, and ultimately to Citizens Bank Park in 2004 . For

3090-418: The Phillies from extinction, having two teams play in the park complicated scheduling enormously. The extra income from the Phillies was offset by the crowded baseball schedule tying up the park for nearly all of the summer, so it affected the A's bottom line very little. The Phillies' first game at Shibe Park was a split doubleheader against Boston on July 4, and they finished the season last, 24½ games behind

3193-617: The ball in sight. But many cricket stadiums have different types of floodlights like ANZ Stadium in Australia , stadiums in New Zealand etc. The DSC Cricket Stadium in Dubai recently installed Ring of Fire system of floodlights which is latest and smartest system of floodlight in the world. The term has also been adopted by other outdoor stadium sports such as American football and Canadian football . The first night football game

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3296-453: The ballpark at a time when cashflow was uncertain, and they leased park concessions to an outside food service corporation. The brothers had simultaneously acquired huge debt and lost their best income sources. They managed to buy out Junior, the second Mrs. Mack and the remaining Shibes late in 1950. However, they then made one of the worst of several bad business decisions by mortgaging the team and pledging Shibe Park as collateral, saddling

3399-546: The block. "It seemed as if all of Philadelphia was there", wrote the Public Ledger . 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 that day, 8–1. The Athletics and their new stadium were a hit: the A's won pennants – and brought World Series to town – in 1910 and 1911, and by 1913, when they would win another, Shibe initiated

3502-402: The city would be closing the facility. Without the hospital, the area's stigma would eventually dissipate, but at the time, the land was still a bargain. Shibe quietly assembled title to his square block of land early in 1907, picking up parcels "through a complicated series of acquisitions, preventing price inflation by masking his intentions," even using straw buyers to keep his name out of

3605-561: The city's first skyscraper , the Witherspoon Building at Walnut and Juniper Streets. The Steele design for the Shibe façade was in the ornate French Renaissance style, including arches , vaultings , and Ionic pilasters . The grandstand walls were to be of red brick and terra cotta and featured elaborate decorative friezes with baseball motifs, while cartouches framed the Athletics' "A" logo at regular intervals above

3708-507: The city, carried the day: the A's won the case and the light towers went up in time for the 1939 season. The first night game in the AL was at Shibe Park on May 16, 1939: the Indians beat the A's, 8–3. In 1941, Mack installed a new, larger scoreboard in deep right-center field, replacing the small board that had been in the same general area, and about the same time an imposing sign went up on

3811-491: The concession buildings in the center of the Alley is the Rooftop Bleachers. This area of the stadium was influenced by the old rooftop seats at the Phillies and Athletics old home Shibe Park . It was common during the 1920s for residents who lived in the rowhouses across from the ballpark to watch the games for free on their rooftops. There are many concession stands featuring Philadelphia cuisine staples such as

3914-412: The concessionaires. Very little of Johnson's own cash would be involved: the deal depended on real estate and the eagerness of Kansas City town fathers to take on debt for a major league franchise. The problem with the deal was Connie Mack Stadium. The plan assumed a $ 1.5 million cash infusion from Bob Carpenter to buy the old ballpark, and he was unenthusiastic. "We need that ballpark as much as we need

4017-408: The crowds at Shibe Park were so small that AL teams could not cover their travel expenses, leading owners to complain that receipts at Shibe Park were too small to justify the trip. Despite this, the A's managed to tally three straight winning seasons from 1947 to 1949. This led to hopes that the A's would give "The Grand Old Man of Baseball" the perfect 50th anniversary present – a pennant. However,

4120-672: The deal fell through. The team maintained special "Phillies Express" buses to shuttle fans from transportation hubs in Camden and 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby Township , but the service never really caught on. Carpenter also investigated land tracts first in West Philadelphia, then in the Torresdale section of the city, as well as nearby suburban Cheltenham and farther-flung Camden, across

4223-446: The dealings. He spent a total of $ 67,500 ($ 2.29 million in 2023 dollars) on seven land packages totaling 5.75 acres (2.33 ha), and in February 1908, he arranged to have two projected streets running through his block dropped from the city plan. For the design and its execution, Shibe hired William Steele and Sons. Their engineering staff had worked with the new technology of steel-reinforced concrete , and designed and built

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4326-475: The diamond instead of facing the outfield. This resulted in the high corners that were a noticeable feature of the ballpark during its final two decades, the corners being just far enough away from the foul lines to accommodate the bullpens. They also added an "annunciator" on the upper deck beyond third base that flashed the at-bat number; ball-strike-out count; hit or error; and score. At the park's beginning, homeowners on both Somerset Street and 20th Street had

4429-483: The end of the 1930 season there were thirty-eight minor league teams with lights installed on their fields. Independence played the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball on April 28, 1930. The term Organized Baseball refers to Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball games. Organized Baseball games must follow specific rules in order to be Organized Baseball games. The Commissioner of Baseball has authority over Organized Baseball. Independence lost

4532-467: The end of the 1934 season there were sixty-five minor league teams with permanent lights installed on their fields. The light towers installed in Independence in 1930 were removed and scrapped in June 1990. Mickey Mantle , an Independence Yankee in 1949, played under the historic lights. Lighting technology had significantly improved since the 1927 night game exhibition. After fifty years of experiments,

4635-401: The entrances. 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. The signature feature of the exterior design was the octangular tower on

4738-399: The family factions squared off to battle for control of the A's, Junior and his mother joined forces with remnants of the Shibe family, who still owned 40% of the stock, while Roy and Earle shelved their years of squabbles to present a united front against what they derisively called "the Shibe faction." To raise cash for the coming struggle, Roy and Earle made poor decisions. They re-mortgaged

4841-629: The first and last games at the stadium: the Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 8–1 on opening day 1909, while the Phillies beat the Montreal Expos 2–1 on October 1, 1970, in the park's final contest. 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 Phillies' home from 1887 to 1938. The stadium hosted eight World Series and two MLB All-Star Games , in 1943 and 1952 , with

4944-500: The first of the expansions of seating capacity that would continue right on through the 1950s. He called again upon the Steele company and added a new unroofed bleacher section across left field, taking advantage of the site's rectangular, rather than square, shape, and also added roof structures to cover the open pavilions down the first base and third base lines. After Ben Shibe's death in 1922, sons Tom and Jack became president and vice president, respectively. and in 1925 they replaced

5047-443: The franchise and sold it for $ 190,000 and a $ 50,000 note to lumber baron William Cox , who paid off Mack and put money down on future rent. The flamboyant Cox poured money into the team in an effort to turn it around, but he also abraded fans, his own players, fellow owners, and Landis. The uproar did not last long; when Cox was found to be betting on Phillies games, Landis banned him for life on Nov. 23, 1943. The same day that Cox

5150-440: The gates hours before game time, turning the outsiders into a "howling mob of thousands" whose pressure forced open one of the gates. Hundreds poured in without paying admission, and an estimated 7,000 standing-room only spectators saw that first game ringing the outfield up to seven-deep, held back by a rope stretched between the left field seats and the right field bleacher. Another 6,000 more looked in from various rooftops around

5253-404: The high right-field fence cost them many home runs. It dogged them when they played the field, too: its rippling corrugations made caroms unpredictable, with some balls dropping straight down, others bounding all the way back to second base and some bouncing radically to one side or another, sometimes into the bullpen. It was "one of the hardest" walls to play in the majors. For several years,

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5356-629: The history of Organized Baseball took place in Independence, Kansas. Numerous references, photos, and media clippings discussing the first night Organized Baseball game are available can be found on websites. After the 1930 game in Independence, night baseball did spread to other countries. The first night game baseball game in Canada took place in Vancouver, Canada in 1931. In 1933 Japan played their first night baseball game, and Cuba did so in 1937. The first big-league team to play games at night

5459-408: The hot dog vendors on the street, bought dogs for a nickel, and brought them back to sell for a dime. With so much money on the line, the business got organized and formalized very quickly. Homeowners were soon squeezed for bribes by city amusement tax collectors, and city police collected commissions for collaring and herding fans from the sidewalk into particular homes. By 1929, the extra income from

5562-433: The income but now suffering from the tough economy like everyone else, sent reps to the lines – such as they were – at the park box office to offer discount seats and poach customers from the ball club. This was the last straw for Jack Shibe. In the winter of 1934–35, he ordered the fence raised to 34 feet (10 m). While the higher fence was Jack Shibe's idea, it became generally known as "Connie Mack's Spite Fence." This

5665-484: The land from south to north was reflected in a small "terrace" that ran across left and center field. The upper deck was built of wood mounted on steel girders, while the lower deck was built of concrete and steel. The only link with the Columbia Park was the transplanted sod, rolled out at the new venue. The 1909 seating capacity certainly was an upgrade from Columbia Park: 11,000 in the double deck and 12,000 in

5768-474: The latter game holding the distinction of being the only All-Star contest shortened by rain (to five innings). In May 1939, it was the site of the first night game played in the American League. Phillies Hall-of-Fame centerfielder and longtime broadcaster Richie Ashburn remembered Shibe Park: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that

5871-538: The league game to the Muskogee Chiefs by a score of 13–3. Independence had previously played an exhibition game against the House of David, a professional baseball team, but the game did not qualify as an Organized Baseball game. Independence did however defeat the House of David with a score of 9–1. Since Independence had played a night baseball game before any Major League teams did so, the first night game in

5974-431: The left field fence with the message: "Warning: Persons throwing bottles or other missiles will be arrested and prosecuted." A few years later, he would add a tunnel between the visitors' clubhouse and their dugout to avoid confrontations with belligerent hometown fans. After the war, the Macks wanted to expand the seating capacity again, in a park that was running out of room to expand into. In 1949, they proposed erecting

6077-418: The light, noise and traffic that night games would bring to the neighborhood, and objected specifically to the danger of home run balls hitting them as they sat on their porches and to the ability of fans in the upper decks to peer into their bedrooms at night. The matter went to court, and Mack hired a young Philadelphia lawyer to plead his case. The presentation of young Richardson Dilworth , future mayor of

6180-415: The most beautiful and capacious baseball structure in the world." American League president Ban Johnson pronounced that "Shibe Park is the greatest place of its character in the world." In more recent times, baseball author David M. Jordan wrote that it was "a splendid forerunner of others like it ... Ben Shibe and the Steeles initiated 'the golden age of ballparks'." The original 1909 configuration

6283-586: The norm; the term "day game" was subsequently coined to designate the increasingly rarer afternoon contests. The last non-expansion/non-relocated team to play all their home games in the daytime were the Chicago Cubs ; they played their first official night game in Wrigley Field on August 9, 1988 and beat the New York Mets 6–4, one night after their initial attempt at night baseball (against

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6386-493: The old backstop screen, an experiment also conducted at Cincinnati's Crosley Field around that same time. After the death of Mr. Mack in February 1956, a Mack Memorial Committee raised funds and commissioned sculptor Harry Rosin to create a statue of "Mr. Baseball". On April 16, 1957, it was unveiled across Lehigh Avenue in Reyburn Park – named after the mayor who threw out the first ball at Shibe back in 1909 – as part of

6489-567: The park for $ 1.7 million in December, and formed the 21st and Lehigh Realty Company to run it. Nominally, the Phillies were Carpenter's tenants, paying him rent just as they had paid rent to the A's previously. In practice, however, Carpenter was transferring money from one pocket to the other. In early 1955, two trucks backed up to the stadium and packed the artifacts from the Elephant Room for removal to Kansas City. Carpenter encouraged Mr. Mack to continue using his opulent tower office in

6592-480: The park to the city for the nominal price of 50 cents, but Mayor James Tate balked at using city money to pay for major renovations. Eventually the city would build Veterans Stadium in South Philadelphia and the Phillies would leave Connie Mack Stadium. The final game at Connie Mack Stadium was played on October 1, 1970, with the Phillies defeating the Montreal Expos 2–1 in 10 innings. The occasion

6695-403: The parking problem became the very crux of the issue in the 1950s and 1960s: whereas most people had formerly come to the park on public transportation, after the war, the automobile became the standard mode of transport. There was a 500-car lot, later expanded to 850 cars, across 21st Street, but it was not nearly enough. Carpenter tried to buy the whole block in 1959 for a multi-level garage, but

6798-550: The property to another New York consortium who, assuming the Phillies would be gone by 1967, began planning the demolition of the stadium and construction of a bowling alley and discount store on the site. Then in May 1964, Jerry Wolman , who had just bought the Philadelphia Eagles in February, brought the stadium ownership back to town, paying $ 757,000 for it as part of a larger real estate deal. Wolman's motivations for

6901-423: The purchase are in dispute – all the mortgage shuffling did not slow the decay out at the park – but he claimed he wanted to help the Phillies; the move also put him at the very center of the emerging fight over a new stadium in Philadelphia, which would likely affect his Eagles. Wolman, the city, and even Carpenter were all exploring plans to solve the town's stadium problem. The plan that came closest to fruition

7004-478: The river in New Jersey. But there were prohibitive problems with every one of those proposed sites. Carpenter finally gave up and in 1961 sold the stadium for $ 600,000 to a group of New York real estate investors, losing over a million dollars after his 7-year ownership; he secured a 3-year lease and an option to stay through 1967 while he pursued his Torresdale stadium plan. The New York buyers quickly flipped

7107-466: The rooftop bleachers actually caused real estate values to climb on the 2700 block of North 20th Street. As long as the A's were winning games and filling the park, the 20th Street entrepreneurs were annoying, but little more, to Mack and the Shibes, but that changed in the early 1930s. Starting in 1932, Mack's sell-off of his Second Dynasty stars, combined with general Great Depression hard times, sent attendance plummeting. 20th Streeters, accustomed to

7210-474: The rough bricks along the right field wall, and eventually the 331 sign was changed to read 329, although that change had no impact on the actual home run distance. In 1956, Bob Carpenter replaced the old 1941 scoreboard in right-center field with a new, much larger board, constructed for Connie Mack Stadium. A prominent feature of the new board was the Ballantine Beer advertisement across the top and

7313-508: The seats inside the park. Pathé News , Universal Newsreel Fox Movietone News even set up cameras at 2739 North 20th as part of their World Series coverage. The numbers involved in this cottage industry were considerable. A rooftop bleacher could hold up to 80 people, with 18 more in the bay window of the front bedroom and more even on the porch roof. Viewers on the block could number up to several thousand for important games. Housewives served up refreshments for sale and children scurried to

7416-447: The seventh place Brooklyn Dodgers and 43 games back overall. 21st and Lehigh was one of the gloomiest addresses in baseball in the late 1930s and early 1940s. At the time, both Philadelphia teams were in long stretches of futility. The Phillies had notched one winning season since 1918, while the A's had not had a winning season since 1933. Both teams finished last in their leagues in 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1945. Making things worse

7519-401: The southwest corner. The upper floors would accommodate the A's offices, those of Shibe's sons Jack and Tom, who ran the day-to-day business aspects of the team, and the domed cupola on the very top were to house Mack's office. On the ground floor was a main entrance lobby. Bobby Shantz , pitcher for the A's in their last years at Shibe, wrote that the corner tower entrance "looked almost like

7622-399: The spite fence, the night games and the 20th Street overhang sparked ill will between the team and its fan base. The Phillies began to outdraw the A's, who were in a vicious circle of bad teams and empty seats. There was also a precipitous decline in the boss himself. 1950 marked Mack's 50th year in Philadelphia and his 87th birthday, and for the better part of a decade it had been obvious he

7725-406: The sport, this can be done either with floodlights or with the usual low-light conditions. The term "night game" is typically used only in reference to sports traditionally held outdoors. Although indoor sporting events often take place after local sunset, these events are artificially lighted regardless of the time of day they take place. A baseball game was played under electric lighting in 1880,

7828-464: The square corner in center field and most of the remaining "terrace", reducing the distance to a still-formidable 447 feet (136 m). Distance markers also appeared on the walls for the first time. In addition to the foul poles (334 and 331) and the center field area (447), a 400 marker was posted just to the center field side of the scoreboard, and a 405 marker in the corresponding area of deep left center field. A few years later, wooden fencing covered

7931-467: The stadium that now bore his name, which he did almost daily until his death some 13 months later. When the stadium opened for the 1955 season, Carpenter's first, advertising billboards first appeared on the walls and roofs of the outfield: Foremost dairy, Goldenberg's Peanut Chews , Philco , Cadillac , Alpo , Coca-Cola and Martz Tours signs became familiar sights to stadiumgoers and to fans watching on television. A new straight-across fence covered

8034-451: The team by buying out Tom Shibe's share from his widow. The move made the Mack family the controlling partner in 1937, though various Shibe family members still had "considerable holdings" in the team. More renovation – and a round of controversy – came after the 1938 season when Mack sought to install light towers for night play, which local residents were against. They objected in general to

8137-600: The team had two official nicknames simultaneously, the Phillies and the Blue Jays. The new Blue Jays moniker was ultimately unpopular; it was officially dropped by the team in January 1950. However, an expansion team in Toronto picked it up for its inaugural 1977 season and would coincidentally go on to play the Phillies in the 1993 World Series . The Blue Jays recorded the city's first million-fan season in 1946, and

8240-422: The team's image and way of doing business. They wanted to shed the image of failure by changing the team's nickname. Before the 1944 season, the team held a fan contest soliciting a new team nickname. Management chose "Blue Jays," the fan submission of Elizabeth Crooks, who received a $ 100 war bond as compensation. Phillies management said that the Blue Jays name was as an official "additional nickname," meaning that

8343-485: The top of the right field fence, topping out at 75 feet (23 m) including the clock. The entire board was in play except for the clock that topped the board: Balls that hit the clock were home runs. Dick Allen was the only player to ever hit a home run over the Ballantine Beer sign and scoreboard. The scoreboard was used through the final year at the ballpark. Also in 1956, a new Plexiglas barrier replaced

8446-443: The turnout needed to stay out of the red, but the turnstile count remained flat while the published number grew each day and the committee collapsed in the stretch run. Even Mayor Joe Clark hurt the effort: he admitted he was a Phillies fan. The A's finished 1954 last in the majors, sixty games out of first; their final game at Shibe drew only 1,715 fans. In early August, Chicago businessman Arnold Johnson stepped forward with

8549-403: The two pavilions, for a total of 23,000. Overflow crowds were accommodated by roping off the left field area in front of the wall. Some 500 tons of steel went into the construction. On Monday, April 12, 1909, the Opening Day proceedings walked a fine line between festival and chaos. More than 30,000 fans showed up and got in; another 15,000 showed up and were turned away. Nervous officials closed

8652-473: The ultimate spite fence : a new double-deck seating section in right field that would boost the park's capacity to 50,000. The problem was that the home plate-to-right field axis was the shorter dimension of the Shibe block rectangle, and since the new stand could not intrude into the play area, its fascia would have to be in the plane of the existing right field fence while its hindquarters would have to protrude out back, dangling some 15 feet (4.6 m) above

8755-405: The upper deck out over the pavilions. These expansions resulted in another 10,000 seats. In 1928, the brothers installed a mezzanine that added 750 pricey box seats and the following year they raised the original grandstand roof and installed a press box underneath it, along with 3,500 more seats. For the 1923 season, Connie Mack had moved the infield back an estimated 21 feet (6.4 m). This

8858-489: The walk-way feature every Phillies all-star since the first game in 1933. Another feature of Ashburn Alley is Memory Lane. Memory Lane is located directly behind the batter's eye, and gives an extensive look at the history of Philadelphia baseball. It features the history of the Phillies, the history of Philadelphia Athletics , and history of Negro league teams in the city. At the end of the Memory Lane section offers

8961-428: The west sidewalk of North 20th Street and forming a covered arcade walkway. The $ 2.5-million proposal galvanized the 20th Street neighbors against the A's again, and this time the legal team could not overcome the zoning issues. The Macks did spend $ 300,000 on renovations in 1949 and managed to shoehorn 2,500 more box seats in; the old lower deck pavilion seating was reconstructed to turn the more distant seats toward

9064-489: The year after Thomas Edison invented the light bulb . It was an experimental game between two department store teams, and it would take another fifty years before organized baseball would sanction night baseball. In 1892, the Texas League's Houston Buffaloes played at night using arc lights . There were a couple of exhibition night baseball games in the early 1900s between organized baseball teams. One of them

9167-465: Was a choice of speed over power, as moving the plate back increased left field and right field dimensions by 15 feet (4.6 m) each. Home runs dropped about 50% for the next three seasons. The Shibe brothers moved it back to its original position, resulting in field dimensions of 331 feet (101 m) to right field, 334 to left, and 468 to the square corner in center. In 1936, A's President Tom Shibe died, and Connie Mack succeeded in gaining control of

9270-439: Was a complicated 1964 package that called for a new stadium with parking for 7,000 cars to be built "on stilts" over the vast railroad yards near 30th Street Station . This plan had considerable backing from city politicians and businessmen, but it too eventually unraveled when federal urban renewal funds did not come through and extended wrangling between Wolman and everyone else involved brought it down. Wolman then tried to sell

9373-413: 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 (3.7 m) brick wall that bordered the streets. The deepest part of center field was a square corner 515 feet (157 m) from home plate. It was 378 to the left field foul marker, and 340 to right field. The slight upslope of

9476-484: Was all baseball." 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 even though it was just a few years old. 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

9579-603: Was banned from baseball by Landis — Nov. 23, 1943 — Bob Carpenter Sr. , scion of the Delaware-based duPont family , bought the team with his son for an estimated $ 400,000. Carpenter Sr. gave the club presidency to his son, Bob, Jr. – a 28-year-old Delawarean whose mother was a DuPont and who was himself part-owner with Connie Mack of the Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league team. The genial young millionaire admitted at his first press conference that he

9682-508: Was because Mack had been operating head of the franchise since Ben Shibe's death. The fence not only limited the view from the street, but the unattractive corrugated metal structure curtailed much of the goodwill the team had had with its neighbors, goodwill that would never return. It also frustrated many Philadelphia players, both offensively and defensively. Among them, A's and Phillies outfielder Elmer Valo and Phillies right fielder Johnny Callison , both lefthanded batters, complained that

9785-481: Was first played under floodlights on Monday, August 11, 1952 in England which was watched by several million people on their television sets. Since then every test playing country has installed floodlights in their stadiums . Traditional Cricket floodlights have a long pole on which lights are fixed. This is done because many times the ball travels too high when a batsman hits it and high lights are needed to keep

9888-416: Was going senile. He would spend most games asleep in the dugout, leaving game strategy in the hands of his coaches. When he was awake, he often made strange calls that the players and coaches usually disregarded. He would also call for players from decades earlier to pinch-hit; in the 1940s it was not uncommon for him to yell " Baker !" or " Foxx !" – sluggers he had sold off decades before. Most ominously,

9991-703: Was in 1909, and the other was in 1927, but the games did not count in league standings. Even though the games were between professional teams, they were unofficial experiments and did not count as the "nocturnal first". In 1929, the president of the Des Moines, Iowa baseball club announced to the National Association convention he was going to play night baseball in 1930. However, the first official minor league night game actually took place in Independence, Kansas on April 28, 1930. An article in

10094-410: Was marred by souvenir hunters literally dismantling the stadium even while the game was still in progress. A special post-game ceremony – including a helicopter removal of home plate and delivery of it at The Vet – was cancelled in the mayhem. Night game A night game , also called a nighter , is a sporting event that takes place, completely or partially, after the local sunset. Depending on

10197-532: Was planned for the area, few actually existed. The area was already served by public transportation: trolleys ran 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 "underachieved" thus far due to the presence of the city's Hospital for Contagious Diseases (the "smallpox hospital") a block west on Lehigh, but Shibe's privileged connections in town brought him word that

10300-574: Was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892 between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary . It ended bitterly at halftime in a 0–0 tie. In 1893 at the Chicago's World Fair , the Chicago A. A. played a night football game against West Point . Chicago won the 40-minute game 14–0. On November 21, 1902, the Philadelphia Athletics of the first National Football League defeated

10403-509: Was short on experience, adding, "But I'm not worried. I think we can all have a good time." Carpenter slowly pulled the team out of its "dime store" way of doing business and invested heavily in the farm system, and hired marketing consultants. He upgraded his staff with professional administrators who modernized operations, while spending time in Mr. Mack's plush tower office listening to The Grand Old Man of Baseball. The Carpenters tried to polish

10506-496: Was that Phillies owner Gerald Nugent was mired in debt to both Mack and the National League , and other NL owners were grumbling about the dismal receipts their Philly trips earned them. In 1943 Nugent agreed in principle to sell the Phillies to Bill Veeck , only to have that sale derailed by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis 's objections to Veeck's plans to stock the Phillies with Negro league stars. The league took over

10609-646: Was the 1930 Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues, who often played against the House of David baseball team, who carried portable lights mounted on trucks along with their team bus. The Monarchs first night baseball game was on April 28, 1930. It was an exhibition game in Enid, Oklahoma against Phillips University . The first night game in Major League Baseball history occurred on May 24, 1935 when

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