Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C. , from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.
133-531: The site was once home to a wooden baseball park . Built in 1891, it was called Boundary Field , or National Park after the team that played there: the Washington Senators/Nationals . It was destroyed by a fire in 1911. It was replaced by a steel and concrete structure, at first called National Park and then American League Park ; it was renamed Clark Griffith Stadium for Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith in 1923. The stadium
266-460: A LED display on the front of the table which also functions with virtual scrolling advertisements. Since 1991, the NBA has mandated that each shot clock carry a duplicate readout of the time left in the period in addition to the shot time. Since 2011, the shot clock also shows tenths of a second past five seconds left on the shot clock. Many college and even some high-school shot clocks (in states where
399-469: A cantilevered upper deck seating area that hung out over the lower seating area. Although it did not use reinforced concrete in its construction, Baker Bowl is considered the first of the jewel box parks. The first to use reinforced concrete was Shibe Park , which opened in 1909, also in Philadelphia. The upper decks were typically held up by steel pillars that obstructed the view from some seats in
532-516: A media timeout between innings, and to time warmup periods for relief pitchers coming out of the bullpen . For cricket a scoreboard will as a minimum display the batting team's score, wickets fallen, the opposition's totals. Most county-standard scoreboards will also display each batsman's score, overs remaining, extras, the bowlers currently on and details of the last wicket to fall. Australian state scoreboards will usually contain more detailed information. An ice hockey scoreboard will at
665-748: A baseball against the panel. Examples of this type of scoreboard display are seen in Milwaukee 's Miller Park , Rogers Centre in Toronto , New Yankee Stadium in The Bronx , and Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. In all three cases, the walls display the current game state of out-of-town games (often down to pitch count for the current at-bat and runners on base), statistics for the current batter or pitcher, and promotional messages. Another display has been added to minor and major league stadiums through
798-413: A chain-link fence. Beyond the infield and between the foul lines is a large grass outfield, generally twice the depth of the infield. The playing field is bordered by fences of varying heights. The infield fences are in foul territory, and a ball hit over them is not a home run; consequently, they are often lower than the outfield fences to provide a better view for spectators. Sometimes, the outfield fence
931-561: A crusade at Griffith in 1960, preaching from a platform erected near second base. Two choir stands, each accommodating 500 singers, were set up along the foul lines. Gospel's first superstar, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, was married in Griffith Stadium in 1951 - in what was a legally binding PR stunt - in front of some 20,000 paying guests. Griffith Stadium was located in LeDroit Park , a historically black area of Washington since
1064-546: A diamond. The infield is a rigidly structured diamond of dirt and grass containing the three bases, home plate, and the pitcher's mound. The space between the bases and home is normally a grass surface, save for the dirt mound in the center. Some ballparks have grass or artificial turf between the bases, and dirt only around the bases and pitcher's mound. Others, such as Koshien Stadium in Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan, have an infield of entirely dirt. Two white lines extend from
1197-532: A few which are oriented just slightly west of straight north. (Left-handed pitchers are called "southpaws", and indeed the pitcher's left hand is toward the south in the usual park layout, and this has often been cited as the source of the appellation. But this is most likely a false etymology , or partly so, as "southpaw" for left-handers has been in use since at least the mid 19th century, and applied to boxers.) Today, in Major League Baseball ,
1330-434: A fine sod field that was "compared to that of the best golf courses." This was in sharp contrast to the unkempt field that can be seen in photographs of Griffith prior to 1923. For many years, the right field grandstand wall served as the right-field foul line for the last 15 feet (4.6 m) before the foul pole, making it impossible to catch a ball there. The 41-foot (12 m) tall, hand-operated scoreboard in right-center
1463-525: A group of blacks picketed multiple times in front of Griffith Stadium, protesting the lack of black players on the team. It would be five more years, along with government intervention, before the Redskins finally began employing black players, the last NFL team to do so . In 1955, longtime Senators owner Clark Griffith died, and his nephew, Calvin Griffith , took over. Fewer and fewer fans were coming to
SECTION 10
#17327721466641596-430: A home run off Chuck Stobbs that was so impressive that someone tried to determine its flight with some accuracy, thus popularizing the term "tape measure home run". It was alleged to be 565 feet (172 m), although it bounced off the top of the back wall of the bleachers, adding some distance to its flight path. It was believed to be the 2nd longest home run ever hit at the time. Aside from some championship seasons in
1729-469: A meeting place because of its landmark status in the community. Senators management, seemingly uneasy about racial matters, were latecomers to integrating their team, adding their first black player, outfielder Carlos Paula , in 1954--7 years after Jackie Robinson had debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers . The segregationist policy of the Redskins was more overt and controversial. In October 1957,
1862-503: A minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field, and 400 feet (120 m) to center. (Rule 1.04, Note(a)). This rule was passed to avoid situations like the Los Angeles Coliseum , which was 251 ft (77 m). down the left field line. However, with the opening of Baltimore's Camden Yards (1992), the "minimum distance" rule began to be ignored. One factor may be that
1995-455: A move at first, but agreed under the condition that an expansion team, also named the Senators , would come to Washington, beginning in 1961. The original Senators moved to Minnesota, and the new Senators played at Griffith in 1961. However, in 1962, the Senators moved to the new D.C. Stadium , joining the Redskins, who had moved there a year before. The final baseball game at Griffith Stadium
2128-416: A multi-purpose gridiron/soccer venue type scoreboard where various statistics are shown. Such may include either total fouls, corner kicks, shots on goal, or other important statistics for spectators to learn their team's overall performance. Similar to baseball , a softball scoreboard will at the minimum show both team scores and the current inning. In addition, the number of balls, strikes and outs, and
2261-429: A multi-tiered seating area, a grandstand , surrounds the infield. How far this seating extends down the baselines or around the foul poles varies from park to park. In minor league parks, the grandstands are notably smaller, proportional to expected sizes of crowds compared with the major leagues. The seating beyond the outfield fence generally differs from the grandstand, though some multi-purpose or jewel box parks have
2394-472: A plumber's blowtorch . This left the owners of the Washington Senators in a difficult situation, since spring training had already begun and opening day was less than a month away. Thomas C. Noyes, president of the Senators, gained approval from the club's board of directors to build a new ballpark with a steel grandstand on the same site as Boundary Field. The quick construction of the ballpark
2527-434: A riot broke out, with some minor injuries and several teenagers being hauled away by the police. Scrap metal salvage rallies were held at least once at the stadium during World War II, where people would bring scrap metal to the ballpark to be melted and made into steel for new weapons. Griffith was also the home to public school events, church revivals, public meetings, and annual ROTC drill competitions. Billy Graham held
2660-479: A rugby venue in New Zealand with an ETFE roof allowing grass to be grown indoors, or NFL stadiums like State Farm Stadium and Allegiant Stadium , which allow the grass field to be grown outside and then rolled indoors for games), the first generation of indoor parks predated such abilities. Since there was not enough light to grow grass, artificial turf is installed, and this affected the game. Artificial turf
2793-432: A shot-clock rule is in effect for high-school basketball) now also include a game timer. Three-sided game shot clocks became a trend in the 1990s, and after a controversial series of calls during the 2002 NBA Playoffs , the NBA instituted a new game shot clock rule in 2002, requiring specific visibility of the game- and shot-clock time for instant-replay purposes. FIBA installed a similar three-sided rule in 2004. The rule
SECTION 20
#17327721466642926-478: A similar boom. One of the first major league ballparks to be called a "stadium" was actually the Polo Grounds, which was temporarily renamed Brush Stadium from its reconstruction in 1911 until the death of owner John T. Brush in the 1920s. By then, the most famous baseball "stadium" of them all had been constructed: Yankee Stadium . From that point until the retro building boom of the 1990s, the suffix "Stadium"
3059-440: Is a variable message display next to each field event area that displays the standings and who is up next. Other indicators may show track side wind speed. In some settings where a track surrounds an athletic field, a track and field scoreboard may be combined within the football scoreboards. An association football scoreboard usually shows the score for the home and away team, as well as the current match time. A board displaying
3192-418: Is called frequency shift keying (FSK). Two radio frequencies represent binary 0 and 1. Radio transmission such as FSK sends data digitally. Until recently radio transmission was subject to short range and interference by other radio sources. A fairly recent technology called spread spectrum permits much more robust radio control of scoreboards. Spread spectrum , like the name implies, distributes
3325-408: Is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part based on the placement of bases, and the outfield is where dimensions can vary widely from ballpark to ballpark. A larger ballpark may also be called a baseball stadium because it shares characteristics of other stadiums . A baseball field can be referred to as
3458-476: Is harder, and thus a ball hit on the ground moves faster and bounces higher. This, coupled with the usually dull white or gray roofs that could camouflage a fly ball, causing what Twins fans called a "dome-field advantage". A park of note is Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The park was designed with a large tower that loomed over top. Cables came down from the top of the tower to connect to the large oval center of
3591-417: Is little consistency in the choice between "Field" and "Park". For example, Houston's Minute Maid Park was originally named "Enron Field". Seating area design of stadiums is affected by many variables, including required capacity, audience access, and road traffic. Early ballparks like Elysian Fields were a far distance from the city center. Each game was an event, and fans traveled by public transit to watch
3724-423: Is little space between the field and the street beyond. Some in-play scoreboards and high fences reached 50 to 60 feet (18 m), whereas a few outfields were even lined with hedges rather than normal fences or walls. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome , when set up for baseball, had a 23-foot (7.0 m) right field "fence" that was actually a relatively thin blue plastic sheet covering folded up football seats. It
3857-431: Is made higher in certain areas to compensate for close proximity to the batter. In many parks, the field is surrounded by an area roughly 10 feet (3.0 m) wide made of dirt or rubberized track surface called a " warning track ". In the 1937 refurbishment of the original Yankee Stadium , a running track that ran the perimeter of the field was incorporated into the field of play as the first warning track. MLB formalized
3990-437: Is the catcher's box, where the catcher and the home plate umpire stand. Next to the first and third base are two coaches' boxes, where the first and third base coaches guide the baserunners, generally with gestures or shouts. As the baserunner faces away from the outfield when running from second base to third, they cannot see where the ball is and must look to the third base coach on whether to run, stop, or slide. Farther from
4123-537: The 1971 season, then relocated to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and became the Texas Rangers in 1972 . †= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used the stadium when their permanent stadium was unable to be used as a result of damage. Baseball park A ballpark , or baseball park , is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field
Griffith Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue
4256-495: The Civil War . The neighborhood was home to many black working-class people, but also a class of young professional African-American "elites" including Langston Hughes . Duke Ellington worked at Griffith selling hot dogs during his childhood. Griffith Stadium was not officially segregated, although an unofficial policy early after the 1920s expansion was that blacks sat in the right field pavilion. Calvin Griffith claimed that
4389-629: The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis , which instead of a rigid masonry roof was covered by inflatable fiberglass sheeting, held up by air pressure. A drawback to this design, at least in Minnesota's severe winter climate, was revealed when the dome collapsed three times in its first three years of operation due to accumulated snow. The Tokyo Dome has a similar roof; due to Tokyo's considerably milder winter climate, that stadium has not had
4522-571: The Kingdome , whose formal name was "King County Domed Stadium", and the Metrodome, for which the Minneapolis highway signs directed the driver to "Metrodome Stadium". The retro era of the 1990s and early 2000s saw some venues return to using "park" in a stadium's name, even in domed structures such as T-Mobile Park and American Family Field (which opened with the name Miller Park). There
4655-618: The Oakland Coliseum being the last one in use. The Athletics moved out of Oakland Coliseum in 2024 and have temporairy moves into West Sacramento 's Sutter Health Park for three seasons as a new dedicated facility of their own is built in Las Vegas. Their former co-tenants, the NFL Oakland Raiders , moved to Las Vegas in 2020 & into Allegiant Stadium . Note: To reduce redundancy, this table does not list
4788-405: The Texas Rangers ). Griffith Stadium hosted numerous football events before the Redskins moved there in 1937. It was the home of Georgetown Hoyas football from 1921 until 1950, George Washington Colonials football from 1930 to 1960, and Maryland Terrapins football in 1948. The stadium was the host of an annual Thanksgiving Day game between Howard and Lincoln Universities, which was one of
4921-458: The second Yankee Stadium , built 2009, used the same dimensions as the original Yankee Stadium . The heights of the fences can also vary greatly, the most famous example being the 37-foot (11 m)-high Green Monster in Fenway Park 's left field. Such tall fences are often used to stop easy home runs in a section of the ballpark where the distances from home are shorter, or where there
5054-840: The 1980s most electronic scoreboards were electro-mechanical. They contained relays or stepping switches controlling digits consisting of incandescent light bulbs . Beginning in the 1980s, advances in solid state electronics permitted major improvements in scoreboard technology. High power semiconductors such as thyristors and transistors replaced mechanical relays , light-emitting diodes first replaced light bulbs for indoor scoreboards and then, as their brightness increased, outdoor scoreboards. Light-emitting diodes last many times as long as light bulbs , are not subject to breakage, and are much more efficient at converting electrical energy to light. The newest light emitting diodes can last up to 100,000 hours before having to be replaced. Advances in large-scale integrated circuits permitted
5187-684: The Chicago Bears ( ISBN 0671628852 ), George Preston Marshall , the owner of the Redskins, gave his team a pre-game pep talk that consisted simply of writing "73–0" on the chalkboard. During the Redskins' game on the afternoon of December 7, 1941, against the Philadelphia Eagles , an announcement was made over Griffith Stadium's public-address system commanding all of the American generals and admirals there to report to their duty stations. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
5320-409: The Metrodome's snow-related issues. Scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used a mechanical clock and numeral cards to display the score. When a point was made, a person would put
5453-410: The Redskins enjoyed only one winning record at home (4–2 in 1956) during their final 13 seasons at Griffith, they still finished with an 81-58-6 overall record at the stadium over 24 seasons. Griffith Stadium was home to many events other than baseball and football. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League played games there during the league's existence. Over 180 boxing matches were held at
Griffith Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue
5586-516: The United States Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for the hard of hearing, and to allow distracted spectators to read what had been said. Most major sports facilities will use a video board and display graphics and fun videos relating to what is happening in the game. For instance, a home run may be depicted by an animation of a ball flying out to space. These animations are usually high in detail and are customized for
5719-511: The appropriate digits on a hook. Most modern scoreboards use electromechanical or electronic means of displaying the score. In these, digits are often composed of large dot-matrix or seven-segment displays made of incandescent bulbs , light-emitting diodes , or electromechanical flip segments. An official or neutral person will operate the scoreboard, using a control panel . In both the United States and Canadian football codes,
5852-492: The ballpark's final season, 1961. By 1961, the left-field bleachers had been removed. Every president of the United States from William Howard Taft to John F. Kennedy threw a ceremonial first pitch at least once at Griffith. The Senators even constructed a special presidential box near the first-base dugout for the annual ritual. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a good friend of Clark Griffith, and had attended games at
5985-512: The ballpark, due in large part to the St. Louis Browns ' move to Baltimore in 1954, which meant Baltimoreans no longer had to come to Washington to see games. Because of this, Calvin Griffith developed an interest in moving the Senators to Minnesota . Attendance may not have been the sole reason Griffith wanted to move, however; in a speech to Minnesota businessmen in the 1970s, Griffith said, "You only have 15,000 blacks here". The American League opposed
6118-405: The ballpark, including fights by Joe Louis . On July 23, 1942, a "battle of music" was held at Griffith between musicians Louis Armstrong and Charlie Barnet . Some of the 18,000 fans in attendance began to dance on the field in front of the bandstand. Spectators who remained in their seats complained that they could not see. When the police attempted to control the situation by stopping the music,
6251-429: The bases: an urban location, with plenty of parking and public transportation available. The first professional baseball venues were large wooden ballparks with seats mounted on wood platforms. Although known for being constructed out of wood, they featured iron columns for better support. Some included one tier of inclined seating, topped with either a flat roof or, in some instances, a small upper tier. The outfield
6384-826: The constraints of actual city blocks, often resulting in significantly asymmetrical outfield dimensions and large outfield walls to prevent easy home runs. Notable examples included League Park in Cleveland, which had a 40-foot (12 m)-tall wall in right field, and the Green Monster , the 37-foot (11 m)-tall left field wall at Fenway Park in Boston. Notable exceptions include Shibe Park and Comiskey Park , which were built on rectangular city blocks that were large enough to accommodate symmetrical left and right fields. Other sports, such as soccer and football , were often played at these sites (Yankee Stadium, for example,
6517-435: The current stoppage time is usually held up by one of the match officials towards the end of the first and second half. The same board is also used to denote the jersey numbers of players coming in and leaving the game during a substitution , with the substitute's number appearing in green, while the leaving player is denoted in red. Some amateur and youth levels will have the clock count down. Some American venues will use
6650-509: The earliest baseball stadiums that incorporated this type of design was Cleveland Stadium (built 1932), which featured an oval grandstand that was more friendly to goal-centered sports like football. A park built to suit all sports well, which was co-owned by the teams or the city, seemed advantageous to all, especially because it was less expensive to maintain one stadium rather than two. Some parks that were originally built for one sport were renovated to accommodate multiple sports. The shape of
6783-487: The early 1920s and 1930s, the Senators teams that played at Griffith Stadium were legendarily bad. The hapless Washington team became the butt of a well-known vaudeville joke: "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League", a twist on the famous Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee eulogy of George Washington : "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" (a similar phrasing
SECTION 50
#17327721466646916-518: The early ballparks. With the beginnings of professional baseball, the ballfield became part of a complex including fixed spectator seating areas, and an enclosure to restrict access to paying customers, as with a fairgrounds. The name "Grounds" began to be attached to ballparks, starting with the Union Grounds in 1862. The suffixes "Field" and "Park" were still used, but many professional ballparks were "Grounds". The last major league "Grounds"
7049-410: The elements. Besides the drawbacks of the cantilever design, there were other issues with these parks. With few exceptions, seating was angled to face the center of the field of play, rather than home plate. The furthest seats in these parks were 500 feet (150 m) or more from the plate. The capacities of these stadiums were larger than previous baseball stadiums. Typical game attendance did not fill
7182-548: The entire American League . Babe Ruth hit near-500-foot drives over the center field and right-center field walls on consecutive days in May 1921. In May 1949, Cleveland Indians outfielder Larry Doby smacked the then-longest home run ever hit at the stadium over the right-center field wall and onto a rooftop well outside the ballpark. The shot was reported to have traveled over 500 feet (150 m), and Doby called it "the longest homer I've ever hit". On April 17, 1953, Mantle hit
7315-497: The fans had difficulty seeing over the football benches. This was evident in the movable seating sections in RFK Stadium. The first ten rows of the football configuration were practically at field level, and fans in those sections often stood up on their seats to get a better view. Other stadiums overcame this simply by covering those seats, not bothering to sell them. Despite being cost-effective, these problems eventually caused
7448-453: The field. Like its English relative, cricket , there is significant flexibility in the shape and size of the rest of the playing area. Baseball leagues may specify a minimum distance from home plate to the outfield fences. Generally, the higher the skill level, the deeper the minimum dimensions must be, to prevent an excess of home runs. In the major leagues, a rule was passed in 1958 that compelled any new fields built after that point to have
7581-642: The first base line. The exceptional distance from home to the left-field area allowed plenty of room for the football field. The Redskins, previously based in Boston and named for the Boston Braves, moved their home to D.C. in time for the 1937 season. As Boston, they had won their division in 1936 and continued their winning ways in Washington, capturing their first NFL championship in that first season. They continued as perennial contenders all through
7714-601: The first indoor sports stadium ever built, was built to escape the hot and very humid climate of Houston and the Kingdome was built to escape Seattle's constant fall and winter rains. In Japan, domed stadiums were built to escape frequently rainy climates, as well as extreme snowfall in Sapporo. There is little to no natural light in these parks, necessitating the use of one of the most distinguishing aspects of an indoor park: artificial turf. While technology now allows for grass to be used in indoor venues (see Forsyth Barr Stadium ,
7847-399: The foul poles and did not completely enclose the field. Plans were made to enclose the grandstand and build a dome, but engineers discovered that the structure could not handle the load of the proposed dome. Thus, the area behind the outfield fence remained open. One major innovation of the multi-purpose parks was the cantilevered upper deck. In earlier ballparks, the columns used to support
7980-426: The game. With the growth of professional leagues, and consequent growth in the quantity of games, each game became less of an event, and fan convenience became more important. Many professional ballparks were built either near the city center, or in working-class neighborhoods, based on the expected economic level of the average fan. Consequently, the classic ballparks typically had little space for automobiles, as it
8113-415: The grandstand surround the entire field. This area could contain inexpensive bleacher seats, smaller grandstands, or simply inclined seating. In local ballparks, there are often simply a set or two of aluminum bleachers on the first-base and third-base sides. Distinctive from "goal games" such as football and basketball , which have fixed-size playing areas, the infield is the only rigidly laid-out part of
SECTION 60
#17327721466648246-456: The grandstand. After various other small improvements, on August 21, 1923, Griffith announced plans to greatly expand and refurbish the ballpark. Following the trend of ballparks being named for their teams' owners, that August announcement included renaming the venue Clark Griffith Stadium. The stadium, built in 1911, had been hastily constructed and provided minimal seating and other features when compared with other ballparks. The planned expansion
8379-429: The home plate area, aligned with the first and third bases. These are the foul lines or base lines , usually differentiated by referring to them as the first base line, or the third base line. If a ball hit by the batter lands outside of the space between these two lines or rolls out of this space before reaching first or third base, the ball is "foul" (meaning it is dead and the play is over). If it lands between or on
8512-490: The home team will either play a recording of or use a separate goal horn, usually an Airchime, Kahlenberg, or Buell when their team scores. These aren't required, but are rather used as a celebration, and they are often unique to their team and easily identifiable. A notable example would be the recording that the Boston Bruins play which is used by many other teams. In auto racing , the scoreboard typically displays
8645-440: The indoor stadiums of the multi-purpose era in this section. *A baseball-only ballpark converted to a multi-purpose stadium. **A football-only stadium converted to a multi-purpose stadium. ‡ denotes stadium is also a retractable-roof ballpark An important type of ballpark is the indoor park . These parks are covered with a fixed roof, usually a hard concrete dome. The reasons to build indoor parks are varied. The Astrodome ,
8778-401: The infield on either side are the dugouts, where the teams and coaches sit when they're not on the field. They are named such because, at the professional levels, this seating is below the level of the playing field to not block the view from prime spectator seating locations. In amateur parks, the dugouts may be above-ground wooden or CMU structures with seating inside, or simply benches behind
8911-489: The introduction of computer control. This also made it cost effective to send the signals that control the operation of the scoreboard either through the existing AC wires providing power to the scoreboard or through the air. Powerline modems permit the digital control signals to be sent over the AC power lines . The most common method of sending digital data over power lines at rates less than 2400 bits per second
9044-414: The last one, Oriole Park V, burning down in 1944. The earliest ballparks built or rebuilt of reinforced concrete , brick, and steel are now known as the jewel box ballparks or classic parks . Two-tiered grandstands became much more prevalent in this era, as well. The Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, which opened in 1895, was the first to use steel and brick as the primary construction materials and included
9177-430: The leading team is in green. However this technology has yet to be utilized in a game settings as the bylaws of the major basketball sanctioning bodies and many of the high school athletic bodies decree that both scores must display in the same color; the rule came into effect in 1994 after Spectrum Scoreboards introduced an earlier version of the concept. This is used almost exclusively in recreation leagues. For baseball
9310-436: The lines, it is "fair". At the end of the lines are two foul poles, which help the umpires judge whether a ball is fair or foul. These "foul poles" are actually in fair territory, so a ball that hits them on the fly is a home run (if hit on the bounce, it is instead an automatic double). On either side of home plate are the two batter's boxes (left-handed and right-handed.) This is where the batter stands when at bat. Behind home
9443-402: The low right field wall, about 8 feet (2.4 m) inside of it. This also resulted in the unique inward-pointing 90° angle in center field. Both versions of the tall fence had the effect of keeping the neighbors in the adjacent row houses from watching the games for free. Lights were installed for the 1941 season. The Senators played their first home night game on May 28. The right-field fence
9576-518: The lower level. However, because of the supports used, the upper decks could come very close to the field. The two-tiered design was the standard for decades, until the New York Yankees built Yankee Stadium . To accommodate the large crowds Babe Ruth drew, Yankee Stadium was built with three tiers. This became the new standard until some recently built parks reverted to two, including PNC Park in 2001. Most jewel box parks were built to fit
9709-460: The mid-2010s to the current day, the pitch clock , which will become a binding rule in MLB in the 2023 season. This is a separate display, analogous to the play clock in football, and has multiple iterations throughout the stadium for maximum player, coach, and umpire visibility, along with spectators. Outside of timing pitch releases, the pitch clock also displays time remaining before play resumes during
9842-416: The minimum details displayed are the time and score of both teams. A typical high school scoreboard will additionally display the down , the yardage of the line of scrimmage , the yards to go until a first down , the team with the possession (usually signified with the outline of a football in lights next to the possessing team's score) and the quarter. Higher levels will also include play clocks and
9975-531: The minimum display the time left (in North America) or played (in Europe), the number of goals scored by each team as well as any penalties currently being served. Additional information such as shots on goal may be shown on smaller scoreboards located in the arena. Tenths of a second are usually displayed within the last minute of each period. In multipurpose arenas, the penalties being served will appear in
10108-468: The minimum display the time left in the period and both teams' scores. The last minute of each quarter is usually displayed with tenths of a second, which is required in FIBA, NBA (since 1989), and NCAA (since 2001). Most high school scoreboards also include a display of the number of team fouls, the number of the last player to commit a personal foul (with the total number of personal fouls for that player),
10241-664: The most famous examples is the original Yankee Stadium, whose odd-shaped plot of land caused right field to be over 100 feet (30 m) shorter than left, although this difference lessened over time. The rectangular Polo Grounds had extremely short distance down the lines, 258 ft (79 m). to right and 280 ft (85 m). to left. In contrast, the deepest part of center field was nearly 500 ft (150 m). from home plate. Older ballparks, such as Fenway Park , were grandfathered in and allowed to keep their original dimensions. Also, new parks have sometimes received special dispensation to deviate from these rules. For instance,
10374-419: The most popular events during the year, drawing many African-American alumni and fans from the surrounding neighborhoods. One major reason for the stadium's early-1920s expansion was that Clark Griffith had envisioned the stadium hosting the annual Army–Navy Game , played every December. Temporary seats were often placed in right field for football games at Griffith, with the gridiron stretching from left field to
10507-466: The multi-purpose panels, used for player statistics in basketball, with shots on goal in the same position as team fouls for basketball. In some arenas the sideboards of the hockey rink feature three or four LED displays the size of one advertising hoarding which will show scoring information and promotional messages, though their limited visibility makes them rarely used. A horn or buzzer must be used to signal end of timeouts or period. In most games,
10640-484: The number of time outs left for each team. American football scoreboards may include a horn to signal the end of a quarter, but they are not used in larger venues. In those cases, the referee or public address announcer denotes the termination of a quarter vocally via the PA system; formerly quarter ends were denoted with the firing of a starting pistol in the era before digital timing. A basketball scoreboard will at
10773-464: The number of hits and errors are often indicated. The scores for the meet, swimmer by lane, and their current placing, along with their race times are displayed on this type of board. The time display is most often in hundredths of a second, though thousandths may also be utilized. Wrestling scoreboards will display the team scores, the current match time, the match score, and the weight class. Some scoreboards may also display riding time. Prior to
10906-428: The old Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., part of center field had to be built around a cluster of apartment houses and the result was a rather large angular indentation in the left-center field fence. Now, these variations are mostly influenced by the specifications and whims of the designers. New "retro" parks, which try to recapture the feel of the jewel box parks, are often designed to have these quirks. Baseball
11039-596: The only known amateur baseball player believed to hit a ball completely out of Washington's Griffith Stadium. The stadium was still called Griffith Stadium in 1961, even though team owner Calvin Griffith had moved the original Senators club to the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis-St. Paul (becoming the Minnesota Twins ), to be replaced in Washington by a new expansion team , also called the Senators (now
11172-552: The parks generally depended on the original use. Ballparks that were renovated to accommodate football, like Candlestick Park and Anaheim Stadium , were usually asymmetrically shaped. Football stadiums that were renovated to accommodate baseball, like Sun Life Stadium and Mile High Stadium , were usually of a rectangular shape, though Mile High actually started its life in 1948 as a Minor League Baseball park known as Bears Stadium. Parks that were built to serve both were usually circular and completely enclosed on all sides. These were
11305-495: The parks that gained multi-purpose parks the reputation as bland cookie-cutter structures. The first of these parks was DC Stadium (renamed RFK Stadium in 1969) in the District of Columbia . RFK is unique in that it hosted two different baseball teams , and that it was the first to originally be intended for multiple sports. A notable variant among the cookie-cutter stadia was Shea Stadium . Its grandstand extended just beyond
11438-451: The parks to become unfashionable. The multi-purpose architecture reached a climax when Toronto's SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) opened in 1989. It had state-of-the-art amenities including a retractable roof, hotel, and a restaurant behind the outfield from where patrons could view the games. Rogers Centre was renovated into a baseball only stadium from 2022 to 2024. There are no more purely open-air multi-purpose parks still in use today, with
11571-480: The period, and indicators of which team is in the team foul penalty situation, and possession (with a separate possession arrow display at half-court; not used in the NBA). College basketball scoreboards include shot clocks and the number of time-outs left for each team, with some high school state athletics bodies also beginning to adopt shot clocks to remove end of game stalling . Larger scoreboards include statistics on
11704-447: The plate, and right field was never less than 320 feet. The distant fences were no problem for sluggers like Josh Gibson , Mickey Mantle , and the Senators' own youngster Harmon Killebrew . There have been only three reported instances of a player hitting a home run over the left field bleachers: Mantle once and Gibson twice. Clark Griffith once said that Gibson hit more home runs into Griffith Stadium's distant left-field bleachers than
11837-406: The player on the court, number of fouls, and points scored in the game. The team fouls are usually placed in the same position as shots on goal in hockey games. In some university arenas, the scorer's table, which has traditionally been used for displaying physically scrolling advertising boards along its face, may also feature either a traditional mechanical scoreboard, or a scoreboard display within
11970-402: The players in the game. Basketball scoreboards must include a horn or buzzer to signal the end of a period, fouls, and substitutions; the shot clocks have their own buzzer system sounding a different octave to avert any confusion with the game clock system. In some multipurpose venues where ice hockey and basketball are played, the scoreboard unit which shows penalties will be used to display
12103-435: The playing field running toward the north or east or some direction between. Major League Baseball Rule 1.04 states that it is "desirable" (but not required) that the central axis run east-northeast (about 22 degrees north of east). This is to prevent the setting sun from being in the batter's eyes. In practice, major league parks vary up to about 90 degrees from east-northeast in either direction, but none face west, except for
12236-412: The quaint, "retro" look of Camden Yards, with its irregular measurements, proved to be very popular, along with a traditionalist backlash against the symmetrical, multi-purpose, "cookie-cutter" stadiums. Since the opening of Camden Yards, many other "retro" stadiums have been built, each with asymmetrical fences. These distances vary from park to park, and can even change drastically in the same park. One of
12369-401: The roof. This oval center was supposed to be lifted by the cables, opening the park up if the weather was pleasant. However, the mechanism never worked correctly, and what was supposed to be a retractable roof was initially not used, then used for only a short period of time, and later replaced with a permanently fixed roof, making the stadium a strictly indoor facility. Another notable park was
12502-413: The running order of the race, and number of laps completed. Some more complex boards scroll statistics such as average speed, laps behind, and timing reports. All codes of rugby football have a game clock, the number of tries, penalties, field goals and conversions listed. In track and field there is usually an elapsed time display. Sometimes the team scores are displayed. Often in higher levels there
12635-429: The scoreboard listing the radar gun reading of the last pitch thrown in miles per hour. Almost all Major League facilities have a video board as a scoreboard or a matrix display. Usually these scoreboards are controlled via programs that keep statistics and not just the score. Usually the official scorer will operate this program. Then all the information the official scorer will enter, will automatically be made output to
12768-439: The scoreboard will at the minimum show both team scores, as well as the current inning . In addition the number of balls, strikes and outs is represented by digits or individual lights. Larger scoreboards offer an inning -by-inning breakdown of the scores, hits, errors, pitch count and the time of day, along with pitch clocks for leagues which mandate that rule. There may also be another display either separate or combined with
12901-453: The scoreboard, include Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago . In some stadiums since 2005, LED boards which are the full height of the outfield wall have been installed to either replace a manual scoreboard or enhance an existing wall, are considered in play, and are durably constructed to withstand the impacts of fielders colliding with the wall, along with the impact of
13034-460: The scoreboard. Currently, the largest scoreboards are located at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri's Kauffman Stadium . There is also a very large scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park , in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Manually operated scoreboards are still found frequently in baseball, particularly at older venues. Well-known examples of manual scoreboards, using numbers painted on metal sheets hung by people working inside
13167-548: The segregated seats were a result of "colored preachers ... asking Mr. Griffith to put aside a section for the black people." Shortly after the end of World War I , after a report that several white women had been raped by a black man, a large group of whites seeking revenge marched toward the Shaw neighborhood. However, a conflict was avoided after these men came upon "a group of two thousand armed black men", who had been prepared and gotten their weapons at Griffith Stadium, chosen as
13300-412: The signal over a wide portion of the radio spectrum . This helps the signal resist interference which is usually confined to a narrow frequency band . Within the last few years most major league, professional and major college venues also include smaller displays featuring closed captioning of announcements from the public address system and advertisements displayed on the scoreboards to comply with
13433-516: The stadium since his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the 1910s. When FDR returned to Washington in 1933 as president, Griffith visited the White House early every season to give Roosevelt season passes; he also constructed a special ramp at the ballpark that accommodated the president's special mobility needs after his bout with polio in 1921. On Opening Day 1941, Roosevelt stood up in
13566-474: The stadium to see baseball's rising stars from opposing teams; when the New York Yankees came to Washington, the chance to see Babe Ruth brought large crowds to the ballpark. Clark Griffith took advantage of this trend by making small improvements in the stadium in 1920 and 1921. These improvements included changing the main entrance of the park from Georgia Avenue to a refurbished one on Florida Avenue and spending $ 3,200 to build an office for himself beneath
13699-428: The stadium's presidential box on the arm of a military aide, and threw out the first pitch. In 1942, Griffith urged Roosevelt to keep baseball going during the war, and took credit for doing so after Roosevelt's initial "Green Light letter", which allowed baseball to continue. For most of its existence, Griffith Stadium was known as a pitcher's park. For instance, the left-field foul line was never less than 350 feet from
13832-401: The stadiums. Due to the rectangular shape needed for football or soccer, outfield dimensions were generally symmetrical, and even seats at field level down the lines could be far from the action. Multi-purpose stadiums also posed issues for their non-baseball tenants. The "cookie-cutters" with swiveling, field-level sections proved problematic. Because the front rows were too close to the field,
13965-468: The stands. In Citi Field and Oracle Park , part of the right field fence juts unevenly into the outfield as if the builders were trying to create an unpredictable ricochet effect for balls hit against it. Some "retro" parks, such as Globe Life Park in Arlington , throw in a sudden and small inward turn (often referred to as a jog) just to give a little quirkiness to the design. Milwaukee's Miller Park
14098-417: The suburbs and bought cars, the lack of parking became an important issue. Some ballparks remedied this problem through the construction of parking garages in the vicinity, or building new ballparks with ample parking. Others built ballparks in the suburbs, typically with large parking areas. The ballpark/stadium thus became an "island" in an "ocean" of parking space. The modern "retro" trend seeks to cover all
14231-462: The two. At that point the wooden left-field bleachers were also replaced by a large concrete deck that ran from the foul pole across left field and into center field. The first-base pavilion remained single-decked. The first attempt at a high wall was constructed across right field. By the time of the 1925 World Series the right field pavilion had also been double-decked, and the angling right field wall and its scoreboard were reconstructed to align with
14364-421: The unwillingness of the owners of the tree and houses to sell to the Senators' owners during construction of the stadium. The right-field fence angled away from the infield sharply, which, in addition to a 30-foot (9 m) fence (to block the view from surrounding buildings) about 8 feet (2.4 m) inside the lower, outer wall, meant that relatively few home runs were hit at the stadium. The field's orientation
14497-427: The upper decks obstructed the view from some seats in the lower deck. In the new design, the upper decks were extended upwards and the columns were removed. However, even though the extension counterbalanced some of the weight, the upper decks could no longer extend as close to the field and had to be moved back. Also, the roofs could no longer be as large, and often only covered the top 15 or so rows. This exposed fans to
14630-548: The war years. Griffith Stadium was the location of 1940 and 1942 NFL Championship Games. The 1940 game was the 73–0 triumph by the Chicago Bears over the Redskins, the highest-scoring shutout game in the history of the NFL. The Championship Game in 1942 was essentially a rematch, with nearly the same players, and this time the Redskins upset the previously undefeated Bears, 14–6. According to Richard Whittingham's history of
14763-434: The warning track as a requirement in 1949. Beyond the outfield fence in professional parks is an area called the batter's eye . To ensure the batter can see the white ball, the batter's eye contains no seating and is darker in color. The batter's eye area can be anything from a dark wall to a grassy slope. Most major league ballparks are oriented with the central axis (home plate through second base through center field) of
14896-917: The wooden stands aged and dried. Many parks caught fire, and some were leveled completely. This problem, along with the popularization of baseball and expectations for long-term use of the parks were major factors that drove the transition to the new standard materials for ballparks: steel and concrete. Some famous wooden parks, such as the Polo Grounds III in New York and National League Park in Philadelphia, burned and were rebuilt with fire-resistant materials (Polo Grounds IV and Baker Bowl). Others were simply abandoned in favor of new structures built elsewhere. These new fire-resistant parks often lasted for many decades, and (retrospectively) came to be known as "jewel boxes". There are no more professional ballparks in existence left with this architectural trend, with
15029-554: Was also home to the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) for 24 seasons, from the time they transferred from Boston in 1937 through the 1960 season. The ballpark was demolished in 1965; the site is now occupied by Howard University Hospital . On March 17, 1911, Boundary Field, also known as National Park and American League Park (II), was destroyed by a fire started by
15162-399: Was bordered by tall walls or fences covered in advertisements, much like today's minor league parks. These advertisements were sometimes fronted with bleacher seats, or "bleaching boards". Wood, while prone to decomposition, was a relatively inexpensive material. However, the use of wood as the primary material presented a major problem, especially as baseball continued to thrive. Over time,
15295-560: Was demolished in 1965. Nearly a thousand of the stadium's seats were moved to Tinker Field in Orlando, Florida , at that time the spring training home of the Senators/Twins, where they remained until 2015 when that stadium was also demolished. The Howard University Hospital now occupies the site. A marker has been placed in the building designating the location of home plate. The expansion Senators remained in Washington through
15428-782: Was designed to accommodate football). In contrast to the later multi-purpose parks, the seats were generally angled in a configuration suitable for baseball. The "retro" ballparks built in the 1990s and beyond are an attempt to capture the feel of the jewel box parks. The only jewel box parks still used by Major League Baseball are Fenway Park and Wrigley Field . From the 1960s until the arrival of retro parks in 1992, baseball built many multi-purpose ballparks . Also derisively known as "concrete donuts", "cookie-cutters", or "giant ashtrays", they were usually tall and circular or square structures made entirely of, usually bare, reinforced concrete. The parks were built to hold baseball, but also were able to host other sports, such as football and soccer. One of
15561-454: Was designed, with the help of former player Robin Yount , to promote extra base hits . Originally (mostly in the old jewel box parks) these variations resulted from the shape of the property where the park was constructed. If there was a street beyond left field, the distance to the left field fence would be shorter, and if the distance was too short, the fence would be higher. For example, in
15694-441: Was expected that most fans would take mass transit to the games, a situation that still prevails at Boston's Fenway Park and Chicago's Wrigley Field , for example. Some early ballparks, such as Brooklyn's Eastern Park , were abandoned because the trolley lines did not go out far enough and the team was not performing well enough for people to tolerate the inconvenience. As fans became more affluent, and especially as they moved to
15827-447: Was further changed in 2005 by permitting a new Daktronics see-through model (one on top of the basket, one on the end of the basket unit) that has gained popularity as many OES and Daktronics venues have adopted the system. Since 2016 , see-through clocks made by Tissot are what the NBA use for all venues. Daktronics has introduced a technology called ColorSmart, which denotes the trailing team's score numbers with red lighting, while
15960-676: Was home to the American League Senators from 1911 through 1960 , and to an expansion team of the same name for their first season in 1961 . The venue hosted the All-Star Game in 1937 and 1956 and World Series games in 1924 , 1925 , and 1933 . It served as home for the Negro league Homestead Grays during the 1940s, when it hosted the Negro World Series in 1943 and 1944 . Griffith
16093-509: Was in play, as was the National Bohemian beer sign, shaped like a bottle, 56 feet (17 m) above the playing field. At one point in his youth, future MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was the operator of the scoreboard. The outfield seats (in fair territory) in left and center field butted up against 5th Street. The football field ran along the third base line. In the early 1920s, a trend began of fans flocking in great numbers to
16226-425: Was not completed until July 24, 1911. The stadium was laid out at an angle within its block in the Washington street grid. Thus it was over 400 feet (120 m) down the left field line (east) to the bleachers (though this distance was shortened in later years by the construction of an inner fence). The fence also took an unusual right-angled jut into right-center field where a large tree and five houses stood, due to
16359-533: Was not explicitly announced over the P.A. system; with no small, portable radios available in the 1940s, that left thousands of other spectators to be among the last Americans to learn of the Japanese attack. The Redskins won that game, their last game of the 1941 season , 20–14. They finished the season with a record of six wins and five losses, in third place in the NFL Eastern Division. Although
16492-408: Was often called a "baggie" or "Hefty bag". Some ballparks have irregularly shaped fences. Ballparks may have round swooping fences or rigidly angled fences, or possibly a significant change in direction or irregular angle. For example, the center field stands and the left field stands at Fenway Park meet at an uneven angle, creating an indentation (called "the triangle") that angles sharply back into
16625-403: Was once used for the St. Louis Browns : "First in shoes , first in booze , and last in the American League.") Only one Washington, D.C., public high school baseball player ever hit a home run over the 30-foot-high "green monster–like" right field wall at Griffith Stadium—Bill Harrison of Coolidge High School in 1952. In 1915, Joseph P. Derby hit a home run off the right field wall, and became
16758-410: Was originally covered in various billboard advertisements, but in later years was painted a solid dark green. A bullpen area was built in right center field behind a short fence, providing a new target for left-handed batters. In the mid-1950s, an inner fence was erected across left and center field, to reduce the home run distances by 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m). This inner fence stayed in place through
16891-455: Was originally played in open fields or public parks. The genesis of modern baseball is conventionally connected with Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey , a large public park where the businessmen of New York City gathered from time to time to play organized baseball games and cricket matches, starting around the mid-1840s. The name "Field" or "Park" was typically attached to the names of
17024-439: Was played on September 21, 1961, before a crowd of only 1,498 fans. Griffith Stadium now had no tenants, and sat empty for years, deteriorating, with the field taking on the appearance of a prairie. In 1962, it was leased to Howard University which used it for student parking. In 1963, Congress authorized money for the purchase and clearing of the stadium and in 1964 it sold to Howard University for about $ 1.5 million. The ballpark
17157-475: Was reported by The Washington Post : "Day and night the chanting of the negro laborers has been heard in the vicinity, like Aladdin's palace, the structure rose as if by magic." Opening Day 1911, the grandstand was sufficiently stable to host President William Howard Taft and the Boston Red Sox , as well as 16,000 fans. Construction of Griffith Stadium continued while the Senators were on the road, and
17290-416: Was reported to cost $ 100,000, and expanded the seating capacity to "about 35,000", a number that wound up being 32,000. The new seating came from the complete rebuilding of the left-field grandstand into a double-decked tier. The new upper section was wider than the old, resulting in a roofline that was considerably higher than the roof of the main grandstand, leaving a visible 15-foot (4.6 m) gap between
17423-558: Was the Polo Grounds in New York City, which was razed in 1964. The term " stadium " has been used since ancient times, typically for a running track and its seating area. As college football gained in popularity, the smaller college playing fields and running tracks (which also frequently had the suffix "Field") gave way to large stadiums, many of them built during the sport's "boom" of the 1920s. Major league baseball enjoyed
17556-503: Was unorthodox, as center field was east-southeast of home plate, which made for difficult visibility for the fielders in the late afternoon sun; recommended alignment is east-northeast. The elevation of the natural grass playing field was approximately 100 feet (30 m) above sea level . The Senators' groundskeepers maintained a downhill slope from home plate to first base, supposedly to help accelerate slow Washington batters. However, Griffith's groundskeepers were still adept at keeping
17689-491: Was used for almost every new major league venue, and was sometimes applied to the old ones, such as Shibe Park , which was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1954. The suffix "Dome" was also used for the indoor stadiums constructed from the 1960s onward. The official names of those arenas also often included the word "Stadium", such as the Houston Astrodome , whose formal name was "Harris County Domed Stadium" in 1965;
#663336