Baker Bowl

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Baker Bowl
The Cigar Box, The Band Box

Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now demolished)
Opened	April 30, 1887
Closed	June 30, 1938
Demolished	1950
Owner	Philadelphia Phillies
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$80,000 USD
Architect	Al Reach
Former names
Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds (1887-1895) National League Park (1895-1913, officially thereafter)
Tenants
Philadelphia Phillies (MLB) (1887-1938) Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) (1933-1935)
Capacity
20,000 (1929)
Dimensions
Left Field - 341 ft Center Field - 408 ft Right-Center - 300 ft Right Field - 280 ft

Baker Bowl was the popular name of a baseball park that formerly stood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its formal name was National League Park. It was also initially known as Philadelphia Park or Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds.

It was on a small city block bounded by N. Broad St., W. Huntingdon St., N. 15th St. and W. Lehigh Avenue. The ballpark, shoehorned as it was into the Philadelphia city grid, acquired a number of nicknames over the years.

Huntingdon Street Grounds was a nickname for awhile, as it was a side street running behind the first base line that intersected Broad Street, a major thoroughfare.
Baker Bowl, also called Baker Field in the baseball guides, referred to one-time Phillies owner William F. Baker. The use of "Baker Field" was perhaps confusing, since Columbia University's athletic facility in New York City was also called "Baker Field". How it acquired the unique suffix "Bowl" is subject to conjecture. It may have referred to the banked bicycle track that was there for a time, or it may have been derisive.
The Hump referred to a hill in center field covering a partially submerged railroad tunnel in the street beyond right field that extended through into center field.
The Cigar Box and The Band Box referred to the tiny size of the playing field.

The most notable and talked-about feature of Baker Bowl was the right field wall, which was only some 280 feet (85 meters) from home plate, with right-center only 300 feet (91.5 meters) away, and with a wall-and-screen barrier that in its final form was 60 feet (18 meters) high. By comparison, The Green Monster at Fenway Park is 37 feet (11 meters) tall and 310 feet (94 meters) away. The Baker wall was a rather difficult task to surmount. The wll dominated the stadium in much the same way as the Green Monster.

The ballpark was initially built in 1887. At that time the media praised it as state-of-the-art. In that dead-ball era, the outfield was enclosed by a relatively low wall all around. Center field was fairly close, with the railroad tracks running behind it. Later, the tracks were lowered and the field was extended over top of them. Bleachers were built in left field, and over time various extensions were added to the originally low right field wall, resulting in the infamous 60 foot fence.

Its second incarnation, opened in 1895, its upper deck was notable for having the first cantilevered design in a sports stadium and was the first ballpark to be construction primarily from steel and brick.

1 Hosting the Phillies
2 Disasters
3 Legacy
4 Trivia
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] Hosting the Phillies

The fact that the Phillies rarely fielded competitive teams did not help either. During the 51 1/2 seasons the Phillies spent there, they only managed one pennant (1915). While they were occasionally at least respectable in the dead-ball era, once the lively ball was introduced the Phils nearly always finished in last place. During its last two decades, the ballpark became heaven for batters (both home and visiting), whereas having to play half their games there every year became hell for the Phillies' pitching staff. For a number of years, a huge advertising sign on the right field wall read "The Phillies Use Lifebuoy", a popular brand of soap. This led to the oft-reported quip that appended "... and they still stink!" Conventional wisdom ties their failures to Baker Bowl, but they remained cellar-dwellers in their new home as well, which indicates that Baker Bowl was only part of their problem.

For fans of hitting, the park was homer heaven, as well as witnessing a great many extra-base hits off the high wall in right.

The ballpark was abandoned during the middle of the 1938 season, as the Phillies chose to move 5 blocks west on Lehigh, to rent the newer and more spacious Shibe Park from the A's rather than remain at the Baker Bowl. Subsequently, the upper deck was peeled off, and the stadium was used for sports ranging from midget auto racing to ice skating. Its old center field clubhouse served as a piano bar for awhile until it burned. By the late 1940s, all that stood was the four outer walls and a field choked with weeds. What remained of the ballpark was finally demolished in 1950, and the site now features a gas station/convenience store where the center field clubhouse once stood, along with garages and a car wash.

During its tenure, the park also hosted Negro League games, including those of the Hilldale Daisies and Negro League World Series games from 1924-1926. It was during a 1929 exhibition with a Negro League team that Babe Ruth hit two home runs that, according to Judy Johnson, landed about halfway into the rail yards across the street in right.

The Baker Bowl was also the home of the Philadelphia Eagles for three years, becoming one of the first multi-sport stadiums.

[edit] Disasters

Shibe Park (foreground), and Baker Bowl (background)

The original stadium was destroyed by fire on August 6, 1894. Temporary stands were built in time for a game on August 18. It was then fully rebuilt in fireproof materials with a cantilevered upper deck. It also contained a banked bicycle track for awhile, exploiting the cycling craze that caught the nation's fancy in the late 1800s. In terms of pure design, the ballpark was well ahead of its time, but subsequent problems and the thriftiness of the team's owners undermined any apparent positives, as the ballpark soon became decrepit and unsafe.

During a game on August 8, 1903, some carrying-on in 15th Street caught the attention of bleacher fans down the left field line. Many of them ran to the top of the wooden seating area, and the added stress on that section of the bleachers caused it to collapse into the street, killing 12 and injuring 232. This led to more renovation of the stadium and forced the ownership to sell the team.

During a game on May 14, 1927, parts of two sections of the lower deck extension along the right field line collapsed due to rotted shoring timbers, again triggered by an oversized gathering of people, who were seeking shelter from the rain. Miraculously, no one died during the collapse, but one individual did die from heart failure in the subsequent stampede that injured 50.

On both of those catastrophic occasions, the Phils rented from the A's for awhile while repairs were being made to the old structure.

[edit] Legacy

When Baker Bowl was first opened, it was praised as the finest baseball palace in America. By the time it was abandoned, it had been a joke for years. The Chicago Tribune ran a series of articles on baseball parks during the summer of 1937, and the article about Baker Bowl was merciless in its ridicule of this park.

The stadium was rented out for other uses, including rodeos, to earn extra income. After the Phillies moved, the stadium was used for other activities including midget car racing until it was demolished in 1950.

[edit] Trivia

Until the mid-twenties, fieldcare cost were kept to a minimum with three sheep, who grazed on the grass on non-game days.
Babe Ruth played his last major league baseball game in Baker Bowl on May 30, 1935. Coincidentally, Ruth made his first World Series appearance in Baker Bowl in 1915 playing for the Boston Red Sox.