| Buffalo Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Buff Stadium | |
| Full name | Buffalo Stadium |
| Former names | Busch Stadium |
| Location | Houston, Texas |
| Opened | 1928 |
| Closed | 1961 |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $400,000 |
| Capacity | 14,000 |
| Field dimensions | LF 344 CF 440 RF 344 |
| Tenants | |
| Houston Cougars (NCAA) (1947-1961) Houston Buffaloes (Texas League) (1928-1942, 1946-1958) Houston Buffs (American Association) (1959-1961) |
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Buffalo Stadium was a minor league stadium primarily used by the Texas League Houston Buffaloes from 1928 through 1958 (except for 1943 to 1945 because of World War II) and the Houston Buffs of the American Association from 1959 to 1961.[1] The Buffaloes were a farm team of the Major League St. Louis Cardinals and provided many great ballplayers to the Cardinals' success in 1930s and 1940s. The arrival of the National League Houston Colt .45s in 1962 brought an end to minor league baseball in Houston. It also went by the names of Buff Stadium and later Busch Stadium. It was bounded by Leeland Street, St. Bernard Street (present-day Cullen Boulevard), Coyle Street, and Milby Street in the East End.[2] The railroad tracks leading to Union Station, site of the Houston Astros' current ballpark, ran behind the center field wall. Near the University of Houston, the stadium was also home to the Houston Cougars baseball team from the 1940s until the 1960s when it was demolished. It was replaced by what became Finger's Furniture.
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Buffalo Stadium was named after the Buffalo Bayou, which divides Houston. The ballpark was very similar in many different ways to the first stadium of the later Colt .45s. First of all, it favored pitchers, wind blew in from right field, and it was outdoors with high humidity. At the time, it was a state-of-the-art minor league facility at a cost of $40,000,000; there was a Spanish-style tiled-roof entryway with large pictures of buffaloes on the adobe wall and in the late 1950s, ladies' rooms became air-conditioned.[3] The stadium opened on April 11, 1928, the same year as Clark Field in Austin, with a 7-5 win over the Waco Cubs as well as an infamous cushion fight.[4] 12,000 fans attended the first night game at Buffalo Stadium on July 22, 1930. The cost of the lighting structures cost $250,000.
In the early 1960s, Buff Stadium was used as a practice facility for the AFL Houston Oilers. Charlie Hennigan, who was trying to make the team in 1961 as a walk-on, remembers:
| “ | I wanted to play football so bad. I drove down with Charlie Tolar and there were 62 guys in the Oilers camp when we got there. We trained at the University of Houston in an old baseball stadium, Buff Stadium, and some of the guys they had in camp were out of shape; they literally crawled in there. Within two weeks, they had eliminated all but 50 of us. At that time, they only kept 33 ballplayers on the roster. Making the final cut was something everyone wanted to do. | ” |
It was the home of the Negro American League Houston Eagles from 1949 to 1950. Many future Cardinals such as Dizzy and Daffy Dean, Enos Slaughter, Pepper Martin, "Ducky" Medwick, and Tex Carleton and many others played for the Houston Buffs. Two large black buffaloes stood on both sides of the left-center field scoreboard facing each other. Originally, outfield distances were 344 feet (105 m) to left field, 430 feet (130 m) to center field, and 344 feet (105 m) to right field and capacity accommodated 12,000. In 1938, outfield dimensions were slightly modified to 345 feet (105 m) to left, 440 feet (130 m) to center, and 325 feet (99 m) to right while capacity increased to 14,000. The heights of outfield fences varied: left and right field fences were 12 feet (3.7 m) high, left-center scoreboard was 24 feet (7.3 m) high, and the center field fence was 18 feet (5.5 m) high. Before Buff Stadium, the team played at West End Park from 1907 until 1927; Buff Stadium was built on the East End of Houston.[5] Home plate's specific location is commemorated by a plaque in the Houston Sports Hall of Fame, which makes up part of the Fingers Furniture Store.
Before Buffalo Stadium, Texas League games in Houston were played in West End Park, which was built in 1905.[6] West End Park was located at the north corner of Bagby and Jefferson on the southwest edge of downtown.[7]
| Preceded by West End Park |
Home of the Houston Buffaloes 1928 – 1961 |
Succeeded by None |
