List of jewel box baseball parks
Jewel Box is a term sometimes used in reference to the group of Major League Baseball ballparks built (or re-built) primarily between 1909 and 1915, after the wooden ballpark era and before the modern multipurpose stadium era. The "retro" ballparks constructed in the 1990s were an attempt to capture, to some degree, the perceived intimacy and baseball-focus of these parks.
Jewel Box Ballparks by City
Here is a list of the Jewel Box ballparks, their dates of use as a Major League Baseball facility^ (see note below), and some indication of their remnants, if known:
Boston
Brooklyn
- Ebbets Field (1913–1957) – Plaque marking its location. Apartment building on site.
Chicago
Cincinnati
- Crosley Field (1912-mid 1970) – Plaque and some old grandstand chair seats. Office park on site.
Cleveland
- League Park (1910–1946) – Ticket office, part of grandstand wall, and ballfield. (Remnant of first-base grandstand was razed ca. 2005).
Detroit
- Tiger Stadium (1912–1999) – Abandoned for MLB but stood for nearly nine years. Demolition began summer 2008. After plans for saving the field and the dugout-to-dugout portion of the stands fell through in June 2009, demolition continued, and was completed at the end of the year.
New York
- Polo Grounds (mid 1911–1957, 1962–1963) – Plaque marking its location, along with parts of old stairway down from Speedway. Apartment building on site.
- Yankee Stadium (1923–1973, 1976–2008; significantly altered 1974–1975) – Demolition completed in 2010 for public parkland.
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
- Forbes Field (mid 1909-mid 1970) – Parts of outfield walls and the flagpole exist at the original site; another part of the outfield wall now stands at the Pirates' current home of PNC Park; and home plate is preserved under lucite in Posvar Hall, a University of Pittsburgh academic building standing on most of the stadium site. (The original location of home plate is in a women's restroom at Posvar Hall; the preserved home plate was moved so that all visitors could view it.)
St. Louis
- Sportsman's Park (1909-early 1966) – Ballfield as part of Herbert Hoover Boys' Club on site.
Washington
^Unless otherwise noted, first and last years listed include entire baseball season in that year.
Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, which opened in 1895 (closed mid-1938) and was the first park to be built with steel and brick rather than wood as its primary materials, is considered a forerunner of the "Jewel Box" ballparks.
Night Baseball – Lights Added
Jewel Box Parks were used during the era that saw the Major Leagues begin playing games at night. Below is a list of when each park had lights installed.
Park |
year lights were installed |
Crosley Field |
1935 |
Ebbets Field |
1938 |
Connie Mack Stadium |
1939 |
Comiskey Park |
1939 |
Polo Grounds |
1940 |
Sportsman's Park |
1940 |
Forbes Field |
1940 |
Griffith Stadium |
1941 |
Braves Field |
1946 |
Yankee Stadium |
1946 |
Fenway Park |
1946 |
Tiger Stadium |
1948 |
Wrigley Field |
1988 |
League Park |
never |
The Cleveland Indians also played home games at Cleveland Stadium starting in 1932. They played their first night game at Cleveland Stadium in 1939.
Sources
- Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry
- Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson
- Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter
- There are also various internet sites that contain photos of the remnants