I grew up just outside of Detroit, MI. That means I’m a lifelong fan of the Detroit Tigers. I was in my freshman year of college when they won the World Series in 1984. They did it in the now demolished Tiger Stadium. That ballpark was opened in 1912. Back then, it was part of a construction boom of ballparks for Major League Baseball.
In a recent article in the sports website, deadspin.com, written by Vince Guerrieri and published on July 8, 2019, titled, “How Concrete and Steel Built Baseball,” Guerrieri answered a few questions that I had never thought to ask, such as: Why was it called Yankee “Stadium” and not Yankee “Field” or “Park”? Why is it called a “Ferris” wheel? Did you know the Cleveland Indians used to be known as the “Naps”?
The article paints a great picture of the new (at the time) construction technologies of concrete and steel and how they replaced wooden structures.
Quoting from Jack Krebs, the director of sports engineering for Osborn Engineering, Vince Guerrieri writes:
“‘Contractors had their own methodology to pouring,’ he says. ‘Some used orthogonal (where the bars meet at right angles) reinforcement, but some used circumferential or radial construction.’”
Krebs also noted that the concrete was cast in place—a task that has since been rendered unnecessary.
“The city stopped on a dime for the opening of League Park. At a banquet the evening of the home opener on April 21, 1910, (a 5-0 Tigers win over the Naps), American League President Ban Johnson heralded the new ballpark as cementing major league baseball in Cleveland, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer said it was ‘the greatest baseball plant in the entire circuit.’”
We’re all connected to this legacy of having built the world as we know it today, whether it was the national highway system or the National Pastime.
Guerrieri maintains that as baseball continued to be the country’s most popular spectator sport through the decade of the 1960s spreading to the northeast, new stadiums were constructed for new and relocating teams.
These newly constructed stadiums were quite different in comparison with the structures they replaced. However, the new stadiums shared a few common characteristics.
“[They were] round, completely enclosed buildings (Krebs calls them the ‘doughnut’ stadiums) that sometimes used new artificial turf and weren’t designed just for baseball.”
Be sure to check out the article.
Another celebration of independence, along with another MLB All Star game, has come and gone. We continue creating a new history with the building of ultra-modern infrastructure and unimaginable stadiums and arenas. Be proud of your place in that history.
I’ll have a dog and a beer, please!