Baker Bowl
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| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Opened | April 30, 1887 |
| Closed | June 20, 1938 |
| Capacity | 22,000 |
| Owned By | Philadelphia Phillies |
| Architect: |
Al Reach |
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Dimensions:
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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 Baseball Grounds.
It was on a small city block bounded by N. Broad St., W. Huntingdon Ave., 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 that crossed 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.
- Perhaps a few unprintable names bestowed by frustrated pitchers.
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 way The Monster dominates Fenway's ambience today, suggests how much more Baker Bowl's wall dominated its own ballfield.
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. Centerfield 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.
The original stadium was destroyed by fire in 1894. It was then 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 of the facility. The ballpark soon became prematurely decrepit, and often unsafe. A section of the balcony collapsed during a 1903 game, killing 12 and injuring 232. This led to more renovation of the stadium and forced the ownership to sell the team. During a May, 1927 game, 10 rows of the upper deck along the right field line collapsed onto the lower deck. Miraculously, no one died in the fall, but one individual did die in the subsequent stampede.
The fact that the Phillies rarely fielded competitive teams during the early 20th century did not help either. For many 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 "The Phillies use Lifebuoy, and they still stink."
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 centerfield clubhouse served as a piano bar for awhile until it burned. What remained of the ballpark was finally demolished in 1950, and a parking lot now stands on the site.
The Philadelphia ballparks in general, and Baker Bowl in particular, seem to be a good metaphor for the life cycle of structures, of the influence of the fortunes and misfortunes of their occupants, and of changes in public tastes and demographics:
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. Perhaps the writers would have been kinder if the Phillies themselves were not such a joke, as per the Lifebuoy sign.
Similarly, when Shibe Park opened, it was regarded as state-of-the-art, and was still a lively and joyous place to watch ball games when the Phillies moved in. But over time, both the neighborhood and the teams deteriorated, and the joy went away. Like Baker Bowl, Shibe Park / Connie Mack Stadium was increasingly criticized in the media for a variety of reasons. At the close of its final game, there was a near-riot by the fans, who stole anything they could get their hands on. After that, the park sat vacant for five years, suffering various indignities including a devastating fire, before the wreckers' ball finally sent it to baseball heaven.
And when Veterans Stadium opened, it was a gleaming new structure. Indeed, all was well while the teams were winning. But 30-plus years later, its occupants were quoted in the media as being all too happy to be rid of it. At least it went down in one big blast of TNT instead of lingering for years as its predecessors had.
Baker Bowl and its successors may serve as a cautionary note to sociologists and sports fans alike. The consistent trend, as reported in the media, is that all of these places were highly praised when they opened, and had become laughingstocks by the time they closed. It remains to be seen whether, in another generation or so, the writers, fans and players will similarly turn on Citizens Bank Park, the new home of the Phillies, and also on the other currently highly-praised 1990s-early-2000s ballparks.
Sources:
- Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry
- Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson
- Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter
- Philadelphia's Old Ballparks, by Rich Westcott
- Contemporary baseball annuals
External Links
- Baker Bowl at Ballparks.com (http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/bakerb.htm)