This was home to the Cincinnati Reds, for a time known as the Cincinnati Redlegs (1953-58) , from 1912 until 1970. The Bengals only played there for a few seasons in the late 30's & early 40's. Crosley Field was originally named Redland Field. In 1934, Powel Crosley purchased the team and the stadium was renamed after him. Crosley Field was the scene of the first night baseball game as the Reds and Phillies played under the lights on May 24, 1935. They played in 5 World Series while there in 1919, 1939, 1940, 1961, and 1970. They won it all in 1919 vs. the "Blacksox" and in 1940 in the middle of 5 WS championships by the Yankees.
The Reds were originally the Red Stockings, but had changed to just Reds by the time they started playing at this park.
Probably the most famous (or notorious) feature of Crosley Field was the fifteen-degree left field incline, called "the terrace". Terraces were not unusual in old ballparks. Most of them were constructed as a way to make up the difference between field level and street level on a sloping block. And most of them were leveled out ("Duffy's Cliff" at Fenway Park is one example) or covered by bleachers (as with Ebbets Field and Wrigley Field, for example).
I love this pic here, not only because it shows the slope, but it is a great shot of a classic scoreboard, and check out the old Mountain Dew ad.
Actually, the Reds weren't "originally the Redlegs." They were originally the Red Stockings, changed to the Reds in 1890, and were briefly known as the Redlegs during the "Red Scare." Team ownership feared the name "Reds" would be associated with communism so they changed the name in 1953. They came to their senses and realized how ridiculous this was and "legs" was dropped from the name in 1958.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I have tried to be as accurate as possible, but I am still learning some of the history. I have updated my post.
DeletePlus the Reds won the 1919 series.
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