 Shibe Park in Philadelphia in the 1960s | |
 | |
| Former names | Shibe Park (1909–1953) Connie Mack Stadium (1953–1976) |
|---|---|
| Location | N 21st St & W Lehigh Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19132 |
| Coordinates | 39°59′46″N 75°9′54″W / 39.99611°N 75.16500°W |
| Capacity | 23,000 (1909–1924)[1] 33,500 (1925)[1] 27,500 (1926–1927)[1] 28,250 (1928)[1] 30,000 (1929)[1] 33,000 (1930–1946)[1] 32,750 (1947)[1] 33,166 (1948–1955)[1] 33,359 (1956–1960)[1] 33,608 (1961–1970)[1] |
| Field size | (1909) Left Field – 360 ft (Opening day), 378 ft (Late 1909) Center Field Corner – 515 ft Right Field – 340 ft (1925) (1950) (1968) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1908 |
| Opened | April 12, 1909 |
| Closed | October 1, 1970 |
| Demolished | 1976 |
| Construction cost | $301,000 ($10.2 million in 2023 dollars) |
| Architect | William Steele & Sons |
| Tenants | |
| Philadelphia Athletics (AL) (1909–1954) Philadelphia Phillies (NL) (1938–1970) Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) (1940, 1942–1957) Philadelphia Stars (NNL) (1943) | |
| Designated | November 1, 1997[2] |
Shibe Park, (pronounced "shy," ending with a hard "b") known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened April 12, 1909, it became baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium.[3] In different eras it was home to "The $100,000 Infield", "The Whiz Kids", and "The 1964 Phold". The venue's two home teams won both the first and last games at the stadium: the Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 8–1 on opening day 1909, while the Phillies beat the Montreal Expos 2–1 on October 1, 1970, in the park's final contest.
Shibe Park stood on the block bounded by Lehigh Avenue, 20th Street, Somerset Street and 21st Street. It was five blocks west, corner-to-corner, from the Baker Bowl, the Phillies' home from 1887 to 1938. The stadium hosted eight World Series and two MLB All-Star Games, in 1943 and 1952, with the latter game holding the distinction of being the only All-Star contest shortened by rain (to five innings). In May 1939, it was the site of the first night game played in the American League.
Phillies Hall-of-Fame centerfielder and longtime broadcaster Richie Ashburn remembered Shibe Park: "It looked like a ballpark. It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball."[4]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Shibe Park Historical Analysis". Baseball Almanac. Archived from the original on September 10, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ^ "PHMC Historical Markers Search" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
- ^ Suehsdorf, A. D. (1978). The Great American Baseball Scrapbook. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-50253-1. p. 33
- ^ Leventhal, Josh (2006). Take Me Out to the Ballpark. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57912-513-4. p. 48. On another, less charitable occasion, Ashburn said the difference between Veterans Stadium and Shibe Park was "like the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit." Kuklick, Bruce (1991). To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04788-X. p. 182.