Braves Field
Encyclopedia
Braves Field was a baseball
park
that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium was home to the Boston Braves
National League
franchise from 1915–1952, when the team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. Significant portions of the original structure still stand in place, and make up part of the Nickerson Field
sports complex.
Braves Field was also known as The Bee Hive (or National League Park, formally) from 1936–1941, a period during which the owners changed the nickname of the team to the Boston Bees (the renaming of the team and stadium never took hold with the public, and were both eventually dropped). It did host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game
during that span in 1936, however. Braves Field served as one of two homes (with Fenway Park
) of the Boston Bulldogs
of the first American Football League (in 1926
) and the Boston Shamrocks
of the second AFL (in 1936 and 1937). It was also the home of a National Football League
franchise which began in 1932 and also called itself the Boston Braves for one year. The next year, the team moved to Fenway Park and changed its name to the Redskins (which served the dual purpose of sounding like "Red Sox
" and allowing the team to retain its Native American-logoed Braves uniforms). In 1937 the team transferred south to become the Washington Redskins
. With its capacity to hold more fans than Fenway, Braves Field was actually used by the Red Sox in the 1915
and 1916 World Series
.
The owner of the team at the time the stadium was built, James Gaffney, wanted to see the game played in a wide open field conducive to allowing numerous inside-the-park home runs. Thus, the stadium was built in what was, at the time, the outskirts of Boston, in a large rectangular plot, contrasting with the cozy and lopsided block containing Fenway Park. The stands were almost entirely in foul territory, leaving little in the outfield to which players could hit a home run into - with the fences over 400 feet away down the lines and nearly 500 feet to dead center, hitting the ball over the outer fences was all but impossible during the "dead ball" era. A stiff breeze coming in from center field across the Charles River
further lessened any chances of seeing home runs fly out of the park. The only possible target in the outfield was a small bleacher section, which came to be known as The Jury Box after a sportswriter noticed during one slow mid-week game that there were only twelve individuals sitting in the 2,000-seat stand. Ty Cobb
visited the park and commented, "Nobody will ever hit a ball out of this park." The large foul ground area further favored the pitchers.
In fact, it would take 10 years, and a livelier ball, before a batter hit a home run that cleared the outer wall on the fly. Meanwhile, it remained a pitchers' park, perhaps never more so than on May 1, 1920, when Brooklyn Dodgers
pitcher Leon Cadore
and Braves pitcher Joe Oeschger
locked horns for a pair of complete-game performances that went on for a still-record 26 innings. After all that work, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, called on account of darkness.
At the advent of the lively ball era, it became clear that the fans were unhappy with Gaffney's vision of how baseball should be played, and inner fences were built, and regularly moved, being moved in and out based on whims. The ownership of the team even went so far as to shift the entire field in a clockwise direction (towards right field) at one point.
After the Braves moved to Milwaukee just prior to the 1953 season, the scoreboard was moved to Kansas City Municipal Stadium, and Braves Field was sold to Boston University
. The old ballpark was used as-is until 1955, when the university reconfigured the stands, demolishing all but the pavilion grandstand at the end of the right field line, which was retained as the core of a football, soccer, field hockey and track-and-field stadium. The stadium was initially called Boston University Field and was later renamed Nickerson Field
. Aside from the pavilion, parts of the ballpark retained included Gaffney's original outer wall; and the ticket office, which was converted to the university police station. The rest of the stadium property was replaced by dormitories covering the former main grandstand; and the Case Physical Education Center, which houses Walter Brown Arena
and Case Gym
in the vicinity of what was the left field pavilion along Babcock Street. Of the various demolished Jewel Box ballparks, Braves Field probably has the largest proportion of visible remnants still standing.
1915-21
Left field: 402; Left-center: 402.5 (1915), 396 (1916); Center field: 440; Right-center: 402; Right field: 402 (1915), 375 (1916)
1921-27
Left field: 375 (1921), 404 (1922), 403 (1926); Left-center: 402.42 (1921), 404 (1922), 402.5 (1926); Center field: 440; Right-center: 402; Right field: 365
1928-29
Left field: 353.5; Left-center: 330 (April 1928), 359 (July 1928); Center field: 387 (April 1928), 417 (July 1928), 387.17 (1929); Right-center: 402; Right field: 364 (1928), 297.75 (1929)
1930
Left field: 340; Left-center: 359; Center field: 394.5; Right-center: 402; Right field: 297.75
1931-32
Left field: 353.67; Left-center: 359; Center field: 387.25; Right-center: 402; Right field: 297.92
1933-35
Left field: 359 (1933), 353.67 (1934); Left-center: 359; Center field: 417; Right-center: 402; Right field: 364
1936-39
Left field: 368; Left-center: 359; Center field: 426 (1936), 407 (1937), 408 (1939); Right-center: 402; Right field: 297 (1936), 376 (1937), 378 (1938)
1940-1941
Left field: 350 (1940), 337 (1941); Left-center: 359; Center field: 385 (1940), 401 (1941); Right-center: 402; Right field: 350
1942-1943
Left field: 334 (1942), 340 (1943); Left-center: 365 (1942), 355 (1943); Center field: 375 (1942), 370 (1943); Right-center: 362 (1942), 355 (1943); Right field: 350 (1942), 340 (April 1943), 320 (July 1943)
1944-1945
Left field: 337; Left-center: 355; Center field: 390 (1944), 380 (1945); Right-center: 355; Right field: 340 (April 1944), 320 (May 1944)
1946-52
Left field: 337; Left-center: 355; Center field: 370 (1946), 318 (1947); Right-center: 355; Right field: 320 (1946), 320 (1947), 319 (1948)
Center field at the flag pole: 520
Deepest center field corner: 550 (1915), 401 (1942), 390 (1943)
Backstop: 75 (1915), 60 (1936)
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
park
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium was home to the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
franchise from 1915–1952, when the team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. Significant portions of the original structure still stand in place, and make up part of the Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field is a stadium on the site of Braves Field, in Boston, Massachusetts, the former home of the National League Boston Braves baseball team which is now located in Atlanta...
sports complex.
Braves Field was also known as The Bee Hive (or National League Park, formally) from 1936–1941, a period during which the owners changed the nickname of the team to the Boston Bees (the renaming of the team and stadium never took hold with the public, and were both eventually dropped). It did host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
during that span in 1936, however. Braves Field served as one of two homes (with Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
) of the Boston Bulldogs
Boston Bulldogs (AFL)
The Boston Bulldogs were a professional American football team that competed in the first American Football League in 1926. Owned by Robert McKirby, the Bulldogs lasted only six games into the AFL season, playing one home game in Braves Field and one in Fenway Park...
of the first American Football League (in 1926
1926 American Football League season
The 1926 American Football League season is the only season of the existence of the first American Football League. It started with nine teams, with the initial game of the season being played in front of 22,000 fans in Cleveland, Ohio, but by the end of the season , only four teams were still in...
) and the Boston Shamrocks
Boston Shamrocks (AFL)
The Boston Shamrocks were a professional American football team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The team played in the second American Football League from 1936 to 1937, followed by at least one year as an independent in 1938...
of the second AFL (in 1936 and 1937). It was also the home of a National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
franchise which began in 1932 and also called itself the Boston Braves for one year. The next year, the team moved to Fenway Park and changed its name to the Redskins (which served the dual purpose of sounding like "Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
" and allowing the team to retain its Native American-logoed Braves uniforms). In 1937 the team transferred south to become the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
. With its capacity to hold more fans than Fenway, Braves Field was actually used by the Red Sox in the 1915
1915 World Series
In the 1915 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one.In their only World Series before , the Phillies won Game 1 before being swept the rest of the way. It was 65 years before the Phillies won their next Series game...
and 1916 World Series
1916 World Series
In the 1916 World Series, the Boston Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Robins four games to one.Casey Stengel shone on offense for the Robins in the 1916 Series but the Red Sox pitching core ultimately proved too much for the denizens of Flatbush...
.
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
further lessened any chances of seeing home runs fly out of the park. The only possible target in the outfield was a small bleacher section, which came to be known as The Jury Box after a sportswriter noticed during one slow mid-week game that there were only twelve individuals sitting in the 2,000-seat stand. Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
visited the park and commented, "Nobody will ever hit a ball out of this park." The large foul ground area further favored the pitchers.
In fact, it would take 10 years, and a livelier ball, before a batter hit a home run that cleared the outer wall on the fly. Meanwhile, it remained a pitchers' park, perhaps never more so than on May 1, 1920, when Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
pitcher Leon Cadore
Leon Cadore
Leon "Caddy" Joseph Cadore was a right-handed American pitcher from 1915 - 1924. Cadore shares a MLB record for the most innings pitched in a single game . In 1920, both Cadore and Joe Oeschger pitched all 26 innings for their respective teams in a game that was eventually called a tie due to...
and Braves pitcher Joe Oeschger
Joe Oeschger
Joseph Carl Oeschger was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 12 seasons from 1914 to 1925. After starting his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, Oeschger was traded to the New York Giants...
locked horns for a pair of complete-game performances that went on for a still-record 26 innings. After all that work, the game ended in a 1-1 tie, called on account of darkness.
At the advent of the lively ball era, it became clear that the fans were unhappy with Gaffney's vision of how baseball should be played, and inner fences were built, and regularly moved, being moved in and out based on whims. The ownership of the team even went so far as to shift the entire field in a clockwise direction (towards right field) at one point.
After the Braves moved to Milwaukee just prior to the 1953 season, the scoreboard was moved to Kansas City Municipal Stadium, and Braves Field was sold to Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
. The old ballpark was used as-is until 1955, when the university reconfigured the stands, demolishing all but the pavilion grandstand at the end of the right field line, which was retained as the core of a football, soccer, field hockey and track-and-field stadium. The stadium was initially called Boston University Field and was later renamed Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field is a stadium on the site of Braves Field, in Boston, Massachusetts, the former home of the National League Boston Braves baseball team which is now located in Atlanta...
. Aside from the pavilion, parts of the ballpark retained included Gaffney's original outer wall; and the ticket office, which was converted to the university police station. The rest of the stadium property was replaced by dormitories covering the former main grandstand; and the Case Physical Education Center, which houses Walter Brown Arena
Walter Brown Arena
Walter Brown Arena is a 3,806-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey team and hosted the men's team before they moved to Agganis Arena. It hosted the first rounds of the 2003 and 2004 America East Conference men's...
and Case Gym
Case Gym
Case Gym is a 1,800-seat multi-purpose arena at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1972 as part of the Harold Case Physical Education Center, and is referred to as "The Roof" because it is located on the top level of the building, above Walter Brown Arena...
in the vicinity of what was the left field pavilion along Babcock Street. Of the various demolished Jewel Box ballparks, Braves Field probably has the largest proportion of visible remnants still standing.
Dimensions
As noted above the fences were moved repeatedly throughout the ballpark's existence, sometimes within a given season.1915-21
Left field: 402; Left-center: 402.5 (1915), 396 (1916); Center field: 440; Right-center: 402; Right field: 402 (1915), 375 (1916)
1921-27
Left field: 375 (1921), 404 (1922), 403 (1926); Left-center: 402.42 (1921), 404 (1922), 402.5 (1926); Center field: 440; Right-center: 402; Right field: 365
1928-29
Left field: 353.5; Left-center: 330 (April 1928), 359 (July 1928); Center field: 387 (April 1928), 417 (July 1928), 387.17 (1929); Right-center: 402; Right field: 364 (1928), 297.75 (1929)
1930
Left field: 340; Left-center: 359; Center field: 394.5; Right-center: 402; Right field: 297.75
1931-32
Left field: 353.67; Left-center: 359; Center field: 387.25; Right-center: 402; Right field: 297.92
1933-35
Left field: 359 (1933), 353.67 (1934); Left-center: 359; Center field: 417; Right-center: 402; Right field: 364
1936-39
Left field: 368; Left-center: 359; Center field: 426 (1936), 407 (1937), 408 (1939); Right-center: 402; Right field: 297 (1936), 376 (1937), 378 (1938)
1940-1941
Left field: 350 (1940), 337 (1941); Left-center: 359; Center field: 385 (1940), 401 (1941); Right-center: 402; Right field: 350
1942-1943
Left field: 334 (1942), 340 (1943); Left-center: 365 (1942), 355 (1943); Center field: 375 (1942), 370 (1943); Right-center: 362 (1942), 355 (1943); Right field: 350 (1942), 340 (April 1943), 320 (July 1943)
1944-1945
Left field: 337; Left-center: 355; Center field: 390 (1944), 380 (1945); Right-center: 355; Right field: 340 (April 1944), 320 (May 1944)
1946-52
Left field: 337; Left-center: 355; Center field: 370 (1946), 318 (1947); Right-center: 355; Right field: 320 (1946), 320 (1947), 319 (1948)
Center field at the flag pole: 520
Deepest center field corner: 550 (1915), 401 (1942), 390 (1943)
Backstop: 75 (1915), 60 (1936)
Seating Capacity
The stadium's capacity went as followed:- 40,000 (1915-1927)
- 46,500 (1928-1936)
- 41,700 (1937-1938)
- 45,000 (1939-1940)
- 37,746 (1941-1946)
- 36,706 (1947)
- 37,106 (1948-1954)
Sources
- Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter
- Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry
- Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson
- Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, by Marc Okkonen