Oriole Park
Encyclopedia
Oriole Park is the name of several former major league
and minor league
baseball
parks
in Baltimore, Maryland.
It is also half the name of the current home of the Baltimore Orioles
of the American League
, its full name being Oriole Park at Camden Yards
.
The first field called Oriole Park was built on the southwest corner of Sixth Street / Huntington Avenue (later 25th Street) (north); and York Road (later Greenmount Avenue) (east). The park was also variously known as Huntington Avenue Park and American Association Park. It was the first home of the major league American Association
franchise called the Baltimore Orioles, during 1882–1889.
In 1890, the club moved four blocks north and opened a new Oriole Park, retroactively tagged as Oriole Park II. It was on a roughly rectangular block bounded by 10th Street (later 29th) (north); York Road (later Greenmount) (east); 9th Street (later 28th) (south); and Barclay Street (west). This field served as the home of the AA entry only briefly, during 1890
and for the first month in 1891
.http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1891/PKL_BAL061891.htm The club's reason for abandoning the park after barely more than one full season is unknown.
The club opened Union Park
(also sometimes called Oriole Park - i.e. Oriole Park III) in early 1891 and operated there for the rest of the 1890s, joining the National League
when the Association folded, and producing the first glory years of the Orioles. Despite their great success in the 90s, Baltimore was dropped when the League contracted from 12 to 8 teams in 1900
.http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B/PK_BAL07.htm
The newly formed American League
took up in 1901
where the National had left off. They opened a new Oriole Park, retroactively called Oriole Park IV, as well as being dubbed American League Park by the contemporary media. It was on the same site as the 1890-91 experiment (located at 39°19′22"N 76°36′37"W). The AL's Orioles played for just two uneventful seasons before they were transferred north to become the team now known as the New York Yankees
, where they eventually became the most successful team in the history of major league baseball. Baltimore was thus reduced to minor league status, as an entry in the International League
(then known as the Eastern League) which began play at this same Oriole Park. There they enjoyed some success, producing some marketable players, notably one local boy, Babe Ruth
, who was eventually sold to the Boston Red Sox
and later gained even greater fame with the same New York Yankees that had begun in Baltimore.
of the short-lived Federal League
of 1914–1915. Some of the Fed facilities, such as the eventual Wrigley Field
, were made of steel and concrete, but Terrapin Park was made of wood, a fact that would prove to be its undoing and ironically boost Baltimore's chances of returning to the major leagues.
Terrapin Park was built on a lopsided block bounded by 10th Street (later 29th), York Road (later Greenmount), 11th Street (later 30th) and the angling Vineyard Lane. That is, it was directly across the street, to the north, from the existing Oriole Park. Presumably that did not sit well with the Orioles, but the minor league club survived the challenge. The Fed only lasted two seasons, and the Orioles acquired the newer park in 1916 and renamed it Oriole Park, now retroactively labeled Oriole Park V.
Following the demise of the Fed, the Baltimore baseball interests became a primary party in an antitrust
suit filed against Major League Baseball. This resulted in the famous Supreme Court
decision, in Federal Baseball Club v. National League
, that exempted baseball from antitrust laws, a ruling that still stands. That fact is out of scope of this discussion except to point out that Baltimore had been spurned by the big leagues yet again.
Terrapin / Oriole Park was located at 39°19′26"N 76°36′40"W.
The suddenly homeless club took refuge in Municipal Stadium, the city's football field. Literally rising from the ashes, in heroic fashion, the Orioles went on to win the International League championship that year, and also the Junior World Series
over Louisville
of the American Association
. The large post-season crowds at Municipal Stadium, which would not have been possible at Oriole Park, caught the attention of the major leagues, and Baltimore suddenly became a viable option for teams looking to move. Had the fire not happened, Baltimore's baseball saga may well have turned out quite differently than it has.
Spurred by the Orioles' success, the city chose to rebuild Municipal Stadium as a multi-purpose facility of major league caliber, which they renamed Memorial Stadium
. Baltimore, which had seemed to get "no respect" time after time in the past, finally became big league again in 1954
, this time for many years to come.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and minor league
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
baseball
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...
parks
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...
in Baltimore, Maryland.
It is also half the name of the current home of the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
of the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
, its full name being Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a Major League Baseball ballpark located in Baltimore, Maryland. Home field of the Baltimore Orioles, it is the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s, and remains one of the most highly praised. The park was...
.
Early Oriole Parks
All of the early incarnations of "Oriole Park" were built within a few blocks of each other.The first field called Oriole Park was built on the southwest corner of Sixth Street / Huntington Avenue (later 25th Street) (north); and York Road (later Greenmount Avenue) (east). The park was also variously known as Huntington Avenue Park and American Association Park. It was the first home of the major league American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
franchise called the Baltimore Orioles, during 1882–1889.
In 1890, the club moved four blocks north and opened a new Oriole Park, retroactively tagged as Oriole Park II. It was on a roughly rectangular block bounded by 10th Street (later 29th) (north); York Road (later Greenmount) (east); 9th Street (later 28th) (south); and Barclay Street (west). This field served as the home of the AA entry only briefly, during 1890
1890 in sports
-American football:College championship* College football national championship – Harvard Crimson-Association football:England* The Football League – Preston North End 33 points, Everton 31, Blackburn Rovers 27, Wolves 25, West Bromwich Albion 25, Accrington FC 24* FA Cup final – Blackburn Rovers...
and for the first month in 1891
1891 in sports
-American football:College championship* College football national championship – Yale BulldogsEvents* Kansas defeats Missouri in the first Border War game 22-10 beginning one of the oldest and most fierce college football rivalries....
.http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1891/PKL_BAL061891.htm The club's reason for abandoning the park after barely more than one full season is unknown.
The club opened Union Park
Union Park
Union Park is the name of a former baseball ground located in Baltimore, Maryland. The ground was home to the Baltimore Orioles during their first "glory years" in the 1890s. It was located at 25th and Barclay St....
(also sometimes called Oriole Park - i.e. Oriole Park III) in early 1891 and operated there for the rest of the 1890s, joining the 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...
when the Association folded, and producing the first glory years of the Orioles. Despite their great success in the 90s, Baltimore was dropped when the League contracted from 12 to 8 teams in 1900
1900 in sports
1900 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:College championship* College football national championship – Yale Bulldogs-Association football:England...
.http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B/PK_BAL07.htm
The newly formed American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
took up in 1901
1901 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:* American League: Chicago White Stockings* National League: Pittsburgh PiratesWorld Series: Not played due to AL-NL war over player contracts.-Other champions:* Minor leagues** California League: San Francisco Wasps...
where the National had left off. They opened a new Oriole Park, retroactively called Oriole Park IV, as well as being dubbed American League Park by the contemporary media. It was on the same site as the 1890-91 experiment (located at 39°19′22"N 76°36′37"W). The AL's Orioles played for just two uneventful seasons before they were transferred north to become the team now known as the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, where they eventually became the most successful team in the history of major league baseball. Baltimore was thus reduced to minor league status, as an entry in the International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
(then known as the Eastern League) which began play at this same Oriole Park. There they enjoyed some success, producing some marketable players, notably one local boy, Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
, who was eventually sold to the Boston 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 later gained even greater fame with the same New York Yankees that had begun in Baltimore.
Terrapin Park / Oriole Park
The last and by far the best known Oriole Park prior to Camden Yards started in life as Terrapin Park. It was the home field of the Baltimore TerrapinsBaltimore Terrapins
The Baltimore Terrapins were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from to , but their brief existence led to litigation that led to an important legal precedent in baseball...
of the short-lived Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
of 1914–1915. Some of the Fed facilities, such as the eventual Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
, were made of steel and concrete, but Terrapin Park was made of wood, a fact that would prove to be its undoing and ironically boost Baltimore's chances of returning to the major leagues.
Terrapin Park was built on a lopsided block bounded by 10th Street (later 29th), York Road (later Greenmount), 11th Street (later 30th) and the angling Vineyard Lane. That is, it was directly across the street, to the north, from the existing Oriole Park. Presumably that did not sit well with the Orioles, but the minor league club survived the challenge. The Fed only lasted two seasons, and the Orioles acquired the newer park in 1916 and renamed it Oriole Park, now retroactively labeled Oriole Park V.
Following the demise of the Fed, the Baltimore baseball interests became a primary party in an antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
suit filed against Major League Baseball. This resulted in the famous Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
decision, in Federal Baseball Club v. National League
Federal Baseball Club v. National League
Federal Baseball Club v. National League, , is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to Major League Baseball.-Background:...
, that exempted baseball from antitrust laws, a ruling that still stands. That fact is out of scope of this discussion except to point out that Baltimore had been spurned by the big leagues yet again.
Terrapin / Oriole Park was located at 39°19′26"N 76°36′40"W.
Fire
This Oriole Park was the club's home for the next 28½ seasons. The team enjoyed great success, especially in the early 1920s when the Orioles won seven consecutive International League pennants. Great care was always taken to protect the aging wooden structure, such as hosing it down after games. But on the night of July 3, 1944, the old park's luck ran out. A fire of uncertain origin (speculated to have been a discarded cigarette) totally consumed the old ballpark and everything the team owned.The suddenly homeless club took refuge in Municipal Stadium, the city's football field. Literally rising from the ashes, in heroic fashion, the Orioles went on to win the International League championship that year, and also the Junior World Series
Junior World Series
The Junior World Series was the name given to a postseason series between champions of two of the three high-minor baseball leagues, modeled on the World Series of Major League Baseball...
over Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
of the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
. The large post-season crowds at Municipal Stadium, which would not have been possible at Oriole Park, caught the attention of the major leagues, and Baltimore suddenly became a viable option for teams looking to move. Had the fire not happened, Baltimore's baseball saga may well have turned out quite differently than it has.
Spurred by the Orioles' success, the city chose to rebuild Municipal Stadium as a multi-purpose facility of major league caliber, which they renamed Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an over-sized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue , 36th Street , and Ednor Road...
. Baltimore, which had seemed to get "no respect" time after time in the past, finally became big league again in 1954
1954 in sports
1954 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* NFL Championship – Cleveland Browns win 56-10 over the Detroit Lions* Ohio State Buckeyes - college football champions.-Artistic gymnastics:* 1954 World Championships...
, this time for many years to come.
Sources
- House of Magic, by the Baltimore Orioles.
- Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry.
- The Home Team, by James H. Bready.