Exposition Park was the name given to three historic stadiums, located in what is today Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The fields were used mainly for professional baseball and American football from c. 1879 to c. 1915. The ballparks were initially located on the north side of the Allegheny River in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. The city was annexed into Pittsburgh (then often spelled "Pittsburg") in 1907, which became the city's North Side, located across from Pittsburgh's downtown area. Due to flooding from the nearby Allegheny River, the three stadiums' exact locations varied somewhat. The final version of the ballpark was between the eventual sites of Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park.
Local newspapers referred to the general area along the Allegheny waterfront as "the Exposition grounds", named for other "expositions" that would be shown there, including horse racing and circuses.
Exposition Park I was the first venue in Pittsburgh that hosted major league baseball.[4] In 1882, the club now known as the Pittsburgh Pirates—then known simply as Allegheny, or informally as "the Alleghenys"—began play at Exposition Park as a member of the American Association; however, after one season a fire and flooding of the field from the nearby river forced a second park to be built.[5]
Despite its reason for construction, Exposition Park II was built closer to the river. The Alleghenys played at the second incarnation of the park for the first part of the 1883 season, but after the game of June 9, the club decided to return to Exposition Park I, starting with the game of June 12.[6][7] The Allegheny club abandoned Expo II in 1884, moving to Recreation Park, which was several blocks north and out of the flood plain.[4] The final usage of Expo II for baseball came in the last week of August, 1884, where the struggling Union Association club dubbed the Pittsburgh Stogies finished out their schedule after moving from Chicago.
During 1884 through 1889, the ballpark was primarily a racetrack used for many types of events: horse racing, bicycle racing, foot racing, and various exhibitions such as circuses. The grandstand ran roughly west-to-east, bordering South Avenue. The roof included five pyramid-shaped turrets. In 1887 came a short-lived attempt to rename the facility Gentlemen's Driving Park, ads for which typically appended "formerly Exposition Park". When the Players' League club began, they reconfigured the former racetrack for baseball purposes, including retaining a couple of the turrets left over from the track's grandstand.
Exposition Park III
Postcard ca. 1900 including Exposition Park
While the Alleghenys were playing home games at Recreation Park, owners John Beemer and M. B. Lennon of the Pittsburgh Burghers reconfigured the former racetrack into a proper baseball park near the former sites of Exposition Parks I and II,[8] approximately two blocks west of where PNC Park sits today. Exposition Park III included a roofed wooden grandstand around the infield, in the northeast corner of the block, and open bleacher sections extending to the right and left field corners. Total capacity was about 10,000spectators. The seats faced the Allegheny River and the Point.[5] The Burghers played at the stadium during the 1890 Players' League season—both the team and league's only season in existence.[9] On June 10, 1890, Jocko Fields of the Pittsburgh Burghers hit the first home run at Exposition Park III.
The recurrent flooding which plagued the location through its entire existence led to this editorial comment about the Brotherhood (Players' League) club: "They have the most level grounds in the country. Exposition Park is covered with water."[10]
The Pirates, 1903
The newly-redubbed Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Exposition Park the following season. On April 24, 1891, Fred Carroll hit the first home run by a Pirate in the stadium. Under the management of Fred Clarke the Pirates won the National League pennant in 1901, 1902, and 1903. After the 1903 season, Dreyfuss and Boston Americans owner Henry Killilea organized a best of nine-game series to match the two pennant winners against each other. This first modern World Series held three games in Boston before moving to Exposition Park with the Pirates leading the series 2–1.[11] On October 6, 1903, 7,600people attended the first World Series game in a National League stadium—the Pirates won by one run. The following day 12,000people attended the game, forcing some spectators to stand behind a rope in the outfield.[5] The Pirates lost three of four games at Exposition Park and eventually the Series.
During a July 4, 1902 doubleheader against the Brooklyn Superbas (whose roster included a player named Flood), an Allegheny flood caused water to rise to thigh level in center and right fields, and about head level in deep center. Players occasionally caught a ball and dove under the water. The Pirates won both games of the doubleheader.[12]Ham Hyatt is believed to be the only person to hit a ball over the right field fence.[8] Monument Hill, which overlooked the field, allowed spectators a free view of the game.
Baseball game, 1904
In 1906, the Pirates were the first baseball team to cover their field with a tarp during inclement weather, and though the field was kept dry from the rain, the Allegheny River still caused problems.[13] Flooding sometimes covered the entire outfield with inches of standing water, causing ground rules that gave any ground ball hit into the outfield an automatic single. In 1907, Pittsburgh's pitcher Nick Maddox threw a no-hitter at Exposition Park. That would prove to be the last no-hitter thrown at a Pirates home field until Bob Gibson of the Cardinals no-hit the Pirates in 1971, at Three Rivers.
In 1908, owing to the large numbers of people that attended Pirates games, team owner Barney Dreyfuss began looking for a location to construct a new Pirates stadium. The final Pirates game at Exposition Park was played against the Chicago Cubs on June 29, 1909. The Pirates won the game 8–1 in front of 5,545people,[14] with George Gibson achieving the final National League hit in the ballpark.[8] The very next day, the Pirates once again played the Cubs as the team opened Forbes Field.
A view of Exposition Park III in 1915. Exposition Hall and its rollercoaster can also be seen in the foreground
The Pittsburgh Filipinos called Exposition Park their home in 1912. The Filipinos lasted just over a month after folding with the United States Baseball League. In 1914, the Pittsburgh Stogies began play at Exposition Park. There were some cosmetic changes to the ballpark, including the removal of the rooftop turrets, and construction of a roof over the bleachers on the first base side. In 1915, the team, renamed the Pittsburgh Rebels, improved from the previous season, finishing just percentage points behind the first place Chicago Whales. After the season, the club disbanded along with the entire Federal League, due to financial losses. That was the end of major league ball at Exposition Park. The venue continued to host Semi-professional baseball games, circuses, scrap metal drives and other events, but "was eventually razed".[8] The 1917 city directory gave the ballpark's address as 700 South Avenue. South Avenue later became General Robinson Drive, and the 700 address corresponds to the ballpark's main entrance, now part of a parking lot.
Dimensions
In an article on the soon-to-be-opened Forbes Field, the Pittsburgh Post for June 27, 1909, stated the Expo Park dimensions as follows: left field 380 feet (115.8 metres), center field 400 feet (121.9 metres), right field 327 feet (99.7 metres).[15]
Football
The Western University of Pennsylvania (WUP), which would in 1908 be renamed the University of Pittsburgh, played its first official game at Exposition Park on October 11, 1890, when Shadyside Academy failed to show up for their game with the Allegheny Athletic Association. The Allegheny A.A. made a call to WUP team founder Bert Smyers to bring the WUP team to the park as a replacement.
University of Pittsburgh football game, 1908
The WUP team was subsequently defeated 38–0.[16] The WUP football team began playing games more regularly at Exposition Park around 1900, occasionally playing in other local venues.[17] Prior to the 1903 season, Arthur Mosse was recruited from the University of Kansas to become the team's new coach. In addition to players that Mosse brought with him, WUP also recruited players from Geneva College to play on the team. Mosse's first season was a disappointment as the WUP football team went 0–8–1 and supporters of the team disbanded leaving the team $500 in debt. George Hubbard Clapp then organized a voluntary $5 "athletic fee" to be paid by students in order to allow the debt to be repaid and the school's football team to play home games at Exposition Park during the next season in order to give the WUP team a more permanent and stable home. Mosse and university officials then obtained a lease to play at Exposition Park during the fall from Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss for 20% of the admission fee. The 1904 WUP team, the first full season in which WUP played at Exposition Park, saw WUP achieve a remarkable turnaround that included a 10–0 record in which they outscored opponents 407–5 and finished second in the state behind the University of Pennsylvania.[18] Prior to home games at Exposition Park, WUP students would organize parades through downtown streets prior to marching across a bridge to the game. A gong, used to announce the beginning of Pirates games, was also sounded prior to the opening kickoff of WUP football contests.[19]
Today
1906 Sanborn diagram of Exposition Park
After parts of 62 seasons in the Oakland district, baseball and football returned to the north side of the Allegheny River when Three Rivers Stadium opened. The site of the final incarnation of Exposition Park, relative to Three Rivers and the later PNC Park, was in between the two venues.
Exposition Park had been on the southwest corner of South Avenue (later Robinson) to the north (first base) and School Street (later Scotland) to the east (third base). To the south (left field) was some open space and railroad tracks and the Allegheny. To the west (right field) was some open space and then Grant Street (later Galveston). That open space would eventually be the site of Three Rivers. Therefore, the site of Exposition Park was the northeast corner of the parking lot east of Three Rivers.
In 1995, members of the Society for American Baseball Research marked and painted the location where home plate is believed to have been located, in honor of one of the two sites of the first World Series (the other being in Boston). At the time, the location of home plate was in a Three Rivers Stadium parking lot.[20] In 2018, the faded home plate paint was replaced by a metal plaque by the Society for American Baseball Research.[21]
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central Division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game.
Riverside Park, located in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, was originally built in 1914 to serve as a spring training park for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1914 to 1917. Sometimes referred to as Tradewater Park, it is the only known baseball park in Kentucky to have hosted a major league team since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899. While the original stadium was destroyed in a flood in the 1930s, it was later rebuilt in 1999. Like the original stadium, the rebuilt park is reconstructed out of wood. It is the only ballpark of its kind in Western Kentucky.
Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League (NFL) franchise. From 1909 to 1924, the stadium also served as the home football field for the University of Pittsburgh "Pitt" Panthers. The stadium sat on Forbes Avenue, named for British general John Forbes, who fought in the French and Indian War and named the city in 1758.
Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).
PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth location to serve as the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Opened during the 2001 MLB season, PNC Park sits along the Allegheny River with a view of the Downtown Pittsburgh skyline. Constructed of steel and limestone, it has a natural grass playing surface and can seat 38,747 people for baseball. It was built just to the east of its predecessor, Three Rivers Stadium, which was demolished in 2001.
LECOM Park is a baseball field located in Bradenton, Florida. It is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and is named after a 15-year naming rights deal was signed with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which has its main campus in Erie, Pennsylvania, and also a campus in Bradenton. It was formerly known as McKechnie Field, named for Bradenton resident and Baseball Hall of Fame great Bill McKechnie, who led the Pirates in 1925 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1940 to World Series titles. He was also a coach with the Cleveland Indians in 1948.
Recreation Park was a sporting grounds and stadium that stood from 1865 to 1905 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which was annexed in 1907 and became the North Side region of Pittsburgh. The park was bounded by Allegheny Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Grant Avenue, and Boquet Street.
Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Frederick Herbert Carroll was an American catcher and outfielder in Major League Baseball. From 1884 through 1891, he played with the Columbus Buckeyes (1884) and for the Pittsburgh teams Alleghenys (1885–89), Burghers (1890) and Pirates (1891). Carroll batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Sacramento, California.
Sports in Pittsburgh have been played dating back to the American Civil War. Baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game had been played in the city by 1892. Pittsburgh was first known as the "City of Champions" when the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won multiple championships in the 1970s. Today, the city has three major professional sports franchises, the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins; while the University of Pittsburgh Panthers compete in a Division I Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball. Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris also field Division I teams in men's and women's basketball and Division I FCS teams in football. Robert Morris also fields Division I men's and women's ice hockey teams.
The Pittsburgh Burghers were a baseball team in the Players' League, a short-lived Major League that existed only for the 1890 season. The team included a number of players who had jumped from the National League's Pittsburgh Alleghenys, including Hall of Famers Pud Galvin, Ned Hanlon, and Jake Beckley. Hanlon served as the team's manager. Meanwhile, John Tener, who would go on to represent Pittsburgh in the United States Congress and be elected the 25th Governor of Pennsylvania, finished his pitching career with the Burghers in 1890. Later Tener would become the president of the National League, and a director of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The following is a history of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.
The 1905 Western University of Pennsylvania football team was an American football team that represented Western University of Pennsylvania as an independent during the 1905 college football season.
The 1903 Western University of Pennsylvania football team was an American football team that represented Western University of Pennsylvania, as an independent during the 1903 college football season.
↑ "PHMC Historical Markers Search". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original(Searchable database) on 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
↑ The Owl, University of Pittsburgh, 1911, p.205, retrieved 2010-05-20
↑ Jerpe, James (June 27, 1909). "Forbes Field, the World's Finest Baseball Grounds". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. Sec. 6, p. 6.
↑ Sciullo, Sam Jr. (2008), University of Pittsburgh Football Vault: The History of the Panthers, Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman Publishing, LLC, p.8, ISBN978-0-7948-2653-6
↑ Western University of Pennsylvania, "Athletics", Western University Courant, 16 (2): 46, retrieved 2008-08-08
↑ Sciullo, Sam Jr. (2008), University of Pittsburgh Football Vault: The History of the Panthers, Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman Publishing, LLC, p.13, ISBN978-0-7948-2653-6
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