Baker Bowl
National League Park, commonly referred to as the Baker Bowl after 1923, was a baseball stadium home to the Philadelphia Phillies from 1887 until 1938, and the first home field of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1933 to 1935. It opened in 1887 with a capacity of 12,500. It burned down in 1894 and was rebuilt in 1895 as the first ballpark constructed primarily of steel and brick and with a cantilevered upper deck.
The ballpark's first base line ran parallel to Huntingdon Street; right field to center field parallel to North Broad Street; center field to left field parallel to Lehigh Avenue; and the third base line parallel to 15th Street. The stadium was demolished in 1950.
History
1887 construction
The Philadelphia Phillies had played at Recreation Park since their first season in 1883. Phillies owners Al Reach and John Rogers built the new National League Park for $80,000 with a capacity of 12,500 to open for the 1887 season.Philadelphia's Building Inspectors' office issued a permit to Joseph Bird on August 4, 1886, to construct a pavilion 130 × 105 feet, one story high, at the northeast corner of Fifteenth and Huntingdon Streets. The pavilion was built of iron and brick and featured two turrets. The ballpark's superintendent would live in one of the turrets.
The new ballpark was to have opened on April 4, 1887, for the preseason City Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, but inclement weather delayed final construction.
The Phillies played their first game in the new ballpark on Saturday, April 30, 1887, in the home opener against the New York Giants. 18,000 tickets were sold for the first game, with 13,000 in the stands. An additional 5,000 fans crowded onto the by wide bicycle track which encircled the field, and others in the terraces above left field.
Philadelphia Mayor Edwin Henry Fitler attended along with the city's political and business leadership and many baseball leaders, including New York Giants owner John B. Day, Brooklyn Dodgers' founder and owner Charlie Byrne, Baltimore Orioles manager Billy Barnie, and Philadelphia Athletics manager Lew Simmons. The Phillies defeated New York 15 to 9.
The original layout of the field was different from its shape by 1895. In 1887, the dimensions of the playing field were left field, center field, and right field. The long left field distance was to the outer wall before the bleachers were added. The center field was much closer than it became later when the center field area was extended over the sunken railroad tracks.
The bicycle track was upgraded in October 1890. During the 1891 baseball season, the Phillies welcomed fans to ride their bicycles to games, check and lock their cycles at the park, and then use the bicycle track at the end of the game.
Following the 1893 season, the Reading Railroad constructed a railroad tunnel under the intersection of Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue and the ballpark's centerfield, creating the ballpark's distinctive outfield "hump", and elevating the street level along the outfield fences. This tunnel continues to be used today by SEPTA Regional Rail's Main Line. To prevent fans from viewing the games over the right field wall along the now higher Broad Street, the Phillies constructed the fence before the 1894 season.
1894 fire
On August 6, 1894, at 11:00 AM, while the players were practicing in the park, a fire broke out in the pavilion. The players rushed to contain it but were quickly overwhelmed by the smoke. Within two hours, the fire had reduced the ballpark to charred wood and ashes. The grandstand and bleachers of the original stadium were destroyed inflicting $80,000 in damages, equivalent to $ in, which was covered fully by insurance. The fire also spread to the adjoining properties, causing an additional $20,000 in damage,.While the Phillies were playing a short road trip and staging six home games at the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Grounds at 37th and Spruce, a building crew worked around the clock erecting temporary bleachers. The Phillies returned to Broad and Huntington for the August 18, 1894 game against Cleveland rebuilt with new bleachers. 5,500 fans paid admission of which 4,000 were seated in left field. The weather threatened rain otherwise a larger crowd would have been expected to see the Phillies win 11 to 6.
1895 reconstruction and expansion
During the 1894–95 off-season, the park was fully rebuilt, seated 18,800, and was dedicated on May 2, 1895.The Phillies' National League Park was the first ballpark to be constructed primarily of steel and brick to prevent future fires. The ballpark had outer brick walls on all four sides, three wide steel stairways between decks, and a series of fifteen 30-foot heavy iron girders supporting the platforms and roof of the upper deck. The upper deck was made possible by the use of the cantilever system.
Cantilever design was a new architectural technique in stadium construction in 1894, and National League Park was the first to be constructed with it. The ballpark's cantilevered concrete supports eliminated the need for many of the support columns in the pavilion that had made for "obstructed view seating" in the original ballpark and other stadiums. Use of the cantilever design would become, and continues to be standard in the construction of stadiums.
The sweeping curve behind the plate was about, and instead of angling back toward the foul lines, the foul ground extended all the way to the wall in right, and well down the left field line. The spacious foul ground allowed for a higher probability of foul flyouts and extended an advantage to pitchers.
Seats were added along the left field wall prior to the 1896 season.
The ballpark was held in such high regard that in April 1897, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Phillies' outfielder Sam Thompson singing the park's praises to the team's new players as they returned to Philadelphia from spring training, "...Thompson says that if he can see the cantilever just once more he will die happy. Many of the boys have never seen the monument at Broad and Huntingdon streets, and Samuel has given luminous descriptions of the hump, grade, and drainage system."
Prior to the 1897 season, Phillies owner John Rogers claimed that the ballpark's capacity was 20,008.
During the August 8, 1903 game against Boston with 10,078 in the stands, an altercation between two drunken men and two teenage girls on 15th Street caught the attention of bleacher fans down the left field line. Many of the fans ran to the top of the wooden seating area, and the added stress on that section of the bleachers caused it to collapse into the street, killing 12 and injuring 232. This led to additional renovations to the stadium and forced ownership to sell the team.
The Phillies temporarily moved to the Philadelphia Athletics' home field, Columbia Park, while their ballpark was repaired. The Phillies played sixteen games at Columbia Park in August and September 1903.
The Phillies rebuilt the stands prior to the 1904 season, which had the effect of reducing capacity. Following the 1903 disaster, Phillies owner James Potter and the other club officers hosted National League president Harry Pulliam and the city's baseball writers for a luncheon, and then made an official tour of the ballpark to show off the reconstructed and reinforced left field bleachers. The grandstand improvements were inspected by the City of Philadelphia's Chief Building Inspector and granted his approval.
The Phillies' new ownership refurbished the ballpark further prior to the 1905 season. They had the grandstand painted and every seat cleaned. As they had the previous year before the season, the Phillies had the stands inspected by the chief of the city's Bureau of Building Inspections prior to Opening Day, and publicized his approval that they met all codes.
The Phillies erected field-level seats extending from the left field stands around to the centerfield club house before the 1906 season, which increased capacity by 3,000 spectators. The ballpark had featured hanging seats in left field on Lehigh Avenue beneath which fans parked carriages, bicycles, and other vehicles; these accommodations were lost with the erection of the new left field stands.
Prior to the 1907 season, a new corrugated roof was placed over half of the grandstand, and the visiting team clubhouse was refurbished with new showers and other amenities. Through the 1907 season, the batters eye in centerfield was stonework and reflected the sun. Prior to the 1908 season, the Phillies' painted the stonework green to match the wood fences and reduce the glare; moved the score board to the right field foul line; and for the first time built covered dugouts described as "small pavilion-like sheds erected over the players' bench, completely shutting the bench out from view of the people in the grandstand."
The park was refurbished again prior to the 1909 season with increased seating capacity, new box seats, and renovations to the players' clubhouse. The park itself was painted green which the Philadelphia Inquirer welcomed as an improvement "instead of the old glaring assortment of rainbow colors which predominated in the past." It was around this time that the double deck on the first base side was extended from the dugout all the way to the right field corner. This extension ran parallel to the foul line instead of curving, resulting in a relatively large amount of foul territory. This factor gave the right fielder more room to catch foul fly balls, theoretically mitigating the close proximity of the outfield wall to some extent.
During a game on May 14, 1927, parts of two sections of the lower deck extension along the right-field line collapsed due to rotted shoring timbers, again triggered by an oversize gathering of people, who were seeking shelter from the rain. While no one died during the collapse, one individual died of heart failure in the subsequent stampede that injured 50. As in 1903, the Phillies rented from the A's while repairs were being made to the old structure.
The left field stands and bleachers were entirely rebuilt with fresh lumber prior to the 1932 season.
While the ballpark would never feature its own floodlights for night games, the House of David baseball team, led by former Phillies star Grover Cleveland Alexander, and traveling with portable arc lights, played a Philadelphia All-Star team at night before 8,000 fans on July 25, 1932. Alexander had led the Phillies to the 1915 pennant at the ballpark and was cheered warmly when he came to bat. The lights were placed on 50-foot-high poles around the playing field and powered by a portable 1000-watt generator with a 250-horsepower engine and radiator.
A small incident occurred overnight on August 2–3, 1935, when a lightning bolt hit the flagpole and splintered it. The reporter wryly observed that if the Phillies were to win the 1935 pennant, they would have no place to hang it. That was a safe proposition, as the Phillies finished in seventh place, games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.
When the Phillies departed in 1938, the ballpark did not offer motor vehicle parking, and would never feature a separate press box nor public address system. The stadium would never feature its own lights for night games.