Exposition Park was a baseball park that formerly stood in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was one of two ballparks (along with Boston's
Huntington Avenue Grounds) that
hosted the first Major League Baseball World Series in 1903.
At
a glance...
EXPOSITION PARK
Facility
statistics
Location
Allegheny
City
(Pittsburgh)
Broke
ground
1882
Opened
I: May
9, 1882
II: May 1, 1883
III: April 19, 1890
Closed
I:
August 30, 1883
II: June 9, 1883
III: October 2, 1915
Left
Field - 400 ft
Center Field - 450 ft
Right Field - 400 ft
Exposition Park was situated on the north shore of the Allegheny River
across from downtown Pittsburgh in Allegheny City (which since 1907 is a
part of the city of Pittsburgh). Left field was bounded to the south by
the B & O R.R. tracks and the Allegheny River; third base was bounded
to the east by School (later Scotland) Street; first base was bounded to
the north by South (later Shore) Avenue; and right field was bounded to
the west by Grant (later Galveston) Street. Today this location is between
the site of Heinz Field and the current Pittsburgh Pirates' home, PNC
Park. The park held 16,000.
Fly
to the site of the Exposition Park!
If you have Google
Earth installed, click here
to be "flown" to the site of the Exposition Park. Of
course the stadium is no longer there, but you can see the new
Pittsburgh sports stadiums. (If you do not have it installed, get
it from Google. It allows you to view virtually anywhere on
Earth in 3D using satellite imagery.)
A single-tiered grandstand with roof extended from the first base side to
home plate, and down the third base side. Open bleachers ran down both the
first and third base lines. Right field had standing room, and additional
seating was on top of the covered grandstand. The dimensions were a
spacious 400 feet down the foul lines and 450 feet to center field.
The first incarnation of Exposition Park opened in 1882 for the
Allegheny club of the American Association on what was called the Lower
Field, near the river. Because of spring flooding along the river, an
Upper Field was constructed for the the opening game of the 1883 baseball
season. The two fields overlapped in this second phase of the park's
history.
The next year, the Alleghenies moved uphill and out of floodwater
range, to Recreation Park. Meanwhile, the Union Association entry, the
Pittsburgh Unions of 1884, found refuge here during their very brief
existence.
Exposition Park entered its third iteration when it was refurbished and
re-opened by the Pittsburgh entry in the outlaw Players' League in 1890,
another one-year wonder. During their stay in Recreation Park, the
Allegheny Club had switched to the National League in 1887 and had renamed
themselves "Pittsburgh" in 1890. Since Expo Park was a newer
facility, the National Leaguers made plans to move back to it. In the
1890-91 off-season, the team had been dubbed "Pirates" after
allegedly "pirating" second baseman Louis Bierbauer away from
the Philadelphia Athletics American Association team. So in 1891, the club
had a new park and a new nickname.
Exposition Park!
A beautiful day
with everyone all dressed up at Exposition
Park on August 5, 1905 with the visiting
New York Giants in town. Actually, the
Giants were upset with a call after they
tied the score at 5 in the 7th and refused
umpire Bausewine's order to retake their
positions and so a forfeit was called.
Rioting fans had to be fought off with
bats by the local nine and once the Giants
cleared the stadium - where the
outnumbered police were - "the crowd
got them good" as the Boston Globe
wire story from the next day put it.
Photo
by RW Johnston, courtesy of NARA
After 18 1/2 seasons at the primarily wooden Exposition Park, including
co-hosting the first World Series in 1903, the Pirates moved into the
steel-and-concrete Forbes
Field in the city's Oakland neighborhood on June 30, 1909.
Exposition Park enjoyed a brief revival during 1913-1915 as the home of
the Pittsburgh Rebels of
the Federal League, which was a minor
league in 1913 and a full-fledged outlaw major league the next two years.
After that it was demolished and its property became part of the rail
yards.
The Pirates lived at Forbes Field for 61 seasons (actually 60 full
seasons and two half seasons), their longest tenure at any venue, before
moving back to their old neighborhood, into Three
Rivers Stadium, on July 16, 1970.
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