Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland
that formerly stood on 33rd Street. It stood on an oversized block also
bounded by Ellerslie Avenue, 36th Street and Ednor Road. Two different
stadiums were located here, a 1922 version known as Baltimore Stadium,
Municipal Stadium, and Venable Stadium and the stadium that,
when finally completed in 1950, would become known as Memorial Stadium
and, for a time, Babe Ruth Stadium in reference to the
then-recently departed Baltimore native.
446
ft 1954, 447 ft 1955, 405 ft
1956
380 ft 1958, 370 ft 1962, 385
ft 1970
375 ft 1976, 378 ft 1977, 376
ft 1980
378 ft 1990
Center
445
ft 1954, 450 ft 1955, 425 ft
1956
410 ft 1958, 400 ft 1976, 405
ft 1977
410 ft 1978, 405 ft 1980
Right-center
446
ft 1954, 447 ft 1955, 405 ft
1956
380 ft 1958, 370 ft 1962, 385
ft 1970
375 ft 1976, 378 ft 1977, 376
ft 1980
378 ft 1990
Right
309
ft (94 m)
Stadium History
Memorial Stadium started out in life as Baltimore Stadium, also known
as Municipal Stadium, and as Venable Stadium. It was built in 1922, in a
previously undeveloped area called Venable Park. It was primarily a
football stadium, a large horseshoe with its open end facing south. In its
early years it hosted various college-level games, including the
occasional Army-Navy Game. In mid-summer 1944 it was pressed into service
as a baseball park by the Baltimore Orioles of the International League,
when their previous home, Oriole Park, was destroyed by fire. The diamond
was positioned in the northwest "corner" of the field, making
for a short left field (about 290 feet) and spacious center and right
fields.
The minor league Orioles literally rose from the ashes, in heroic
fashion, going 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, and which easily surpassed
the attendance at major league baseball's own World Series that year (in
which the St. Louis Cardinals defeated their in-town rivals, the St. Louis
Browns, who would move to Baltimore in 1954), caught the attention of the
major leagues, and Baltimore suddenly became a viable option for teams
looking to move.
Fly
to Memorial Stadium!
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Spurred by the Orioles' success, and also by the presence of
professional football, the city chose to rebuild the stadium as a facility
of major league caliber, which they renamed Memorial Stadium in honor of
the dead of World War I and World War II. It was also known for a time as
"Babe Ruth Stadium", after the recently deceased Hall of Famer
and Baltimore native. The reconstruction was done in stages, slowly
obliterating the old Municipal Stadium stands, even as the Orioles
continued playing on their makeshift diamond in the northwest corner.
Memorial Stadium was completed in 1950 at a cost of $6.5 million.
Seating 31,000 at the time, the stadium consisted of a single,
horseshoe-shaped deck, with the open end facing north, and was
designed to host both football and baseball. A roofless upper deck was
added four years later when the St. Louis Browns committed to moving to
Baltimore and becoming the major league version of the Baltimore Orioles.
Memorial
Stadium!
Photo taken
September 23, 2000, the first day that
stadium seats and other souvenirs were put
to public sale. The stadium had been
vacated for a few years.
The general layout of Memorial Stadium resembled a somewhat scaled-down
version of Cleveland
Stadium. As such, the playing area was initially quite large in center
field for baseball, due to the need to fit a football field on the
premises, and foul territory was also quite large as well. The
construction of inner fences after 1958, however, shrunk the size of the
outfield somewhat. The addition of several rows of box seats also shrunk
the foul ground, ultimately making the stadium much more of a hitters'
park than it was originally.
Primary
research by Jim Herdman & David Vincent
Courtesy of Retrosheet.
Both the Orioles and the Colts had some great successes over the next
few decades, winning several championships. Among the Orioles who played
here were pitcher Jim Palmer, first baseman John (Boog) Powell, shortstop
Cal Ripken Jr., third baseman Brooks Robinson and outfielder Frank
Robinson. Among the Colts' greats were quarterback John Unitas and running
back Alan Ameche.
Hard times for the ballpark began when the Colts' fortunes sagged and
they transferred to Indianapolis, in a notorious move where moving vans
trucked the club's equipment in the middle of the night. Then the Orioles
began pressing for a new baseball-only facility, resulting in the first
and arguably the best of the 1990s retro-ballparks, Oriole Park at Camden
Yards.
Memorial Stadium was relegated to temporary-home status for several
sports teams, and was finally abandoned for good in the late 1990s. It was
bade farewell in style by both the Orioles (in a field-encircling ceremony
staged by many former Oriole players and hosted by Hall of Fame announcer
Ernie Harwell, who began his announcing career here) and the Ravens (who
had many former Colts assemble for a final play, run by Unitas).
The City of Baltimore solicited proposals for development of the site.
Most proposals preserved some or all of the stadium, including the
memorial to World War II veterans and words on the facade. Mayor Martin J.
O'Malley, however, favored the proposal that resulted in the total razing
of the stadium, an act that many fought and protested. Former Mayor and
Governor William Donald Schaefer continues to protest that the stadium was
razed for political reasons. The venerable and historic stadium was
demolished over a ten-month period beginning in April, 2001. Much of the
stadium remnants were used to build an artificial reef in Chesapeake Bay.
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