Ray Miller wrote:

 

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Corrections to Previous St. L. E-Mails

Posted by: "rmiller@..." rmiller@...   mando3b

Wed Aug 2, 2006 4:55 pm (PST)

Hello again, Greg (et al.)!
One last addendum to this afternoon's e-mails about the ballpark site at Grand & Sullivan in St. Louis: the old
map I mentioned is on p. 22 of the book Diamonds by Michael Gershman; it is dated 1873, in fact, although the
accompanying text declares that the site was used as a ball field as early as 1866. Gershman states that the
Grand Ave. Grounds were located here in the 1870s, fell into disuse and were torn down; the first Sportsman's
Park was then built for the start of the (American Association) 1881 season. This burned down in 1891, and
was reconstituted for one season before the Browns (now in the NL, and several years yet from being called
the Cardinals) moved to "New Sportsman's Park" a few blocks N and W at Vandevetter & Natural Bridge. The
AL Browns then moved to the site for the 1902 season, but I don't know whether they had to build a new park,
or just refresh the one built in 1892. In any event, there were at least four parks on this site from the 1870s to
1966. (Ironically, the newly-christened Cardinals stayed at Vandevetter & Natural Bridge, rebuilding the park
after an 1898 fire; they didn't move back to Grand & Sullivan till 1920.) I'm sorry to go on so much about old St.
L parks, esp. to a Reds fan, but just last week, I found myself in St. Louis, and got to visit both these old sites! So
they are still much on my mind . . .
None of this, of course, diminishes the historical significance of Findlay & Western in Cincinnati! By the way,
did the site at Michigan & Trumball in Detroit hold as many different baseball structures as these?
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Sportsman’s Park II (park numbering from Green Cathedrals) was used by the Cardinals for one game in 1901 due to a fire the previous day at Robison Field.  The crowd at that game vastly over-flowed the limited available seating-there were large numbers of fans standing  over the entire outfield.   When the Browns moved to St. Louis from Milwaukee, they found a limited numbers of bleachers in very poor condition from Sportsman’s Park  II.   All new wooden grandstand and 1B, 3B, and LF bleachers were built for the 1902 season.  This clearly must count as a new ballpark. 

 

All four of the ballparks at the site are counted as separate parks in the 2006 edition of Green Cathedrals.

 

Ron Selter