Baseball has been a part of Louisville's history for over 150 years. Of course, there's Hillerich & Bradsby's Louisville Slugger bats and equipment, but the game itself has been played here since 1858, professionally since 1871 (major league 1871 - 1899, minor 1899 - present). Team names and affiliations have changed many times over the years, and there have been a few periods when the city did not field a team: during the Civil War, 1878 - 1882, 1899 - 1901, 1962 - 1968, and 1972 - 1982.
The first significant stadium was
Eclipse Park at 28th and Elliott, built in 1871. It burned in 1892 then
Eclipse II was constructed at 28th and Broadway. In 1899, it also burned and Louisville's major league franchise left town and was absorbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Major league ball has never returned to our city. By 1902 though,
Eclipse III was built at 7th and Kentucky with a capacity of 8,500. It was the home of the Louisville Colonels minor league club and was a very successful venue. To this day, there's a street in that area named Base Ball Alley, named after a shortcut many fans used to get to the field from bustling 4th St. Like its two predecessors, it too burned in 1922.
In 1923,
Parkway Field was constructed at Brook and Eastern Parkway. It sat roughly 16,500 fans and was a monster park - left field 329', center 507', right 395'. Whether it was for charity, exhibition, minor league rehab, etc., many greats went up to bat at Parkway - Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Pee Wee Reese, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, even Jackie Robinson (1946 Little League World Series). This would be home to the Colonels 'til they moved to the new 20,000-seat
Fairgrounds Stadium (Old Cardinal) in 1956. When they left, UofL's baseball team then made it their home for several decades. Note: Parkway's original grandstand was demolished in the 1960s.
As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, Louisville's minor league team, now named the RiverBats, moved from Old Cardinal Stadium to a new facility downtown - the fantastic
Louisville Slugger Field. The main concourse of the park is actually the old Brinly-Hardy Tractor Supply Co., which is great reuse of a historic building. UofL baseball also got a new home -
Jim Patterson Stadium. Parkway is nothing but an open field now. Old Cardinal Stadium, while it's still standing and part of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, is essentially condemned and slated for demolition in the coming years.
 |
| Eclipse Park III |
 |
| Parkway Field |
 |
| Fairgrounds Stadium/Cardinal Stadium/Old Cardinal Stadium |
 |
| Louisville Slugger Field |
Simply wish to say your article is as astonishing.
ReplyDeleteThe clearness in your post is simply nice and i could
assume you're an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow
me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.
My homepage architecture-school-los-angeles
Thanks for the kind words. I'm not really an expert; I just have a good personal library and access to other great resources. I also have an almost photographic memory when it comes to space, streets, topography, and maps. So, it's easy for me to look at a corner downtown and know what's there, what it used to be, what structure sat there previously, etc.
DeleteI know it sounds strange, but my driving force behind this blog is actually sadness. Louisville is a fairly old city, and I've seen pictures and heard stories about what downtown was like in it's heyday, 1900 - 1960. Then it went into a 20, 30 year period of decline and became a crime-infested ghost town. The last 30 years have brought significant revitalization, but I don't think it will ever shine as bright as it did before mid-20th century suburban sprawl. Thinking about all that was lost was what led me to create the blog.
Regarding the RSS feed, go ahead and grab it. I don't know a lot about that. Is there something I need to do to set that up or are you good from your end?