Good morning, Uni Watchers.
I’d like to take a moment to thank all you readers for your kind words and thoughts on the passing of my mom and for your understanding and patience as I navigate one of life’s unfortunate realities. Thanks also to Paul and the entire UW crew for pitching in this week and for their support and assistance. You guys are all aces. I’ll be handling UW today and part of tomorrow, and hopefully Friday as well, but the rest of the team will be stepping up and bringing us content for the remainder of this week. My apologies, but I’m sure you understand.
Now then.
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for another editon of Leo’s World. Leo most recently brought us some fantastic articles detailing (mostly) old school hoops and old time hockey, but now that spring looks to be finally taking hold, he’ll be turning his attention to the diamond for a while. Today he’ll be bringing us a special look at one of my own favorite former ballparks: Crosley Field.
Enjoy.
Crosley Field, Part 1
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
Regarding photos, this is the second time around with regard to sports seasons. I will concentrate on photos I haven’t shared yet, primarily baseball for now, starting with the oldest photos after this piece on Crosley. When the leaves start to fall, football, and maybe some more hockey or hoops if I have any interesting pics left that are worthy, will be on tap. I have a feeling everything online will be enhanced, if not entirely generated, by AI someday soon, so scoop these up while you can.
There will probably be some additional misc. stuff along the way this year, like this (Ohio-centric) article, which is admittedly less about uniforms and more about a place where some great uniforms were worn.
By year’s end, I’ll probably have shared all of the best photos I have saved from the past 10-15 years, so Leo’s World will not be a weekly feature in 2026 (if not sooner) and once again not be on a fixed schedule. This is a labor of love; I don’t ask for or receive money, so once I’ve gone through the photos I’ve collected over the years, the frequency will depend upon whether or not I have anything I think would be of interest to readers and what other things in life I want to turn my attention to and how much time I choose to devote to those pursuits in place of penning Leo’s World.
That being said, it’s time for some peanuts and Cracker Jack…from Crosley Field in Cincinnati!
That’s one of the great things about baseball, isn’t it? The parks. Not the cookie-cutter multi-sport venues. Ballparks. And Crosley was about as quirky as they came.
It opened as Redland Field in 1912, an early concrete-and-steel stadium.When it came to the Reds, third place seemed to be a plateau; they had never finished higher than that after leaving the American Association. Additionally, Cincinnati only managed to claw their way up to a third place finish in the NL 3 times prior to Redland Field being built, 1896, 1898 and 1904, and it appeared this new ballpark wouldn’t change their fortunes much. In 1918, the Reds had their best season out of the first seven in their new ballpark…you guessed it, another third place finish.
Then, out of nowhere, the following season, Redland Field hosted the first World Series for Cincinnati in what was close to being an all-Ohio series and what turned out to be the most infamous World Series in history. This photo is from that 1919 Series against the White Black Sox. Notice the fans sitting in the outfield behind a rope designating the distance for a home run. (Rare video of game 1 at Crosley can be seen here.)
It would be a while before the ballpark would see another World Series and by then it had another name. During the last 3 years the Reds’ home was known as Redland Field, 1931-33, they finished each season in last place. Powel Crosley Jr. bought the team in February of 1934 and it became known as Crosley Field for the remainder of its existence. Changing the name didn’t help much as Cincinnati finished in the basement for the fourth straight season in 1934.
However, after more than two decades of nothing out of the ordinary aside from the ’19 Series, once it was known as Crosley, a number of notable occurrences would take place, beginning almost immediately.
The following year, 1935, two instances of note occurred, one is legendary baseball history, the other is local baseball lore. I’m sure you know the former: The first MLB night game took place against the Phillies on May 24 of that year.
The other story took place a little over two months later, during the sixth night game of the 1935 season. Night games were still a novelty and Crosley was packed on July 31, with fans again sitting in the outfield behind ropes and Commissioner Landis in attendance, as the Reds beat the defending World Champion Cardinals, 4-3 in 10 innings. However, those things were not the big story on that night. Before there was Morganna…
Her name was Kitty. She was a nightclub performer. That night she made her way onto the field, grabbed a bat from Cincy RF Babe Herman in the bottom of the eighth and walked to home plate in her dress and heels. She then demanded a stunned Paul “Daffy” Dean of the Cardinals pitch to her, which he did, underhanded. Kitty grounded the ball back to the mound and was easily thrown out at first. (Apparently it’s not as easy to run in heels and a dress as it might seem.) Manager Frankie Frisch lobbied for the out to count against the Reds, but to no avail. Sometime after that night, Cincinnati GM Larry McPhail gave the performer a game-used Reds uniform which she proudly wore on stage for years while promoting herself as the only woman to have ever batted in a Major League game. (Can’t find a photo of her in that Reds uni, sorry.)
1937 was also notable at Crosley. The Cincinnati Tigers played there in their only season as a Major League team during the NAL’s inaugural season.
The Bengals played there too. Not the current Bengals, of course, who played in Nippert Stadium during their AFL seasons of 1968-69, but the original Bengals in the second league known as the AFL, in 1937.
There is one more item of note from 1937 that occurred before the Tigers and Bengals played at Crosley that year and that I want to share, but first let me bring up an interesting fact about Redland/Crosley: It was below street level. Way below…
That only exacerbated the situation caused by the 1937 flood which still ranks as one of the worst floods in American history. One out of every 8 residents of the Tri-State area were left homeless. The river gauge in Cincinnati measured the Ohio at 80 feet, the highest ever recorded.
Nearly 20% of the city was underwater roughly 3 months prior to baseball season. It’s a wonder Cincinnati dried out and cleaned up sufficiently before the Reds home opener and, as you can see in the photo below, that was no less true with regard to Crosley Field.
It’s no surprise that 30-some odd years later, Riverfront Stadium was built well above street level.
I’ll hold off on the rest of this look back at Crosley, which will include some other interesting history and quirkiness, like this…
…the terrace!
Until next time…
Cheers!
Thanks, Leo — this was another fun one. Longtime readers know I’ve featured old ballparks frequently on UW (though not so much in recent years), and as I said in the intro, Crosley Field was one of my favorite parks from yesteryear.
Readers? What say you?
Great stuff, Leo. I love that Kitty story, she looked very dapper. Crosley Field looked wonderful, even filled up with water.
I love Crosley Field. If I had a time machine and could go back and see a game at any old stadium other than Forbes Field(as a Pittsburgher, it’d have to be #1), it would be Crosley. Thanks for sharing those stories.
That sounds like a question of the week! Paging Mike, if you could time travel to a stadium that no longer exists, what would it be?
Agreed, I just came back to add that to my comment. I’d add the addendum that it’s not for any special event, it’s just you’re sent back for an above average excitement level event with no control over the time…I’d still pick Crosley or Forbes Field.
A lost gem to be sure.
GTGFTS
30 Jul 1967
Second game of a DH, one of five that are played that day, but the only NL one.
Reds salvage the sweep and hold on 3-2
GTGFTU
30 Jun 2019
Reds throwing it back to 1936 and looking better than their CC ever could.
Once again, the Reds beat the Cubs, this time 8-6.
The Reds never looked better than they did in those ’36 unis!
I had a DIY project that I shelved, which was going to be making cookie cutters in the shape of unique MLB ballparks. Crosley Field was one of the designs I had.
Thanks, Leo, for sharing so much Crosley history.
Please don’t apologize, Phil. I wish you strength and comfort this week
Definitely no need to apologize, buddy. Surprised you didn’t take the rest of the week. I know some people would rather work to take their minds off things, but we’ll be fine if you need more time.
GTGFTS: 30 Jul 1967, Cubs 2 – 3 Reds. Rookie Joe Niekro takes the loss for Chicago.
GTGFTU: 30 Jun 2019, Cubs 6 – 8 Reds. The sixth of fifteen Cincinnati throwbacks worn that season.
Nothing beats the charm of an old time ballpark.
An interesting food for thought to highlight some of these classic ballparks of lore if uni was ever lacking for content.
I mean the Kitty story about going up to bat from the stands in dress & heels is definitely legend.
My hometown of Buffalo has Sahlen which was built in the modern retro Camden Era building era.
Even before the Blue Jays came it was always a vibe walking around the Downtown on game days. Catching views of buildings from the skyline was always great during a game as well.
Hearing about classic ballparks from other cities is would be insightful for those not local to that city.
My sincere condolences on your mom’s passing, Phil.
Great stuff as always, Leo. I had never heard the stories about Kitty and the 1937 flood before.
Crosley Field was gone before I was born, but I’ve been fascinated by the site and its area. Just a short distance to the south is Kenner Street, the namesake of the toy company (which currently only exists as a marque for Hasbro), and right south of that is Cincinnati Union Terminal, whose façade inspired the design of the Hall of Justice from the SuperFriends cartoons produced by Taft Communications-owned Hanna-Barbera. Taft, naturally, was also based out of Cincinnati. The area is also of interest to me as a roadgeek, what with I-75 passing by it.
Saw my first major league game at Crosley, in 1965. Vern Law and the Pirates beat Joe Nuxhall and the Reds, 3-1. On the field that day were HOFers Bill Mazeroski, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, and Tony Perez. Plus Pete Rose, in the midst of his first .300 season, who autographed my scorecard before the game.
I’ll recognize those Reds “Palm Beach” throwbacks anywhere. I knew i had to see those red britches in person, and it was my son’s first Reds game. So we bid, and won, a game-worn hat, and pair of pants from the game
So sorry for your loss. Losing a mother is losing the one person who loves you more than anyone can. She literally brought you into the world, and was your biggest cheerleader and advocate.
My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family Phil. Losing your mom isn’t easy.
Great article today, my grandpa told me some stories about some of the old ball parks he got to see, Crossley Field was his favorite.
If I could go back in time to an old stadium to see a game though, it would be where my parents favorite teams originated….
The Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field. My mom was a Giants fan and my dad a Dodgers fan. That was really the only thing they disagreed on, lol.
Incredible to watch video of a game that occurred over a century ago. Thanks for sharing.!
Looking at that video (and other older baseball photos)…You’ll notice that the players have a belt loop directly over what was then a functional fly in their pants.
Does anyone know why they would have put a belt loop in this location? Does anyone know why it stopped being a feature? Seems to be gone by the 50’s. So not related to the double knit era.
Here’s a picture of Greenberg and Dimaggio in 1939. Hank’s uniform still has it (and it seems to be used to keep the belt tab flush, though it looks like he belts his pants backwards) Joe’s uniform does not have the extra loop.
link
Phil, my heart goes to you and your family with the loss of your mom.
Just want to add one thing about the 1937 flood.
The Mill Creek that ran behind Crosley Field was the major contributor to the flooding of Crosley. Sure, all the waterways were swollen but people might think it was the Ohio River but the Ohio River is about 2.5 miles away.
Phil, very sorry to hear about the loss of your Mom.
Phil, condolences on the loss of your mom.