Griffith Stadium
Encyclopedia
Griffith Stadium was a sport
s stadium
that stood in Washington, D.C.
from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue
and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue, NW. An earlier wooden baseball
park had been built on the same site in 1891. It was called Boundary Field or National Park
, as its occupants were then known primarily by the nickname "Nationals." This park was destroyed by a fire in March 1911, and replaced by a steel and concrete structure, also at first called National Park; it was renamed for Washington Senators
owner Clark Griffith
in 1920. The stadium was home to the American League
Senators from 1911
through 1960
, and to an expansion team of the same name for their first season
in 1961
. The venue hosted the 1937
and 1956 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
s. It served as a part-time home for the Negro League
team called the Homestead Grays
during the 1930s and 1940s. It was also home to the Washington Redskins
of the National Football League
for 24 seasons, from the time they transferred from Boston
in 1937 through the 1960 season.
In 1911, William Howard Taft
began the tradition of presidents
throwing out the ceremonial first pitch
of the baseball season at Griffith Stadium. Harry Truman, being ambidextrous, enjoyed showing off by throwing the baseball with either hand. According to some reports, he would alternate from year to year.
, also known as National Park and American League Park II, was destroyed by a fire started by a plumber's blowtorch. This left the owners of the Washington Senators
in a difficult situation, due to the fact that Spring Training had already begun and Opening Day was less than a month away. Thomas C. Noyes, president of the Senators, gained approval from the club's board of directors to build a new ballpark with a steel grandstand on the same site as Boundary Field. The quick construction of the ballpark was reported by The Washington Post
: "Day and night the chanting of the negro laborers has been heard in the vicinity, like Aladdin's palace, the structure rose as if by magic." Opening Day 1911, the grandstand was sufficiently stable enough to host President William Howard Taft
and the Boston Red Sox
, as well as 16,000 fans. Construction of Griffith Stadium continued while the Senators were on the road, and was not completed until July 24, 1911.
in right-center was in play, as was the National Bohemian
beer sign, shaped like a bottle, 56 feet above the playing field. At one point in his youth, future MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn
was the operator of the scoreboard.
brought large crowds to the ballpark, and many fans came whenever John McGraw
’s New York Giants
were in town. Clark Griffith took advantage of this trend by making small improvements in the stadium in 1920 and 1921. These improvements included changing the main entrance of the park from Georgia Avenue to a refurbished one on Florida Ave., and spending $3,200 to build an office for himself beneath the grandstand. After various other small improvements, on August 21, 1923, Griffith announced plans to greatly expand and refurbish the ballpark. The stadium, built in 1911, was hastily constructed and provided minimal seating and other features when compared to other ballparks. The planned expansion was reported to cost $100,000, and expand the seating capacity to 50,000, a number which wound up being 32,000. The new seating came from the complete rebuilding of the left field grandstand into a double-decked tier. The roofline of the new grandstand was considerably higher than the roof of the main grandstand, resulting in a visible, 15-foot gap between the two. At that point the wooden left field bleachers were also replaced, by a large concrete deck that ran from the foul pole across left field and into center field. The first base pavilion remained single-decked. The first attempt at a high wall was constructed across right field.
By the 1930s the right field pavilion had been double-decked, and the angling right field wall and its scoreboard were realigned to align with the low right field wall, about 8 feet inside of it. This also resulted in the unique inward-pointing 90-degree angle in center field. Both versions of the tall fence had the effect of keeping the neighbors in the adjacent row houses from watching the games for free.
Lights were installed for the 1941 season. The Senators played their first home night game on May 28.http://www.baseball-almanac.com/firsts/first10.shtml
The right field fence was originally covered in various billboard advertisements, but in later years was painted a solid dark color. A bullpen area was built in right center field behind a short fence, providing a new target for lefthanded batters. In the mid-1950s, an inner fence was erected across left and center field, to reduce the home run distances by 10 to 20 feet. This inner fence stayed in place through the ballpark's final season, 1961.
from William Howard Taft
to John F. Kennedy
threw a ceremonial first pitch
at least once at Griffith. The Senators even constructed a special presidential box near the first base dugout for the annual ritual.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
was a good friend of Clark Griffith, and had attended games at the stadium since his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy
in the 1910s. When FDR returned to Washington in 1933 as President, Griffith visited the White House early every season to give Roosevelt season passes; he also constructed a special ramp at the ballpark that accommodated the President's special mobility needs after his bout with polio in 1921. On Opening Day in 1941, Roosevelt stood up in the stadium's presidential box on the arm of a military aide, and threw out the first pitch. In 1942, Clark Griffith urged Roosevelt to keep baseball going during the war. Griffith took credit after Roosevelt's initial "Green Light letter," which allowed baseball to continue.
The distant fences were no problem for sluggers like Josh Gibson
, Mickey Mantle
and the Senators' own youngster Harmon Killebrew
. There have only been two reported instances of a player hitting a home run over the left field bleachers: once by Mantle and twice by Gibson. Babe Ruth
hit near-500 foot drives over the center and right-center walls on consecutive days in May 1921.
In May 1949, Cleveland Indians
outfielder Larry Doby
smacked the then-longest home run ever hit at the stadium over the right-center field wall, and onto a rooftop well outside the ballpark. The shot was reported to have traveled over 500 feet, and Doby called it "the longest homer I've ever hit."
On April 17, 1953, Mantle hit one off Chuck Stobbs
that was so impressive that someone tried to determine its flight with some precision, thus popularizing the term "Tape Measure Home Run." It was alleged to be 565 feet, although it bounced off the top of the back wall of the bleachers, adding some distance to its flight path.
Clark Griffith once said that Josh Gibson hit more home runs into Griffith Stadium's distant left field bleachers than the entire American League
.
Aside from some championship seasons in the early 1920s and 1930s, the Senators teams that played at Griffith Stadium were legendarily bad. The hapless Washington team became the butt of a well-known Vaudeville joke, "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," a twist on the famous Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee eulogy of George Washington
: "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen." (A similar phrasing was once used for the St. Louis Browns: "First in shoes
, first in booze
, and last in the American League.")
Only one Washington, DC public high school baseball player ever hit a home run over the 30-foot high "green monster-like" right field wall at Griffith Stadium - Bill Harrison of Coolidge High School in 1952.
The stadium was still called Griffith Stadium in 1961, even though team owner Calvin Griffith
had moved the original Senators club to the "Twin Cities" area of Minneapolis-St. Paul (becoming the Minnesota Twins
), to be replaced in Washington by a new expansion team
, also called the Senators (now the Texas Rangers
).
Griffith Stadium hosted numerous football events before the Redskins moved there in 1937. It was the home of Georgetown Hoyas football
from 1921 until 1950, George Washington Colonials football
in the 1930s and 1940s, and Maryland Terrapins football
in 1948. The stadium was the host of an annual Thanksgiving day game between Howard
and Lincoln
Universities, which was one of the most popular events during the year, drawing many African American alumni and fans from the surrounding neighborhoods. One major reason for the stadium's early-'20s expansion was that Clark Griffith had envisioned the stadium hosting the annual Army-Marine football game, played every December. Temporary seats were often placed in right field for football games at Griffith, with the gridiron stretching from left field to the first base line.
Griffith Stadium was the location of 1940 and 1942
NFL Championship Games. The 1940 game was the 73–0 triumph by the Chicago Bears
over the Redskins, the highest-scoring shutout game in the history of the NFL. The Championship Game in 1942 was essentially a rematch, with nearly the same players, and this time the Redskins upset the previously undefeated Bears, 14–6. According to Richard Whittingham's history of the Chicago Bears (ISBN 0671628852), George Preston Marshall
, the owner of the Redskins, gave his team a pre-game "pep talk" that consisted simply of writing "73 - 0" on the chalkboard.
During the Redskins' game on the afternoon of December 7, 1941, against the Philadelphia Eagles
, an announcement was made over Griffith Stadium's public-address system commanding all of the American generals and admirals there to report to their duty stations. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
was not explicitly announced over the P.A. system; with no small, portable radio
s available in the 1940s, that left thousands of other spectators to be among the last Americans to learn of the Japanese attack. The Redskins
won that game, their last game of the 1941 season
, by a score of 20 to 14. They finished the season with a record of six wins and five losses, in third place in the NFL Eastern Division. Although the Redskins enjoyed only one winning record at home (4–2 in 1956) during their final 13 seasons at Griffith, they still finished with an 81–58–6 overall record at the stadium over 24 seasons.
played games there during the league's existence. Over 180 boxing matches were held at the ballpark, including fights by Joe Louis
. On July 23, 1942, a "battle of music" was held at Griffith between musicians Louis Armstrong
and Charlie Barnet
. Some of the 18,000 fans in attendance began to dance on the field in front of the bandstand. Spectators who remained in their seats complained that they could not see. When the police attempted to control the situation by stopping the music, a riot broke out, with some minor injuries and several teenagers being hauled away by the police.
Scrap metal salvage rallies were held at least once at the stadium during World War II
, where people would bring scrap metal to the ballpark to be melted and made into steel for new weapons. Griffith was also the home to public school events, church revivals, public meetings, and annual ROTC
drill competitions. Billy Graham
held a crusade at Griffith in 1960, preaching from a platform erected near second base. Two choir stands, each accommodating 500 singers, were set up along the foul lines.
of Washington, D.C., a historically black area since the Civil War
. The neighborhood was home to many black working class people, but also a class of young, professional African American "elite" such as Langston Hughes
. Duke Ellington
worked at Griffith selling hot dogs during his childhood.
Griffith Stadium was not officially segregated, although an unofficial policy early after the 1920s expansion was that blacks sat in the right field pavilion. Calvin Griffith
, nephew of Clark Griffith, claimed that the segregated seats were a result of "colored preachers ... asking Mr. Griffith to put aside a section for the black people." In October 1957, a group of blacks picketed multiple times in front of Griffith Stadium, protesting the lack of black players on the Washington Redskins. Shorty after the end of World War I
, after a report that several white women had been raped by a black man, a large group of whites seeking revenge marched toward the Shaw neighborhood. However, a conflict was avoided after these men came upon "a group of two thousand armed black men," who had been prepared and gotten their weapons at Griffith Stadium, chosen as a meeting place because of its landmark status in the community.
In 1955, longtime Senators owner Clark Griffith died. His nephew, Calvin Griffith
took over. Fewer and fewer fans were coming to the ballpark, due in large part to the St. Louis Browns
' move to Baltimore in 1954, causing Baltimoreans to stop having to come to Washington to see games. Because of this, Calvin Griffith developed an interest in moving the Senators to Minnesota
. Attendance may not have been the sole reason Griffith wanted to move, however; in a speech to Minnesota businessmen in the 1970s, Griffith said, "You only have 15,000 blacks here." The American League opposed a move at first, but agreed under the condition that an expansion team, also named the Senators
, would come to Washington, beginning in 1961. The original Senators moved to Minnesota, and the new Senators played at Griffith in 1961. However, in 1962, the Senators moved to the new D.C. Stadium
, joining the Redskins, who had moved there a year before. The final baseball game at Griffith Stadium was played on September 21, 1961, before a crowd of only 1,498 fans. Griffith Stadium now had no tenants, and sat empty for several years, deteriorating, with the field taking on the appearance of a prairie. The ballpark was demolished in 1965. Nearly 1,000 of the stadium's seats were moved to Tinker Field
in Orlando, Florida
, at that time the spring training home of the Senators/Twins, where they remain today. The Howard University Hospital
now occupies the site.
A plaque has been erected in the building, near home plate.
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
that stood in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue
Georgia Avenue
Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland. Within the District of Columbia and a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Route 29...
and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue, NW. An earlier wooden baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
park had been built on the same site in 1891. It was called Boundary Field or National Park
Boundary Field
Boundary Field is a former baseball ground located in Washington, D.C. located on a larger block bounded approximately by Georgia Avenue, 5th Street, W Street and Florida Avenue, NW...
, as its occupants were then known primarily by the nickname "Nationals." This park was destroyed by a fire in March 1911, and replaced by a steel and concrete structure, also at first called National Park; it was renamed for Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
owner Clark Griffith
Clark Griffith
Clark Calvin Griffith , nicknamed "the Old Fox", was a Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner.-Biography:...
in 1920. The stadium was home to the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
Senators from 1911
1911 in baseball
-Champions:*World Series: Philadelphia Athletics over New York Giants -Awards and honors:*Chalmers Award**Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers, OF**Wildfire Schulte, Chicago Cubs, OF-MLB statistical leaders:-American League final standings:...
through 1960
1960 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates over New York Yankees ; Bobby Richardson, MVP*All-Star Game , July 11 at Municipal Stadium: National League, 5-3*All-Star Game , July 13 at Yankee Stadium: National League, 6-0...
, and to an expansion team of the same name for their first season
1961 Washington Senators season
The Washington Senators season was a season in American baseball. The team was in its inaugural season, having been established as a replacement for the previous franchise of the same name, which relocated to the Twin Cities of Minnesota following the 1960 season, becoming the Minnesota Twins...
in 1961
1961 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Cincinnati Reds ; Whitey Ford, MVP*All-Star Game , July 11 at Candlestick Park: National League, 5-4 *All-Star Game , July 31 at Fenway Park: 1–1 tie...
. The venue hosted the 1937
1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the fifth playing of the mid-summer classic between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 7, 1937, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., the home of...
and 1956 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
s. It served as a part-time home for the Negro League
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
team called the Homestead Grays
Homestead Grays
The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.-Franchise...
during the 1930s and 1940s. It was also home to the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
for 24 seasons, from the time they transferred from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1937 through the 1960 season.
In 1911, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
began the tradition of presidents
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
throwing out the ceremonial first pitch
Ceremonial first pitch
The ceremonial first ball is a longstanding ritual of American baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from his/her place in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team...
of the baseball season at Griffith Stadium. Harry Truman, being ambidextrous, enjoyed showing off by throwing the baseball with either hand. According to some reports, he would alternate from year to year.
Early History
On March 17, 1911, Boundary FieldBoundary Field
Boundary Field is a former baseball ground located in Washington, D.C. located on a larger block bounded approximately by Georgia Avenue, 5th Street, W Street and Florida Avenue, NW...
, also known as National Park and American League Park II, was destroyed by a fire started by a plumber's blowtorch. This left the owners of the Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
in a difficult situation, due to the fact that Spring Training had already begun and Opening Day was less than a month away. Thomas C. Noyes, president of the Senators, gained approval from the club's board of directors to build a new ballpark with a steel grandstand on the same site as Boundary Field. The quick construction of the ballpark was reported by The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
: "Day and night the chanting of the negro laborers has been heard in the vicinity, like Aladdin's palace, the structure rose as if by magic." Opening Day 1911, the grandstand was sufficiently stable enough to host President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
and the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, as well as 16,000 fans. Construction of Griffith Stadium continued while the Senators were on the road, and was not completed until July 24, 1911.
Field design
The stadium was laid out at an angle within its block in the Washington street grid. Thus, it was over 400 feet down the left field line (east) to the bleachers (though this distance was shortened in later years by the construction of an inner fence). The fence also took an unusual right-angled jut into right-center field where a large tree and several apartment buildings stood, due to the unwillingness of the owners of the tree and those nearby houses to sell to the Senators' owners during construction of the stadium. The right field fence angled away from the infield sharply which, in addition to a 30-foot fence (to block the view from surrounding buildings) about 8 feet inside the lower, outer wall, meant that relatively few home runs were hit at the stadium. Center field was east-southeast of home plate, which made for difficult visibility for the fielders in the late afternoon sun. Senators groundskeepers maintained a downhill slope from home plate to first base, supposedly to help accelerate slow Washington batters. However, Griffith's groundskeepers were still adept at keeping a fine sod field that was "compared to that of the best golf courses". This was in sharp contrast to the unkempt field that can be seen in photographs of Griffith prior to 1923. For many years, the right field grandstand wall served as the right field foul line for the last 15 feet before the foul pole, making it impossible to catch a ball there. The 41-foot tall, hand-operated scoreboardScoreboard
A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game or match. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used a mechanical clock and numeral cards to...
in right-center was in play, as was the National Bohemian
National Bohemian
National Bohemian Beer, colloquially called Natty Boh, National Boh or just plain Boh, is an American beer originally brewed in Baltimore, Maryland, but now brewed by the Miller Brewing Company in Eden, North Carolina, and distributed by the Pabst Brewing Company...
beer sign, shaped like a bottle, 56 feet above the playing field. At one point in his youth, future MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...
was the operator of the scoreboard.
Expansion and changes
In the early 1920s, a trend began of fans flocking in great numbers to the stadium whenever certain teams played the Senators. When the Yankees came to Washington, the chance to see Babe RuthBabe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
brought large crowds to the ballpark, and many fans came whenever John McGraw
John McGraw
John McGraw may refer to:* John McGraw , , New York lumber tycoon, and one of the founding trustees of Cornell University* John McGraw , , Governor of Washington state from 1893–1897...
’s New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
were in town. Clark Griffith took advantage of this trend by making small improvements in the stadium in 1920 and 1921. These improvements included changing the main entrance of the park from Georgia Avenue to a refurbished one on Florida Ave., and spending $3,200 to build an office for himself beneath the grandstand. After various other small improvements, on August 21, 1923, Griffith announced plans to greatly expand and refurbish the ballpark. The stadium, built in 1911, was hastily constructed and provided minimal seating and other features when compared to other ballparks. The planned expansion was reported to cost $100,000, and expand the seating capacity to 50,000, a number which wound up being 32,000. The new seating came from the complete rebuilding of the left field grandstand into a double-decked tier. The roofline of the new grandstand was considerably higher than the roof of the main grandstand, resulting in a visible, 15-foot gap between the two. At that point the wooden left field bleachers were also replaced, by a large concrete deck that ran from the foul pole across left field and into center field. The first base pavilion remained single-decked. The first attempt at a high wall was constructed across right field.
By the 1930s the right field pavilion had been double-decked, and the angling right field wall and its scoreboard were realigned to align with the low right field wall, about 8 feet inside of it. This also resulted in the unique inward-pointing 90-degree angle in center field. Both versions of the tall fence had the effect of keeping the neighbors in the adjacent row houses from watching the games for free.
Lights were installed for the 1941 season. The Senators played their first home night game on May 28.http://www.baseball-almanac.com/firsts/first10.shtml
The right field fence was originally covered in various billboard advertisements, but in later years was painted a solid dark color. A bullpen area was built in right center field behind a short fence, providing a new target for lefthanded batters. In the mid-1950s, an inner fence was erected across left and center field, to reduce the home run distances by 10 to 20 feet. This inner fence stayed in place through the ballpark's final season, 1961.
A Presidential Destination
Every President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
from William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
to John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
threw a ceremonial first pitch
Ceremonial first pitch
The ceremonial first ball is a longstanding ritual of American baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from his/her place in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team...
at least once at Griffith. The Senators even constructed a special presidential box near the first base dugout for the annual ritual.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
was a good friend of Clark Griffith, and had attended games at the stadium since his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy....
in the 1910s. When FDR returned to Washington in 1933 as President, Griffith visited the White House early every season to give Roosevelt season passes; he also constructed a special ramp at the ballpark that accommodated the President's special mobility needs after his bout with polio in 1921. On Opening Day in 1941, Roosevelt stood up in the stadium's presidential box on the arm of a military aide, and threw out the first pitch. In 1942, Clark Griffith urged Roosevelt to keep baseball going during the war. Griffith took credit after Roosevelt's initial "Green Light letter," which allowed baseball to continue.
Notable sluggers
Josh Gibson
Joshua Gibson was an American catcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He played for the Homestead Grays from 1930 to 1931, moved to the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936, and returned to the Grays from 1937 to 1939 and 1942 to 1946...
, Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
and the Senators' own youngster Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew , nicknamed "Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. During his 22-year career in Major League Baseball , he played for the Washington Senators, a team which later became the Minnesota Twins, and...
. There have only been two reported instances of a player hitting a home run over the left field bleachers: once by Mantle and twice by Gibson. Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
hit near-500 foot drives over the center and right-center walls on consecutive days in May 1921.
In May 1949, Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
outfielder Larry Doby
Larry Doby
Lawrence Eugene "Larry" Doby was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball....
smacked the then-longest home run ever hit at the stadium over the right-center field wall, and onto a rooftop well outside the ballpark. The shot was reported to have traveled over 500 feet, and Doby called it "the longest homer I've ever hit."
On April 17, 1953, Mantle hit one off Chuck Stobbs
Chuck Stobbs
Charles Klein Stobbs was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox , Chicago White Sox , Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins and St...
that was so impressive that someone tried to determine its flight with some precision, thus popularizing the term "Tape Measure Home Run." It was alleged to be 565 feet, although it bounced off the top of the back wall of the bleachers, adding some distance to its flight path.
Clark Griffith once said that Josh Gibson hit more home runs into Griffith Stadium's distant left field bleachers than the entire American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
.
Aside from some championship seasons in the early 1920s and 1930s, the Senators teams that played at Griffith Stadium were legendarily bad. The hapless Washington team became the butt of a well-known Vaudeville joke, "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," a twist on the famous Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee eulogy of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
: "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen." (A similar phrasing was once used for the St. Louis Browns: "First in shoes
Brown Shoe Company
Brown Shoe Company is a footwear company that owns a variety of footwear brands in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters is located in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.-Origins:...
, first in booze
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
, and last in the American League.")
Only one Washington, DC public high school baseball player ever hit a home run over the 30-foot high "green monster-like" right field wall at Griffith Stadium - Bill Harrison of Coolidge High School in 1952.
The stadium was still called Griffith Stadium in 1961, even though team owner Calvin Griffith
Calvin Griffith
Calvin Robertson Griffith , born Calvin Robertson in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was a Major League Baseball team owner...
had moved the original Senators club to the "Twin Cities" area of Minneapolis-St. Paul (becoming the Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
), to be replaced in Washington by a new expansion team
Expansion team
An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...
, also called the Senators (now the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
).
Football at Griffith Stadium
Georgetown Hoyas football
The Georgetown Hoyas football team represents Georgetown University in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level of college football. Like other sports teams from Georgetown, the team is named the Hoyas, which derives from the chant, Hoya Saxa...
from 1921 until 1950, George Washington Colonials football
George Washington Colonials football
The George Washington Colonials football team represented The George Washington University in National Collegiate Athletic Association major college-level football competition from 1881 to 1966. The Colonials were most successful between the 1930s and 1950s when they regularly played top-level...
in the 1930s and 1940s, and Maryland Terrapins football
Maryland Terrapins football
The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision competition. The Terrapins compete within the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
in 1948. The stadium was the host of an annual Thanksgiving day game between Howard
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
and Lincoln
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Lincoln University is the United States' first degree-granting historically black university. It is located near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university also hosts a Center for Graduate Studies in the City of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides...
Universities, which was one of the most popular events during the year, drawing many African American alumni and fans from the surrounding neighborhoods. One major reason for the stadium's early-'20s expansion was that Clark Griffith had envisioned the stadium hosting the annual Army-Marine football game, played every December. Temporary seats were often placed in right field for football games at Griffith, with the gridiron stretching from left field to the first base line.
Home of the Washington Redskins
The Redskins, previously based in Boston and named for the Boston Braves, moved their home to D.C. in time for the 1937 NFL season. As Boston, they had won their division in 1936, and would continue their winning ways in Washington, capturing their first NFL championship in that 1937 season. They would continue being perennial contenders all through the war years.Griffith Stadium was the location of 1940 and 1942
NFL Championship Game, 1942
The 1942 National Football League Championship game was the NFL's tenth title game. The game was played on December 13, 1942 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and the attendance was 36,006....
NFL Championship Games. The 1940 game was the 73–0 triumph by the Chicago Bears
1940 Chicago Bears season
The 1940 Chicago Bears season was their 21st regular season and 5th postseason completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 8-3 record under head coach George Halas. Behind NFL greats Sid Luckman and Bronko Nagurski the club rode to a 8-3 record and berth in the NFL Championship...
over the Redskins, the highest-scoring shutout game in the history of the NFL. The Championship Game in 1942 was essentially a rematch, with nearly the same players, and this time the Redskins upset the previously undefeated Bears, 14–6. According to Richard Whittingham's history of the Chicago Bears (ISBN 0671628852), George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
, the owner of the Redskins, gave his team a pre-game "pep talk" that consisted simply of writing "73 - 0" on the chalkboard.
During the Redskins' game on the afternoon of December 7, 1941, against the Philadelphia Eagles
1941 Philadelphia Eagles season
The 1941 Philadelphia Eagles season was their ninth in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 1–10, winning two games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.-Off Season:...
, an announcement was made over Griffith Stadium's public-address system commanding all of the American generals and admirals there to report to their duty stations. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
was not explicitly announced over the P.A. system; with no small, portable radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
s available in the 1940s, that left thousands of other spectators to be among the last Americans to learn of the Japanese attack. The Redskins
1941 Washington Redskins season
The 1941 Washington Redskins began with the team trying to improve on their 9-2 record from 1940.-Schedule:-Standings:...
won that game, their last game of the 1941 season
1941 NFL season
The 1941 NFL season was the 22nd regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, Elmer Layden was named the first Commissioner of the NFL, while Carl Storck resigned as league president....
, by a score of 20 to 14. They finished the season with a record of six wins and five losses, in third place in the NFL Eastern Division. Although the Redskins enjoyed only one winning record at home (4–2 in 1956) during their final 13 seasons at Griffith, they still finished with an 81–58–6 overall record at the stadium over 24 seasons.
Other events
Griffith Stadium was home to many events other than baseball and football. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball LeagueAll-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...
played games there during the league's existence. Over 180 boxing matches were held at the ballpark, including fights by Joe Louis
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
. On July 23, 1942, a "battle of music" was held at Griffith between musicians Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
. Some of the 18,000 fans in attendance began to dance on the field in front of the bandstand. Spectators who remained in their seats complained that they could not see. When the police attempted to control the situation by stopping the music, a riot broke out, with some minor injuries and several teenagers being hauled away by the police.
Scrap metal salvage rallies were held at least once at the stadium during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, where people would bring scrap metal to the ballpark to be melted and made into steel for new weapons. Griffith was also the home to public school events, church revivals, public meetings, and annual ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
drill competitions. Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
held a crusade at Griffith in 1960, preaching from a platform erected near second base. Two choir stands, each accommodating 500 singers, were set up along the foul lines.
Status in racial disputes
Griffith Stadium was located in the Shaw NeighborhoodShaw, Washington, D.C.
Shaw is a neighborhood located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It is roughly bounded by M Street, NW or Massachusetts Avenue NW to the south; New Jersey Avenue, NW to the east; Florida Avenue, NW to the north; and 11th Street, NW to the west...
of Washington, D.C., a historically black area since the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The neighborhood was home to many black working class people, but also a class of young, professional African American "elite" such as Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
. Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
worked at Griffith selling hot dogs during his childhood.
Griffith Stadium was not officially segregated, although an unofficial policy early after the 1920s expansion was that blacks sat in the right field pavilion. Calvin Griffith
Calvin Griffith
Calvin Robertson Griffith , born Calvin Robertson in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was a Major League Baseball team owner...
, nephew of Clark Griffith, claimed that the segregated seats were a result of "colored preachers ... asking Mr. Griffith to put aside a section for the black people." In October 1957, a group of blacks picketed multiple times in front of Griffith Stadium, protesting the lack of black players on the Washington Redskins. Shorty after the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, after a report that several white women had been raped by a black man, a large group of whites seeking revenge marched toward the Shaw neighborhood. However, a conflict was avoided after these men came upon "a group of two thousand armed black men," who had been prepared and gotten their weapons at Griffith Stadium, chosen as a meeting place because of its landmark status in the community.
Final years
Calvin Griffith
Calvin Robertson Griffith , born Calvin Robertson in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was a Major League Baseball team owner...
took over. Fewer and fewer fans were coming to the ballpark, due in large part to the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
' move to Baltimore in 1954, causing Baltimoreans to stop having to come to Washington to see games. Because of this, Calvin Griffith developed an interest in moving the Senators to Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Attendance may not have been the sole reason Griffith wanted to move, however; in a speech to Minnesota businessmen in the 1970s, Griffith said, "You only have 15,000 blacks here." The American League opposed a move at first, but agreed under the condition that an expansion team, also named the Senators
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
, would come to Washington, beginning in 1961. The original Senators moved to Minnesota, and the new Senators played at Griffith in 1961. However, in 1962, the Senators moved to the new D.C. Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Washington, D.C., United States, and the current home of MLS's D.C. United....
, joining the Redskins, who had moved there a year before. The final baseball game at Griffith Stadium was played on September 21, 1961, before a crowd of only 1,498 fans. Griffith Stadium now had no tenants, and sat empty for several years, deteriorating, with the field taking on the appearance of a prairie. The ballpark was demolished in 1965. Nearly 1,000 of the stadium's seats were moved to Tinker Field
Tinker Field
Tinker Field is a stadium in Orlando, Florida. It is primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the Orlando Rays minor league baseball team before they moved to Cracker Jack Stadium in 2000...
in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, at that time the spring training home of the Senators/Twins, where they remain today. The Howard University Hospital
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
now occupies the site.
A plaque has been erected in the building, near home plate.
External Links
Sources
- Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry.
- Lost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter.
- Williams, Paul K. Greater U Street. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
- The Ballparks, by Bill Shannon & George Kalinsky, 1975. ISBN 0-8015-0490-2.