Summers on Sander Street: Baseball at Crosley Field
The old home field of the National
League’s Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through 1970, was located on the west side
of town at the Findlay and Western intersection,
what is today the Queensgate section, just off I-75 South at the Western Avenue
Exit.
Mid-season, June 24, 1970, the
team moved to Riverfront Stadium, and old Crosley Field, built in 1884, was
demolished.
I’m one of the lucky ones to
remember watching games played there with my father, mostly during the late
1940s and early ‘50s, before I became a
roaming inner-city teenager.
I especially remember the night
games with Dad, including the dark walks home over the lonesome inner-city
streets, where my father would be either happy and joking for the win or quiet
because our team lost. We always lived within walking distance of downtown,
even if some of our homes were a mile or so away through old Over-the-Rhine streets.
The night games were magical for
me. I remember the cool night air in the
stands and the cold Coke in my hands, the hotdogs and popcorn, the strangely
illuminated field and the dazzling bleached white of the players’uniforms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosley_Field
Kluszewski
showing his famous short sleeves
The Reds’ office didn’t like it a
lot when Kluszewski cut the too-tight sleeves off his uniform, so he could bat
freely, but there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. When people got a look at those huge biceps,
it was plain that this was one strong batter.
He told a reporter, “It was either that or change my swing—and I wasn’t
about to change my swing.”
When Leo Durocher, Hall of Fame
manager, was asked to name five of the strongest players in baseball, he did not include Kluszewski, and when later asked why not, he answered, “Kluszewski?
I’m talking about human beings!” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kluszewski)
An added fact about Big Klu, that
I could personally brag about among my friends, was that he lived in the same
subdivision, Kennedy Heights, as my Uncle Buford on my Mom’s side. When we visited my uncle’s house for family occasions, it was a thrill just to know I was in my hero’s neighborhood.
If my father wasn’t sitting in
the stadium for home games, he was glued to the TV at home with his Hudepohl
beer. It wasn’t as much fun watching the
games on television as sitting in the stands, but in my house that’s what was
playing.
Another favorite player during
the 1950s, of course, was left-handed pitcher, Joe Nuxhall, a local from
Hamilton, Ohio. He was only 15 years old when he broke into big league baseball
with the Reds, for one game only, on June 10, 1944. This was during World War II, when players
were scarce. Joe came back to the Reds
in 1952 as a permanent player.
I think I remember Joe more as
announcer for 40 years, beginning in 1967, when he retired as a player. That was the same year Johnny Bench came to
the team, whom my father loved, along with every other Cincinnati fan.
I believe we kids had more Johnny
Bench paraphernalia and shirts than any other Reds player, including Pete Rose. Dad began working a second job for the Reds
and was known to bring home pennants, bats, pictures, calendars, shirts, and
whatever else he could get hold of for the kids and grandkids. I still have the red Johnny Bench bat
somewhere. I wish I still had my Bench
gray shirt. One year I got a ladies Reds
hat, kind of a bonnet-type thing. It
became faded in the sun when I wore it, and now wish I’d kept it safe in the
plastic. You do crazy stuff when you’re
young. At least I did.
By this time, the late ‘60s, Sander
Street was just a memory, Dad having moved the family to Mt. Auburn in 1957, and then to Klotter Avenue, back in the Clifton neighborhood, in 1963, the same year hometown boy Pete Rose joined the Reds and won Rookie of the Year.
Imagine my surprise when Dad informed me of the new start's name that year, and I recalled one of my Catholic high school classmates, Karolyn Englehardt, going steady with Pete Rose. Sure enough, when I saw Karolyn on TV and in the news, I knew it was her. Her personality was unmistakable.
I followed Pete's story along throughout his career...and the end of his career. And I always thought of Karolyn riding the city bus home from school every day, swaying back and forth in middle of the aisle, leading us in singing late '50s hit songs.
Free and happy times, good memories of being young and loving the excitement. But the thrills end sometimes in divorce, as both she and I experienced. She married a baseball star; I married a blues musician. We both grew up one day in different parts of the country.
The Reds continued playing Crosley Field
until two years after I moved to Tennessee in 1968. I knew there was talk of building a new stadium, but it was still a
shock when I heard it was final. There
were so many memories for us. Old
Cincinnati was changing. The building of
Riverfront was one of the first reminders.
And I was living in
Tennessee. I felt I was losing my sense
of home.
The mid-‘50s, when Dad was taking
me to the ball games, Crosley Field had already began its decline, mostly due to its location in the dense West
End. The field was bounded on three sides
by factories, and with the increase of automobiles as the new main mode of
transportation, parking was a huge factor.
Additionally, the West End was a
major crime area, especially for night games.
We could see the changes in the landscape, the slow deterioration of the
city streets, walking home from downtown and West End. But I guess we just figured everything would
stay the same in these old neighborhoods both my father and I had grown up
in.
And there were other factors
which demanded the need for a new home for the Reds, including the Bengals
football team being granted an American Football League franchise, with the
reservation that an appropriate facility be built by the start of the 1970 season.
The Reds then agreed to build a new
stadium on the city’s dilapidated riverfront section, and plans were in place
for the last game at Crosley Field.
The last home game on September
28, 1969, against the Houston Astros was to be the final game at Crosley, but
delays in Riverfront’s construction caused the Reds to open the 1970 season in
the old location against the Montreal Expos.
New team additions included manager Sparky Anderson and shortstop Dave Concepción.
The last game ended up being on
June 24, 1970, against the San Francisco Giants, which the Reds won, and then
fans watched mayor Gene Ruehlmann take home plate out of the ground at Crosley
and transport it by helicopter, which landed on the field, to Riverfront
Stadium and then install it in the new turf.
The first game at Riverfront was on
June 30, 1970, against the Atlanta Braves, and the Reds lost 8-2, with Hank Aaron hitting the first ever home run at
Riverfront.
Today, Crosley's old left
field is now a parking lot, and one can still see the “terrace” area there,
next to York Street, probably one of the most famous Crosley Field features.
Notorious Left Field Terrace ~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosley_Field
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