The History of Connie Mack Stadium

Connie Mack Stadium, Shibe Park: one of the most historical and influential baseball parks in the illustrious history of United States sports. The first entirely steel and concrete park constructed, it set architectural and aesthetic precedents that would not be broken for decades to come, and ensured its place in the hearts of the Philadelphian people, and well as in the infamy of American baseball history. From its construction to its demolition, it provided a well organized and unparalleled experience for casual fans and baseball aficionados alike, and a fitting home for the Philadelphia Athletics, and later, the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as several historic Negro League contests as well. The history of the park is a long and complex one when viewed in the broad context of the times. The very essence of the park lies in its location and the effects it had on the surrounding neighborhoods, and the destruction of the park had much to do with the destruction of the communities surrounding it as well as the aftermath of the Second World War and the phenomenon of White Flight. The construction of Connie Mack stadium holds its own unique and equally fascinating set of mysterious circumstances, including the building materials of the park as well as the reasons for its construction.

The stadium was built as a new and more viewer friendly alternative to the old and decrepit Columbia Park in 1909. Connie Mack's history in operation paints a vivid picture of the times, and the park endured several ownership changes throughout its heyday, as well as serving as a crux for several sports controversies, such as the admittance of blacks into the rosters of traditionally all-white baseball teams. The effect it had on the surrounding neighborhoods is also undeniable and intricate, forming a relationship with the surrounding communities that disintegrated with the fall of the outskirts of Philadelphia to poverty. The moves and decisions the owners of the park made had a profound effect on the surrounding areas, including the erection of the "Spite Fence" in 1933 that broke the strong ties between North Philadelphia and it's baseballs teams. Serving as the home to several World Series as well as serving as an endless source of entertainment for an entire city, it is easy to see how Connie Mack stadium has secured itself in the hearts and minds of classic baseball and sports fans. From name changes to game changes, Connie Mack stadium stood resilient, defiant to a changing world and a changing city, never surrendering to the whims of men, nor to the variable opinions of the times. The game may have changed, but the historic places in which the games took place have remained the same, a valiant testament to the endurance of the official sport of America.

Connie Mack stadium was a stadium constructed to house several Philadelphia sports teams in the first half on the twentieth century. However, a cursory glance into the rich history of the complex reveals that such a curt description does not begin to describe such a place. The stadium served as home to several successful and prestigious sports teams throughout history, including the Philadelphia Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies, both of which played baseball in the historic stadium. The stadium was constructed with financial backing by Connie Mack and Benjamin Shibe, two owners of an upstart, unheralded baseball club called the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Philadelphia Athletics were founded in 1901 with the help of Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack, which coincided with the year that the American League was formed. Connie Mack was delegated to be the manager of the baseball affairs while Shibe, a prominent sporting goods manufacturer, dealt with the business component of owning a sports club. The original stadium of choice for the Athletics was Philadelphia's Columbia Park, also located in North Philadelphia, although they moved to Shibe Park following its construction in 1909. After several successful trades organized by Connie Mack, the Philadelphia Athletics became routine contenders in the American League, and won nine pennants throughout the franchise's history, earning the Athletics the prestigious title of the "Most Successful Philadelphian Sports Team of all Time". Several World Series were also conducted at Shibe Park, resulting in five World Series victories for the Philadelphia Athletics, in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930. In addition to housing the Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack stadium also served as a home to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Athletics national league counterparts, in the latter part of the first half of the twentieth century.

The history of the Athletics hardly tells the entire story, however. The interactions between Connie Mack and fellow athletics owner Benjamin Shibe became an important component in understanding the history of Connie Mack stadium as the two owners aged. Benjamin Shibe originally owned the majority of shares relating to the stadium, and thus named the stadium with his namesake, Shibe. Connie Mack possessed a marginal amount of shares and was considered to have been primarily the sports face of the franchise. However, following Shibe's death in 1922 his shares were divided amongst his several offspring. Connie Mack then began to command a larger amount of shares relating to the park's ownership and finally, following the death of Shibe's last son in 1936, Connie Mack maintained full ownership of the park and of the team. Mack, notoriously tight fisted as an owner, secured his place in history as one of the most conservative, though successful, managers and owners in Major League Baseball history. Once quoted as preferring a team to get off to a hot start yet finish fourth to boost ticket sales, Mack became infamous for attempting to squeeze every last dollar out of his successful franchise.

One prime example of this was a conflict Mack had with the surrounding neighborhoods in North Philadelphia in 1933 regarding the sale of seats on top of people's houses surrounding the stadium. Mack contended that the neighbors had no right to profit from his personally owned stadium and sued the surrounding communities attempting to generate money from this practice. After promptly losing the law suit, Mack ordered the fences around the stadium to be extended in height, preventing the majority of the surrounding communities to view his contests without paying. Although this practice did initially generate revenue for the club and its stadium, the long terms effects of the fence were disastrous, cutting the team off from the communities that supported it. In doing so, Mack very well may have contributed to the downfall and sale of the club in 1954. Shibe Park remained a staple of Philadelphia sports until it's demolition in 1976 in favor of the new Veteran's Stadium, built in South Philadelphia.

Benjamin Shibe, co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics with Connie Mack, constructed Shibe Park. It was the first stadium made of concrete reinforced steel. Connie Mack wanted the stadium to be a lasting monument capable of supporting the weight of hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The facade was designed in French Renaissance style by Benjamin Shibe designed. The walls were brick with terra cotta ornamentation. The copper roof was made of green slate. The words "Shibe Park" were engraved over the main entrance and the words "Entrance to Grandstand" were engraved over the adjacent entrances.

Shibe Park, which had been constructed at a cost of three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars on a six-acre site that had been vacant lots, woods, and the Philadelphia Hospital for Contagious Diseases, had been home to the Athletics since it opened in 1909. Located at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue, it had originally seated twenty three thousand, ten thousand in the grandstand and thirteen thousand in the bleachers, plus an additional area in centerfield that was often used for standing-room patrons and could accommodate up to ten thousand standees. Shibe Park in Philadelphia and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh both opened in 1909 and were the first two ballparks to be constructed entirely of steel and concrete.

Connie Mack was a baseball titan and probably the most important figure in Philadelphia baseball history. He had a very impressive career in baseball himself then continued on to manage pro teams. In 1891, he became involved in Ban Johnson's Western League. The Milwaukee club is where he accepted a job as manger and running the business affairs for the club for four years. These four years were very important to his career. During the four years, he learned more about the game than he had ever learned. He took in and absorbed everything he could while he worked behind the scenes for the club. It truly was a learning experience. Meeting new contacts and connections was one of the greatest benefits. His connections with Ban Johnson lead to a promising new business offer. Johnson was friends with Benjamin F. Shibe. Shibe was a partner in the A. J. Reach and Company. He was fascinated and a fan of the old Athletics of which his partner was a member. In 1880, he became a stockholder in the Athletic Club of the American Association.

The club went bankrupt in 1890 but he still was very interested in it. He took charge of Athletics at that time. This action was taken due to his loyalty for baseball as the greatest American sport and pastime. Shibe was not only a fan of baseball; he manufactured baseball equipment as well. He was responsible for the evolution of baseball itself through his manufacturing of gloves, bats, masks, and other equipment. His love for the game resulted in his decision to have the Athletics join the American league. He finically backed Mack and the two created the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901. Shibe and Mack became the President of the crib. With the new team, the club has had an immediate need for the park to play ball at home. The new crib, Mack found a suitable gap site, which was lined with 29th Street, Columbia Avenue, 30th Street and Oxford Street in North Philadelphia. Shibe and Mack has a 10-year lease on the property and built a small stage for a meager $ 35,000. Columbia Park The park was named because the boundaries of Columbia wasAvenue.

It was a small stadium and had the seating capacity of only 9,500 people. The seating was wood grandstands from home plate to first and third bases that extended on either side. Open bleachers also bordered the foul lines. The park was so small that that the Athletics dressed in a small club house under the bleachers. The away team even had to change in their hotels before the game. The stadium didn't even have dugouts, players sat on wooden benches. The Athletics did well in their first few seasons and became very popular. The small wooden ball park often had to shut its gates on thousands of fans when tickets sold out. The 1902 and 1905 seasons made it clear that the park could not hold all its fans when the Athletics won the American League Championships. Mack and Shibe were not satisfied with the seating capacity. They envisioned a larger park that would hold larger crowds which would result in higher profits. The result was decision to build a new ball park. The Final game was on October 8th 1908. After the 1908 season, the athletics abandoned Columbia Park for good. They moved to their new stadium, Shibe Park, which was much larger. Columbia Park stood for three more years then was knocked down to build homes. This was the place where Philadelphia baseball history began and where many famous players started their career.

The A's and the Philadelphia Phillies originally played in the same ballpark called the Baker Bowl. Because of the A's popularity, their owner Ben Shibe, decided to purchase new land and build a new ballpark. The A's played their last game on October 3, 1908, separating the two teams. They played their first game at Shibe Park on April 12, 1909, 30 years before the Phillies moved there. During these 30 years there were many changes made to the stadium that made it more appealing to the fans. By 1940, Shibe Park had a new tenant, NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. Because of the two baseball teams, a Philadelphia fan was always able to see a baseball game between the months of April and September. In 1953, Shibe Park was renamed after the manager of the A's for 50 years, calling it the Connie Mack Stadium. After the 1954 season, the A's moved to Kansas City, leaving the Phillies to buy the stadium for $2 million.

During the 1960s, the Phillies sought out a new ballpark, due to bad location, lack of parking, and deterioration. The voters throughout Philadelphia voted to build a new multi-purpose stadium for both the Phillies and Eagles in 1964. The Phillies played the last game at Connie Mack Stadium on October 1, 1970. That following year they moved to the new stadium, the Veterans Stadium. In 1971 and several years to follow, Connie Mack Stadium was vandalized and used as a junk yard. The stadium was finally demolished in July 1976, during the All-Star Game held at the Veterans Stadium, and is now the site of a church.

Connie Mack stadium and the surrounding area in which it was built, North Philadelphia were just as, if not more inseparable, as the teams that played within the walls of the complex. The connections between the neighborhood and it's beloved Shibe Park were held until the park was demolished in the nineteen seventies. However, several of the economic changes that the neighborhood underwent affected Shibe Park in positive and negative ways as the years progressed, and ultimately it was economic changes that drove the ancient stadium from North Philadelphia and caused a new complex, Veteran's Stadium, to be built in a newer and more attractive area, South Philadelphia. These economic changes were not always direct results of actions by the stadium and teams, but rather to a larger socio-economic context that included the rise and fall of industrialism, the Great Depression, World War II, and white flight. All these factors contributed to economic rises and declines in the area, and eventually ran the neighborhoods into a downward spiral of decay from which it has since struggled to recover from.

From the time Shibe Park was constructed until the nineteen thirties and the Great Depression, North Philadelphia had been a hub of industrial wealth and might in Philadelphia. Factories were erected in many places, and the area began producing its own income. It became so popular and wealthy an area, that many of the rich industrialist owners of the factories began to construct new and elaborate townhouses in the North Philadelphia. All these achievements have contributed to the environmental choice of Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack a baseball park to build new and modern than ever before in the area. This new park has brought more wealth in an industry that is booming and strengthen the economy record highs.

This period of success would not be the epitome of the economy of the North Philadelphia in the twentieth century. With the arrival of the Great Depression and the thirties, the majority offactory production control, which enriches the beginning of the century ended, and the companies that folded much needed work planned for the area. Shibe Park, is now completely Connie Mack and his colleagues bore the brunt of economic decline, which manifests itself in an uncomfortable amount of empty seats in stadiums. Discouraged Mack lashed to the fans, has denounced many of them to try to profit from his team, viewed by spectators from the gamestheir homes at reasonable prices. Although Mack lost the case, ordered a large fence to be erected around the stadium to prevent such practices. This was known as the "Spite Fence" and it was a masterpiece by several other teams that face similar challenges duplicates. The fence creates a negative side, and accidentally smothered already in a downward spiral field removed from one of the main sources of entertainment. Connie Mack had left its mark in the district.

L 'fifties brought a new advent of social and economic change. As the cities in America grew larger and more crowded, wealthier, usually white Americans chose to leave the crime and cacophonous noise of the city behind and settle in the rural outskirts of the urban area. This area eventually became known as suburbia, and the new white America was born. No longer would cities represent an accurate cross section of the population, but rather a cross section of the people who could not afford to to leave. Many black families could not afford to move these new areas, people have chosen to stay in town, and saw how their neighbors succumbed to crime, lack of funds, and poverty.

This phenomenon has been known to serve as "white flight" and perhaps the final nail in the coffin of aging Connie Mack Stadium. While the poorest families moved to black and the area became racially integrated, and the economy of the neighborhood last, devastating fall back down the fieldinto outright poverty. Connie Mack was no longer a sports complex in an affluent and supportive area of Philadelphia. North Philadelphia became a burden on the stadium, preventing it from drawing customers due to the downtrodden nature of the neighborhoods that surrounded it. Connie Mack stadium's destruction in 1976 marked the end of a long legacy of sports in Philadelphia, and strangled one last vast source of income from the North Philadelphia area. Although much of the area has been the focus of gentrification projects throughout the nineties and into the twenty-first century, it still remains a poverty stricken and statistically dangerous area with little to no signs of improvement.

The final days of Connie Mack stadium were spent in silent reflection. The new and far away Veterans Stadium had taken the place of the once glorious complex, leaving it to crumble in the declining neighborhoods of North Philadelphia. However, although destroyed by fire and fan looting, the stadium could never lose its sense of pride. Connie Mack stadium had been one of the longest stadiums in use in the Philadelphia area. It had served as a host for numerous pennant wins, World Series games, and winning seasons by not only its chief proprietors, the Philadelphia Athletics, but also by several other baseball clubs in the area, such as the Philadelphia Phillies. The complex began its life as Shibe Park, the brainchild of two aspiring baseball entrepreneurs, Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack.

Throughout the years it gained the reputation of a winning stadium, and served as the home for the Philadelphia Athletics until their departure in the nineteen fifties. Not only did the stadium break tradition by its reputation for winning ball clubs, but it broke architectural traditions as well, being the first stadium to be constructed using concrete and steel, a distinct sign of the times. The park was constructed for many reasons, including the dreams and objectives of Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack. It was constructed in 1909 in North Philadelphia because at the time North Philadelphia remained the industrial and wealthy capital of the Philadelphia area. Though its construction reflected the simple reasons of profit and location, the construction process itself became a massive feat of engineering, commanding a large amount of money relative to the times and employing thousands of workers.

The construction site of the complex made its home atop a plot Country once used by many other sites, including the notorious Philadelphia never Hospital for Infectious Diseases. Just as important as the design was the destruction of the park, which took place in 1976. The area began a steady decline in poverty, a phenomenon right to the stadium itself, the charred wreckage by fire and looters were repeated unpleasant reduced. The complex remained dormant for several months before being finally demolished in July. While the world has changednineteen seventies, it is important to note that the construction of Veterans Stadium was astronomical in cost compared to the cost of construction for Shibe Park. Ironically enough, Veterans Stadium did not outlive the venerable Connie Mack Stadium, and was promptly demolished before it could reach forty years in operation. The destruction of Connie Mack stadium was as much linked to the destruction of the Philadelphia Athletics and the unsuccessfulness of the Philadelphia Phillies. Combined with several bad decisions by the administration of the complex, as Connie Mack infamous barrier in spite of himself, "let these reasons, Connie Mack Stadium to an end after almost 70 years working for baseball fans to meet.

Almost as instrumental as the destruction of the park itself was the story of the districts, the Connie Mack Stadium, the North Philadelphia surrounded. Once a wealthy and prominent field in Philadelphia, North Philadelphia has been shredded by the economic crisisrepercussions of such events as the Great Depression and World War II, turning into an unappealing habitat for the destitute. This caused a never before observed phenomenon known as "white flight" in which the white residents of the area left the city in search of new and more secure area, suburbia was born. North Philadelphia was not the only victim of this precipitous decline; however, it was shaken at the very foundations by the events of the thirties, forties, and fifties. North Philadelphia has become a haven for gentrification projects and community improvement initiatives but still remains extremely volatile and unstable in nature. Connie Mack stadium was not only one of the most historically significant and locally popular ballparks in American history, but also one of the most influential, in design, and in the communities surrounding the park. Although it is now demolished, it remains a symbol of Philadelphian engineering and management, a stark testimony to the The ingenuity of people like Benjamin Shibe and Connie Mack, the two men who have dared to dream.