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Shibe Park, 1913 Exterior

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This is an outstanding, sharp, glossy digitally restored  photo of the main entrance to Shibe Park taken in 1913, a few years after the ball park opened.   Shibe Park was home to the Philadelphia Athletics, and later, to the Philadelphia Phillies.  Both teams shared the stadium for a number of years until the Athletics deserted Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955. (TRAITORS!)

If you grew up watching games in Connie Mack Stadium / Shibe Park, this is a must have for your collection.  

Location of Shibe Park

Looking at the dirt lot across the street from the ball park, you get a good sense of the fact that back in 1913, 21st and Lehigh was considered to be the outskirts of the city.  In fact, builder (and co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics) Benjamin Shibe was worried that he might have gone too far north in choosing this location.  Indeed, back when the ballpark was built, residents of the area still kept chickens and pigs in their fenced yards.  This concern seems ironic now, given that the location is very inner city.

The location was chosen because it was cheap undeveloped land and because it was in easy walking distance (seven blocks) of the broad street trolley and because of its proximity to three railroad lines.   Since back then visiting teams traveled by train, proximity to rail transportation was considered to be important.

Layout

The main entrance was behind home plate.  As you look at this picture, you are "facing" northeast.  The field was placed so that the sun favored the batter and was most troublesome to the first baseman and right fielder, who received the fewest balls.  The park was designed so that the grandstand seats were in the shade by mid afternoon, offering cool comfort to patrons buying more expensive tickets.

The square block on which the field was built was not a square at all, but a rectangle.  The short side of the rectangle extended from home plate to right field.  Hence, as additions were made to Shibe Park over the years, stands could be and were added to left field (the long side of the rectangle) but the right field wall separated the stadium from 20th street. 

Across the street on 20th street, people could watch the games from the roof tops of their houses (I hope to have a picture of this up for auction in the near future, pending the success of digital restoration efforts.) For years, people who lived in these houses built stands on their roofs and sold tickets.  Management tried to discourage this practice by training searchlights on the houses to prevent people from watching.  Eventually, these makeshift seats deprived the Shibes of so much revenue that in 1935, Jack Shibe built the so-called famous "spite fence", adding 38 feet of corrugated steel to the 12 foot right field fence.  This made it impossible for residents across the street to peer in for free.  The so-called spite fence is visible in several of the other Shibe Park photos available for sale here.

Construction

Shibe Park was constructed by Benjamin Shibe, co-owner of the Philadelphia Atheletics with Connie Mack. 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.

Benjamin Shibe designed the facade in French Renaissance style, with columns, arched windows, and a domed tower, shown in this picture.  The walls were brick with terra cotta ornamentation.   The copper trimmed roof was made of green slate.

The words "Shibe Park" are engraved over the main entrance, and the words "Entrance to Grandstand" are engraved over the adjacent entrances.

Shibe Park was truly the grandest structure of its time -- a structure designed to last forever.

Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.  A combination of factors -- lack of parking, the make up of the neighborhood, and the age of the stadium -- caused the Phillies to move out after 1970.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the real irony.  Veterans Stadium, the ballpark that replaced Shibe Park,  is now itself going to be replaced after only 30 years, with a more intimate Shibe Park - like structure.   So maybe buildings don't last forever, but concepts do.

Tenants

In addition to being home to the Athletics and Phillies, Shibe Park hosted boxing in mild weather (the ring was on the pitcher's mound) and professional football (the Philadelphia Eagles) from 1940 to 1957.

This Picture and Its' Bookend

I think that this picture captures the essence of optimism that must have existed at this time -- a brand new stadium in a new, undeveloped neighborhood, with much hope for the future of the franchise and the city.  A grand structure that would be enjoyed by millions of people for decades to come.  A stark contrast to a similar picture taken after the park had been deserted by the Phillies and set afire by neighborhood hooligans, and shortly before the wrecking ball was taken to the stadium.  

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