When Yankee Stadium, affectionately known throughout baseball as “The House that Ruth Built,” opened in 1923, it was quickly recognized as the mecca of baseball stadiums. This was primarily due to its grandeur of style and also to its magnificent history. Before the arrival of Yankee Stadium, ballparks were often no more than an afterthought: wooden structures put together quickly without much planning. There were a few exceptions, notably Hilltop Park in New York and Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds; but none of these old ball parks could compare in style to the majestic baseball cathedral known as South End Grounds.
There were three different structures built on the parcel of land bordered by Berlin Street (known today as Columbus Avenue) and several nearby railroad yards. These yards proved to be a hindrance to the ballplayers and the“cranks” (as fans were called back then) attending the games due to the heavy air pollution they generated. As one baseball historian noted at the time,“Passing trains could be counted on to periodically rain smoke and cinders down on the third-base patrons and on the field itself. If the wind was right and the traffic was heavy, games were halted in order to allow the haze generated by the trains to clear.”
The first structure was built in 1871 and opened on April 6 to a crowd of over 5,000 cranks. They witnessed the Boston Red Stockings, led by their great Hall-of-Fame pitcher Al Spalding, defeat a randomly handpicked team by the rousing score of 41-10. The Red Stockings’ roster was filled with many former stars from the famed Cincinnati Red Stockings. This team had disbanded after finally losing a game which broke an incredible 87-game winning streak. The Red Stockings went on to win four consecutive National Association titles. Spalding won 204 games over a five year period, including an amazing 54 wins against just five defeats in 1875.
In 1887 the new owners of the Boston club, which was now known as the Beaneaters, were called the Triumvirs (Arthur H. Soden, James B. Billings, and William H. Conant). They made plans to build a new ballpark at a cost of $25,000. But at the time of the new park’s Grand Opening, the total bill for the structure exceeded $70,000. To the owners and the Bean Town fans, it was worth every penny. Designed by Philadelphia architect John Jerome Deery, the new South End Grounds – also known as the Grand Pavilion – was a sight to behold. The majestic two-tiered cathedral featured a series of towers known as “witches caps.” A curving grandstand was built to hold 2,800 fans with uncovered bleachers flanking the grandstands on either side. This gave the new Grand Pavilion a capacity of 6,800. It had the appearance of a palace built for royalty, not baseball cranks, and it quickly became known as the jewel of Boston.
In 1891 the Beaneaters, lead by Hall-of-Fame pitcher Kid Nichols, would return glory to the fabled South End Grounds, winning the National League pennant for the first time in eight years. It would be the first of three consecutive pennants for legendary manager Frank Selee and his Beaneaters. The city of Boston was completely enthralled with its championship team and its spectacular ballpark. But that glory proved t be short lived: In 1894 a great fire, which roared though the Roxbury section of Boston, burnt the Grand Pavilion to the ground. The fire in the ballpark started in the right field bleachers; and the grandstand, which the Sporting News had called “the handsomest in the country” was no more. To make matters worse, penny-pitching owner Arthur Soden had only insured the ballpark for $45,000, putting any rebuilding project at a serious disadvantage.
The third and final structure on South End Grounds was not of the same spectacular design as the Grand Pavilion and can only be described as ordinary. In 1914 the Beaneaters, now known as the Braves, abandoned South End Grounds for the newly-built Fenway Park. Today there is little reminder of the grandeur that once stood on such hallowed grounds.
