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Shibe Park, later known as Connie Mack Stadium, goes back to the Philadelphia Athletics, its original occupant, and their owner Benjamin Franklin Shibe. When Shibe in 1901 took charge of the new team, one of eight clubs in the brand-new American League, he could not have foreseen that the Athletics would become so popular so […]

This story tells the tragic tale of Michael “Doc” Powers, a catcher who played primarily for the Philadelphia Athletics and whose baseball career was cut short by his untimely death. Misconceptions about what caused his demise abound, but can be laid to rest by this article. Ultimately, “Doc Powers Day” was organized by the American […]

Philadelphia resident George McFadden was there bright and early. There would be 6,055 games played in the history of Shibe Park (renamed Connie Mack Stadium decades later), and no one knows how many games Mr. McFadden attended. His claim to fame is that he was the first fan to enter the sparkling new and innovative […]

On July 8, 1952, it rained all morning in Philadelphia. It rained the previous night and more rain was predicted for the afternoon. It was not a day for baseball. Commissioner Ford Frick had a dilemma. The 1952 All-Star Game was scheduled for that day. Since the inaugural contest in 1933, no All-Star Game had […]

Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, opened in 1909, ushered in the modern era of ballpark construction with the first steel-and-concrete stadium in major-league baseball. It was fitting that the elegant ballpark with a French Renaissance-style façade would host the first night game in the American League, on May 16, 1939. The first night game in the majors […]

After 51 seasons and a single pennant at the Baker Bowl, the Philadelphia Phillies moved house. In late June of 1938, Phillies President Gerry Nugent announced that his team would become tenants of the Athletics at Shibe Park. The declining condition of the Baker Bowl motivated the relocation and was probably no surprise to baseball […]

“Bender’s control, his absolute mastery over the batters and his speed were almost ideal,” gushed the Philadelphia Inquirer about Charles Bender’s no-hitter, the first in the history of Shibe Park.1 Cleveland Naps batters were “Benderized and hypnotized” by the Athletics hurler, opined the Cleveland Plain Dealer, noting in the racially insensitive parlance of the era […]

In this first game of a twin bill in the dog days of August 1929, both teams were coming off doubleheaders the previous day. The visiting Yankees had split their pair of games with the Washington Senators, while the Philadelphia A’s had done the same with the St. Louis Browns on their home grounds at […]

On July 4, 1939, the Boston Red Sox engaged the Philadelphia Athletics in a holiday doubleheader at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. A “punch-drunk Independence Day throng of 22,030”1 witnessed a slugfest between the two American League teams. In the first game, Boston jumped out to a quick lead and had a 10-0 advantage going into […]

Babe Ruth made history on May 21, 1930, when, in the first game of a doubleheader, he became the first player to hit three home runs in a game at Shibe Park.1 Oddly enough, that’s not the primary reason why Babe is remembered for this game. Instead, he is incorrectly remembered, thanks to erroneous information […]