History Of San Diego Ballparks

Editor’s Note: This is an article that appeared in the August 1984 issue of Baseball Gold.

 

Memories of Lane Field & Westgate Park

Franklin Roosevelt swamped Alf Landon to win a second term as President, King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to court Mrs. Simpson, and Bing Crosby introduced his newest hit, “Pennies from Heaven.”

The year was 1936.

In the East, the New York Yankees captured their first of four consecutive World Series crowns under new manager Joe McCarthy, Lou Gehrig’s 46 homers led the majors, and the Giants’ Carl Hubbell emerged as National League MVP.

And, in the West, Pacific Coast League baseball arrived in San Diego.

Although the National League Padres would not make their debut for another 33 years, the decades of PCL action that followed were filled with memories and nostalgia for San Diego baseball fans.

An outgrowth of three former Coast League clubs, the 1936 team formed originally in Tacoma, Washington (1904-05). It picked up later in Salt Lake City (1915-25) and Los Angeles (1926-35), sharing Wrigley Field with the Angels and calling itself, among other names, the Hollywood Shieks.

Financially, the Shieks were losers. Club owner H.W. “Hardrock Bill” Lane, after several seasons of hard times, decided to move the club south where a new WPA-constructed ballpark would be partially ready for the `36 season.

It wasn’t nearly the showplace as Wrigley Field, but the new facility certainly had a better view – San Diego Bay was just a fungo’s clout away at the foot of Broadway.

A reported 8,178 fans, including state and local dignitaries, piled into Lane (as in “Hardrock Bill”) Field on March 31, 1936, to cheer their Padres to an opening day 6-2 victory over Seattle.

BROKEN NOSES

In the beginning, there was no grandstand roof and only a minimal backstop screen to protect the crowd against foul balls. Spectators between the bases were right on top of the action — home plate was only 30 to 35 feet from the backstop — and they suffered the consequences with broken noses and bruised jaws from errant fouls.

A roof and lighting were added by the end of the decade, and screens were later  installed to protect tans in the boxes and upper grandstand.

Frank Shellenback managed the Padres to a second place finish in their inaugural year, with future major leaguers Bobby Doerr, George Myatt, Vince DiMaggio arid Ted Williams on the roster.

Williams, a gangling hometown youngster, broke into organized baseball at Lane Field. He joined the Padres part-way through the season and managed two triples and eight doubles while batting .271 in 42 games.

Williams returned the following year and was more impressive — 23 homers, 98 RBIs and a .291 batting average before the Boston Red Sox grabbed him for a reported $35,000.

The picturesque Pacific Ocean offered other than visual benefits, especially to left-handed hitters. Williams and other lefties through the years took advantage of brisk on-shore breezes that carried many a homer well beyond the right field fence onto Pacific Coast Highway.

While the favorable winds often helped, the park’s cozy right field dimensions also played a role. For years, Lane Field’s assumed right field foul line distance was 335 feet, That’s what was painted on the wall.

But a curious groundskeeper in 1954 actually measured the chalk line and revealed the truth. It was only 325 feet.

DAFFY DISTANCE

Another measurement, however, made widespread headlines. In the 1953 season, groundskeeper Bob McGivern discovered the actual distance from home plate to first base — 87 feet!

Whatever the distance, the right field barrier was an inviting target for such popular Padres as Max West, Luke Easter, Jack Graham and Harry “Suitcase”  Simpson in the late 1940s and early ’50s.

“They (West and Easter) hit 20 dozen balls over the fence in batting practice in one week,” recalled former Padres catcher and trainer Les Cook.

Graham smacked 48 homers in 1948, West and Easter combined for 73 in 1949. Easter is credited with Lane Field’s longest drive, a 500- footer against the center field scoreboard. In fact, Graham was well on his way toward breaking Tony Lazzeri’s record of 60 homers, amassing an incredible 46 round-trippers by July. But Angels pitcher Red Adams beaned the Padres’ slugger before a packed house at Wrigley Field, and Graham managed only two more homers for the remainder of the season.

As the Padres’ home run production increased in the post-World War II years, attendance mushroomed. Nearly half-a-million rooters whirled the turnstiles in 1949, a club record.

Capacity crowds of 12000+ were common, particularly for the popular Sunday afternoon doubleheaders. Oftentimes, fans without grandstand or bleacher tickets lounged on the grass in deepest center field. Sometimes, temporary seating was necessary. The seat cushion rental business flourished.

Lane Field was typical of many minor league ballparks – wooden grandstands (they were green in later years) and colorful promotional signs ringing the outfield. An occasional post may have hampered some fans’ visibility, but most folks enjoyed a great view. Front row box-holders literally sat at eye level to the field.

TERMITE HAVEN

Aging wooden grandstands and constant dampness, however, proved a lethal combination as the ballpark entered the 1950s. Portions of the grandstands and bleachers were condemned by the city’s building inspector, victims of termites and dry rot.

“Lane Field Termites Angry … They’re Losing Their Home,” proclaimed a San Diego Tribune headline in 1956. Indeed, the ballpark was in its waning years. Some seating sections down the baselines had to be removed or closed. At one time, fans reportedly occupied some seats “at their own risk.”

As the termites continued to gnaw, Lane Field earned the unenviable reputation as the “most decrepit in the league.”

Meanwhile, on the field, the Padres achieved one of their brightest moments in 1954 in capturing their first clear-cut PCL championship. Former American League MVP Bob Elliott, who later managed the team, chalked up five RBIs with two memorable home runs to defeat the Hollywood Stars, 7-2, in a one-game playoff. Veteran southpaw Bob Kerrigan went the distance to record the historic win.

Just a year prior, Lane Field’s most notable batting accomplishment made PCL history. Hollywood outfielder Ted Beard, former Pittsburgh Pirate, clubbed four consecutive home runs, all over the right-center field fence, for only the seventh time in baseball annals.

But the next day, tragedy struck. Padres’ outfielder Herb Gorman collapsed during a game after belting successive doubles, the victim of a heart attack. He died en route to a hospital.

A remarkable exhibition of throwing strength astonished Lane Field spectators in 1956 when Rocky Colavito, destined for stardom with the Cleveland Indians, heaved a baseball 437 feet. It just missed the world record.

Pitchers, too, had their moments of glory.

Old-timers may recall a pitching duel in 1938 when manager Shellenback, in the nightcap of a Sunday doubleheader, narrowly defeated an 18-year-old Seattle rookie, 2-1. Pitching in his professional debut, the kid was Fred Hutchinson who eventually became a yeoman of the Detroit Tigers mound staff and, later, a popular manager of the Tigers, Cards and Reds.

Also in the ’38 season, Dick Ward of the Padres hurled 12 2/3 hitless innings against Ray Prim of the Angels before winning, 1-0, on a two-hitter.

A host of noted future major league pitchers performed for the hometown team in Lane Field’s latter years, among them Gary Bell, “Sad” Sam Jones, Cal McLish, Hank Aguirre and Jim “Mudcat” Grant.

“Hardrock Bill’ witnessed few of the historic moments in the ballpark that carried his namesake. He died of a heart condition after the 1938 season.

Lane’s estate carried on the franchise until 1945 when it was purchased by former Padres catcher Bill Starr and associates.

In the early 1950s Starr stirred up controversy when he installed some soft drink vending machines at the ballpark after union vendors had increased their commission demands. The dispute was settled by the following season.

NEW PARK NEEDED

Starr’s main ambition, however, was to build the Padres a new home. Several sites were proposed, including Balboa Park, rural Mission Valley and property adjacent to the Convair plant along Coast Highway.

By the mid-1950s, all of Starr’s proposals had fouled out.

In 1955, well-known San Diego businessman C. Arnholt Smith and the Westgate-California Tuna Packing Co. purchased controlling interest in the Padres, determined to move the club into new quarters. This, despite the threat of major league baseball coming to the West Coast. (The Dodgers and Giants arrived in 1958.)

“In the event such a thing happens, minor league baseball here in all likelihood would suffer or even diminish,” predicted Evening Tribune sports editor George Herrick in 1956.

Nevertheless, the aggressive Smith had the funds and the property, and plans were announced for a new $500,000 stadium in Mission Valley. Lane Field’s days obviously were numbered.

After 22 seasons in their breezy abode, the Padres bade farewell to the waterfront and the termites at the end of the ’57 season. The final homestand concluded with a doubleheader against Sacramento.

The team finished fourth in the standings.

In October 1957, a football game between the University of San Diego and Marine Recruit Depot closed out the field’s scheduled events.

During the next few months the facility was a storage site for overflow goods, including cotton, from nearby warehouses. Meanwhile, speculation ran high on the future of the valuable property owned by the Harbor Commission.

Amidst discussion of a new convention center-office complex rising on the land, a wrecker’s truck rolled over the pitcher’s mound and deposited its demolition gear around home plate.

The date was March 5, 1958.

Within weeks the familiar landmark was gone.

Grandiose plans have been proposed during the past 25 years, but the place where Lane Field once was, today is mostly a parking lot.

But some San Diegans remember with great affection the days of large Sunday afternoon crowds, long home runs, gnawing termites and cool breezes in the old ball park.

WESTGATE PARK

“A beautiful park in a beautiful setting,” the Evening Tribune noted.

Westgate Park was called one of the nation’s most attractive minor league layouts. Once the site of horseback riding trails, the Padres’ new home was hollowed out in a country setting in Mission Valley at Highway 395 and Friars Road.

Ground was broken on February 27, 1957, and within 14 months one of baseball’s few privately-financed ballparks became a realty.

Crowds of 4,619 and 7,129 fans turned out for a day-night double-header against the Phoenix Giants to dedicate Westgate Park in April 1958.

Permanent seating was installed for 8,248 spectators, facing a playing field measuring 320 feet down the foul lines and 410 feet to center field. A six-foot-high wire fence surrounded the outfield, and the only advertising was located atop the left field scoreboard — a plug for Breast-O’-Chicken Tuna.

Among the ballpark’s distinctive features were four twin-support light towers leaning protectively over the infield from above the covered grandstand.

Also noteworthy were more than $20,000 in trees, shrubs, flowers and tropical plants brought in to beautify the already-attractive grounds.

During the inaugural season upwards of 233,000 spectators cheered such Padres as Earl Averill (he hit 24 homers before being recalled to Cleveland) and Carroll Hardy, and pitchers Gary Bell and Hal Woodeschick, all bound for the Indians.

Off the field, former Pirates star and National League home run king Ralph Kiner became the Padres’ new general manager.

Without favoring ocean breezes, fewer homers cleared the fences at Westgate Park than at Lane Field. Nevertheless, Tony Perez blasted 34 round-trippers in 1964 before joining Cincinnati’s famed “Big Red Machine.” Deron Johnson hit 33 in 1963 and Tommy Harper 26 in 1962.

Harper’s home run output plus catcher Jesse Gonder’s 116 RBIs hoisted the Padres to a PCL championship in the 1962 season.

NO-HITTERS

Locals Al Worthington and Sammy Ellis both fired no-hitters at Westgate. Worthington’s masterpiece was preserved late in the game when outfielder Jim Bolger turned in one of the park’s greatest catches to rob a Hawaii batter of hit.

Ellis pitched his gem on a Monday, which is usually a slow night for attendance. But an unexpected 9,000 fans turned out, apparently sensing something special was due.

The longest “no-hitter,” however, occurred in 1959 when the Padres’ Dick Stigman fired 10 2/3 innings before Salt Lake City broke the spell. San Diego finally won, 1-0, in the 15th, but Stigman had since bowed to a reliever and didn’t figure in the decision.

Fans of the Westgate era also may remember the daring base stealing of “Go Go” Chico Ruiz in the ’62 and ’63 seasons, plus the flashy infield play of Tommy Helms and Bobby Klaus.

Few parking problems plagued Westgate Park as adjacent lots accommodated up to 3,000 cars.

Inside the stadium, U.S. Navy sailors and other military personnel were frequent visitors. They helped set individual game attendance marks of 15,154 in 1958 for a dairy night promotion and 15,229 in 1967 just before the Padres moved into the new San Diego Stadium.

Overflow crowds usually lounged on the grassy slopes beyond the outfield fence.

VARIETY OF EVENTS

Throngs also filled Westgate for a variety of non-baseball activities, including a circus, jazz festival, rodeo, pianist Victor Borge concert-event, Easter services and the Ice Capades. These ventures oftentimes made the ballpark a profitable operation for a team that seldom was.

“It breaks my heart to think of this park being torn down,” lamented one fan after the Padres caged the Denver Bears, 6-2, in their final game of the 1967 regular season.

“I’ve never seen a more compact, better family type park than Westgate,” added Eddie Leishman, then general manager. “We’re going to hate to vacate it.”

To mark the occasion, a crowd of more than 15,000 fans was treated to 10-cent concessions. The gathering responded by devouring 17,000 hot dogs, 11,000 bags of peanuts and almost enough beer and soft drinks to fill San Diego Bay.

But the fate of Westgate Park, indeed, was certain.

City fathers were dreaming of attracting a major league franchise. In May 1965, that dream took a turn toward reality. The City Council approved plans for a 50,000-seat, $27.75 million multi-use stadium and proposed as the site some land along the sometimes- active San Diego River about five miles east of Westgate Park.

An enabling bond issue was presented to the voters, and it passed by a 72 percent majority. San Diego Stadium, later to be renamed for former Evening Tribune sports editor Jack Murphy, would change the sports future of the city, beginning with the arrival of the Chargers in 1967.

Westgate Park and the surrounding countryside, where horses once galloped, soon would become a huge shopping center.

The Padres played their last game in Westgate before an overflow house in September They remained as a PCL team for one more year in San Diego Stadium before giving way to National League expansion the following season.

After 33 summers in the minors — in breezy Lane Field and cozy Westgate Park — San Diego had become Big League!