Introduction: Braves Field: Memorable Moments at Boston’s Lost Diamond
This article was written by Bob Brady
This article was published in Braves Field essays (2015)
And there used to be a ballpark
Where the field was warm and green
And the people played their crazy game
With a joy I’d never seen
And the air was such a wonder
From the hot dogs and the beer
Yes, there used to be a ballpark, right here.1
Yes, there used to be a National League ballpark in Boston! Braves Field was the home turf of Boston’s Braves from its opening on August 18, 1915, until the team’s final major-league game at the site on September 21, 1952. Abandoned after the ballclub moved to Milwaukee in the spring of 1953, the park assumed a second life when Boston University transformed it into a sports complex and rechristened it as Nickerson Field. Fortunately for followers of baseball history, the university preserved the distinctive Braves Field administration building that had served as the ballpark’s main entrance. Also retained was a portion of the old right-field pavilion so that a century after the ballpark was built, those attending campus athletic events and graduation ceremonies could sit where Braves Field patrons once witnessed the memorable events described between the covers of this book. Other than the still-active fellow centenarians Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, no other steel and concrete baseball stadium of this era has similarly survived.
The Wigwam, as it was affectionately known (or the “Beehive” during the Boston Bees years), was the site of Boston’s first big-league Sunday game and its first night game, as well as the host to its first All-Star Game. It was borrowed on two occasions by the neighboring Red Sox for World Series play and performed that duty for the Braves in 1948. Baseball’s longest big-league game ended in a tie on its playing field. The immortal Babe Ruth graced its diamond as a member of the Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, and Dodgers. The Sultan of Swat signed his last player contract with the Braves in 1935 in the still-standing administration building. The Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, made his Hub debut on this diamond during a 1939 preseason Braves-Red Sox City Series exhibition tilt. Braves Field was where Boston’s baseball color line was first broken when Jackie Robinson visited the Wigwam with the opposing Dodgers in 1947 and Sam Jethroe debuted in the Tribe’s outfield in 1950.
The ballpark’s rich history includes many events outside of the national pastime. It was the birthplace of professional football’s Washington Redskins and New England Patriots. Rocky Marciano boxed there on the way to becoming the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. Famed artist Norman Rockwell sought inspiration within its confines for an iconic Saturday Evening Post cover.
Through the collaborative efforts of 43 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), memorable Braves Field moments have been retrieved from the haze of the distant past and reported here in glorious detail so that anyone perusing the pages of this book will gain an appreciation that, yes, there used to be a ballpark here.
BOB BRADY joined SABR in 1991 and is the current president of the Boston Braves Historical Association. As the editor of the Association’s quarterly newsletter since 1992, he’s had the privilege of memorializing the passings of the “Greatest Generation” members of the Braves Family. He owns a small piece of the Norwich, Connecticut-based Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League, a Class-A short-season affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Bob has contributed biographies and supporting pieces to a number of SABR publications as well as occasionally lending a hand in the editing process.
- Read more: Find all essays from Braves Field in the SABR Research Collection online
- Games Project: Find articles on Braves Field’s greatest games at the SABR Games Project
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Notes
1 From “There Used To Be A Ballpark,” as sung by Frank Sinatra on the 1973 Reprise album, Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back and written by Joseph G. Raposo. The song, in its entirety can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgPPLHPx8PU.