A steady drizzle fell on Nickerson Field. All but oblivious to thehistory lying dormant beneath his feet, Chris Bone late yesterdayafternoon made his way across the spot where a mound once stood. Nowcovered by AstroTurf, that mound was the place where Warren Spahnonce spun his magic for the Boston Braves.
With streams of cars whizzing east and west along the borderingMass. Pike, the hallowed ground of what once was Braves Field livedon as a near-vacant and gray urban tableau of faded dreams.
'I know it's Braves Field. I've seen pictures from back then,'said the 21-year-old Bone, born and raised in Great Britain and, forthe last three years, a midfielder for the Boston University men'ssoccer team. 'But I really don't know much more than that. Theyplayed baseball here, that much I know, but beyond that . . .'
Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox since 1912, now is slated to joinBraves Field, the Huntington Avenue Grounds, the South End Grounds,and other lesser-known parks around the city as another vacated siteof big-time Boston baseball. Based on a deal club officials struckwith state and city lawmakers late Monday night, the Red Sox willplay in a new home in the Fens in 2004, with plans for a piece of oldFenway Park, including the famed left-field wall, to be preserved asa museum piece of historical green space.
For a city that boasts of its reverence for history and love ofall things hardball, Boston has done next to nothing to preserve itsformer fields of dreams.
The New Fenway - the final name to be determined in what amountsto a multimillion dollar corporate auction - will be the city'sseventh home for professional baseball, dating to the post-Civil Warera. Of the five ballparks prior to Fenway, which opened the sameweek the Titanic sank, the only remnant is the section of seating,now lined with aluminum bleacher seats, erected in the spring of 1915as the right-field pavilion at Braves Field. An adjoining two-storystucco building, once the Braves' administrative offices, now housesthe BU Police Department and a day-care center.
Jack Grinold, Northeastern University's venerable sportsinformation director, is more familiar than most with Boston's oldballyards. Grinold's office at Matthews Arena is but a Ruthian blastfrom the original home of the Red Sox (nee Pilgrims or Americans),the Huntington Avenue Grounds.
What is today the NU campus was the site of both the HuntingtonAvenue Grounds, which opened in 1901 for the new Boston Americans(Pilgrims), and the South End Grounds, home to the National Leagueclub that eventually moved out of the South End and took up residenceat Braves Field.
Nothing original of the two parks remains. But for more than 10years now, in the area that was the Huntington Avenue Groundsinfield, a bronze statue of legendary Red Sox hurler Cy Young hasmaintained a commanding presence. The 6-foot-2-inch Young is frozenin time, posed as if he is looking in for a catcher's signal. Sixtyfeet away, a granite replica of home plate nestled in the grass isetched with words that remind passersby that this once was theAmerican League home of Boston baseball.
'Home plate would have been in that exact spot,' said Grinold,treating a visitor to an impromptu tour yesterday.
Grinold made his way around the old ball yard with an enthusiasmand a zip in his step, as if he were about to catch the first pitchof the World Series.
'But Mr. Young isn't standing exactly where the mound would havebeen,' he said.
The statue, said Grinold, had to be placed some 20 or 30 feettoward what would have been first base. The reason: a fire lane nowcrosses the site of the Grounds' original mound.
'We didn't want Mr. Young getting hit by a fire truck,' saidGrinold.
The Huntington Avenue Grounds and the older South End Groundsserved as the Hub's hardball heaven for the first decade of the 20thCentury. The Pilgrims set up shop in direct competition with theNationals, in part to make it easier for fans to travel to games, butin larger part to draw customers from the area's many taverns andsiphon fans away from the other team.
'You could hit a fungo from one park to the other,' said Grinold,whose office walls are dotted with photos of the two parks. 'It madegreat sense to have one next to the other. It was unused space. Fansknew the transportation route, and the taverns were of tremendousimportance in their day.'
The Nationals opened their South End Grounds in 1871 in a parkthat was considered the game's gem of the day.
'It may have been,' said Dick Johnson, curator of the New EnglandSports Museum, 'the best ballpark ever built.'
'It was Victoriana at its best,' said Grinold, admiring a black-and-white photo of the old Walpole Street stadium. The structureincluded a pair of signature spires and four turrets.
'Unmistakably Queen Anne,' said Grinold.
But the beautiful little ballpark, the game's version of the GlobeTheatre, burned to the ground in 1894.
'They were all wood structures,' said Grinold. 'Peanuts andsawdust were common in the day, and so were cigars. Put the threetogether and . . . poof!'
Faced with no competition, the owners of the Nationals didn'twaste money in their hurried rebuilding of the South End Grounds,opting for a cheap, unromantic edifice. When the Americans came alongsome seven years later, Boston's hardball citizenry immediatelyembraced a new team in a new stadium.
'The [Pilgrims] opened for business the same day [as theNationals] in 1901 and outdrew them, 3-1,' said Grinold. 'It was thefirst battle in a war that lasted 50 years [ending with the Braves'move to Milwaukee after the '52 season], but the truth is, the warwas over on Day 1.'
Unlike the statue of Young on the Huntington Avenue Grounds, thereis nothing in place today that commemorates the South End Grounds.The area is now the site of a Northeastern multilevel parking garageand the Ruggles Street MBTA station.
Only a basepath supersleuth could find the long-faded foul linesof the city's two other big-league parks.
In 1884, Boston had a team in the Union Association, which lastedjust one season. The Hub's entry built a park along the same railroadtracks that ran past the South End Grounds and Huntington AvenueGrounds. It bordered Dartmouth Street, near Copley Square,approximately where the Westin Hotel and Copley Place are today.
Boston's other two major league teams, the Players League (orBrotherhood) entry in 1890 and the American Association squad in1891, played at the Congress Street Grounds across Fort Point Channelin South Boston, not far from A and B streets. Boston's NationalLeague team played at the Congress Street Grounds for part of 1894after the fire destroyed the South End grandstand earlier thatseason. Today, an unending maze of cranes and construction equipmentrelated to the Big Dig make it virtually impossible to get to thepark's site.
When the Braves bolted for Milwaukee, they took the Braves Fieldcenter-field scoreboard, which was shipped on a flatbed railroad car.Following the '52 season, the popular Spahn, ready to open a dineracross from Braves Field, asked club management if the franchise wasstable enough for him to open the eatery.
'Spahn's diner opened on Comm. Ave,' said Grinold, whose father,Dr. John Grinold, was the Braves' longtime physician, 'and the Bravesopened in Milwaukee.'
A Speedy Muffler shop now fills the space where Spahnie slung thehash. Inside Boston University's Case Center, three photos hang onthe wall, showing the unfolding construction of Braves Field in 1915.Nickerson Field (nee Braves Field), adjacent to the Case Center, nowis used for BU men's and women's soccer and women's lacrosse. BUholds its annual commencement ceremonies on the AstroTurf. TheTerriers haven't fielded a varsity baseball squad for almost 30years.
Behind the stands that were once Braves Field's right-fieldpavilion, a bronze plaque, approximately 24 inches by 30 inches, isthe only reminder of the hardball that was played in that section oftown.
'The fans of New England,' it reads, 'will never forget theexploits of their Braves and the fond memories associated with BravesField.'
As the rain continued to fall, a young woman, a carrying case fora tennis racket slung over her right shoulder, peeked out through theaging and empty stands. She was lost.
'I'm going for a tennis lesson,' she said. 'They told me therewere indoor courts here, but I guess not.'
Did she know the history of the place? The games that were playedthere? The hearts that were broken when the Braves packed up andleft?
'Sorry,' she said, 'I only came to play tennis.'
Bob Richardson of the Globe staff contributed to this report. DickJohnson, curator of the New England Sports Museum, also aidedsignificantly in this report.
SOUTH END GROUNDS, * 1871-1914
Location: Walpole Street and Columbus Avenue. Teams: Red Stockings(1871-1875) of National Association; Braves (and eight othernicknames, 1876-1914) of National League.
CONGRESS STREET GROUNDS, 1890-1891; 1894
Location: Congress and A Streets.
Teams: Reds (1890) of Players League; Reds (1891) of AmericanAssociation; Beaneaters (1894) of National League.@MEMO
Location: Copley Place; Team: Unions of the Union League.
(photo not available)
HUNTINGTON AVENUE GROUNDS, 1901 - 1911
Location: Huntington Avenue, near Northeastern University's CabotGym.
Teams: Somersets (1901-1904), Pilgrims (1905-1906), Red Sox (1907-1911) of American League.
BRAVES FIELD, 1915 - 1952
Location: Gaffney Street and Commonwealth Avenue.
Team: Braves (1915-1952) of National League.
FENWAY PARK, 1912 - PRESENT
Location: Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street.
Team: Red Sox (1912-present) of American League.
NEW FENWAY PARK
Projected date: 2004; Location: adjacent to Fenway Park; Team: RedSox
