Griffith Stadium Historical Analysis by Baseball Almanac

Griffith Stadium

Night time, 1941. Senators versus Tigers with George Kell at the plate and a 2-2 count. The windup... the lights go out. Seconds later the lights turn back on and every player, the batter, and the umpire are all laying on flat on the ground.

On the mound is the pitcher standing tall. Why? He was the only one who knew that the ball had not been pitched. This, and countless other great stories, took place at Griffith Stadium until its destruction in 1965.

"There is no sound in baseball akin to the sound of Mantle hitting a home run, the crunchy sound of an axe biting into a tree, yet magnified a hundred times in the vast, cavernous, echo making hollows of a ball field." - Arnold Hano in Baseball Stars of 1958

Griffith Stadium Major League Occupant(s)
Data
	First Game	04-12-1911
	Last Game	10-02-1960
	First Game	04-10-1961
	Last Game	09-21-1961
Griffith Stadium Ballpark Capacity
Data
Capacity Changes (Yearly Attendance 1) (Yearly Attendance 2)	1921	32,000
	1936	30,171
	1939	31,500
	1940	29,473
	1941	29,613
	1947	29,000
	1948	25,048
	1952	35,000
	1960	28,669
	1961	27,550
Griffith Stadium Ballpark Dimensions
Data
Backstop	1911	61'
Left Field	1911	407'
	1921	424'
	1926	358'
	1936	402'
	1947	405'
	1950	386'
	1951	408'
	1952	405'
	1954	388'
	1956	386'
	1957	350'
	1961	388'
Left Center	1911	391'
Left Center	1950	372'
Center Field	1911	421'
Right Center	1911	378'
	1955	372'
	1956	373'
Right Field	1911	328'
	1921	326'
	1926	328'
	1955	320'
Griffith Stadium Miscellaneous Items of Interest
Data
Field Surface	Grass
Highest Attendance	38,701	10-11-1925
Griffith Stadium

Did you know that on September 7, 1954, a Griffith Stadium record small four-hundred sixty-one (461) baseball fans appeared for a game versus the Philadelphia Athletics? Too easy? Did you know that it was actually a downhill run from home plate to first base?

A fifty-six foot tall National Bohemian beer bottle sign stood in left field at Griffith Stadium and Mickey Mantle nicked the sign with the only home run ball (pictured below) hit completely over the left field bleachers.

Durings its history, several U.S. Presidents threw out the first pitch at Griffith Stadium — a Washington, D.C. tradition that might return due to the return of the Nationals in 2005. Griffith Stadium was demolished in 1965, but not before being burnt badly in a fire on March 17, 1911, rebuilt by July 24, 1911, and hosting both the 1937 All-Star Game & 1956 All-Star Game.

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