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 StadiumMajor League Occupant(s) |
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Data | ||
First Game | 04-12-1911 | |
Last Game | 10-02-1960 | |
First Game | 04-10-1961 | |
Last Game | 09-21-1961 | |
Griffith StadiumBallpark Capacity |
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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 StadiumBallpark Dimensions |
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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' |
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 StadiumMiscellaneous Items of Interest |
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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.