First Game

04-30-1903

Last Game

10-05-1912

First Game

04-15-1911

Last Game

05-30-1911

Capacity
(Yearly Attendance Tm 1)
(Yearly Attendance Tm 2)

1903-1912

15,000

Current Use

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital

Demolished In

1914

Field Surface

Grass

First Night Game

None Played

Highest Attendance

28,584

10-10-1904

Location

North

West 168th Street

South

West 165th Street

East

Broadway

West

Fort Washington Avenue

Backstop

1903

91½'

Center Field

1903

Varied ^{(See Chart Below)}

Left Field

1903

Varied ^{(See Chart Below)}

Right Field

1903

Varied ^{(See Chart Below)}

Hilltop Park

   The first ballpark used by the American League in New York City was Hilltop Park.  The park got its name because it was situated on the top of a hill overlooking the Hudson River. Hilltop was built for the American League franchise that had spent its first two seasons in Baltimore (the original Baltimore Orioles).  The park opened on April 30, 1903, as the home park of the then New York Highlanders-later better known as the Yankees.  The location of Hilltop Park was at the Southwest corner of Broadway and One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street on the northwest portion of the island (and borough) of Manhattan in the city of New York.

   The ballpark site was quite large for its time (9.6 acres or nearly double the size of many ballpark sites of that era), and the south portion of the land plat was used for the parking of first carriages and later automobiles.  The shape of the land plat was a large trapezoid with right angles at the site’s northeast and southeast corners ⁽¹⁾.    The left field foul line ran mostly North to South and was parallel to Fort Washington Road (the western boundary of the park).  The left field foul line would, if extended about twenty additional feet, have intersected One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street at less than 90º.  The right field foul line would, if extended, have intersected Broadway (the western boundary of the park) at more than 90º.  The ballpark site was thus trapezoidal in shape and large for the Deadball Era.

   The park was built of wood and when opened had a seating capacity of 15,000.  Capacity in the Deadball Era was a flexible concept.  In accordance with the practices of the day, overflow crowds were allowed to stand in the outfield.  In addition for really big games, additional standees were allowed down the foul lines and between home plate and the backstop.  Thus the effective overall capacity of the park was near 25,000.  The original 1903 construction of Hilltop Park cost about $300,000, more than two-thirds of which was spent for rock blasting and excavations; and the Grounds Keeper of the Highlanders, Phil Schenck, laid out the playing field ⁽²⁾.  The ballpark consisted of a covered grandstand of three sections, although it was not actually roofed until June 1^st that season.  Two sections of the grandstand were parallel to the foul lines and the third section was a short intermediate diagonal, which formed the backstop. The grandstand extended a short way past both first and third bases, and a clubhouse was located behind the center field fence.  Single-deck bleachers that extended down both foul lines reached from the grandstand almost to the fences. The third base bleachers were not finished until June 1903.  These first and third base bleachers angled towards the foul lines reducing the foul area at the fences to about fifteen feet.  A modest-sized scoreboard was in fair territory down the left field foul line.  The main entrance to the park was on Broadway and a ramp led up to the top of the first base grandstand.  Unlike many of the other contemporary wooden ballparks-this one never burned.

   The park’s original listed dimensions (all dimensions are in feet) of left field '365, center field '542, right field '400 were taken from both Lost Ballparks and Green Cathedrals ^{(3, 4)}.  The deepest part of the park (if the '542 listing for center field were correct), would have been located at the junction of the left field fence and the right field fence, and would have been considerably to the right of dead center field.  The first change to the park’s configuration occurred after the first home stand (all of six games) of the 1903 season.  For Opening Day and the following five games of the first home stand, right field had a large roped-off hollow, and balls hit into that area were ground rule doubles.  When the Highlanders returned home after a four week road trip for the start of their second home stand-starting on June 1^st, a new temporary right field fence had been built to put the hollow out of play.  This move reduced the right field distance to a range of 290-310.  At this same time, a short diagonal center field fence section was added and reduced straightaway center field to about '390. This change in configuration led to an upsurge in over-the-fence home runs for the rest of the 1903 season ⁽⁵⁾.  For 1904, the right field fence was moved again, this time back to about a '385 distance (at the foul line), and at this same time the short diagonal center field fence section was relocated.  These moves increased both straightaway center field ('390 to about '420) and the deepest part of the park, now near right center, 390 to 432.  As a result, the number of over-the-fence home runs to right field, which had been twelve in the 1903 season, dropped to zero in 1904 ⁽⁶⁾.  However, total home runs at Hilltop Park increased from sixteen in 1903 to forty-seven in the 1904 season, as incredibly, forty-five of the forty-seven home runs were inside-the-park home runs.  Research revealed that the total, of over-the-fence home runs hit to center field in the eight seasons 1903-10, was zero ⁽⁶⁾.

   In 1911, a roof was added over at least a portion of the stands down the left-field foul line. There was no seating in the outfield until the park’s next-to-last season (1911) when the center field bleachers were added in front of the center field fence.  Also in 1911 the Yankees (as the American League New York team was now known) shared the park with the New York Giants for the first two months of the 1911 season while the fire-damaged Polo Grounds were being rebuilt.  After the 1912 season, the Giants allowed the New York Yankees to move and share with them the Polo Grounds for the next ten seasons.  

   Hilltop Park was demolished in 1914 and the site has been occupied since the 1920s by Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

The Basis of the Estimated Configurations and Dimensions:

   The Hilltop Park configurations and dimensions shown below are largely estimates.  They in large part do not claim to be definitive, but represent the best possible estimates that take into account all known data, and have the useful characteristic of being internally consistent.  Where possible, ballpark photos have been used to confirm or disprove reported dimensions.  When additional data is discovered the estimates shown below will be revised.  Only the left field dimension ('365 for all years) is the same in all sources, is consistent with all other measures, and therefore is known with high-confidence.

   The original 1903 dimensions (left field '365, center field '542, right field '400, and home plate-backstop '91) were taken from two sources-Green Cathedrals and Lost Ballparks ^{(3, 4)}.  The land plat dimensions were taken from a 1903 New York Times article ⁽¹⁾.  Given the known dimensions of the land plat it was possible to almost exactly confirm the scale shown on the Sanborn map. These land plat dimensions were used with a 1909 Sanborn (fire insurance) map of the ballpark site to derive a ballpark diagram ⁽⁷⁾.  All subsequent ballpark dimensions, other than the left field dimension, were derived from this diagram, in conformance with available photos, data from the SABR home run log, and cross-checked against home run data by field (left field, center field, right field) from Larry Zuckerman’s and the author’s extensive research ⁽⁶⁾.

   The evidence, in support of the original 1903 listed right field distance actually having been 400 feet, is limited to a single photo (Lost Ballparks p. 93).  This photo shows a fence located about 40-50 feet in from (to the West of) Broadway, which on the Sanborn map would make the fence about 400 feet from home plate.  The problem is, as the photo in question is undated, the fence may have been built later than 1903 and most important, may not have been used as an outfield fence.  Thus the 400 feet right field distance, and the associated '42 center field distance, for Opening Day 1903 might never have existed.  While the Sanborn map does establish that the right field '400 and center field '542 distances were possible, no inside-the-park home runs were hit in the games this configuration of the ballpark may have existed.  The question of whether the right field distance was ever 400 feet, while both interesting and unproven, is not terribly important as only six games were played when the ballpark may or may not have been in this configuration.  The dimensional data shown below assumed the right field fence was never 400 feet.

   The 1903 left field distance (listed as '365 in both of the previously noted ballpark books) was confirmed to be correct and the left field interior fence was estimated to have been at 79º to the left field foul line.  It was based on the following: (1) 1907 photos which show both the right field and left field foul lines very near to the end of the first and third base bleachers, and (2) the location on the Sanborn map of the third base bleachers close to the park’s northern perimeter (168^th Street).  Given this orientation of the foul lines, and the placement of home plate at the listed 91 feet distance from the backstop makes the left field distance about '365.  This also makes the interior left field fence and scoreboard to be about 15-20 feet in front of a second exterior left field fence (the perimeter fence along 168^th Street). The right field distance, in use for all but six games of the 1903 season was estimated to be between 290 to 310 feet.  The estimate was based on an analysis of the number and distribution of over-the-fence home runs hit during the June-September 1903 time period (when the new closer right field fence was in use) (6).  This temporary right field fence must have been low in height, or low and topped with a screen, to avoid obstructing the fan's view from the last sections of the first base bleachers.  It is unclear if this temporary right field fence ran all the way to the left field fence, cut back in right center to the original center field fence, or intersected a center field diagonal fence. The fact that no inside-the-park home run was hit to center field (the only inside-the-park home run that season was to left field) in the entire 1903 season suggests the right field fence did extend to a center field diagonal as such a configuration would make the center field distance about '385 - '390 which would have made inside-the-park home runs unlikely.  The estimated June-September 1903 center field distance shown in the dimensions was based on the configuration with a diagonal center field fence.  Based on recent additional research on 1902-08 American League home runs and outfield distances, the right field foul line distance at 1903 Sportsman’s Park was an estimated 315 feet ⁽⁸⁾.  Sportsman’s Park had a right field fence at 90º to the foul line, and based on New York newspaper accounts and photos, the Hilltop right field fence was also at 90º to the foul line.  In that same 1903 season over-the-fence home runs to right field at Sportsman’s Park (ST. Louis-American League) amounted to seven. By comparison, there were twelve over-the-fence home runs hit to right field at Hilltop in the 1903 season.  From this comparison it was estimated that the Hilltop right field distance must have been a bit less than the '315 distance at Sportsman’s, surely less than 320 feet, and it could have been a bit less than 300 feet.  The dimensions which follow used 300 feet for the June-September 1903 right field distance.  The April-May 1903 center field and right field dimensions were assumed to be the same as in 1904-1906.

   The 1904-1906 right field distance of about '385 was estimated with somewhat greater accuracy.  The estimate was based on the ballpark descriptions from Opening Day 1904.  The Opening Day account of the game (New York Times, April 15, 1904) noted that nearly 100 feet of right field had been filled in.  This meant that the temporary right field fence in place at the end of the 1903 season (estimated at 300 feet from home plate) was replaced with a right field fence that was about 380-390 from home plate for the 1904 season.  The dimensions which follow used 385 feet for the 1904-1906 right field distance. That same New York Times game account referred to an inside-the-park home run by Buck Freeman as being hit to the stone fence in right field.  All photos dated 1907 and later of right field at Hilltop show wooden right field fences.  A 1904-1906 right field distance of '380 - '390 is consistent with later 1907-1910 photos of right field at Hilltop.  A 1909 photo (Lost Ballparks, p. 94) shows a second fence in right field about twenty feet behind the interior right field fence with billboards visible above the interior fence ⁽⁴⁾.  The location of the second fence is about where the 1904-1906 right field fence would have been with a home plate-right field distance of '385.  In addition, the estimated right field distance of '385 (and the corresponding right center distance of '422) is generally consistent with the 1904-1906 home run data.  There were forty-five inside-the-park home runs in 1904 versus one the prior season.  Of the inside-the-park home runs in 1904 all but two were to right field, right center, or center field (6).  For the three seasons (1904-1906) there were on average thirty-one inside-the-park home runs at Hilltop-nearly all to center field, right center, and right field.  By comparison the other seven American League parks averaged slightly more than eight inside-the-park home runs per season in 1904-1906 ⁽⁵⁾.

   The 1907 right field dimension was determined from the 1907 photo (Lost Ballparks, p. 90-91) that shows the right field fence to be at the end of the right field foul line bleachers.  From the Sanborn map, which shows the location and extent of those bleachers, the right field fence was estimated to be '365 from home plate.  From photos of the right field fence or fences in later years, it was estimated that the right field fence ran at 90º to the foul line.  The estimated right field distance of '365 (and the corresponding right center distance of '412) is generally consistent with the 1907-1910 home run data.  The inside-the-park home run data support the configuration with right field at '385 for 1904-1906.  For the 1904-1906 seasons at Hilltop, inside-the-park home runs averaged thirty-one per season (nearly all to right field, right center, or center field).  For the 1907-1910 seasons, and with no change to left field, inside-the-park home runs fell to 19.8 per season.  This suggested a closer right field fence in 1907-1910.  In addition over nearly the entire life of the ballpark (1904-1910) there were no instances of over-the-fence home runs to right field or center field ⁽⁶⁾.

   One can note that in this instance, in the Deadball Era, the substantial increase in the right field distance at Hilltop Park between 1903 and 1904 was associated with a 194% INCREASE in home runs.  The low number of over-the-fence home runs to left field and the low level of inside-the-park home runs to left field support the known left field distance of '365 and the estimated left center distance of '378 for the entire life of the park ⁽⁶⁾.  Lesser distances to left field and left center would likely have been the cause of more over-the-fence home runs (as was true at Sportsman’s Park in this time period) and greater distances should have produced more inside-the-park home runs (in the entire life of the park there were only a few to left field)

Grandstand view, courtesy of the Franklin Digital Collection

   Ballpark photos for 1909 (Lost Ballparks and Green Cathedrals) show a second higher fence behind the 1907-1910 interior right field and right center fence.  Like the inner fence, the outer fence was covered with many fine billboards advertising the products of the day.  Additional billboards were mounted on the western and southern sides of the center field clubhouse.  The right field to center field fence, which existed for 1907-1910, most likely consisted of two sections, as shown in a photo (Lost Ballparks p. 94) with a kink in right center.  Incorporating this admittedly kinky feature into the park diagram produces a center field distance of '395 for 1907-1910, which is consistent with the home run research.

   With the construction of a new trapezoid-shaped section of center field bleachers for the 1911 season, the straightaway center field distance was noticeably reduced.  These center field bleachers were built in front of the prior center field diagonal fence and ran from a point to the right of left center over to a point to the right of right center.  With the construction of the center field bleachers the dark hitting background was lost, and the large Bull Durham sign was moved from center field to right field.  Using a photo from Green Cathedrals (1986 Ed. p. 104) it was possible to estimate the location, width, and depth of the center field bleachers, and therefore the location of a new low center field fence that made up the front of these bleachers ⁽⁹⁾.  Dead center field was now only an estimated 370 feet from home plate.  Thus 1911-1912 Hilltop Park had probably the shortest center field dimension of any major league park then or since.

   As 1911 was also the first full season to use the cork-center ball, over-the-fence home runs to center field became possible.  Research by Larry Zuckerman found that in 1911-1912, with this revised center field configuration, over-the-fence home runs to center field became the predominant type of home run at Hilltop ⁽⁶⁾.  The low fence in front of the center field bleachers led to many bounce home runs.  For 1911 there were nineteen over-the-fence home runs, of which seventeen were to center field, and twelve of these were bounce home runs.  For 1912 there were sixteen over-the-fence home runs, all of which were to center field, and seven of these were bounce home runs ⁽⁶⁾.

Dimensions:
Estimated From Park Diagram (Except LF and HP-Backstop)

*  Left-center and right-center are at 30º.
**  In notch right of right-center (27º) distance was '405.

Backstop:

Fence Heights:
All Estimated From Photos

Fence Height Notes:

Left-field '16 height is scoreboard '20 to '25 foot wide near foul line.
Center-field '16 height for 1907 - 1910 is Bull Durham sign.
Right-field '16 height for 1911 - 1912 is Bull Durham sign.

Average Outfield Distances:
Calculated From Ballpark Diagrams

Hilltop Park Historical Analysis by Ron Selter ©

SOURCES

(1) New York Times 6 April 1903, p. 6, "For baseball grounds the field is certainly heroic in its proportions, as the following measurements will show: On One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Street the inclosure (sic.) measures 535 feet 7 inches; on Broadway its eastern boundary, it is 702 feet; along One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street, on the north, it is 675 feet, and along Fort Washington Road, the western boundary, the length is 675 feet. There is plenty of room inside the inclosure for home run drives, and it will require a mighty batsman to knock a fair ball over the fence." Provided on SABR-L by David Atkatz

(2) New York Sun, article by Joe Vila, March 6, 1923, p.20

(3) Green Cathedrals, Philip J. Lowry (Rev. Ed.)

(4) Lost Ballparks, Lawrence S. Ritter, (1994 Ed.)

(5) SABR HR Log data supplied by David Vincent

(6) HR research by the late Larry Zuckerman of SABR from newspapers of the day; verified by the author for several seasons

(7) Sanborn Map Co., New York City 1909, Map No. 82

(8) Author’s research using the SABR HR Log and game accounts from the St. Louis Globe Democrat 1902-08

(9) Green Cathedrals, Philip J. Lowry, (1986 Ed.) Published by SABR, p. 104