By Charlie Bevis
Proprietors of MLB ballparks flirted with renting their facilities for the staging of night events for more than two decades before the advent of night baseball by MLB teams in 1935 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati and its wide acceptance in 1938 after night games were conducted at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. There were two distinct time periods, 1909-1912 and 1928-1937, when lighted evening events were pursued with some vigor by MLB ballpark owners.[1]
While providing a broader perspective to the stern resistance of MLB ball-club owners to adopt night baseball, under the guise that MLB baseball was ordained to be played only in natural daylight, this article also suggests a degree of hypocrisy vis-à-vis the condoning of other evening events at MLB ballparks. One owner in particular, Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators, absolutely despised the idea of night baseball for MLB teams, but he felt it was perfectly acceptable to rent his ballpark, Griffith Stadium, for night football games and for black teams to play night baseball games under inferior lighting conditions.[2]
The focus of this article is the early 20th century when MLB consisted of sixteen ball clubs, eight each in the National League and American League. There were just sporadic night events attempted at MLB ballparks during the 1890s, such as horse racing under lights at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis in 1896 where “iron poles 15-feet equidistant around the track were installed with dim electric lights” providing such poor illumination that “the horses may have well been racing in the dark.”[3]
1909-1912: Hippodrome at the Ballpark
The earliest rumbling of night events to be staged at MLB ballparks began in August 1908 when a wire-service report published in newspapers across the country announced the expected trial of night baseball at League Park in Cincinnati. While baseball got the hype in the newspaper headlines, Cincinnati Reds owner August Herrmann was actually hatching a plan to use artificial lighting to generate revenue from non-baseball ventures conducted in the evening at League Park to supplement the gate receipts from home baseball games.[4]
After the inaugural night baseball experiment in Cincinnati in June 1909, the Cincinnati ballpark was used to house a night carnival while the Reds team embarked on a four-week road trip. Herrmann was more interested in the profits from these non-baseball ventures than he was in conducting baseball under artificial lighting, given the absence of future night-game experiments in Cincinnati.[5]
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss was also an early proponent of evening events at his newly built Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. In July 1909 the first hippodrome night event was held at this MLB ballpark. Theater promoter Harry Davis arranged with the Pirates owner to orchestrate the hippodrome, which staged vaudeville acts during the evening hours after afternoon ball games as well as when the ball club was on the road.[6]
The hippodrome consisted of three portable stages and one large circus ring, with “forty flaming arcs illuminating the field to the brilliance of noon day.” All the staging and equipment was designed to install “within one hour after the last inning of any ball game.” The acts for the first week included a Wild West show, many circus acts, and performing animals. The Pittsburgh Post published a sketch of one act, a woman riding a horse leaping into the air off a 50-foot-high tower into a 14-foot-deep pool of water.[7]
Davis was a prosperous theater entrepreneur in Pittsburgh, who in partnership with John Harris ran a production company that booked its acts into various theaters in the city. Davis clearly had ambitions to be a national theater mogul by creating his own vaudeville-related circuit, akin to the big-time Orpheum and Keith-Albee circuits of that era (which two decades later merged to become two-thirds of the RKO movie studio).[8]
In 1905 Davis and Harris opened the Nickelodean, one of earliest standalone movie houses in the United States, which was an inexpensive alternative to live theater for a mass audience. The financial success of the Nickelodean spurred Davis to open similar venues in several cities. He looked to further expand his amusement empire with the hippodrome circuit.[9]
The idea for a multi-city hippodrome-at-the-ballpark consortium was announced by Davis in September 1909. Davis planned to strike deals with 20 ballpark owners to rent their facilities for the staging of evening hippodrome events. Davis supplied the entertainment, by booking the acts and rotating them each week among the various circuit members. In addition to the MLB ballparks in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the venture initially included Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis and the minor-league ballpark in Indianapolis.[10]
Davis’s idea of a formal hippodrome circuit quickly expanded beyond the four initial ballparks. By May 1910 the plan was now up to sixty ballparks, including those in nine of the ten cities with major-league ball clubs (all but New York City with the stiff competition by the New York Hippodrome, an extra-large indoor theater) and numerous minor-league ballparks. The staging time for the acts at the ballpark was also down to half an hour.[11]
While it is unclear exactly how many of the sixteen MLB ballparks were involved with the hippodrome circuit, there is solid evidence that at least nine of the thirteen possible venues (excluding the three ballparks in New York City) participated in 1910. Besides the ballparks in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh that had experimented in 1909, the circuit did involve both ballparks in Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis as well as the Washington, D.C. ballpark.
An early participant in the circuit was the South End Grounds in Boston, home of the Boston Braves of the National League, since Davis’s business partner Harris was on the board of directors of that ball club. The Boston Red Sox of the American League soon announced a similar venture at its Huntington Avenue Grounds.[12]
At National Park in Washington, the hippodrome was advertised as “vaudeville, circus, band concerts, and mammoth shows” under “a sunburst of electric lights” that consisted not only of arc lights but also “50,000 candlepower calcium lights on top of the grandstand” – what today we refer to as limelight, then literally not figuratively.[13]
St. Louis and Philadelphia both hosted night hippodrome events at its two MLB ballparks, in St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park (AL Browns) and League Park (NL Cardinals) and in Philadelphia at Baker Bowl (NL Phillies) and Columbia Park (AL Athletics). Shibe Park that had opened in 1909 was likely the original idea for the Athletics’ participation in the hippodrome circuit, but it presumably was scuttled once the 1910 season began.[14]
In a three-day experiment in August 1910 unrelated to the hippodrome circuit, Comiskey Park in Chicago hosted evening team sports under lights. Semi-pro teams competed in a lacrosse game on Thursday night, a soccer game on Friday night, and a baseball game on Saturday night. It appears this experiment was not continued the following year.[15]
Although the Boston Post called the “bill of high-class vaudeville and hippodrome acts” at the Huntington Avenue Grounds “a unique outdoor spectacle,” the show was quite simply a circus produced under better lighting conditions than the typical low-quality portable lights of a traveling circus troupe. The evening hippodrome lasted at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh into 1912, but it seems to have largely faded from the other MLB ballparks after the 1910 summer season.[16]
Evening events under lights at MLB ballparks then went into abeyance for a dozen years.
Innovations in Entertainment and Lighting
Harry Davis, the Pittsburgh theater magnate, might have revolutionized the entertainment business through his use of empty baseball ballparks in the evening for live-act vaudeville performances, if not for the growing popularity of the motion-picture movie.
This enthusiasm for motion pictures expanded very rapidly and soon spawned the creation of an entirely new industry devoted to the creation and distribution of movies. Vaudeville died a slow death, initially sharing the theater bill with movies, but eventually the live-act performances ceased to be popular. By 1914 the movie palace was the dominant amusement attraction in major cities for middle- and lower-income audiences. The hippodrome circuit quickly lost its appeal.[17]
Another factor was technological change in the lighting used to illuminate outdoor spaces such as ballparks.
In 1913 the Madza C incandescent lamp was invented by scientists at the General Electric research laboratory, which had sufficient strength of illumination to replace arc lighting – which had been the technology used in the lamps to light the ballpark hippodromes – as the lamp of choice for exterior lighting. The Madza lamps were soon deployed in new commercial markets, such as the lighting of corporate buildings and roadways for automobile travel. These new markets required the skills of an illumination engineer to design complex patterns to best focus the light emitted from the high-powered incandescent lamps. By the mid-1920s there was sufficient progress in the science of illumination to apply the Madza lamps to sporting venues.[18]
Madza lamps launched the next era in the use of ballparks for evening events “under the arclights,” as sportswriters ironically referenced the now-obsolete lighting technology, or “under the madzas” as these wordsmiths transformed the branded GE product into a generic term.
1928-1937: Sporting Events at MLB Ballparks
The first-ever sports event conducted under incandescent lighting at an MLB ballpark occurred on September 14, 1923, when the heavyweight boxing title fight between Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo occurred under lights at the Polo Grounds in New York City.[19]
Artificial lighting for boxing matches (as well as for concerts and political rallies) was relatively easy to orchestrate, because the light was concentrated only on a small area. These night events are not a major focus of this article, since they were conducted in nearly every MLB ballpark due to the ease of renting portable floodlights.
Much more complex was the task to competently illuminate large playing areas for team sports. This is the focus of this article, primarily where a lighting system was provided by either the ballpark owner or by the hosting team. It should be noted that it is often unclear if the lighting system deployed for a night event was a temporary seasonal fixture at the ballpark or a series of portable floodlights rented on a game-by-game basis. Events conducted under the portable lighting systems provided by barnstorming baseball teams, such as the House of David and Kansas City Monarchs, are briefly considered.
Football largely ushered in the era of team sports played at night under lights in MLB ballparks. College football at night commenced in 1926 at several on-campus stadiums and arrived at MLB ballparks in 1929 and 1930. Night games in the National Football League (NFL) proceeded soon thereafter. Three MLB ballparks were leaders in this new use for empty baseball stadiums during the fall football season: Polo Grounds in New York City, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and Griffith Stadium in Washington.
Polo Grounds in New York City
The Polo Grounds stadium was first utilized for night games involving the sports of soccer and baseball before the staging of college football at night.
In 1928 lights were first used at the Polo Grounds to illuminate professional soccer games played at night. On May 2 the New York Nationals defeated the team from Fall River, Massachusetts, in an American Soccer League match. Pro soccer under the lights was a staple for four years at the Polo Grounds until the New York soccer team left the American Soccer League after the 1931 season.[20]
In July 1930, the New York Giants baseball club announced that the Polo Grounds would be used to stage night baseball exhibition games between semi-pro teams in the summer and for regular-season college football night games during the fall. The initial experimental baseball game on August 1 was a flop, since the lighting system normally used for pro soccer games at night was not bright enough for baseball.[21]
The initial college football game played under lights at the Polo Grounds was on Monday, October 10, 1930, when Manhattan College played Oglethorpe College. Six days later, the New York Football Giants of the NFL played a night game at the Polo Grounds against the Chicago Cardinals on Thursday, October 16. Two weeks later, the Giants hosted a second Thursday night game on October 30 against the Newark Tornadoes.[22]
The Polo Grounds abandoned lights in 1932 after Manhattan College decided to play its football games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and the NFL Giants desired to conduct a full home schedule of Sunday afternoon games.
Forbes Field in Pittsburgh
College football first debuted at night in an MLB ballpark on November 1, 1929, when Duquesne University played Geneva College at Forbes Field. Duquesne annually played night football games at Forbes Field into the late 1930s.[23]
Forbes Field became a haven of night football in 1933 when the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates football team (known as the Steelers beginning in 1940) entered the NFL for the 1933 season. Because Pennsylvania law then prohibited professional sporting events on Sunday, the Football Pirates intended to play all the team’s home games on Wednesday nights until the results were known regarding the November 1933 voter referendum concerning the legalization of Sunday sports.
The Pirates played four night games in 1933 (September 20 and 27, October 4 and 11) before the voter referendum approved Sunday sports to overturn the restrictive Pennsylvania Sunday law. The Pirates reverted to Sunday afternoon home games the remainder of the season. The Football Pirates played three more Wednesday night games in the 1934 season (September 26, October 3 and 10) before jettisoning the evening idea in favor of a full slate of Sunday afternoon games beginning with the 1935 season.[24]
Forbes Field was also an early site for night baseball games played by the Homestead Grays, then an independent black baseball team based outside of Pittsburgh, under the portable lights provided by barnstorming ball clubs. On July 18, 1930, the Grays played under the lights against the Kansas City Monarchs and on May 16, 1931, the Grays played a night game with the House of David traveling team.[25]
Griffith Stadium in Washington
College football debuted at night at Griffith Stadium on Friday, October 10, 1930, when Georgetown University hosted a night game against West Virginia Wesleyan College. A temporary lighting system was installed at the stadium in the fall of 1930. “Clark Griffith avers he has the best-lighted stadium in the country,” the Washington Evening Star reported, noting that 68 1,500-watt lamps were mounted atop the grandstand. Georgetown played two more night games that fall, while George Washington University slated four night games. Georgetown, George Washington, and Catholic University all played night football at Griffith Stadium into 1936 before an NFL team arrived in Washington in 1937.[26]
The Washington Passers, a semi-pro football team, also played night games at Griffith Stadium in 1933, beginning with an exhibition game against the Chicago Bears of the NFL on October 11. The Passers also hosted two more night football games with NFL teams, on October 25 against the New York Giants and November 8 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.[27]
Griffith also rented his stadium to black baseball teams to play night games under the football lights, even though Griffith was deadset against his white Washington Senators team playing night baseball. Luminosity for baseball was below average, perhaps equivalent to the lighting at a Class D minor league ballpark. The Washington Pilots pioneered night baseball in D.C. on July 25, 1932, with a game against the Pittsburgh Crawfords.[28]
In 1935 there were at least two Negro National League night baseball games staged at Griffith Stadium that were arranged by the Pittsburgh Crawfords, on July 8 against the Homestead Grays and August 14 against the Philadelphia Stars. In 1936 the Washington Elite Giants played at least one night game at Griffith Stadium, on July 25 versus the New York Black Yankees.[29]
Griffith Stadium also hosted numerous boxing and wrestling matches as night events in the mid-1930s. On many summer evenings in 1936 there would be a doubleheader at the ballpark, with the Senators baseball game at 3:15 in the afternoon and the fight at 8:30 in the evening.[30]
An exhibition football game in December 1936 added a new dimension to night sports at Griffith Stadium in 1937 (see below).
1933-1936: The NFL Effect
While college football had launched the night-sports trend, it was NFL pro football that cemented the trend on a more widespread basis among MLB ballparks during the mid-1930s. Two more MLB ballparks saw their first usage for night football in 1933 and 1934: Baker Bowl in Philadelphia and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
Another 1933 NFL expansion team, the Philadelphia Eagles, also could not conduct Sunday home games due to the restrictive Pennsylvania Sunday law and thus played several Wednesday night games at the Baker Bowl, the ballpark used by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. In early October, the Eagles played two night exhibition games against Philadelphia-area semi-pro teams, before engaging in an NFL game on October 18 against the Portsmouth Spartans (of Ohio). Two years later the Eagles played another night game at Baker Bowl on November 5, 1935 (there was also a September 13 night game held at Temple University Stadium). The Eagles discontinued night games when the team moved its home games to Philadelphia Municipal Stadium for the 1936 NFL season.[31]
Ebbets Field in Brooklyn began staging night games in 1934, the first was a college football night game by Manhattan College on September 22 and then an NFL game between the Brooklyn Football Dodgers and the Chicago Cardinals on Tuesday, November 6, as a makeup of the rained-out Sunday game. “The game will inaugurate major-league night football in New York,” the Brooklyn Eagle reported. After another night game against the Cardinals on November 19, 1935, the Football Dodgers conducted two more night games in 1936 (September 23 and October 14) before resuming a full Sunday afternoon schedule for home games in the 1937 season.[32]
1935: Night Baseball Debuts in MLB
In 1935 the Cincinnati Reds introduced night baseball to MLB with night games under a high-quality lighting system at Crosley Field. The Reds were the only MLB team to conduct night games from 1935 through 1937. During this three-year period, though, there was a changed landscape for night games in professional football with the establishment of the American Football League (AFL) in 1936. Crosley Field hosted its first night football game in 1937 when the AFL Cincinnati Bengals played a night game there on Tuesday, October 5.
1936-1937: AFL Effect and NFL Second Wave
The 1936 launch of the AFL set off a flurry of night football games, as the AFL club owners believed night games were a good way to compete against the more established NFL that played nearly all of its games on Sunday afternoon. Four more MLB ballparks saw their first usage for night football under lights in 1936 or 1937: Braves Field and Fenway Park in Boston, Yankee Stadium in New York City, and Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
In 1936 Braves Field hosted two AFL night football games of the Boston Shamrocks, the first on September 30 against the New York Football Yankees and the second on October 7 against the Pittsburgh Americans.[33]
Yankee Stadium provided lights for two sporting events in 1936. In October the New York Football Yankees of the AFL played two night games at Yankee Stadium, the first on October 21 and the second on October 28. Earlier on the night of June 19, the heavyweight boxing title fight between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling was conducted at the House That Ruth Built, extending a rich history of boxing under the lights that began with the Schmeling-Sharkey bout in June 1930.[34]
The Shamrocks and Yankees of the AFL played a post-season exhibition night game at Griffith Stadium in Washington on December 7, 1936. This game helped contribute to the demise of the AFL and an increase in night football in the NFL, as soon the NFL Boston Redskins transferred to Washington and the AFL Cleveland Rams transferred to the NFL.[35]
The first NFL game played at Griffith Stadium was a night game between the Redskins and the New York Giants on Thursday, September 16, 1937. Part of the allure for the relocation from Boston was a promise by Clark Griffith to upgrade Griffith Stadium, particularly the stadium lighting, to enhance the presentation of NFL football in D.C. The Redskins hosted a second night game on Friday, September 24 against the Chicago Cardinals. Even with the best football lighting in the country, the Redskins did not stage further night games during the decade.[36]
In 1937 the Cleveland Rams hosted an NFL night game with the Detroit Lions on Friday, September 10, 1937, at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, the sometime home of the baseball Cleveland Indians. This city-owned ballpark had a long history of night events from its opening on July 3, 1931, when it hosted the heavyweight title fight under lights between Max Schmeling and Young Stribling. Municipal Stadium had permanent football lights by 1935, so no doubt there were earlier night football games before the 1937 Rams game. League Park, the regular MLB ballpark of the Indians, appears to have hosted no night events prior that Rams game.[37]
Back in the AFL, Fenway Park in Boston hosted its first night football game on September 10, 1937, when the Boston Shamrocks played the College All-Stars in an exhibition game under portable floodlights. A few weeks later, the Boston Shamrocks played an AFL regular-season game at night at Fenway Park on October 13 against the Los Angeles Bulldogs.[38]
The AFL went out of business after the 1937 season, which largely kyboshed the idea of pro football games at night, as the NFL pursued a steady diet of Sunday afternoon games for the next several decades.
1938: Night Baseball Becomes Dominant in MLB
In early 1938 the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball club became the second MLB team to host night games when the club installed a top-quality lighting system at Ebbets Field for the 1938 season. This action sparked several other MLB ball clubs to install lighting systems in their ballpark over the course of the next three years: in 1939 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Comiskey Park in Chicago, and Municipal Stadium in Cleveland; in 1940 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Polo Grounds in New York City, and Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis; and in 1941 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
The Other MLB Ballparks
Five MLB ballparks staged no pro football night games and seem to have had just a limited use of lights to conduct other night sports events between 1928 and 1937: Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Navin Field in Detroit, and Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park in Chicago.
Sportsman’s Park, while one of the first MLB ballparks to experiment with night events back in 1896 and a participant in the hippodrome circuit in 1910, staged few night events during the 1930s. There was one baseball game on September 22, 1932, under the portable lights of the barnstorming House of David team. St. Louis University had stopped using the ballpark for college football games after the 1930 season. The NFL St. Louis Gunners in 1934 did play its home games at the ballpark, but hosted no night games there.[39]
Shibe Park, which did not host the NFL Philadelphia Eagles until the 1940 season, did host boxing matches and local amateur football games at night during the 1930s.[40]
Navin Field was similarly empty for pro football, as the NFL Detroit Lions played its home games at University of Detroit Stadium, which had a lighting system for college football night games. The Lions did conduct some night games at the university stadium in the 1930s.
Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park in Chicago were empty at night during the 1930s. The NFL Bears and Cardinals both played football on Sunday afternoons at Wrigley Field in the 1930s, but hosted no night games. Major college football in Chicago was played at Soldier Field, which included several night games in the 1930s. There was a heavyweight boxing title fight between Joe Louis and Jim Braddock at Comiskey Park the evening on June 22, 1937.
Notes
[1] MLB ballpark owners were almost universally the owner of the MLB ball club that played its home games there during the two time periods examined in this article.
[2] For greater background on the resistance of MLB ball-club owners to adopt night baseball, see Charlie Bevis, Baseball Under the Lights: The Rise of the Night Game (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2021).
[3] J. Thomas Hetrick, Chris Von der Ahe and the St. Louis Browns (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999), 188.
[4] “To Try Baseball at Night: Electric Light Scheme to Be Tested at Cincinnati,” Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1908.
[5] “Baseball Played at Night: Experiment in Arc Light at Cincinnati a Big Success,” New York Times, June 19, 1909; “Baseball at Night Under Powerful Electric Lights,” Popular Mechanics, August 1909, 130.
[6] “Pittsburgh’s First Hippodrome Opens on Forbes Field Tomorrow Night,” Pittsburgh Press, July 25, 1909.
[7] “Forbes Field Hippodrome Opens Tomorrow a Week,” Pittsburgh Post, July 18, 1909.
[8] Lynne Conner, Pittsburgh in Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007), 74-79.
[9] Michael Aronson, Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies, 1905-1929 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010), 25-34.
[10] “A Circuit of Hippodromes: Harry Davis to Start One on Twenty Ball Parks,” New York Times, September 13, 1909.
[11] “Plan Hippodrome Chain: Promoters Scheme to Utilize Ball Parks at Night,” New York Tribune, May 31, 1910; “New Use for Ball Parks,” New York Times, May 31, 1910; “Hippodrome to Open for Season Tonight,” Pittsburgh Post, May 30, 1910.
[12] “Hippodrome at So. End Grounds,” Boston Post, December 8, 1909; “Fireworks at Taylor’s Ball Park,” Boston Post, January 22, 1910.
[13] “Shows in Ball Parks,” Washington Evening Star, February 6, 1910; advertisement for “Washington Hippodrome, American League Baseball Grounds” in Washington Evening Star, May 15, 1910; “Beats Big Circus,” Washington Evening Star, June 20, 1910.
[14] “Two Daring Feats at Hippodrome” and “Swing of Death Big Hip Thriller,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 24, 1910; “Night Hippodrome for League Park Planned,” St. Post-Dispatch, February 6, 1910; “2 Circuses Daily at Browns’ Park,” St. Louis Star, June 2, 1910.
[15] “Electric Light Ball,” Sporting Life, September 10, 1910; “Lighting Baseball Park for Outdoor Games at Night,” Electrical World, September 1, 1910, 517-520.
[16] “The Airdome,” Boston Post, June 15, 1910; advertisement for “PGH Hippodrome Forbes Field,” Pittsburgh Post, June 30, 1912.
[17] LeRoy Ashby, With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture Since 1830 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 20060, 157-158, 188-189; Eileen Bowser, The Transformation of Cinema, 1907-1915 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 121-136.
[18] Bevis, Baseball Under the Lights, 47-48. The C label indicates the third generation of the tungsten-filament Madza incandescent lamp. GE trademarked the Mazda lamp, naming it after the Persian god of light (also the inspiration for the modern-day automobile brand of the same name).
[19] “Firpo Felled Ten Times,” New York Times, September 15, 1923.
[20] “National Eleven Wins Night Match,” New York Times, May 3, 1928; “Soccer Giants Tie Boston Eleven,” New York Times, October 18, 1931.
[21] “Night Baseball Edging Nearer to Majors,” New York Times, July 27, 1930; “Night Baseball Tried at the Polo Grounds,” New York Times, August 2, 1930.
[22] “Manhattan Beaten by Oglethorpe, 19-0,” New York Times, October 11, 1930; “Cardinals Beaten by Football Giants,” New York Times, October 17, 1930; “Newark Beaten by Football Giants,” New York Times, October 31, 1930.
[23] “Duke Eleven Scores Triumph Over Geneva: Initial Night Contest Is Tremendous Success,” Pittsburgh Press, November 2, 1929.
[24] “Football Giants Win Opener, 23-2,” New York Times, September 21, 1933; Pittsburgh Pirates 1933 and 1934 NFL schedules, Pro Football Archives website.
[25] “Westerners to Test Grays Strength at Forbes Field Friday,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 19, 1930; “Homesteaders Book Famous House of David Team for Forbes Field,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 9, 1931.
[26] “Georgetown Sees Need to Improve to Succeed in Bigger Games,” Washington Evening Star, October 8, 1930; advertisement for Potomac Electric Power Company, Washington Evening Star, October 9, 1930.
[27] “Passers Have Job in Pro Grid Debut,” Washington Evening Star, October 11, 1933; 1933 Washington Passers schedule, Pro Football Archives website.
[28] “Play Night Base Ball,” Washington Evening Star, July 25, 1932; “Pilots Drop Night Tilt,” Washington Evening Star, July 26, 1932.
[29] “2,500 See Game in Rain,” Washington Evening Star, July 9, 1935; “Philly Stars on Top,” Washington Evening Star, August 15, 1935; “Elite Giants Beaten,” Washington Evening Star, July 26, 1936.
[30] “Sports Program for Local Fans,” Washington Evening Star, August 30, 1936.
[31] 1933 and 1935 Philadelphia Eagles NFL schedules, Pro Football Archives website.
[32] “Manhattan Defeats St. Bonaventure Eleven by 6 to 0 in Football Opener,” Brooklyn Times-Union, September 23, 1934; “Dodgers Ready for Cardinals in Night Game,” Brooklyn Eagle, November 6, 1934; 1934, 1935, and 1936 Brooklyn Dodgers NFL schedules, Pro Football Archives website.
[33] “Shamrocks Open Season at Bees’ Park Tonight,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1936; “Shamrocks Defeat Americans, 16 to 7,” Boston Globe, October 8, 1936.
[34] “Football Yankees in Action Tonight,” New York Times, October 21, 1936; “Crowd of 19,000 Sees Yankees Play Tie with Cleveland on Stadium Gridiron,” New York Times, October 29, 1936.
[35] “D.C. Fans Enjoy Pros’ Grid Show,” Washington Evening Star, December 8, 1936.
[36] “D.C. on Edge for Pro Grid Debut,” Washington Evening Star, September 16, 1937; “Griff to Revamp Park for Gridmen,” Washington Evening Star, December 17, 1936; “Illness of Baugh Crimps Redskins,” Washington Evening Star, September 25, 1937.
[37] “Lions Score Easily,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 11, 1937.
[38] “Stars to Invade Fenway Tonight,” Boston Globe, September 10, 1937; “Bulldogs Beat Boston, 14 to 0,” Boston Globe, October 14, 1937.
[39] “Night Baseball Liked by Head of Cardinals,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 29, 1932.
[40] Bruce Kuklich, To Everything a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 85.
Bevis Baseball Research 