Case 009 · Open local-history file

Crosley Field

Cincinnati’s former ballpark has a famous public record: Redland Field, the terrace, the first Major League night game and the final Reds season in 1970. This file is looking for the ordinary people and routines the box scores cannot name.

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What the record says

A well-documented ballpark with thousands of undocumented days.

The Cincinnati Reds opened Redland Field on April 11, 1912. The club renamed it Crosley Field in 1934 after Powel Crosley Jr. purchased the team.

On May 24, 1935, Crosley hosted the first night game in Major League history. Its sloping outfield terrace became the park’s most recognizable physical feature. The ballpark also hosted World Series, All-Star and Negro League baseball, connecting many different Cincinnati stories to the same block.

The Reds played their final Crosley Field game on June 24, 1970, beating the San Francisco Giants. The official timeline records 4,453 regular-season National League games there, but that number does not include every walk to the gate, shift at a concession stand or conversation in a nearby business.

The neighborhood belongs in the history

Ballpark history often narrows to players and scores. This file is looking outward: bus and street routes, parking, ticket windows, vendors, ushers, nearby restaurants and bars, children waiting for autographs and the ways the surrounding West End changed over six decades.

Souvenirs can carry evidence. A ticket stub, employee pass, scorecard, seat, snapshot or receipt may identify a date and lead to a story that has never entered an archive.

Questions still open

What happened outside the box score?

A route, uniform, shop name or family ritual can restore another layer of the ballpark.

People

Who worked as an usher, vendor, ticket seller, groundskeeper or concession worker?

Outside

How did your family get to the park, and where did you stop before or after a game?

Inside

Where did you sit, and what do you remember about the terrace, lights, sounds or food?

Photographs

Can a uniform, scoreboard, advertisement or ticket date your family photograph?

Research

Which neighborhood businesses depended on game-day crowds, and who ran them?

Inspect the sources

Research notes

Help complete the file

What did game day feel like?

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