Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League (NFL) franchise. From 1909 to 1924, the stadium also served as the home football field for the University of Pittsburgh "Pitt" Panthers. The stadium sat on Forbes Avenue, named for British general John Forbes, who fought in the French and Indian War and named the city in 1758.
The US$1 million ($ million today) project was launched by Pittsburgh Pirates' owner Barney Dreyfuss to replace his franchise's second home, Exposition Park. The stadium was made of concrete and steel, the first such stadium in the National League and third in Major League Baseball, in a bid to be more durable than wooden ballparks. The Pirates opened Forbes Field on June 30, 1909, against the Chicago Cubs, and played the final game against the Cubs on June 28, 1970. The field featured a large playing surface, with the batting cage placed in the deepest part of center field during games. Seating was altered multiple times throughout the stadium's life; at times fans were permitted to sit on the grass in the outfield during overflow crowds. The Pirates won three World Series while at Forbes Field; the Pittsburgh Panthers football team had five undefeated seasons before moving in 1924. In 1958, broadcaster Bob Prince dubbed Forbes Field "The House of Thrills" for the then-resurgent Pirates and several games that saw late-inning heroics.Keck, Harry (August 13, 1958). "Enthusiasm of the Fans Rubbing Off on the Pirates". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 37. Retrieved November 24, 2021.Leonard, Vincent (August 12, 1959). "Sports Vignettes: The Big Return; As If For the Championship". The Daily Republican. Retrieved June 26, 2020.Leonard, Vince (August 31, 1959). "Sports Vignettes: Buc Thrillers". The Daily Republican. Retrieved June 25, 2020."Back the Bucs in '60". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 12, 1960. Retrieved June 26, 2020.Keck, Harry (April 18, 1960). "Same Exciting Script Being Used in House of Thrills". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. 16. Retrieved November 24, 2021.Cernkovic, Rudy (June 7, 1960). "Blood Pressure of Buc Fans Return to Normal (During Road Trip)". The Weirton Daily Times. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
Some remnants of the ballpark still stand, surrounded by the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Fans gather on the site annually on the anniversary of Bill Mazeroski's World Series winning home run, in what author Jim O'Brien writes is "one of the most unique expressions of a love of the game to be found in a major league city".
History
Planning and design In 1903, Pittsburgh Pirates' owner Barney Dreyfuss began to look for ground to build a larger capacity replacement for the team's then-current home, Exposition Park. Dreyfuss purchased seven acres of land near the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, adjacent to Schenley Park, with assistance from his friend, industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The low-priced land was selected so Dreyfuss could spend more on the stadium itself.
Dreyfuss signed a contract to "make the ballpark ... of a design that would harmonize with the other structures in the Schenley Park district." The site was initially labeled "Dreyfuss's Folly" due to its long distance—a 10-minute trolley ride—from downtown Pittsburgh, but the land around the park developed and criticisms were dropped. Official Pirates' records show that Forbes Field cost US$1 million for site acquisition and construction. However, some estimates place the cost at twice that amount.
Dreyfuss announced that unlike established wooden ballparks such as the Polo Grounds, he would build a three-tiered stadium out of steel and concrete to increase longevity—the first of its kind in the nation. Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr. was contracted to design the stadium's grandstand. A civil engineer, Leavitt had founded an engineering and landscape architecture firm in 1897. He had gained experience in steel and concrete constructs while designing the Belmont and Saratoga racetracks. Based on Dreyfuss' architectural requirements, Leavitt presented a plan for Forbes Field—the only ballpark he designed. Pirates' manager Fred Clarke also had input into the stadium's design, giving groundskeepers advice on the field, in addition to designing and patenting a device to spread and remove a canvas tarpaulin over the infield in case of rain.
Initial work on the land began on January 1, 1909, but ground was not officially broken until March 1. Nicola Building Company built the stadium in 122 days and play began less than four months after ground was broken, on June 30. Though the scoreboard was operated by hand, the ballpark featured multiple innovations such as ramps and elevators to assist fan movement throughout the park, a room for the umpires, and a visiting team clubhouse similar to the Pirates'. The facade of the stadium featured "buff-colored terra cotta" spelling out "PAC" for the Pittsburgh Athletic Company. The light green steelwork contrasted with the red slate of the roof. Some members of the press urged Dreyfuss to name the stadium after himself. Instead, he decided to honor General John Forbes, who captured Fort Duquesne from the French in 1758 and rebuilt a new "Fort Pitt" at the site.
After Dreyfuss died in 1935, there was renewed media interest in renaming the stadium "Dreyfuss Field". His widow, Florence, resisted. However, a monument to Dreyfuss was placed in center field just in front of the wall.
Opening
The first game was played at Forbes Field on June 30, 1909, one day after the Pittsburgh Pirates had defeated the Chicago Cubs, 8–1, at Exposition Park. Fans began to arrive at the stadium six and one-half hours early for the 3:30 p.m. game. Weather conditions were reported as clear skies with a temperature around 80 degrees.Bonk, Dan. "Forbes Field: Build it Yourself." Point Four Ltd., 1995. Flags flew at half staff to honor the recently deceased presidents of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Doves.
Various National League officials and owners attended the pre-game ceremonies, including league president Harry Pulliam, Civil War veteran and manager of Pittsburgh's first professional baseball team Al Pratt, and American League president Ban Johnson. Pittsburgh Mayor William A. Magee threw out the stadium's ceremonial first pitch, tossing it from the second tier to John M. Morin, Director of Public Safety, on the field below. Morin then went to the mound and threw the first pitch to the Pirate catcher.
The Pittsburgh Press wrote, "the ceremonies were witnessed by the largest throng that ever attended an event of this kind in this or any other city in the country...Forbes Field is so immense—so far beyond anything else in America in the way of a baseball park—that old experts, accustomed to judging crowds at a glance, were at a loss for reasonable figures." Records, however, show that the first game was attended by a standing-room only crowd of 30,338.
The first batter at Forbes Field was future Hall of Famer Johnny Evers, the Cubs second baseman and leadoff batter. He was hit by a pitch and later in the inning scored the first run. The first hit by a Pirate was by catcher George Gibson, who eventually became a Pirate manager. The Chicago Cubs won the first game, 3–2. Dreyfuss declared, "This is indeed the happiest day of my life."
Playing field evolution
The stadium was widely considered the best in the league.
Dreyfuss "hated cheap home runs and vowed he'd have none in his park", which led him to design a large playing field for Forbes Field. The original distances to the outfield fences in left, center, and right field were , and , respectively.
The left field foul pole initially intersected the bleacher section about two-thirds of the way toward where the bleacher corner touched the fence, at a distance of ,Pittsburgh Daily Post, June 27, 1909, p. 30, leaving a narrow slice which could benefit a strict pull hitter, but which soon proved bothersome to left fielders.
In the early spring of 1912, the diamond was shifted so that the left field foul line intersected the end of the left field fence rather than the bleacher section.Pittsburgh Press, March 3, 1912, p. 20 By 1914, the left field distance was stated as ,Pittsburgh Press, August 25, 1914, p. 20 which eventually became the distance marked on the fence.
In 1921, the seating capacity was increased by the addition of several rows of new box seats.Pittsburgh Press, February 13, 1921, pp. 15][Pittsburgh Daily Post, February 13, 1921, p. 18
In 1925, seating capacity received a bigger bump when the right field grandstand was extended into the corner and into fair territory, replacing a section of wooden bleachers. Construction of the new stands began in late winter and opened in June 1925.
The change reduced the foul line distance from to but increasing the near-right center distance to . Dreyfuss made no secret of his mixed feelings regarding this move, and in May 1930, in response to American League President E. S. Barnard's proposed plan to stem the recent flood of sub-350-foot home runs, Dreyfuss readily complied by erecting a high screen.United News (March 20, 1930). "Barnard Plans to Check 'Cheap' Homers; Proposes Screen for All Sectors Less Than 350 Feet". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Three major league clubs already have taken to the screen idea, the Phillies and Cardinals erecting screens at their parks last season and the Pirates building one at Forbes Field this season." Retrieved April 20, 2018.Davis, Ralph (March 22, 1950). "Plan to Cut Trick Homers is Sensible: Fandom Tires of Freak Four-Baggers, Which Have Robbed One of Game's Features of Its Most Pronounced Thrill". The Pittsburgh Press. "President Barney Dreyfuss has always been opposed to freak homers. He hesitated for a long time about increasing his seating capacity by encroaching on his playing area. He finally did it, because everyone else was doing it. But he is said to have regretted the move after it was made, and now has offset it by ordering a screen in front of the right field stands." Retrieved April 20, 2018.Wertenbach, Fred (May 24, 1930). "Bucs Beat Cubs; Ens Shifts Line-Up; Comorosky Going Back to Old Post". The Pittsburgh Press. "Wilson was robbed of his thirteenth homer when his drive crashed into the new screen in right and went for a double in the sixth." Retrieved April 20, 2018.
Even at this long distance from home plate, the fence stood in height in left and center fields, with the new right field wall reduced to following the 1925 construction (later topped by the screen). The backstop was set at behind home plate, larger than the average of in most stadiums of the time. Additional seating eventually cut down the plate-to-screen distance to a still larger-than-average .
With such a large outfield space, triples and inside-the-park home runs were common. The Pirates hit a record eight triples in a single game, on May 30, 1925. Conversely, the stadium was one of the most difficult to hit over-the-fence home runs. The closeness of the right field line from 1925 onward was the only area that compromised Dreyfuss' original design concept. Even at that, the right field wall angled sharply out to , a typical distance for a major league power alley. Babe Ruth hit the final three home runs of his career in Forbes Field on May 25, 1935; the third of these cleared the right field roof and was considered the longest home run in the park's history.