Home of the
baseball's Boston Braves until they left for
Milwaukee after the 1952 season (later moving south to become the
Atlanta Braves). Built in 1915 to replace
South End Grounds, which had been Boston's first
ballpark. Also housed the
NFL's
Boston Braves, and the
AFL's
Boston Patriots (later the
New England Patriots). After the Braves left,
Boston University bought the field, renovated it for
football, and renamed it
Nickerson Field. The BU Terriers played there until 1997, and Nickerson is still used for
field hockey and
soccer. Anyone driving on the
Mass Pike into
Boston, keep an eye out to your right, and you won't be able to miss Nickerson (it's before
Fenway Park).
James Gaffney, owner of the Braves in the teens, hated over-the-wall home runs, and built his park accordingly. When Braves Field opened, the centerfield fence was 550 feet from home plate; to make matters worse, the ballpark was oriented in such a way that the wind blew directly towards home plate. Needless to day, all 8 home runs hit in the first year at Braves Field were of the inside-the-park variety. When the dead ball era ended in 1920 and home runs became popular, the dimensions were scaled down, but Braves Field was never friendly to power hitters. Braves Field also featured a 2000 seat section in rightfield, where fans could get a ticket for the relatively cheap price of 25 cents. However, the Braves were not particularly popular, and this section was renamed the Jury Box after a sportswriter noticed only 12 fans occupied the section on a particularly sad day.
Braves Field hosted two World Series in its first two years of existence; unfortunately, neither involved the Braves. Instead, the Boston Red Sox decided to use Braves Field in the World Series, as it held ten thousand more fans than their own Fenway Park. The Braves only played one World Series in Braves Field; in 1948 they lost in six games to the Cleveland Indians. Braves Field hosted one All-Star Game, in 1936, and was Babe Ruth's home in 1935 before he retired. It also was the site of major league baseball's longest game; in 1920 the Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers struggled for 26 innings before heading home.
Original dimensions:
Left: 402 ft.
Center: 550
Right: 402
Final dimensions:
Left: 337
Center: 370
Right: 319