Exposition Park I and II Local newspapers referred to the general area along the Allegheny waterfront as "the Exposition grounds", named for other "expositions" that would be shown there, including
horse racing and
circuses.
Exposition Park I was the first venue in Pittsburgh that hosted major league baseball. In 1882, the club now known as the
Pittsburgh Pirates—then known simply as Allegheny, or informally as "the Alleghenys"—began play at Exposition Park as a member of the
American Association; however, after one season a fire and flooding of the field from the nearby river forced a second park to be built. Despite its reason for construction,
Exposition Park II was built closer to the river. The Alleghenys played at the second incarnation of the park for the first part of the 1883 season, but after the game of June 9, the club decided to return to Exposition Park I, starting with the game of June 12. The Allegheny club abandoned Expo II in 1884, moving to
Recreation Park, which was several blocks north and out of the flood plain. approximately two blocks west of where PNC Park sits today.
Exposition Park III included a roofed wooden grandstand around the infield, in the northeast corner of the block, and open bleacher sections extending to the right and left field corners. Total capacity was about 10,000 spectators. The seats faced the Allegheny River and the
Point. On June 10, 1890,
Jocko Fields of the Pittsburgh Burghers hit the first home run at Exposition Park III. The recurrent flooding which plagued the location through its entire existence led to this editorial comment about the Brotherhood (Players' League) club: "They have the most level grounds in the country. Exposition Park is covered with water." The newly-redubbed Pittsburgh Pirates moved to Exposition Park the following season. On April 24, 1891,
Fred Carroll hit the first home run by a Pirate in the stadium. Under the management of
Fred Clarke the Pirates won the National League pennant in 1901, 1902, and 1903. After the 1903 season, Dreyfuss and
Boston Americans owner
Henry Killilea organized a best of nine-game series to match the two pennant winners against each other. This
first modern World Series held three games in Boston before moving to Exposition Park with the Pirates leading the series 2–1. On October 6, 1903, 7,600 people attended the first
World Series game in a National League stadium—the Pirates won by one run. The following day 12,000 people attended the game, forcing some spectators to stand behind a rope in the outfield. During a July 4, 1902 doubleheader against the
Brooklyn Superbas (whose roster included a player named
Flood), an Allegheny flood caused water to rise to thigh level in center and right fields, and about head level in deep center. Players occasionally caught a ball and dove under the water. The Pirates won both games of the doubleheader.
Ham Hyatt is believed to be the only person to hit a ball over the right field fence. Flooding sometimes covered the entire outfield with inches of standing water, causing ground rules that gave any ground ball hit into the outfield an automatic single. In 1907, Pittsburgh's pitcher
Nick Maddox threw a
no-hitter at Exposition Park. That would prove to be the last no-hitter thrown at a Pirates home field until
Bob Gibson of the Cardinals no-hit the Pirates in 1971, at Three Rivers. In 1908, owing to the large numbers of people that attended Pirates games, team owner Barney Dreyfuss began looking for a location to construct a new Pirates stadium. The final Pirates game at Exposition Park was played against the Chicago Cubs on June 29, 1909. The Pirates won the game 8–1 in front of 5,545 people, with
George Gibson achieving the final National League hit in the ballpark.
Football The Western University of Pennsylvania (WUP), which would in 1908 be renamed the
University of Pittsburgh, played its first official game at Exposition Park on October 11, 1890, when Shadyside Academy failed to show up for their game with the
Allegheny Athletic Association. The Allegheny A.A. made a call to WUP team founder
Bert Smyers to bring the WUP team to the park as a replacement. The WUP team was subsequently defeated 38–0. The WUP football team began playing games more regularly at Exposition Park around 1900, occasionally playing in other local venues. Prior to the 1903 season,
Arthur Mosse was recruited from the
University of Kansas to become the team's new coach. In addition to players that Mosse brought with him, WUP also recruited players from
Geneva College to play on the team. Mosse's first season was a disappointment as the WUP football team went 0–8–1 and supporters of the team disbanded leaving the team $500 in debt.
George Hubbard Clapp then organized a voluntary $5 "athletic fee" to be paid by students in order to allow the debt to be repaid and the school's football team to play home games at Exposition Park during the next season in order to give the WUP team a more permanent and stable home. Mosse and university officials then obtained a lease to play at Exposition Park during the fall from Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss for 20% of the admission fee. The 1904 WUP team, the first full season in which WUP played at Exposition Park, saw WUP achieve a remarkable turnaround that included a 10–0 record in which they outscored opponents 407–5 and finished second in the state behind the
University of Pennsylvania. Prior to home games at Exposition Park, WUP students would organize parades through downtown streets prior to marching across a bridge to the game. A gong, used to announce the beginning of Pirates games, was also sounded prior to the opening kickoff of WUP football contests. ==Today==