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. 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. Initial work on the land began on January 1, 1909, 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 , 1909 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. Flags flew at half staff to honor the recently deceased presidents of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Doves. 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., 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. By 1914, the left field distance was stated as , 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. 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. 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 fence had been painted green, while the bricks were of a reddish color. Ivy was planted at the base of the new wall, restoring the green background enjoyed by batters. Although Forbes Field developed a reputation as a "pitcher-friendly" ballpark, there was never a
no-hitter thrown in the more than 4,700 games at the stadium. Until 1942, Forbes Field's batting cage, when not in use, was stored on the field, in front of the stands directly behind home plate, a bare-bones but viable solution rendered obsolete by the introduction that season of a new, considerably larger cage. During that season and part of 1943, the new cage resided in foul territory, down the right field line, near the Pirates' bullpen. At some point prior to July 26, 1943, evidently prompted by numerous instances of the relocated cage continuing to impact balls in play, the Pirates settled on what would become its permanent and, by far, best-remembered home: in fair territory, just to the left of the marker in deepest left-center. The open part of the cage faced the wall, its rear effectively serving as a convex fence, In 1947, well after Dreyfuss' death, and upon the arrival of veteran slugger
Hank Greenberg, the
bullpens were moved from foul territory to the base of the scoreboard in left field and were fenced in, cutting from the left field area, from to down the line and to in left-center field. These were not abnormal major league outfield distances, but the obvious attempt to take advantage of Greenberg's bat led the media to dub the area "Greenberg Gardens". Greenberg retired after the season, but by then
Ralph Kiner was an established slugger with the Pirates, and the bullpen was redubbed "Kiner's Korner". Kiner was traded after the 1953 season, and the field was restored to its previous configuration in time for the 1954 season. The final posted dimensions of the ballpark were left field line , left-center field , deepest left-center , deep right-center , right-center field , and right field line . The only marker in exact straightaway center field was the Barney Dreyfuss monument, which sat on the playing field just in front of the wall. Some sources stated as the distance to straightaway center. Some sources also stated as a right-center distance, to the unmarked point where the center field wall intersected the end of the double-deck stands. Forbes Field's outfield fences / walls featured no advertising, except a
United States Marine Corps billboard during the 1943 season.
Seating and tickets Forbes Field had an original capacity of 25,000, the largest in the league at the time. temporary bleachers were set up for the occasion and cost $0.50. When winning streaks attracted high attendance to games, fans were permitted to sit on the grass in right field, provided they agreed to allow a player to catch any ball hit in the area. The lowest season of attendance came in 1914, when 139,620 people attended games; the highest at the stadium came in 1960, when 1,705,828 people watched the Pirates play. At 200 people, June 10, 1938, was believed to have marked the smallest crowd to ever attend a Pirates game (against the Philadelphia Phillies), however, Baseball Reference has the attendance for that game listed as 1,034. On September 30, 1962, a crowd of 40,916 people saw the
Steelers defeated by the
New York Giants, at the Steelers' highest-attended game at the stadium. Following a plan to expand their adjacent campus, the University of Pittsburgh purchased Forbes Field in 1958, with an agreement to lease the stadium to the Pirates until a replacement could be built. A proposal for a new sports stadium in Pittsburgh was first made in 1948, but plans did not attract much attention until the late 1950s. Construction began on
Three Rivers Stadium on April 25, 1968. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs played a double-header on June 28, 1970. Pittsburgh won the first game 3–2. In the later game
Al Oliver hit the last home run in the park, and
Matty Alou drove in two runs as the Pirates closed the 62-year-old stadium with a 4–1 victory. The 40,918 spectators in attendance stood and cheered as
Dave Giusti retired Willie Smith for the final out (recorded by Bill Mazeroski) at the stadium. Pirates
Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente played 15 seasons at Forbes Field. He was emotional during the last game saying, "I spent half my life there." After the game, home plate was dug up and taken by helicopter to
Three Rivers Stadium to be installed in the
artificial turf. A community group attempted to rescue the structure from demolition, proposing such things as a stage, apartments and a farmers market for the site and comparing it to the Eiffel Tower in significance. The abandoned structure suffered two separate fires that damaged the park, on December 24, 1970, and July 17, 1971. Eleven days after the second fire, demolition began, and the site was cleared for use by the University of Pittsburgh.
Memorials In 1955, a statue of Honus Wagner was dedicated in Schenley Plaza adjacent to Forbes Field. Several thousand fans attended the dedication as well as Wagner himself. His failing health caused him to never leave his open convertible in which he arrived. Wagner died near the end of that year. The statue was moved to Three Rivers Stadium in 1970. Today, the statue stands at the home plate entrance of
PNC Park. Meanwhile, the original location of that wall is outlined by bricks extending from the left-center field wall across Roberto Clemente Drive and into the sidewalk. A plaque embedded in the sidewalk marks the spot where Mazeroski's home run cleared the wall. A wooden replica of an entrance to the stadium, including a ticket window and players entrance, was constructed and placed near the remaining wall in 2006. The home plate used in the stadium's final game remains preserved in the University of Pittsburgh's
Posvar Hall. Its location has been altered; author John McCollister wrote, "Had architects placed home plate in its precise spot about half of the Pirates fans could not view it. The reason: it would have to be on display in the fifth stall of the ladies' restroom." The original location of the home plate has been more recently determined by others to be approximately away from its current display, just inside the
GSPIA/Economics Library, and not in a restroom as has been popularly believed. A ceremony is held each October 13 at the outfield wall in Oakland to listen to a taped broadcast of the final game of the 1960 World Series. The tradition was started by
Squirrel Hill resident Saul Finkelstein, who at 1:05 pm on October 13, 1985, sat alone at the base of the flagpole and listened to the
NBC radio broadcast of
Chuck Thompson and
Jack Quinlan. Finkelstein continued the tradition for eight more years, until word spread and other people began attending in 1993. For the 50th anniversary, on October 13, 2010, a plaque honoring Mazeroski was dedicated and more than 1,000 attended the broadcast, including Mazeroski and several other former Pirates. ==Events==