Red Stocking Baseball Park

Red Stocking Base-Ball Park was a baseball grounds in St. Louis, Missouri. It was home to the St. Louis Red Stockings of the National Association (NA) during the 1875 season, so it is considered a major league ballpark by those who count the NA as a major league. In 1888, it was also the home of the St. Louis Whites, a short-lived minor league club.

Red Stocking Baseball Park
Drawing of the ballpark, 1875
Former namesVeto Grounds
Address701 S. Compton
St. Louis, Missouri
United States
Coordinates38.6274°N 90.2292°W / 38.6274; -90.2292
OwnerDavid J. Ranken, director of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and later of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Seating typeGrandstand
CapacityRoughly 1,000 in 1875
Construction
Built1874
Opened1875
DemolishedCa. 1898
Tenants
St. Louis Red Stockings, St. Louis Whites, St. Louis Black Stockings
Marker recognizing and commemorating Red Stocking Baseball Park, July 2010

The site is first known to have been used for baseball in about 1867, when it was the home of something called the Veto Club, and was called the Veto Grounds. The grounds were evidently already well-known, as local newspapers in 1867 were calling it the "old" Veto Grounds. In 1874, the Red Stockings—then a local amateur club—built a grandstand behind home plate and a wooden stockade fence around the field. "The diamond lay near the southeast corner of the lot, home plate facing northwest," wrote Joan M. Thomas for the Society for American Baseball Research.[1]

The venue was also known as Compton Avenue Baseball Park or just Compton Park, as it was bordered by South Compton Avenue (east, first base). Its other boundaries were railroad tracks (south, third base); Edwin Street and Theresa Avenue (west, left field); Spruce Street (north, right field); and with Scott Avenue and Gratiot Street T-ing into Compton from the east. In 1892, a new fence and additional seats were installed.[2]

The park was used as a baseball venue off-and-on until it was razed in the late 1890s.

The site is currently occupied by Metro Transit's Central MetroBus garage.

Historical marker

On September 13, 2008, a historical marker noting the site's history was unveiled by the Bob Broeg Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research. The marker was financed with funds by the SABR Chapter Ballpark Marker Committee. Local papers reported that the plaque would be installed, with the permission of the Bi-State Development Agency, at the entrance of the Metro garage that now occupies the site.[3]

References

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