CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

If the Stanley Cup finals were being held in Vancouver, and GM Place was sold out, would you buy a reduced priced ticket to watch the game from the rafters?

Of course you would.

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Shibe Park opened in 1909, and as you can see from the pictures below, there weren’t enough seats for the Philly fans.

Coincidentally, the right field fence was only 12 feet high – the height of a basketball backboard.

So, neighbours across 20th Street sold admission tickets so that people could watch the game from their roofs. Some even went as far as to build small stands so that the fans could have a better view, and the owners could squeeze in more paying customers.

They could also watch the games from second story bedroom windows, as those were the days of very high ceilings, so the top floors were at least 10 or 11 feet off of the ground.

THE TWO PICTURES DIRECTLY BELOW WERE TAKEN DURING THE 1914 WORLD SERIES. THE PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS PLAYED IN THE 1910, 1911, 1913 AND 1914 AUTUMN CLASSICS.

THESE TWO PICTURES ARE PART OF A SERIES.

THE FIRST WORLD SERIES GAME HELD IN SHIBE PARK WAS IN 1910 – MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE WATCHING FROM THE ROOF AND FIRST LEVEL BALCONY.

A WORLD SERIES GAME – PICTURE SHOT FROM THE LEFT FIELD LINE AS A PLAYER ROUNDS THIRD BASE - VIEW OF TOWNHOUSES OVER THE RIGHT FIELD FENCE.

FANS SITTING ON, AND CLIMBING OVER THE FENCE – WATCHING THE SHIBE PARK INAUGURAL GAME IN 1909 – NOTE NO CARS, JUST CARRIAGES TO THE LEFT

SHIBE PARK A NUMBER OF YEARS LATER

LINING UP FOR THE GAME – IN FRONT OF THE LOW FENCE – WHILE NEWSPAPER VENDORS SELL THEIR WARES.

The Shibe Park owners weren’t happy, and at first, trained searchlights on the houses to prevent people from watching the games. Then they took their neighbours to court, but lost.

Finally, in 1935, the Shibe Park owners built a corrugated steel wall above the right field fence, which extended the height to 33 feet (10 meters).

This was the end of the neighbours’ lucrative enterprises – many had paid off their mortgages with their extra income – and the new structure was called the Spite Fence.

Ironically, as the fence rose, the Philadelphia Athletics’ fortunes fell and they were never real contenders again.

LINING UP AT 9 AM TO BUY TICKETS FOR A 1911 WORLD SERIES GAME

WHAT THEY WERE WATCHING….

Seven decades after the Spite Fence was erected, Citizens Bank Park was built as the new home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

It is a 43,647-seat baseball-only stadium, that opened on April 3, 2004 and is now hosting the World Series.

courtesy of baseballpilgrimages.com

And to continue a Philadelphia tradition, the owners have built “Rooftop Bleacher Seats” in the new stadium.

The 199 seats are located on top of the buildings along Ashburn Alley – in right centre field, under the new Liberty Bell – which is in front of the white building.

THE ROOFTOP SEATS ARE ADVERTISED BELOW.

OF COURSE, THERE AREN’T ANY ECONOMICAL SEATS DURING THE WORLD SERIES:

SPENCE