Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (59 page)

Riverfront was built at the behest of city officials who backed a publicly funded stadium on the banks of the Ohio that would also house the football franchise they were courting. When the NFL awarded Cincinnati the Bengals in 1966, plans went ahead for a multipurpose facility, the kind that was being built in so many cities across the land. Then owner of the team, Bill DeWitt, wanted instead to build a baseball only facility in the suburbs. A man of convictions, DeWitt sold the club rather than approve the Reds’ lease at the new stadium. Riverfront would draw two million fans in eight consecutive seasons during the heart of the Big Red dynasty (1973–1980). To put that in perspective, its predecessor Crosley Field drew a million fans only four times in eighty-six seasons.

But Crosley wasn’t the only previous lot the Reds called “home.” Previously, they played at a variety of ballparks, built and rebuilt at a few different locations. The undefeated Red Stockings of 1869 (57-0) played at Union Grounds, currently the site of Union Terminal. The Reds wouldn’t lose a game until 1870, going an amazing 130 contests in a row without a loss. Though some of those games weren’t exactly
against elite competition, the achievement is noteworthy nonetheless.

The Red Legs remained at Union Grounds until moving to Avenue Grounds on Spring Grove Avenue in 1876, the inaugural year of the National League. But in 1884 when the Queen City franchise of the upstart Player’s League snatched up the lease on Avenue Grounds, the Reds had to move to an old brickyard at the corner of Western Avenue and Findlay Street. The plot was cleared and made ready for baseball. A grandstand was erected, and the brickyard was renamed League Park. The deepest part of the outfield in left had an incline that rose four feet to the outfield wall. An underground stream caused the ballpark’s signature deformity that eventually took on the nickname “the Terrace” when players began to hit the ball far enough for it to become a factor. The Terrace, as crazy and wonderful an outfield quirk as ever there was, remained until the park (by then named Crosley Field) closed in 1970. When Babe Ruth switched over to the National League at the end of his career, he fell flat on his face, confounded by his first encounter with the Terrace.

Josh:
The Babe wasn’t exactly in prime shape by that point.

Kevin:
He was about as bloated as you were after our Midwest tour.

Josh:
Ouch. What did I do to deserve that zinger?

Kevin:
You ate all of my peanuts when I went for a beer.

While it was still called League Park the primary grandstands burned down on May 28, 1900. The Reds responded by moving home plate to where right field had been, thereby making use of the grandstand that hadn’t burned down. In 1902, perhaps because Cincinnati is named after the Roman dictator Cincinnatus (458 B.C.) the team erected a grandstand incorporating Roman and Greek architectural elements, including columns, cornices, and arches. The new structure, dubbed “Palace of the Fans,” presented a façade that was unique in the long history of America’s Game. Inside, nineteen “fashion boxes” adorned the Palace and each could hold fifteen well-to-do fans. This was the genesis of the luxury box. Directly beneath these, a standing room section called “Rooter’s Row” offered a place where less affluent fans could watch. Surely, your humble authors would have spent their time in Cincinnati down there, sloshing beer and yucking it up with the odorous penny-mongers if our road trip had taken place in the early 1900s.

Josh:
Hey Hollywood, you readin’ this?

Kevin:
Yeah, great premise for a movie:
The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip
meets
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
.

Josh:
It’s a sci-fi buddy flick. The boys take a roadie through the Dead Ball Era, liberating female fans and telling everyone they meet to put their life-savings under the mattress before the banks crash.

After the 1911 season, Reds owner Garry Hermann came to the conclusion that the Palace of the Fans was too small for the team’s rapidly growing fan base, and the structure was demolished. Yet another grandstand was built on the same spot, and this incarnation of the park was called Redland Field. The Reds opened Redland Field a month after Fenway Park opened in Boston on May 18, 1912, with a 10-6 win over the Cubs. The terrace still rose up to the outfield wall, but now there were bleachers in the outfield. Very much like Fenway, the bleachers in right-center began with just a single seat, with rows added angling back toward a full-square bleacher section in right. This angled point in right-center was known as the “Sun Deck” (and later the “Moon Deck” during night games) and is a feature replicated at Great American in left-center.

The infamous World Series of 1919 is a sticking point for many baseball buffs in Queen City. Reds fans feel that the blemish of the Black Sox scandal tainted their very first World Series victory and feel the Reds would have won the best-of-nine championship regardless of the supposed “fix.” Of course, what would you expect them to say? “We really should have been crushed and our World Series title is bogus”? Not likely, but the black mark on the Sox also had a flip side: a tainted title for the Cincinnati nine through no fault of their own.

In 1934 Powel Crosley bought the Reds and renamed the ballpark after himself. In order to attract more fans, the first night game in Major League Baseball history was played at Crosley Field on May 24, 1935. More than twenty thousand rooters gathered to watch baseball beneath a glowing, incandescent canopy provided by 632 bulbs. While day games had been averaging just over forty-five hundred fans, the new night games averaged more than eighteen thousand for the remainder of the season. The experiment had worked.

On January 26, 1937, a local creek overflowed its banks and handed Cincinnati the worst flood in its history. Twenty-one feet of water stood across the Crosley infield when the creek finally crested. But two Reds pitchers, Lee Grissom and Gene Schott, used the opportunity to stage perhaps the most memorable stunt in Reds history when they paddled a rowboat along Western Avenue and over the waterfall pouring over the outfield wall.

Over the years several Negro League franchises made attempts in Cincinnati, none with more than a few seasons of success. From 1934 to 1937 Cincinnati was home to the Tigers, who enjoyed moderate success as an independent team. The Tigers’ most famous player was Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, who got his name because he would pitch the first game of a doubleheader, then serve as catcher in the second. In 1942 the Cincinnati Buckeyes departed after only one season for Cleveland. The Cincinnati Clowns played in 1943, then the Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns (no relation) played in the Negro American League from 1944 to 1945, calling both towns home. Indianapolis became the Clowns’ sole home in 1946.

Crosley Field would continue to be expanded and renovated through the years. Double-decked outfield bleachers were constructed in anticipation of a 1938 World Series appearance that did not materialize. But this feature of the park was so beloved that it has also been included in the left-field bleachers of Great American. In 1957 a new fifty-eight-foot-tall scoreboard, topped with the iconic Longines Clock, replaced the existing board at Crosley and became the ballpark’s signature feature.

After moving into Great American, the Reds struggled through seven straight losing seasons. That is not the type of start teams imagine when opening new digs. And as a result of all that floundering, attendance suffered. By 2009, the Reds were barely drawing twenty thousand fans per game. But the team rebounded to finish first in the NL Central in 2010. That exciting Reds edition—led by National League MVP Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs—won 91 regular season games before suffering a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Phillies. The squad did manage to breathe some fresh life into the fan base though, as the crowds at Great American swelled as the summer wore on. The Reds have as rich a history as any team in the National League, and as scenic a ballpark. Great American is a jewel that those in Queen City ought to wear (and fill) proudly in the years ahead.

Even in the years immediately after it opened, sellouts were a rarity at Great American. And they remain so. Various reasons have been cited, but the bottom line is it’s not too difficult to get a good seat at Great American. Upon our most recent visit, we waited to get tickets until two days before the date, in July—on Aroldis Chapman action figure night, no less—and had no problem scoring Field Box seats.

We have grouped together all of the seats that are likely beyond your budget and means of procurement. Why anyone would shell out between $100 and $250 to sit in one of these sections behind the plate is beyond us. Seats in the Infield Boxes on either side of them are almost as good and cost a fraction of the price. This is Cincinnati, not New York City. Why they incorporated so many primo seats is a mystery. Actually, we know why: to make money. We suppose all the high rollers pay so much so cheapies like us don’t have to.

The lower bowl has a medium grade, steep enough to see over the guy in front of you, but not too steep. The first four rows around the infield sell as Dugout Boxes while the rest of the seats are labeled Infield Boxes. Sections 120 and 121 offer a home plate view nearly as good as the one from the primo seats that cost three times as much. Besides those, the best seats in this category, for our money, are the ones in Sections 118 and 119 behind the visitors’ third base side on-deck circle, and 127 and 128 behind the Reds’ first-base line on-deck circle. Those seated in the first row of the Dugout Boxes in Sections 114 and 132 and of the Infield Boxes in Sections 113 and 133 enjoy the unique experience of having their feet below field level. We’re not sure what this does to enhance the game. All seats in the ballpark are red, which makes for a great visual when the ballpark is not sold out. The overhang is not much of a factor on the first level, but we still recommend avoiding the back few rows of the Infield Boxes. In general, seats along the third-base line are
preferable because they position spectators so as to best appreciate the river view in right.

Sections 108 to 112 run from the lip of the outfield grass to the left-field foul pole, while Section 107 is right behind the pole. Sections 134 to 139 begin a bit deeper into the outfield on the right-field side and rap around the right-field pole. Because it’s behind the pole, Section 139 really ought to be avoided. The same goes for Section 107 across the field. Those in Sections 138 and 108 have foul-pole obstructions of the outfield, which isn’t as bad.

One unfortunate thing about the lower bowl is that the gradually rising walls along the foul lines create minimal foul territory but block the views of the corner for those seated on the nearest side. The seats in left rise a bit more steeply than the ones across the diamond and thus the view doesn’t suffer quite as much. The right-field bullpen has been well placed near the foul pole to eliminate much of the obstruction that it often causes.

These right-field home run territory seats are the reincarnation of the Sun Deck at Crosley Field. The steepness of this uncovered section and the low right-field wall ensure that fans sitting here have a great view of the action. We’re not sure if we’ve seen any outfield seats as well done as these, even at the top of the section. Section 140 offers a view of the Reds bullpen down below. However, avoid seats in Row L and higher in Section 144, as they are severely blocked by the smokestack and paddle wheel feature in center. Otherwise, a seat in these sections is a solid choice.

The Terrace Outfield Seats are the left-field home run territory seats. Not only do they feel farther from the plate than their right-field counterparts, but they face other problems as well. The left-field wall is an electronic out-of-town scoreboard and thus the seating begins significantly higher up. The pitch of the rows is not as steep, and there is an overhang for seats in the back three rows (N, O, and P). Section 106 also has foul-pole issues and should be avoided. The right-field Outfield Seats are much better, and cost only $3 more. The second tier in left is composed of actual bleacher benches with backs (Sections 401–406). Apparently the whiz kids who put together the seating chart in Cincy never studied marketing because labeling these seats as 400 Level seats, instead of 200 Level, makes them sound that much higher up. Though Crosley Field had double-decked bleachers, we doubt if they were as bad as these Great American replicas. Not only is even more of the outfield lost to the underhang, the glass barriers that are used to mark and protect the tunnels also block views. It’s far better to pay a few extra bucks to sit in unobstructed seats high above home plate in the upper deck.

This seating section consists of the lower half of the double-decked seats running above the lower seating bowl along the left-field line. While in theory we like the idea of creating a replica of Crosley Field’s double deck, some of these seats simply have poor sight lines.