When the Friday game was rained out, that’s when Barney Dreyfuss suggested the team’s play a triple-header. They finished behind the Reds by the same amount they were back four games ago, three-and-a-half. Forbes Field wasn't just home to the Pirates. Not long thereafter, on June 28, 1970, Forbes Field saw its final two games that we mentioned in part one – two games that the Pirates won over the Cubs. Of course, there are still pieces of Forbes saved and memorialized, as well as dedications to the stadium. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Forbes Field, Honus Wagner, Jack Fogarty, MLB, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, The Sporting News, Washington Senators. They had a way – just not a will.” In those two paragraphs, SABR concluded, “It is likely that no baseball team ever suffered (more) by leaving one site for another.”. They had no protection from the storm and were drenched to the skin. In July, 1971, shortly before its demolition, Forbes Field was damaged by two separate fires. “The press box, instead of being located in the grand stand, under cover, was arranged on the ground in front of the ordinary backstop. It is both an active municipal airport, and a Kansas Air National Guard installation; being the … If a player complained about the smoothness of the infield, “the next morning Fogarty went to work to smooth out the rough spot that caused the player to make his complaint and he wasn’t satisfied until the player approved,” the Press reported. Like Forbes, wall height and distance varied, the farthest seat a big-league smallest 88 feet from the field. This nutty game, in which the Pirates bested the Senators 9 … Forbes Field contains a lot of history, some which was chronicled and some not so much. According to SABR, Bob Costas had the following to say in regard to this dealing, among other similar moves by a swath of organizations, “Amazingly, baseball didn’t grasp what it had – that intimate was better. You'll find detailed 48-hour and 7-day extended forecasts, ski reports, marine forecasts and surf alerts, airport delay forecasts, fire danger outlooks, Doppler and satellite images, and thousands of maps. Reporters and telegraph operators, who had no redress, worked on Tuesday and Thursday in the mud and rain. Other historical instances involve Babe Ruth. Washington eventually won the series in extra innings. 6-keys: media/spln/mlb/reg/free/stories, at © 2004-2020 CBS Interactive. final triple-header ever played in major league history. I couldn’t find any information directly relating to this image; however, I did discover that after it rained, apparently the team’s ground crew lit the infield on fire so as to dry up the dirt and make it playable. Following the final out fans scrambled onto the field for souvenirs. There’s no report, however, of fans roasting marshmallows. Where Roberto Clemente Dr. cuts through what used to be center and right field, many are well aware of what used to lie there – a piece of history, just as the street name suggests. “…Once in a while a player tries to use me for an alibi,” Fogarty said. Apart from being a top of the class ballpark at the time, Forbes Field was also the first baseball stadium to install an elevator; this installation led up to the third-tier seats. This nutty game, in which the Pirates bested the Senators 9-7, also produced one irritated journalist. But John Fogarty was a deeply sensitive and was highly regarded in his field.”. From Vila’s writing, it’s as clear as mud to determine whether he was actually dodging raindrops and slogging through mud at Forbes Field or if he simply was piping up for those writers who were covering the game. So, in 1958, the Pirates Forbes to the University of Pittsburgh. “Other players have tried that trick, too, but it doesn’t get them anywhere. I’m not sure if Lindstrom took issue with the Griffith Stadium grounds crew, but in a series of profile stories about the profession, Pirates head groundskeeper Jack Fogarty told The Sporting News in 1938 that players, even Hall of Famers, would occasionally blame their miscues on infield pebbles left behind by him and other grounds crew members. Forbes Field is also home to the final triple-header ever played in major league history, which came on Saturday, October 2, 1920. Here's what it looked like, via @MLBcathedrals on Twitter: The stadium was demolished and cleared for use by the University of Pittsburgh after a fire in July of 1971. The Pirates dropped games one and two before capturing game three, 6-0. If there’s ever been a pebble half as big as a marble on the skinned part of that infield, I’ve never found it.”, Fogarty became Pittsburgh’s head groundskeeper in 1919 and was known to sometimes douse the Forbes Field infield with gasoline and set it ablaze in an attempt to dry the playing surface after a lengthy rain. See more ideas about Forbes field, Forbes, Baseball stadium. Digging through various other newspapers has not revealed, so far, any other scribes complaining about improper working conditions at the ballpark. “Old Honus Wagner did that once in his active playing days. There’s no report, however, of fans roasting marshmallows. Oct 28, 2008 - Topeka, Kansas, USA - Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority firefighters spray foam to put out a simulated fire and crash of an airplane during a disaster drill at Forbes Field in Topeka, Kansas. Covering the impact of coronavirus on the sports world. Many of us who weren't alive to see baseball in Forbes Field are rather familiar with this highlight, Bill Mazeroski's walkoff homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series: The Pirates moved to Three Rivers Stadium after a doubleheader on June 28, 1970, though, and the venerable stadium was abandoned for a brief period of time. On MLB The Show, for example, one can control a team and play on the original Forbes Field. Days after his death in 1995, the Pittsburgh Press described Fogarty as a man “who devoted his lifetime to the tender care of the grass at Forbes Field and a man who took great pride in his work.”. From home plate encased in glass to the Forbes wall to go along with a plaque for Mazeroski’s home run, among other things, Forbes Field rests with reverence in all of our minds, even for those that never experienced it. By the time the 1950s and 1960s rolled around, consensus seems to be that Forbes began to look its age. Many long-time baseball fans have great memories of Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, such as Roberto Clemente throwing runners out at home from deep right field. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: mlb | pageType: stories | He used to carry around a bunch of pebbles in his uniform pocket, and if he booted or fumbled, he’d come in and toss one of those pebbles at me, as if to let everybody know I left a stone out there big enough to deflect the course of a roller. “I do not know who was directly responsible for the press accommodations at Forbes Field, but it’s enough to say that they were outrageous,” wrote Vila, who covered baseball for three decades. Like Forbes, wall height and distance varied, the farthest seat a big-league smallest 88 feet from the field.”. Eventually Three Rivers was replaced, as well. That idea wouldn’t be warmly received today. “Fogarty winced when he read that a ball took a bad hop over a player’s shoulder because he felt like this was a reflection on his ability, although it never was written with that in mind. After three decades of lackluster service, Three Rivers made way for PNC Park (and Heinz Field for the Steelers). When I write my long-promised  Top 10 list of World Series weather games, the 1925 championship finale will certainly rank high on the chart. Fans at the packed ballpark took to taking pieces of “memorabilia” home as souvenirs post-game, such soil and seats. ‘You could cut the mirk with a cleaver,” The Evening Star of Washington, D.C., reported on the gloomy mid-October afternoon in Pittsburgh. “People never accepted Three Rivers,” said Hamilton. Forbes Field was damaged by two fires before being demolished in … As we move past the mid-century point since the stadium was demolished, the historical presence seems to grow stronger – Forbes Field, a pillar of the Pittsburgh community, something that is not soon to be forgotten, and likely never will. It was unique. Posted on November 21, 2017 Updated on November 22, 2017. What are reasonable expectations for the Pirates? It was a land all to itself. Forbes Field contains a lot of history, some which was chronicled and some not so much. They concluded the season on October 3 in Chicago against the Cubs. Forbes Field, previously Forbes Air Force Base, is a joint-use civil-military airport operated by the Topeka Airport Authority located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Topeka, Kansas. SABR sums up the design process of PNC as such: “Designed by a Forbes II Task Force, PNC’s brick, steel, terra-cotta-tiled plasters, masonry arches, corner pens, 16 light towers, and flat green roof evoked the Bucs’ Oakland dinghy.