THIS DAY IN HISTORY: APRIL 17, 1913
One hundred years ago, 6,000 fans turned out to see the first baseball game at Athletic Park, a new stadium at 5th and Hemlock. So many people turned out on the sunny afternoon that the stands were literally overflowing, and hundreds of spectators were placed in right field. A special ground rule was put in place, where a hit into the right field crowd went for a double. The masses left happy, as the Vancouver Beavers pounded the Tacoma Tigers 8- 4. “It was apparent from the opening the Beavers were the stronger club,” reported The Sun. “They fielded their positions until the last few innings in a faultless fashion, while with the stick they pounded the offerings of Mssrs. Criger and Churchill to all corners. ( Beavers) president ( Bob) Brown has a batting combination that will strike the fear into the heart of many a heaver before the season passes.” The Vancouver Archives has some fabulous photos of Athletic Park, including an opening- day shot by Stuart Thomson of owner/ manager Brown meeting with umpire Pearle Casey and Tacoma manager Joe McGinnity. In a 1914 panorama by W. J. Moore, you can pick out signs on the outfield walls for long- defunct companies like Cascade Beer, B. C. Rye and Terminus. A 1920 Thomson photo shows the stadium’s location just above the industrial mills of Granville Island and False Creek. ( You can find the photos by going to the archives website, searcharchives. vancouver. ca, and searching “Athletic Park.”) Athletic Park was also the site of the first baseball game played at night in Canada on July 3, 1931. On Oct. 19, 1934, a barnstorming crew of major- leaguers including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Connie Mack stopped off at Athletic Park on their way to Japan, playing an exhibition game in torrential rain. Built of wood, Athletic Park burned to the ground twice, in 1926 and 1945. But it rose from the ashes both times to host baseball games, lacrosse, rugby, even political rallies. It was knocked down after Capilano Stadium ( now called Nat Bailey) was built in 1951. Some of the old stadium lives on in the infield at Nat Bailey, because they dug up part of the ground Babe Ruth had played on and installed it in the new baseball field.