Pittsburgh's Historic Ballparks

by Mark T. Fatla

Pittsburgh has an incredible baseball history with great players, teams, and historic moments, but few realize that Pittsburgh has often been in the lead in ballpark design and development. Photographs chronicle the nine ballparks that hosted major league baseball in Pittsburgh between 1876 and the present, including the Negro Leagues. Here are the design and construction phases, the major changes as parks expanded and aged, and eventually, their demolition. Here also are the monuments, details, and the surrounding neighborhoods that became part of the fan experience, along with rare glimpses of behind-the-scenes areas. The great players, teams, and moments are not the focus. There are many other books to tell their stories. Here, those players, teams, and moments are seen only as they illustrate the look and condition of the ballparks themselves.

Genres: Baseball

128 pages, Paperback

Published March 13, 2023

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Pittsburgh's Historic Ballparks, Mark Fatla drew upon archives to provide a photographic history of the various ballparks that have served Pittsburgh over the past 160+ years. While his presentation includes information about the venues in which the Steelers and some of the local college/university teams played, Mr. Fatla focused principally on the importance of these venues to the various major league baseball teams that have been at the center of the Pittsburgh sporting world. He accomplished that goal admirably.

The book includes maps, plans, illustrations, and photographs from more than eight ballparks, including rare pictures of the ballparks used by Pittsburgh's outstanding Negro League teams. A significant portion of the book focuses on Forbes Field and that is fair since Forbes Field served as home for several teams for more than 61 years. But Mr. Fatla managed to present the history of Forbes without some of the mawkish sentimentality found in other authors' works; rather, he shows respect and admiration while also giving a straightforward accounting of the significance and evolution of that ballpark.

Mr. Fatla also found ample pictures and documentation of Forbes Field's predecessor, Exposition Park, and, in fact, included several pictures of that venue that I have never seen before. I was especially pleased to see this, given that Exposition Park was home to Games 4 - 7 of the first World Series in 1903. I was also impressed with Mr. Fatla's habit of providing a larger historical context for these pictures. Great job!

Mr. Fatla did not spend a lot of ink on Three Rivers Stadium or PNC Park. My sense is that since they are much more familiar in the memories of current fans, their histories are of less interest. Again, I think this was a wise choice.

One other unexpected gift: Mr. Fatla included information about some of the lesser-known major league baseball teams that represented Pittsburgh. I had never heard of the Pittsburgh Filipinos (managed by Deacon Phillippe) before and I am pleased to have that deficiency in my knowledge corrected.

Overall, this is one of the best Images of… books that I have seen and I recommend it highly for anyone who has an interest in the history of Pittsburgh baseball.

[Vincent T. Ciaramella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe I am bias as I live in Pittsburgh and I research baseball history for fun, but this is my kinda book. If you're not from Pittsburgh or have no interest in local history, you might not dig it. However, if you grew up watching baseball or going to games I cannot recommend this enough. I was a Three Rivers era guys (born in 1978) so I love looking at the construction of that stadium as well as the early ballparks. Too bad Recreation Park has a warehouse or whatever sitting on its footprint. I'd love to see an archaeological dig done there for the monkey skeleton (I know I am going to get flack for saying that at the next SABR meeting...lol) But seriously, I would love to have seen what came out of the ground from such a historic site. Oh well, with all the building any material artifacts would most likely be destroyed. I do hope someone puts a sign up though.

This would be a perfect present for anyone in your life that loves Pittsburgh Baseball.

[Jeff Bobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting history of the early baseball parks in Pittsburgh including photos and drawing over the years. Great information and photos showing the changes in the ballparks over the course of there life.

Well documented information on locations and the changes around the park.

[Pete Mervosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great nostalgic stroll down memory lane of old Pittsburgh ballparks with some quality photos showing details of the parks and the surrounding neighborhoods that has endeared baseball to Pittsburgh citizens for over a century. Glad this information was captured for the city of 3 rivers.

[Max Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

i simply love baseball