Goodbye, Baker Bowl

The final game at Baker Bowl on this day in 1938

The Philadelphia Phillies play their final game at antiquated Baker Bowl 87 years ago today and – as the Phillies often do back then – lose 14-1 to the New York Giants on a Thursday afternoon in North Philly.

Approximately 1,500 fans, along with 17,300 empty seats, witness the final game before the Phillies permanently move seven blocks away into the Philadelphia Athletics’ home at Shibe Park.

Fans waiting to get into the final game

The last hit at Baker Bowl comes on a double by the Phillies’ Pinky Whitney with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Naturally, the 16-41 and last-place Phillies strand Whitney on base when New York pitcher Slick Castleman retires Cap Clark to end the game and, with it, Baker Bowl’s baseball history.

The Phillies then share Shibe Park – later renamed Connie Mack Stadium – with the Athletics until the A’s move to Kansas City following the 1954 season.

After the A’s bolt town, the Phillies become exclusive tenants of the ballpark – by then with 33,000 seats – at the North Philly corner of 21st and Lehigh through the 1970 season before they move 10 miles to the South Philly corner of Broad and Pattison.

At that point, the since-demolished Baker Bowl is a distant memory in Philadelphia, where the ballpark reopens in 1895 after a devastating fire in 1894.

The second incarnation of Baker Bowl is the first ballpark in the major leagues put together with brick, concrete and steel.