League Park II

The Gap

In 1894, Reds owner John Brush rebuilt his ballpark. He shifted the diamond from the southeast corner of Findlay and Western to the southwest corner of Findlay and McLean, raised a new grandstand, and added an amphitheater. The whole thing sat on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street, Western Avenue, York Street, and McLean Avenue in Cincinnati. Historians call the reconfigured park League Park II — the name was never officially changed, but the diamond had moved, and that was enough to mark a new park on the same ground.

Brush retained the old 1884 grandstand as a right field pavilion, leaving a gap between the two seating areas. The gap would later prove fortuitous.

The Fire

On May 28, 1900, the ballpark caught fire and the 1894 grandstand burned. The Reds considered moving to East End Park. Instead they shifted the diamond back to the original southeast corner — the corner Brush had moved it from in 1894 — and reused the 1884 grandstand, which the gap between the seating areas had spared. The team spent a month on the road and returned home on June 28, 1900.

The Screen

A year after Brush's renovation, in 1895, the center field fence was painted black to form a batter's eye screen. Some historians credit it as the first of its kind in baseball. The park was being tinkered with — an amphitheater, a black fence, a diamond that could be picked up and set back down.

League Park II closed in 1901. For most of its years, the diamond sat where Brush put it. After the fire, it sat where it had been before he moved it, and the old grandstand he had kept was the one still standing.

Reporting: Wikipedia, Retroseasons. Park data: MLB StatsAPI and Retrosheet, via the Fever engine.