Recreation Park

Harper Hospital Ground

Recreation Park was built in 1879 on land belonging to Harper Hospital, laid out as a multi-use recreational facility — tennis courts, an archery range, cricket grounds, and a three-quarter-mile track among its features before baseball settled in. The park was bounded on the south by Brady Street and on the east by Beaubien Street, with Harper Hospital on the west and the main entrance gate at the corner of Brady and Brush. The field was laid out so the foul lines hit the fences at a 135-degree angle, a geometry shared with the Polo Grounds and other parks of the era.

The first major league game in Detroit was played there on May 2, 1881, before 1,286 spectators. Mayor William Thompson had organized the Wolverines as a major league club, winning Detroit the National League berth vacated by Cincinnati's expulsion, and ran the operation from his office in City Hall.

The Barn on Brady

Detroit resident John Deppert owned a barn on property adjacent to the park, and in the summer of 1885 he erected bleachers on its roof. He charged fans 25 cents to watch games — half the price of the cheapest seats inside, which cost 50 cents — and sold them apples and lemonade. The club built a nine-foot fence and hung cloths to block the view, and on July 13, 1885, club president Joseph Marsh sought a court injunction to stop Deppert from selling rooftop tickets.

Poor attendance would break the Wolverines apart after the 1888 season. The club sold off its stars to cover the payroll and disbanded.

The Pennant

The Wolverines won the National League pennant in 1887 and defeated the St. Louis Browns of the American Association in a fifteen-game series to claim the world championship. Only two of those fifteen games were played at Recreation Park; the series was played across ten different cities. Two Wolverines who played at the park, Dan Brouthers and Sam Thompson, were later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The 1886 squad had won 87 games against 36 losses for a .707 winning percentage, a mark that remains the best in Detroit major league history, yet finished behind Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings. Major league baseball left Recreation Park in 1888 with the franchise's death; the grounds carried minor-league ball into the early 1890s and were torn down in 1894.

Reporting: detroit1701.org, waymarking.com, en.wikipedia.org. Park data: MLB StatsAPI and Retrosheet, via the Fever engine.