Clem's Baseball home

Anomalous
"home" stadiums:
Shared, "hand-me-down," neutral...





In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy learned that "there's no place like home," but in the world of major league baseball, that concept has sometimes been problematic over the years. This page attempts to clarify some of the anomalous situations that have arisen when teams found it expedient to play some of their "home" games at other stadiums, and sometimes in other cities. Note that some major league ballparks, such as Hiram Bithorn Stadium, fit into more than one category.

Stadiums shared by two teams

Since 11 of the original 16 major league franchises were located in cities with more than one team during the first half of the 20th century, it is not surprising that two teams sometimes shared the same stadium. Of the eight cases listed below, the first four were the result of teams moving out of small, obsolete stadiums. Interestingly, the National League teams in both St. Louis and Philadelphia upstaged their American League "landlords" in terms of winning records and attendance, and the original home teams relocated to other cities during the 1950s. When the Dodgers and Angels shared Dodger Stadium, the Angels called it "Chavez Ravine" to conceal the fact that they were mere tenants there. (In the NFL, the New York Jets drape Giants Stadium with green colors when they play there, but have made no effort to change its name.) During the renovation of their stadium in 1974-1975, the Yankees became the only major league team ever to become "tenants" of another team for a second time.

Polo Grounds

It seems strange, but in the early years baseball teams were quite willing to leave behind their real home field in order to temporarily borrow a bigger cross-town venue during the all-important World Series. What is particularly weird is the fact that three of these four occasions were in Boston, where the Red Sox and Braves flip-flopped in using each others' brand new stadiums during three consecutive years. For you trivia buffs, there were three World Series in which all of the games were played in the very same stadium because both teams called the same place "home": In 1921 and 1922 (at the Polo Grounds), and in 1944 (at Sportsman's Park).

Stadium City Host Team Guest Team From To
Polo Grounds New York Giants Yankees 1913 1922
Fenway Park Boston Red Sox Braves Aug. 1914
(incl. World Series)
Aug. 1915
Braves Field Boston Braves Red Sox 1915, 1916 (World Series only)
Comiskey Park Chicago White Sox Cubs 1918 (World Series only)
Sportsman's Park St. Louis Browns Cardinals 1920 1953
Shibe Park Philadelphia Athletics Phillies 1938 1954
Dodger Stadium Los Angeles Dodgers Angels 1962 1965
Shea Stadium New York Mets Yankees 1974 1975

"Hand-me-down" stadiums

KC Municipal Stadium

Five teams moved into stadiums that had been previously abandoned by other teams, and in four of those cases it was no more than a few years later. In the first such case (1916), an established franchise team (the Cubs) took up residence in the brand new home of a short-lived team (the Whales) from the upstart Federal League, and they have been there ever since. In the next three cases, expansion franchises were awarded to cities as a "consolation" prize after the previous teams left town. In two of those cases (1962 and 1969) the existing stadiums were already several decades old, and construction began on new stadiums almost immediately. In the fourth case, however (1970), the existing County Stadium was not really that old, and in fact, construction on it had never even been completed. It was soon expanded in keeping with the original design, and the Brewers (who had been known as the Seattle Pilots for one season) stayed in it for three full decades. In the final case (2005), the Washington Nationals (formerly known as the Montreal Expos) took up temporary residence in RFK Stadium, which at 44 years was the second oldest stadium into which any relocated franchise ever moved. NOTE: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was 45 years old when the Dodgers moved into it in 1958, but it had never before been used for major league baseball, and thus does not fit in this category.

Stadium City Original team Years
there
Left
after
Where to? Pre-MLB
years
Years
vacant
Total
age
New team Arrived Years
there
Wrigley (Weeghman) Field Chicago Whales 2 1915 Oblivion 0 0 2 Cubs 1916 108+
Polo Grounds New York Giants 47 1957 San Francisco 0 4 51 Mets 1962 2
Municipal Stadium Kansas City Athletics 13 1967 Oakland 32 1 46 Royals 1969 4
County Stadium Milwaukee Braves 13 1965 Atlanta 1 4 18 Brewers 1970 31
RFK Stadium Washington Senators 10 1971 Arlington, Texas 1 33 44 Nationals 2005 3

Teams with two "home" stadiums

Hiram Bithorn Stadium

These strange cases had quite diverse origins, ranging all the way from reasonably expedient adaptation to circumstances on one hand, to crassly opportunistic ventures on the other. Likewise, the distance between the two "home" stadiums varied from a few miles to thousands of miles. In general, the shorter the distance, the longer the time during which this arrangement continued. In the case of the Expos, MLB officials wanted to find out whether local governments in Puerto Rico were enthusiastic enough to commit to supporting a major league team. It is also, apparently, a bargaining ploy to get officials in the Washington area or Portland to cough up more public money for a new stadium. In the case of Oakland, it was a real (though short-lived) emergency, as their stadium was still undergoing renovation at the beginning of the 1996 season.

Home city Team Home stadium Other city Other stadium When? Why?
Boston Red Sox Fenway Park Boston Braves Field 1929-1931 Accommodate varying crowd size
Cleveland Indians League Park Cleveland Cleveland Municipal Stadium 1936-1946 Accommodate varying crowd size
Brooklyn Dodgers Ebbets Field Jersey City Roosevelt Stadium 1956-1957 Pressure for new stadium
Chicago White Sox Comiskey Park Milwaukee County Stadium 1968-1969 Broaden fan base (vacancy)
Montreal Expos Olympic Stadium San Juan, P.R. Hiram Bithorn Stadium 2003-2004 Broaden fan base, pressure for new stadium

Emergency stadiums:
(formerly part of the "Neutral" category)

Cashman Field

In the early decades of professional baseball, teams were often forced to play in "neutral" venues -- i.e., ballparks that were not home to any major league team -- because of damage caused by fire or other extenuating circumstances. This table does not attempt to cover all those cases. As the 20th Century progressed, however, this practice of using "neutral" venues virtually ceased. Since the 1990s, however, Major League Baseball games in Florida have often been subjected to emergency relocation due to hurricanes.


Stadium City Normal
home team
Capacity "Visitors" at "home team" Date Occasion / reason
Cashman Field Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas 51s 9,500 Athletics (...) April 1996 Construction delays on renovations of Oakland Coliseum.
Shea Stadium New York, NY Mets 56,000 Yankees (...) April 15, 1998 Repairs on Yankee Stadium.
U.S. Cellular Field Chicago, IL White Sox 40,615 Expos "@" Marlins Sept. 10-11, 2004 To avoid Hurricane Ivan in Miami.
Miller Park Milwaukee, WI Brewers 41,900 Angels "@" Indians
Astros (Cubs)
Marlins (Brewers)
April, 2007
Sept. 14-15, 2008
Sept. 15-17, 2017
To avoid snow storm in Ohio.
To avoid Hurricane Ike in Houston.
To avoid Hurricane Irma in Miami.
Safeco Field Seattle, WA Mariners 48,000 Mariners "@" Marlins June 24-26, 2011 Games displaced by U2 concert at Sun Life Stadium.
Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, FL Rays 31,042 Rangers "@" Astros Aug. 29-31, 2017 To avoid Hurricane Harvey in Houston.
Citi Field New York, NY Mets 41,922 Yankees "@" Rays Sept. 11-13, 2017 To avoid Hurricane Irma in St. Petersburg.
Hiram Bithorn Stadium San Juan, PR Senators,
(Santurce) Crabbers
19,000 Twins "@" Indians Apr. 17-18, 2018 To avoid blizzard in Minnesota?
Sahlen Field Buffalo, NY Buffalo Bisons 16,600 several teams "@" Blue Jays Aug. - Sept., 2020
June - July, 2022
Canada banned U.S. teams from entering due to the coronavirus.
TD Park Dunedin, FL (spring training ballpark) 8,500 several teams "@" Blue Jays Apr. - May, 2021 Canada banned U.S. teams from entering due to the coronavirus.

NOTE: A web page (with diagram) for TD Park is pending...


Promotional stadiums:
(formerly part of the "Neutral" category)

TokyoDome

Most of the stadiums listed below were used because MLB officials decided to hold legitimate, regulation games in them as part of an effort to promote international interest in the sport. There was supposed to be a pair of games between the Mariners and the Athletics in the Tokyo Dome at the beginning of the 2003 season, but security concerns related to the war in Iraq led MLB officials to reschedule those games back in the States.

NOTE: In addition, promotion-oriented exhibition games were held just prior to Opening Day in a variety of minor league ballparks across the South for many years, and since the 1980s at such big-league-size facilities such as the Superdome in New Orleans and RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Playing host to such unofficial games does not qualify a stadium as a major league ballpark, however.


Stadium City Normal
home team
Capacity "Visitors" at "home team" Date Occasion / reason / notes
Estadio Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico Sultanes 27,000 Mets "@" Padres
Rockies "@" Padres
Dodgers "@" Padres
Cardinals "@" Reds
Astros "@" Angels
Aug. 16-18, 1996
Apr. 4, 1999
May 4-6, 2018
Apr. 13-14, 2019
May 4-5, 2019
1st ever MLB game outside of U.S. and Canada;
market-expanding promotion.
Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI Hawaii Islanders (until 1987) 50,000 Padres (Cardinals) Apr. 19-20, 1997 Market-expanding promotion.
Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan Yomiuri Giants 55,000 Cubs vs. Mets *
Yankees vs. Devil Rays *
Red Sox "@" Athletics
Mariners "@" Athletics
Mariners "@" Athletics
Mar. 29-30, 2000 **
Mar. 27-28, 2004
Mar. 25-26, 2008
Mar. 28-29, 2012
Mar. 20-21, 2019
Opening day;
* = two-game series in which the teams alternated as the "home team" and "visiting team."
** 1st ever MLB game outside N. America
Hiram Bithorn Stadium San Juan, P.R. Senators,
(Santurce) Crabbers
19,000 Rangers "@" Blue Jays
Mets "@" Marlins
Apr. 1, 2001
June 28-30, 2010
Opening day
Promotion
Champion Stadium (Disney's Wide World of Sports) Orlando, FL Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9,500 Rangers "@" Devil Rays May 15-17, 2007
April 2008
To broaden fan base in Florida.
Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney, Australia Sydney Sixers (Cr.)
& Swans (Aus. FB)
48,000 Dodgers "@" Diamondbacks Mar. 22-23, 2014 *** Opening day;
*** 1st ever MLB game in southern hemisphere.
Fort Bragg Field Fort Bragg, NC NA 12,500 Marlins "@" Braves July 3, 2016 Special Independence Day tribute to U.S. Armed Forces.
Bowman Field Williamsport, PA Crosscutters 2,500 (various) 2017-2019, 2021-2022 Little League Classic.
London Stadium London, England West Ham United F.C. (soccer) 60,000 Yankees "@" Red Sox
Cubs "@" Cardinals
Mets "@" Phllies
June 29-30, 2019
June 24-25, 2023
June 8-9, 2024
Market-expanding promotion.
Field Of Dreams Dyersville, IA (built next to movie site) 8,000 White Sox & Yankees
Cubs & Reds
Aug. 12, 2021
Aug. 11, 2022
Promotion in honor of the movie Field Of Dreams (1988).
Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu Mexico City, Mexico Diablos Rojos 20,000 Padres "@" Giants
Astros "@" Rockies
Apr. 29-30, 2023
Apr. 27-28, 2024
Market-expanding promotion.
??? Stadium Seoul, South Korea ??? ??? Padres "@" Dodgers) Mar. 20-21, 2024 Opening Day promotion.

SOURCES: Lowry (2019), Washington Post, MLB.com, MiLB.com, etc.
NOTE: For seven of the eleven stadiums in the above list, the names are links to pages on this website, with diagrams; the other four (one yet to be named) are pending...

WEB SITES: Tokyo Dome , Monterrey Sultans, Charles O'Reilly, www.retrosheet.org, Aloha Stadium, wikipedia.org.


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