19th Century 3D Ballparks

[Garlon]

asrivkin, thank you for clearing that up regarding Boundary Field. I have updated the file.

Here is the revised list of ballparks without a model. We can always put in a substitute placeholder model for these ballparks.

Perhaps we have a generic 19th century ballpark model we can use? We can call the folder 19th century generic or something and I can put that file path into the era_ballparks file. If more of these ballparks get created, we can always update the era_ballaprks file path with a new folder name.

If there are some ballparks which we just want to use another model to make it easy we can do that too. For example, the Brooklyn Gladiators in 1890 AA, we could just give them the Brooklyn Eastern Park model in rather than going through the trouble of making the Ridgewood model.

If we go this direction, and we like the suggested models I have entered, then we only have about 18 more substitute models to select. so that we have a model for each team each season in the game file.

[asrivkin]

Thanks for the list, Garlon!

Some of the parks in the list are very doable. I'd actually already started St. George Grounds (screenshot below) and KC Exposition Park has plenty of information. I think Forepaugh Park is similarly doable, and we might be able to scratch out a few other ones.

I'm happy to try to create a generic 1800s ballpark, with the warning that it is very likely to look a lot like one of the existing ones.

[dfswans]

Hello Gentlemen, I will be sharing Haymakers' Grounds, Perry Park, and Grand Duchess/Kekionga Ball Grounds soon. I just need to lock myself in a room over the holidays for a few hours as the models are already built. These will be fictionalized versions of the parks, though I did get panoramas of the locations so they will still feel unique.

Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays!

[BaseballMan]

Nah don't worry about the ballparks.
As much as i and i believe others enjoy them,
they can wait.
Enjoy your holiday....

Then lock yourself in your room and work on the ballparks.

[dfswans]

Grand Duchess

The Grand Duchess baseball park in Fort Wayne has a real “you had to be there” kind of history — it’s best known as the home of the Fort Wayne Kekiongas, who played there in 1871 as part of the brand-new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, making the park the site of what’s widely considered the first professional league game ever played. That original grandstand didn’t last long (it famously burned down later that same year), but baseball stuck around the location for decades under different park names, hosting a rotating cast of Fort Wayne teams — Indians, Farmers, Champs, Cubs, and more — across a grab bag of early leagues like the Inter-State League, Western Association, Central League, and the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League from the late 1800s into the 1930s, before the ballpark era at the site finally faded out around 1940 — leaving behind a spot that quietly sits at the very beginning of pro baseball history.

[dfswans]

Perry Park

Perry Park in Keokuk, Iowa was one of those old-school baseball grounds where pro ball briefly touched the western edge of the country — built around 1874 and best remembered for hosting the Keokuk Westerns during the 1875 season of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which many baseball historians count as a major league. At Perry Park, the Westerns kicked off their season on May 4, 1875 against the Chicago White Stockings and played their final game there on June 14, 1875, after which the short-lived club folded with a tough record. Though that pro chapter was fleeting, Perry Park stands as a neat footnote in baseball lore — a simple field in a quiet Iowa town where some of the earliest organized pro ball in the Midwest was played.

[Torito_Mancha]

Anybody who wants to model Middletown, please reach out to me for reference materials.

[dfswans]

That is next on my list. I'll send you a PM.

[dfswans]

Haymakers' Grounds

Haymakers’ Grounds in Lansingburgh (now part of Troy, New York) was where Troy played its early pro ball. The Troy Haymakers called it home in 1871–1872 while competing in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, hosting many of the top clubs of that short-lived era. Years later, the field saw another brief run at the top level when the Troy Trojans played some of their 1880–1881 home games there as members of the National League.

[Torito_Mancha]

Originally Posted by dfswans

That is next on my list. I'll send you a PM.

Let me know if you received my PM.

[Torito_Mancha]

I know a Pennsylvania-based baseball historian who has offered to help with the three remaining Philadelphia ballparks. Anybody who would like to model them, let me know and I’ll get you in touch.

[asrivkin]

Good morning, and Happy New Year!

Today I'm posting the St. George Grounds, home to the AA's New York Metropolitans in 1886 and 1887, and occasional home to the NL's Giants in 1889. Despite often being referred to as the "St. George Cricket Grounds", including by the Wikipedia page, the park was apparently just the "St. George Grounds"--cricket was played before the baseball field was built, but apparently not afterward. The colorful history of the site is recounted in this SABR article, and includes multiple stagings of big-budget, epic shows, sometimes during the baseball season. For what it's worth, I think this now gives us ballparks in all five boroughs of New York City, though it's possible that the present-day ballpark at nearly the same site has been modeled?

Google Drive link to St. George Grounds 1887

A few notes about the model, etc. There are suggestions in some of the period artwork and histories that fans could watch the Statue of Liberty being constructed, but using Google Earth suggests that the viewing angle wouldn't have been right (at least for the grandstand), plus the size of the statue is small enough that it wouldn't have realistically shown up at anything impressive at model scales. On top of that, it was finished early in the 1886 season. So, I decided not to make a special effort for it. I tried to be reasonably historical in general for this model, but perfect was definitely going to be the enemy of good enough for it, at least for me right now.

Relatedly, I took the background from a spot close to the historical site, but not quite at it--the real site is in the parking lot of the current, modern ballpark, and so a panorama would include that ballpark. So I shifted over a little bit to basically be atop the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The panorama also includes the modern-day NYC skylines, and I suppose the ships that are visible are probably _very_ anachronistic to folks who know about ships. Creating an 1880s-appropriate panorama from that site is beyond my skills and available time investment right now, but I'm happy to incorporate one if someone comes up with one.

What I _did_ put in the model is a nod to "The Fall of Babylon", which was the epic that was staged in the summer of 1887 on the field, wreaking havoc with baseball play as a result. So, that's where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon come in, thanks to 3D Workshop. There are no dimensions for St. George Grounds that I ran across, so the listed model dimensions are based on the entire lot. However, I made the grid go around the Hanging Gardens so players wouldn't disappear into it. I also have the park factors all set to 1, so it shouldn't affect game outcomes but just act as an Easter egg.

As I'm posting this, I also realize I should have put a couple of tents on the field to serve as the dugouts, but in the interest of getting this out those will need to wait for any version 2 that's needed...

As usual, comments/questions are welcome!

***HAD LINK TO WRONG FILE AT FIRST, FIXED AT 9:37 PM EASTERN TIME ON 5 JANUARY 2026***
if you downloaded before then, please try again. It'll be obvious if you've got the wrong zip file. :\

[asrivkin]

Originally Posted by Torito_Mancha

I know a Pennsylvania-based baseball historian who has offered to help with the three remaining Philadelphia ballparks. Anybody who would like to model them, let me know and I’ll get you in touch.

Maybe?

Forepaugh Park was on my eventual list, but I had a few others I wanted to tackle first--I think I'm going to try KC next, for instance. If anybody wants to jump in, I encourage them!

[Torito_Mancha]

Originally Posted by asrivkin

Maybe?

Forepaugh Park was on my eventual list, but I had a few others I wanted to tackle first--I think I'm going to try KC next, for instance. If anybody wants to jump in, I encourage them!

No worries, offer won’t expire any time soon