Some Jazz-Age Ballparks

[Braden]

[QUOTE=Braden;5003588]I have been playing the negro leagues on 23 for a while. I was playing the 1931 league when I got OOTP 24 and imported it. The import didn't do well and when I tried to move to 1932 it got all screwed up, e.g. extra team, not enough players, etc. I think it all relates to the database problems they are having. Thank goodness I still have on 23. I will try the import again with the db is fixed. I have a historic minor league folder that has lots of Negro League caps, jerseys and logos, including the marcos. I don't remember where I got this folder but I can put up for download if you want. I also have a lot of Negro League player photos up to 1932you may want to use instead of facegen ones. They are in this folder. https://www.mediafire.com/folder/p8o.../Negro+Leagues


I have now uploaded the historical jerseys, caps and logos I have. They are in the same place as the above link.

[asrivkin]

Here's today's park, Manchester's Gill Stadium. It's been standing since 1912 and is still there!

Google Drive link to Textile Field

You can read about it at Wikipedia, and there's a bunch of pictures at Digital Ballparks.

I'll just keep this short and get this posted. I'll note for those interested in this sort of thing that per usual practice this is imagined as c. 1920 (and the Sanborn map below shows some random bleachers past the outfield, so they're there) so there are no lights, and it has a raised mound since I made it before I stopped doing that. I've played it in OOTP23, but not OOTP24.

[asrivkin]

I'll sneak another park in before heading to work.

Here's the Rochester Baseball Park aka Bay Street Grounds, home to the Rochester Hustlers/Colts/Tribe from 1908-1927. No Wikipedia article for it, but there's a Digital Ballparks page here and some other information about it including this page including a bunch of great photos.

Here's the Google Drive link to the ballpark zip file.

I had a lot to work from for this, which was a nice little change! The walls were "arena style" (the walls tilted slightly outward from the ground, then went up), which apparently showed off the advertisements better. Per my usual practice I tried to put in period- and place-appropriate ads, there are no light towers, and I made this when I was still putting in mounds.

Enjoy!

[Braden]

Both look really nice. Thanks.

[tonnage]

Love the old time pics. Great job!

[Ty Cobb]

This is the kind of doubleheader that I truly enjoy...and right about now I really need the lift. Thanks!

[asrivkin]

I'm gratified if this helps bring you some comfort, Ty. Be good to yourself.

[asrivkin]

Today's post represents College Park in Charleston, SC. But the files aren't called that because I hadn't planned to post it until recently and I renamed it Lombard Park after a friend who grew up in Charleston. You can rename it as you choose, of course.

Google Drive link to College Park (again, called "Lombard Park".

As I was getting ready to post this I also realized this is somewhat more fictional than I like to post (which also contributed to my initial reluctance)--the park that stands today was built in 1940 on a site that had been hosting baseball since much earlier. There's some confusion out there (which I'm maybe contributing to now) because there's a neighboring diamond that was the original minor league site that was abandoned after hurricane damage. The only pre-1940 picture I could find is below--in that picture, the field on the right is College Park. When the metal grandstand was built in 1940 they reoriented the field. I think the Sanborn map excerpt below represents the post-1940 park even though it says the sheet was added in 1939.

What I made for my c. 1920 game was a mish-mash of eras--it's the post-1940 orientation and the dimensions (and background) from today's park, but made retro-style with sharp angles and wood to fit in with the 1920-era parks in the league. So, depending on your need for verisimilitude, you may or may not like this park. However, contrary to many of the fields I make, I didn't put any period- or place-specific ads, so it should be able to stand in all right for various needs.

Next up: I'm trying to work my way through a bit of a backlog. I've got several parks already finished that were on thehef's priority list (but that I didn't realize anyone else would want), so I'm going to try to push those out (College Park was one of them). The remaining ones that I haven't posted are:

• Island Park, Wichita
• Scranton Athletic Park
• West End Park, Houston
• McNulty Park, Tulsa
• Wearn Field, Charlotte
• Sulphur Dell, Nashville (but in its original orientation not the crazy hill orientation)
• Bayside Park, Portland

I have some others not on the list, too, but figure I should post these first.

[ALP21]

These look awesome, thanks!

[Ty Cobb]

I am looking forward to the Dell most of all!

[asrivkin]

OK, I've already kept Ty Cobb kept longer than I'd intended, so here's the Google Drive file for Sulphur Dell!

The Sulphur Dell that people know and love has two serious strikes against it in terms of making a 3D model--it had a serious hill in right field and had very short dimensions. Luckily for me, my league is in the 1920-1921 offseason, and that version of Sulphur Dell wasn't created until 1927. Prior to that, the hill was in foul territory parallel to the third base line and the dimensions were more reasonable. This perfectly reasonable setup, however, was oriented so the sun was in the batter's eyes, leading to the reconfiguration. The original configuration did see at least one classic baseball game, a picture of which is among those below.

In OOTP, the batters don't care about that sort of thing. So, enjoy!

[prisonerno6]

I wonder if any players hit TOPPIE for those 10,000 Top Value Stamps.

[Ty Cobb]

The Dell!!! Awesome!

[asrivkin]

For today, here's Scranton Athletic Field (aka Brooks Stadium), long-time home of the Scranton Miners from the 1890s to the 1930s. ]

The Digital Ballparks page for the park was, as usual, a great source of help!

Google Drive link to ballpark

Enjoy!

[micropterus58]

The link for Scranton Athletic Field takes us to Sulphur Dell. I can't believe you can make a stadium from these photos.

[asrivkin]

Originally Posted by micropterus58

The link for Scranton Athletic Field takes us to Sulphur Dell. I can't believe you can make a stadium from these photos.

There's also an insurance map (split between a couple of pages, see one of them below!), but yeah. There's some amount of research (stadium dimensions are sometimes available for these parks), some amount of measurement, some amount of educated guesswork (backstops are almost always 60' and are otherwise usually 45'), and some amount of historical fiction. The maps like the ones below are great when available--sometimes they have the heights of the stands or to the roofline, but even if not the height is typically close enough to half the grandstand width that I just use that. Sketchup lets you put in photos and match the viewing angles and lines of sight that you can trace what you see (in theory). And I almost always have a lot more material than I cram into these posts. But I don't have any particular artistic ability, this is really just a lot of practice.

[Braden]

I use a few of your parks for my Negro League. Your trees, building and other stuff in them were showing up as in daylight when playing at night. I took some time and fixed that. Here is Hilldale

[Braden]

Heres Russwood.

[Braden]

Heres Bugle

[Braden]

Since the East Cuban team(s) have not assigned park, I made one out of Hilldale