Phillies: A Look Back at Home Stadiums
Turn back the clock. We take a look at every Phillies stadium from all the way back to Shibe Park to Citizens Bank Park
For fifteen straight years, the Philadelphia Phillies have been playing at stadiums young ones only got to experience – Citizens Bank Park.
Before Citizens Bank Park came alive, the Phillies called eight different stadiums their home.
Each of them is memorable for their own history – and we break it down one-by-one starting with the youngest stadium to the oldest.
Citizens Bank Park (2004-Present):
Sitting on a 21-acre lot, the Philadelphia Phillies have called Citizens Bank Park home since 2004. Citizens Bank Park ranks eleventh in the entire league in stadium size. Since opening in 2004, Phillies fans have witnessed something incredible in almost every season that the ballpark has been active.
Most notably, the Phillies won their first world series at Citizens Bank Park back in 2008.
There are interesting facts about the ballpark and events that happened at CBP many fans might not know about.
In its first years, Citizens Bank Park allowed 218 home runs in 2004 and 201 in 2005. More than half of those home runs were to left-field. Following the 2005 season, the left-field wall was moved back five feet to reduce home run totals.
Despite these renovations to the field, the ballpark is still known today as one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the league.
- The first inside-the-park home run at the park was hit by Phillies legend Jimmy Rollins on June 20th, 2004 against the Kansas City Royals.
- Jim Thome hit his 400th career home run at the ballpark back in 2004 to left-center field seats.
Veterans Stadium (1971-2003)
One of the most iconic stadiums in Philadelphia sports history, Veterans Stadium. The Phillies called the Vet their home for 32 seasons before leaving the stadium to head to Citizens Bank Park. The stadium cost roughly $52 million, and was also the home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. The multi-purpose stadium had a capacity of around sixty-thousand fans.
To this day, Veteran Stadium is known to Philadelphia fans as one of the most iconic and known stadiums in history. It’s rich in history and the moments – both for the Phillies and Eagles who played there concurrently.
The Vet had a lot of special moments and historic events take place in its lifetime.
- The Philadelphia Phillies played their first game at Veterans Stadium on April 10, 1971 against the Montreal Expos. The first ball was dropped by a helicopter to the pitcher.
- The stadium was known for providing both the Phillies and Eagles a good home-field advantage.
- The stadium’s seating was uniquely designed, with a capacity of 61,831 in its final year of operation.
Some Philadelphia fans, to this day, would prefer the Veterans Stadium over any of the current stadiums the Philadelphia sports teams has to offer – like Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field, and the Wells Fargo Center.
Veterans Stadiums got rave reviews by fans who were lucky enough to get to visit and catch a game there before it was demolished.
There were also some issues with Veteran Stadiums. The seats were too far away from the field, causing spectators to have some difficulty to be able to see the game.
Nonetheless, it goes down as one of the most historic and iconic stadiums of all time in Philadelphia history
Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium (1938-1970)
Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium was one of the oldest ballparks the Philadelphia Phillies have played in. Then-named the Philadelphia Quakers and Athletics, Philadelphia played in this stadium for 32 years. Initially opening as Shibe Park, the stadium changed its name to Connie Mack Stadium.
The first baseball game played at this stadium was on April 12th, 1909. The stadium reached capacity for the first time in what would turn out to be very few times that the stadium would reach full capacity.
In the very first game at Shibe Park, Philadelphia’s catcher at the time Doc Powers is believed to have suffered severe internal injuries after crashing into a wall to catch a foul pop-up. He would later pass away just two weeks later. While it’s unclear whether or not the incident was linked to his death, it is again believed that the cause of death was in fact linked to the terrible tragic incident that happened during the game.
After seeing a massive spike in the number of home runs that some fans thought was ridiculous, something had to change and something did end up changing. For the 1923 season, Connie Mack moved the infield back an estimated 21 feet. This led to a decrease in the number of home runs.
While only a few amounts of fans who are still living today got to be able to see it and visit Connie Mack Stadium, it was most definitely unique and a must-see.
There is reportedly no known footage from this stadium.