Reds Game Unplugged: Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the first major league night game on
May 24, 1935
Seventy-five years ago on May 24, Crosley Field hosted the first night game in the history of Major League Baseball.
Today, when the Reds take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7:10 p.m., Great American Ball Park will go back in time to 1935 with many exciting celebrations honoring the 75th anniversary of the first night game:
• A Journey Back To 1935
From the pregame ceremonies through the top of the seventh inning, GABP will go “unplugged” to simulate baseball in 1935. The scoreboard will have an old-time look similar to what fans saw at Crosley Field, and a live organ will be the only music fans will hear.
• 1935 Ticket Prices
700WLW will be offering 700 $1 tickets starting 9 a.m. today morning at the GABP ticket windows.
• Reds Mascot Race
For the first time ever, mascots Mr. Red, Gapper, Mr. Redlegs and Rosie Red will compete in a “live” Reds Race on the field. Make sure you are in your seat at the end of the third inning to see this classic mascot race.
• “Attention Fans...”
Just as Crosley Field public-address announcers worked from field level years ago, Great American Ball Park PA man Joe Zerhusen will make his pregame announcements from the field. Look for Joe wearing a vintage outfit near the Reds dugout.
• Attendees Then And Now
Several fans who attended the first night game in 1935 to be honored on the field during pregame ceremonies.
“Get Your Peanuts...”
In a throwback to 1935 concession prices, fans visiting the UDF Reds Market will be able to purchase bags of peanuts for just 10 cents, benefiting the Reds Community Fund. Also, be on the lookout for several ushers dressed in old-time uniforms like the ones fans used to see at Crosley Field.
• Ceremonial Lighting Of The Ballpark
During the seventh-inning stretch, a ceremony will be held from the Cincinnati Bell Riverboat Deck to commemorate the moment President Franklin D. Roosevelt flipped the switch to turn on the lights at Crosley Field. An original lamp from Crosley Field will be turned on, causing the ballpark to come alive with an explosion of light on all video boards.
• The Sparkling “C”
Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks will showcase a sparkling “C” in right field. The sparkling “C” was showcased at the first night game and could be seen frequently at Crosley Field. 2010 also marks the 75th anniversary of the Rozzi family providing fireworks for the Reds. Arthur Rozzi and his teenage sons Joseph and Paul began shooting fireworks after Reds games during the 1935 season.
“There is no chance of night baseball ever being popular in the bigger cities. People there are educated to see the best there is and will stand for only the best. High-class baseball can not be played under artificial light.” — Clark Griffith, owner, Washington Senators, May 24, 1935.
So how wrong can one guy be? Can somebody en-light-en Mr. Griffith about baseball being played under artificial lights?
Perhaps one reason Griffith’s Washington Senators were well-worn, beaten-down doormats (Washington: First in war, first in peace and last in the American League) was because he had no foresight.
Night baseball in major league ballparks is taken for granted, like hot dogs, beer cups and chewing tobacco. Nobody thinks twice about those high light towers and those high-powered arc lights that illuminate the fields.
Baseball is played at night. Day games are the rarity, playing mostly on Sundays and holidays.
That wasn’t the case 75 years ago. In fact, it was 75 years ago to the day — May 24, 1935, when Griffith opened his mouth and uttered unprophetic words.
That’s when night baseball was born, and it was born in Cincinnati’s Crosley Field when President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat at his desk in the White House and pressed a gold Western Union button.
Until that day, like crying, there were no night games in baseball. There were no light towers, no lights.
Attendance, though, was so low in Cincinnati — 2,000 to 3,000 a game — that club officials Larry MacPhail and Powel Crosley decided something drastic was needed to draw fans into Crosley Field.
The Reds finished last in 1933 and 1934, drawing 218,000 and 207,000 those years. Marketing wasn’t part of Major League Baseball — no bobblehead nights, no free T-shirts, no postgame rock concerts.
So MacPhail pressed recalcitrant baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis for night baseball.
It was not a new concept. Night games were being played, under inferior lighting in the minors. MacPhail installed lights in the Columbus ballpark when he was a club official for that minor league team in the 1930s.
There had been demonstrations of lighting in major league parks as far back as the 1880s, even in Cincinnati in 1909, but big-league owners couldn’t grasp the idea.
MacPhail wanted the Reds to play seven night games, one against each of the other National League franchises. Landis finally caved, and the Reds scheduled the first one for May 24, 1935, against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Reds went to General Electric, which came up with the design plans for Cincinnati Gas & Electric as to how best to light up Crosley Field.
Three engineers at CG&E designed the plan — the number of lights (floodlights and spotlights), number of towers, how high the towers would be and location of the towers. The designers were from CG&E: Earl D. Payne, Al Reuter and Charles Young.
When Roosevelt pushed the key at 8:30 p.m., signaling MacPhail to flip a switch in Crosley, 632 Mazda lamps of 1,500 watts each lit the dusk-shrouded field, which was even gloomier because of a slightly foggy day, and 20,422 fans cheered.
There might have been more, but the original date was May 23, and it was rained out. And there was threat of rain that night, too. But 20,000 was about 10 times more than they might get if the game was played in the afternoon.
Paul Derringer pitched that night and beat the Phillies 2-1 with hall-of-fame umpire Bill Klem behind the plate. And now day games are a rarity.
“No pun intended, but there was electricity in the air — on the field, in the stands and in the dugout. Ballplayers did not get blasé. They got fired up, too.” — Billy Sullivan, Reds first baseman, May 24, 1935.
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