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Shibe Park, known for the last one-third of its existence as Connie Mack Stadium, was a Major League Baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was on the block bounded by Lehigh Avenue, 20th Street, Somerset Street and 21st Street. It was thus just five blocks west, corner-to-corner, from Baker Bowl, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies that had opened in 1887. The stadium hosted two Major League Baseball All-Star Games, the first in 1943, marking the first time the game had been played at night, and in 1952, with that game holding the distinction of being the only All-Star contest shortened by rain (in this case, to five innings). HistoryImage:Shibepark1.jpg The George Grantham Bain Collection Library Of Congress The Philadelphia Athletics of the American League opened the ballpark in 1909 after abandoning Columbia Park. The park was first called Shibe Park, named for Benjamin Shibe, who was one of the initial owners along with Connie Mack. Mr. Mack eventually acquired full ownership, but kept the name the same. The park was finally renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953 in honor of the gentlemanly and modest Mr. Mack, who by then was known as "The Grand Old Man of Baseball". A statue was erected in 1957 across the street in a park, was moved to Veterans Stadium in 1971, and ultimately to Citizens Bank Park in 2004.
Image:Rooftopbleachers.jpg Fans in Shibe Park watching a 1929 World Series game. Image:Shibe Park and Baker Bowl.JPG Shibe Park (foreground) and Baker Bowl (background). The National League's Philadelphia Phillies had abandoned Baker Bowl in mid-season 1938, and played at the stadium as co-tenants, playing a doubleheader on July 4 that year, ultimately purchasing the park in the winter of 1954 when the Athletics left Philadelphia, until the stadium was closed after the 1970 season when the team moved to the then-new Veterans Stadium. The final game played there, on October 1 with the Phillies defeating the Montreal Expos 2-1 in 10 innings, was marred by people literally wrecking the stadium before the game ended. In all, a special post-game ceremony — including a helicopter delivery to The Vet of home plate — was cancelled. The National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles also played at the stadium during most of the 1940s and 50s, including the 1948 NFL Championship game, played in a blizzard where the home team defeated the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 with the only score by a Steve Van Buren touchdown, before moving to Franklin Field in 1958, which made Connie Mack a baseball-only facility, and eventually to The Vet. Connie Mack Stadium sat empty and unwanted for the better part of six years, suffering fire on August 20, 1971 — the same day the Connie Mack statue was re-dedicated at Veterans' Stadium — along with vandalism and jungle-like growth of weeds. It was finally razed in 1976 during the 1976 All-Star game, while Philadelphia was the central point of American Bicentennial celebrations including the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium. The ballpark that was once a "church of baseball" is now the site of an actual Christian church, the Deliverance Evangelistic Church. Sources
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