Turn Off Ads?
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 25 of 25

Thread: Crosley vs. Riverfront

  1. #16
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Cincinnati, OH
    Posts
    41,751

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Quote Originally Posted by 919191
    As you are driving south on 75 towards downtown, can you see any landmarks from the road from Crosley? I've never been sure exactly where it is, other than knowing the streets it was on, and that is pretty much meaningless to me.

    Is the area betweeen downtown and therre safe? I am going to be there for the Cardinal series mext month, and I will probably go out for a run or two while there. Are the neighborhoods safe late in the morning along that route for a prety much defenseless runner?
    That is a good web site to go to if you want info on Crosley. As for spotting it from I 75, you will see a big sign that says Roy Taylor Uniforms on your right. That is the general area of where it is at. As for that part of town being safe, you will probably be OK. It is right by the main post office and Union Terminal. You would probably be safer if you follow Central Parkway once you hit it from downtown then keep following that till you get to Ezzard Charles Drive. You will be right by a police station so that may provide a little comfort for you. Then just go towards Union Terminal and you will be in the general area. Have fun.

    I do not know if you know this or not but they have a replica of Crosley Field up in Blue Ash right off of 275.
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right


  2. Turn Off Ads?
  3. #17
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    1,783

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    crosley was superior because Milt Pappas pitched there

  4. #18
    breath westofyou's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    PDX
    Posts
    56,997

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Quote Originally Posted by redsupport
    crosley was superior because Milt Pappas pitched there
    Dave Skaugstad too.

  5. #19
    Member WVRedsFan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    Rainelle, WV
    Posts
    10,527

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    I've been to all three parks and I liked Crosley the best.

    First, it was the first MLB stadium I'd been to. I've documented this in other threads. I was 13 or 14 when I first attended Crosley. Dad used to either get seat at Humphrey's in Huntington (he worked for the railroad and frequented Huntington--amazing isn't it Randy?) or at the park and he always got field level seats.

    You sat right on top of the field in Crosley. While stadiums today are more elevated, Crosley was much less elevated, so you had worse sight lines, but you actually got close to the players. I can recall seeing Fred Hutchinson cuss as he went out to get a pitcher and Frank Robinson say the "F-word" when striking out--from 7 rows back! Fans seems so much more enthusiastic in those days and the crowd noise was loud. I miss that. I also miss that more people were into the game in those days, but I'm getting off topic.

    Although GAB is roughly the same dimensions (in the outfield) as Crosley, it played much bigger--except down the right field line. I saw Gordy Coleman hit a shot into the sun deck there that was awesome to a kid, but it was only a little over 300 ft. as homeruns go. Junior would have 50 by now in that stadium. But to center and right, they had to paint a line on the wall (the wall was tall) so that you could hit a homerun there.

    The seats were very narrow. I wasn't a huge kid at 14, but the fit was tight. Dad was a small man too, but we marvelled that some of the heavier folks looked like they were poured into their seats. The place was old and somewhat smelly, but the level of cleanliness was much better than Riverfront. The sound of the organ, the voice of Paul Somerkamp, Frank and Vada, Wally Post and Coleman, Purkey, Jay, and O'Toole--that was the attraction. Good players and an intimate setting.

    I attended my last game at Crosley in 1969 and have grieved everyday since. Only the opening of GAB had made me feel better.

    I attended the second or third game ever played in Riverfront. It was so modern and impressed me at the time. Wide space behind the seats, lots of room between rows, and artificial turf. Why in the name of Elvis Presley was I so impressed? I have no idea. As the years went on, I grew so tired of Riverfront. By the time it morphed into Cinergy, the thing smelled and you couldn't buy a field level seat anywhere near home plate (that's one thing I never figured out. With a capacity of over 50,000, you just couldn't get good seats. At Crosley and GAB, there wre less seats, but I have never failed to get good field level seats). Everyone wore those silly plastic straw hats and they replaced the organ with a brass band. Yuck. I ejoyed the Reds' success at Riverfront-Cinergy, but not that wart on the landscape place. Good riddance.

    When they announced GAB would be built to nearly the dimensions of Crosley, I got excited. A baseball stadium where football would never be thought of--wonderful. I made the trek to Cincinnati the first season and was immediately totally impressed. It reminded me of Crosley. All that was missing was the ancient scoreboard and Frank, Vada, Purkey, Jay, and Maloney. No gimicks (except those rediculous smokestacks--thank you John Allen) and intimate baseball again. I liked Crosley, but GAB is just a tad below it. Seats are wide, sight lines are better, and the food is miles better.

    Now if we could just have Hudy and Burger beer. And three starters like Purkey, Jay, and O'Toole (and throw Maloney in for good measure).
    Last edited by WVRedsFan; 07-28-2006 at 01:28 AM.
    www.ris-news.com
    "You only have to bat a thousand in two things; flying and heart transplants. Everything else you can go 4-for-5."
    -Beano Cook

  6. #20
    First Time Caller SunDeck's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Posts
    6,145

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Quote Originally Posted by 919191
    As you are driving south on 75 towards downtown, can you see any landmarks from the road from Crosley? I've never been sure exactly where it is, other than knowing the streets it was on, and that is pretty much meaningless to me.

    Is the area betweeen downtown and therre safe? I am going to be there for the Cardinal series mext month, and I will probably go out for a run or two while there. Are the neighborhoods safe late in the morning along that route for a prety much defenseless runner?
    The area where Crosley was located is 100% industrial now- there is nothing of the original neighborhood left there. Nothing. And it is not necessarily a great neighborhood to be in if you're not familiar with the turf north of Ezzard Charles, either. But, mainly I think it would be dissappointing for you.

    If I were downtown and wanted to run, I'd go over to KY, or maybe out Eastern Ave. I think a lot of people do run, going from Sawyer Point out to Theodore Berry Park. Eventually they will be connected along the river...and maybe they already are.
    Next Reds manager, second shooter. --Confirmed on Redszone.

  7. #21
    Member 919191's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    the corner bar
    Posts
    3,962

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Quote Originally Posted by Chip R
    I do not know if you know this or not but they have a replica of Crosley Field up in Blue Ash right off of 275.

    Yeah, I went there a long time ago- there was an old timer's game there and Rose played in it. Due to the suspension, players coouldn't where MLB sanctionded uniforms. I'm guessing this was 1992 or so. I was kind of disappointed in the replica, actually.
    I've been to dinner at Jimmy Buffet's house, and I've eaten it at a homeless shelter. And there's great joy and harrowing terror to be found in both places.
    -Todd Snider

  8. #22
    Goober GAC's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Bellefontaine, Ohio
    Posts
    29,989

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Crosley. Far more fan friendly over the cement mausoleums.

    Riverfront was built for reasons of.... accomodating greater fan numbers, astro turf and the evolving game. I sometimes wonder how well the BRM would have performed/succeeded if RF had never been built, and they played in Crosley?

    Funny how those, 30 years later, are all being torn down, and teams are going back to a retro style, more fan friendly.
    Last edited by GAC; 07-28-2006 at 08:22 AM.
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

  9. #23
    Member RedsFan75's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Cincinnati
    Posts
    1,519

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    Crosley holds a special place in my heart as it's where I fell in love with baseball and the Reds. I can't top WV's descriptions because he's dead on with what I remember about it. Riverfront was new and shiny and such a fresh gleaming "jewel" in the crown of the queen city, that everyone loved it. I never really liked the turf, and I never liked the feeling I got when I went into the Red seats. I always thought I was going to fall. Great American has a bit of the feel of Crosley and I like it better than Riverfront.

  10. #24
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    26

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    I too have fond memories of Crosley. I attended about 15 games as a kid and college student at UC. I have some fond memories of sitting in the Sun Deck and harrassing Roberto Clemente as Bill Virdon turned around to grin at us. Memories of Vada Pinson hitting a walk off homer in the 10th inning.
    But as much as I grew to hate the aging Riverfront stadium, it was time to replace Crosley with something new. Many of the memories seem to deal with the concept of baseball as it used to exist. We forget the aging infrastructure and the need for something new and exciting.

  11. #25
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Posts
    333

    Re: Crosley vs. Riverfront

    The thing we have to remember about those old parks is that at the time they were being replaced, people didn't look at them the way we do now. All they saw at the time were crumbling old structures, in decaying neighborhoods, with no parking. The concrete bowls of the 60s and 70s were shiny and new--the future! Astroturf! You could play baseball AND football in the same stadium!

    Only when the old parks were gone did people start to realize that they had qualities that the concrete bowls lacked.

    I never saw a game at Crosley. Obviously, it was aesthetically more pleasing than Riverfront. However . . . Riverfront was Crosley Field to my age group. That's where we saw our first games. Riverfront was baseball to us. (Having the Big Red Machine playing there in our youth didn't hurt, either.) When we tell our children and grandchildren how baseball used to be, we'll be telling them about Riverfront.

    I like GABP, but I do miss the ugly concrete bowl.

    Also, you'll never improve on the ease of getting into and around in Riverfront. Sometimes, I wonder what the designers of GABP were thinking. Didn't they know the main gate, the first base concourse, etc. would be bottlenecks?

    I halfway expect a wave of nostalgia for the concrete bowls once they're all gone and every team has a retro-type park. "Remember what baseball was like when we were kids? Circular, featureless stadiums with Astroturf! That's how baseball was meant to be!" And then we'll start building the concrete bowls again, to replace the retro parks.
    Last edited by tsj017; 07-28-2006 at 02:07 PM.


Turn Off Ads?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.

Thank you, and most importantly, enjoy yourselves!


RedsZone.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds or Major League Baseball


Contact us: Boss | Gallen5862 | Plus Plus | Powel Crosley | RedlegJake | The Operator