Why couldn't have Crosley field be our Wrigley Field of Cincinnati?

[HataRade]

So much history was there. I'm 18 and I'm no reds historian but why did they ever destroy the park? It looked incredibly beautiful, maybe even more so than Wrigley Field. But why were they so keen on making Riverfront Stadium? Wouldn't have it been cheaper to just keep Crosley up and running and make minor improvements here and there?

I mean the history that's on that field-It would've been the oldest ballpark today in MLB, it would've been the site of the first night game played, the greatest mlb team that ever has been or ever will have been would've played on that field. Just so much rich history with that stadium, and a beautiful stadium at that..today nothing but a bleake empty industrial site.

That said, does anyone know why Crosley Field was destoryed? Was there a giant sinkhole underneath the stadium? Was everything rotting to disrepair? What was the reason that the reds couldn't keep the marvelous and historic gem alive to today?

[moewan]

They built Riverfront Stadium for the Bengals, and the N.F.L. Multi purpuse parks were all the rage in the 70's. The trend to going back to the old style ballparks didn't start until the early nineties with Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

[Driver62]

I saw several games at Crosley back in the 50's so I know what the park was like. Here are a few reasons why it was torn down.

1. It only seated around 29,000 and there was no room to expand, especially after I-75 came through.
2. It was in a industrial area.
3. There were old apartments in the area and if you didn't pay a kid to watch your car, you'd come back to slashed tires or worse.
4. Parking was at a premium. We parked in someones back yard once. See reason 3.
5. Other teams were building newer and larger stadiums.
6. The city wanted to build up the area by downtown and the river and what better way to start than a stadium.

To sum up, it was old, in a bad area and not close to downtown. I'm sure others can expand on the reasons.

[brm7675]

What shocked me wad how it flooded once and wasn't real close to the Ohio.