MAR 28, 1:33 PM

Take Me Out To The Ball Game On … Georgia Avenue? Here’s The Story Of Nats Park’s Predecessor
Matt Blitz

Inside of Georgia Avenue’s Howard University Hospital is where forgotten D.C. sports lore lives. Down the main hallway, around the corner from elevators, and next to a bathroom is a batter’s box, complete with a home plate. It was on this spot where Washington Senators pitcher Walter “Big Train” Johnson whizzed fastballs past overmatched hitters. It was here that Yankee Mickey Mantle smashed a still much-mythicized 565-foot home run. It was in this batter’s box where Josh Gibson, the so-called “Black Babe Ruth,” dug in his cleats and swung his mighty lumber.

Before Nationals Park, before RFK Stadium, there was Griffith Stadium. And this home plate in a busy hospital corridor is all that’s left of the once-proud stadium that for five decades hosted many of D.C.’s sports teams including the Washington Senators, D.C.’s former baseball team which played in the nation’s capital from 1901 to 1960. And, for several seasons, the legendary Homestead Grays also played in stadium. While it was torn down in 1965, memories of the steel and concrete structure still stand strong.

Talk show host and D.C. native Maury Povich attended ball games as a kid with his father, sports writer Shirley Povich. “It was a glorious edifice,” he says. “There was brick … on the outside and the field was immaculate.”
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Griffith Stadium was known as a compact field that led to some real intimacy between players and fans.
Wikimedia Commons

Griffith Stadium was born out of destruction. In 1911, a plumber’s blowtorch accidentally burned down the rickety wooden stadium that had stood at the intersection of Florida, 7th, and Georgia avenues Northwest since the late 1800s. In its place, a state-of-the-art steel and concrete stadium was hastily built. Originally called American League Park, owner Clark Griffith decided in 1923 to rename it after himself, and the park became known as Griffith Stadium. ... Even for the time, it was a bit of architectural oddity. While the stadium’s seating capacity was one of baseball’s lowest, the playing field itself was one of the largest. This compactness made it feel like the fans were practically on top of the players.
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