Houston Stadium Case Study
With the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to the west in 1958, the market and seal was broken wide open for the shift and expansion of teams to the West and Midwest. Teams with a suffering fan base or suffering stadium decided to pack up and move rather than rebuild. The shift west was mainly brought on by economic reasons, but another large reason was the failing of their current stadiums. For example, Ebbets Field in their last season had developed major plumbing and sewage issues resulting in horrific smells while at the game. Also, fans were starting to want to drive to the game, but with the location of the stadium there was under 1,000 parking spots available. With the rising popularity of the game and the partial land lock that
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the stadiums were upheld in the move west was becoming very apparent. Walter O’Malley, who at the time of the shift west was the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers was the man who first realized the demand and need for baseball in the west. O’Malley to many is not admired, but to me, he is one of the smartest owners and or business man the sports world has had. While he may not have been the first person to think of shifting west, he was the first man to take a leap and go for it. While the Dodgers were the first team to make the move, they were not alone. O’Malley knew that the move would not be successful if they moved on their own, so he decided to approach another team to join them on their move. O’Malley convinced the Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move west with them instead of moving to Minnesota like he was previously contemplating and in an instant, they started a chain of events that would change baseball forever. While these moves have seemed great and without flaws, there were ramifications on a different scale. Loyalty to teams was no longer, the Pacific Coast League deteriorated, and the greed of the professional baseball league only accelerated. The movement of teams west also sent a message to owners that it would be okay if there was something wrong, they could just pack up and move things to somewhere else. If you needed a new stadium, instead of paying for and building one at the current spot, owners would look to someone else to pay for it whether it meant moving or not. As said in the book Baseball History from Outside the Lines, “build it, we will come” or “if not, we will leave.”
With the end of World War II and an enormous growth in urban populations in the west, major league baseball would have been very foolish to not move.
With the economy in the west growing substantially due to agribusiness, technology, oil, and real estate, the money to attend a ball game was there and the time to do so was there as well. With the eventual moves and relocations of teams to parts of California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Missouri, and Colorado not every team was set up for success right away. Teams like San Diego or Houston experienced many setbacks and failures. For example, Houston had a lull in attendance as they discovered their original stadium to practically be unfit for baseball. The weather was so hot and muggy that fans would not want to attend a game unless it was at night time and even then, the mosquitoes were so bad that many did not want to attend the games either. While some teams had to work out kinks and flaws, the shift of baseball paid off for many teams and the league in general. Teams such as the Dodgers or Rockies were greeted with instant success and attendance spikes which made the move for other teams easier to explore. With the fact of money being in the west, baseball was bound to move west at some point. With the improvement of aviation and automobile capabilities the move west was made easier to achieve and allowed owners to explore the idea of moving. Overall, the shift of baseball at first did not make very many people happy nor did it see instant success, but in the long run baseball has benefitted tremendously. If it weren’t for people like Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham taking a chance on moving west, baseball as we know it today could look very
different
the stadiums were upheld in the move west was becoming very apparent. Walter O’Malley, who at the time of the shift west was the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers was the man who first realized the demand and need for baseball in the west. O’Malley to many is not admired, but to me, he is one of the smartest owners and or business man the sports world has had. While he may not have been the first person to think of shifting west, he was the first man to take a leap and go for it. While the Dodgers were the first team to make the move, they were not alone. O’Malley knew that the move would not be successful if they moved on their own, so he decided to approach another team to join them on their move. O’Malley convinced the Giants owner Horace Stoneham to move west with them instead of moving to Minnesota like he was previously contemplating and in an instant, they started a chain of events that would change baseball forever. While these moves have seemed great and without flaws, there were ramifications on a different scale. Loyalty to teams was no longer, the Pacific Coast League deteriorated, and the greed of the professional baseball league only accelerated. The movement of teams west also sent a message to owners that it would be okay if there was something wrong, they could just pack up and move things to somewhere else. If you needed a new stadium, instead of paying for and building one at the current spot, owners would look to someone else to pay for it whether it meant moving or not. As said in the book Baseball History from Outside the Lines, “build it, we will come” or “if not, we will leave.”
With the end of World War II and an enormous growth in urban populations in the west, major league baseball would have been very foolish to not move.
With the economy in the west growing substantially due to agribusiness, technology, oil, and real estate, the money to attend a ball game was there and the time to do so was there as well. With the eventual moves and relocations of teams to parts of California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Missouri, and Colorado not every team was set up for success right away. Teams like San Diego or Houston experienced many setbacks and failures. For example, Houston had a lull in attendance as they discovered their original stadium to practically be unfit for baseball. The weather was so hot and muggy that fans would not want to attend a game unless it was at night time and even then, the mosquitoes were so bad that many did not want to attend the games either. While some teams had to work out kinks and flaws, the shift of baseball paid off for many teams and the league in general. Teams such as the Dodgers or Rockies were greeted with instant success and attendance spikes which made the move for other teams easier to explore. With the fact of money being in the west, baseball was bound to move west at some point. With the improvement of aviation and automobile capabilities the move west was made easier to achieve and allowed owners to explore the idea of moving. Overall, the shift of baseball at first did not make very many people happy nor did it see instant success, but in the long run baseball has benefitted tremendously. If it weren’t for people like Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham taking a chance on moving west, baseball as we know it today could look very
different