|
|
|
|
|
Cinergy Field | bgcolor="#EE634F" colspan="3" align="center" style="border-bottom:3px solid"|Riverfront Stadium/ Cinergy Field | | olspan="3" align="center"| | | gcolor="#EE634F" colspan="3"|Description | | rchitect | colspan="2"|Heery & Heery and Finch,
Alexander, Barnes,
Rothschild and Pashal | | ocation | colspan="2"|Cincinnati, Ohio | | irst baseball game | colspan="2"|June 30, 1970 | | ast baseball game | colspan="2"|September 22, 2002 | | irst football game | colspan="2"|September 20, 1970 | | ast football game | colspan="2"|December 12, 1999 | | emolished | colspan="2"|December 29, 2002 | | gcolor="#EE634F" colspan="3"|Capacity | aseball
1970 to 2000 | colspan="2"|52,952 | ootball
1970 to 1999 | colspan="2"|59,754 | aseball only
2001 to 2002 | colspan="2"|40,008 | | gcolor="#EE634F" colspan="3"|Baseball dimensions 1970 to 2000 | | eft | 330 ft | 100.6 m | | eft-center | 375 ft | 114.3 m | | enter | 404 ft | 123.1 m | | ight-center | 375 ft | 114.3 m | | ight | 330 ft | 100.6 m | | ackstop | 51 ft | 15.5 m | | gcolor="#EE634F" colspan="3"|Baseball dimensions 2001 to 2002 | | eft | 325 ft | 99.1 m | | eft-center | 370 ft | 112.8 m | | enter | 393 ft | 119.8 m | | ight-center | 373 ft | 113.7 m | | ight | 325 ft | 99.1 m | | ackstop | 41 ft | 12.5 m | Cinergy Field formerly known as Riverfront Stadium (1970 - 2002) was the home of the Cincinnati Reds Major League Baseball team and the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League team. Located on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, the stadium was best known as the home of "The Big Red Machine," as the Reds were often called in the 1970s. Construction began on February 1, 1968 and was completed at a cost of less than $50 million. On July 14, Riverfront hosted the 1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In 1996, the stadium was renamed "Cinergy Field" in a sponsorship deal with greater Cincinnati's power company, Cinergy Corporation. History "Cookie Cutters" Riverfront was one of a number of multi-purpose, circular stadiums built in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s as communities sought to save money by having their football and baseball teams share the same facility. Riverfront, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, and Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia all opened within a few years and were largely indistinguishable from one another. Big Red Machine Riverfront Stadium quickly earned a place among its peers and in Cincinnati's century-long baseball tradition, however, as the home of one of the best teams in baseball history. The World Series had visited the Reds' previous home, Crosley Field, just once in its final thirty years, but it came to Riverfront in its first year (1970) and a total of four times in the stadium's first seven years, with the Reds winning back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976. Baseball purists disliked Riverfront's artificial turf, but Reds' Manager Sparky Anderson took advantage of it by encouraging speed and line drive hitting that could produce doubles, triples and high-bouncing infield hits. Players who combined power and speed like Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Ken Griffey, Sr. thrived there. On defense, the fast surface and virtually dirtless infield (see photo) rewarded range and quickness by both outfielders and infielders, like shortstop Dave Concepcion who used the turf to bounce many of his long throws to first. Riverfront hosted its second MLB All-Star Game in 1988. It was also the site of the first two games of the 1990 World Series, both won by the Reds on the way to a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics. Professional football Despite Cincinnati's love of baseball, however, it was the prospect of a professional football team that finally moved the city to end twenty years of discussion and build a new stadium on the downtown riverfront. After playing for two seasons on the University of Cincinnati campus, the Bengals built on the Reds' success in the stadium's first year when they recorded their first winning season and first playoff appearance in 1970, just their third year of existence. The most memorable football game at Riverfront was probably the American Football Conference Championship on January 10, 1982. The game became known as the "Freezer Bowl" and was won by the Bengals over the San Diego Chargers, 27-7. The air temperature during the game was -9 F (-23 C);, but the wind chill was -59 F (-51 C), the coldest in NFL history. The win earned the Bengals their first of two trips to the Super Bowl while playing at Riverfront. Baseball-only When the Bengals moved to Paul Brown Stadium in 2000, the Reds were left as Riverfront's only tenant. Prior to the 2001 baseball season, the stadium was remodeled into a baseball-only configuration. A large slice of the left and centerfield stands was removed, and the distance to the fences was shortened by five feet to allow room for the construction of Great American Ball Park, while the artificial surface was replaced with grass. Thus, during its last couple of seasons, the stadium achieved an openness and a degree of aesthetic appeal that it had lacked for most of its existence. Milestones Baseball - First stadium to have its entire field covered by AstroTurf, except for the cutouts around the bases and pitcher’s mound.
- First Hit: Felix Millan, June 30, 1970.
- First Home run: Hank Aaron, June 30, 1970.
- First Presidential Visit: Richard Nixon, July 14, 1970.
- First Upper deck Home run: Tony Perez, August 11, 1970.
- First World Series game ever played on artificial turf: October 10, 1970.
- First No-hitter: Ken Holtzman, June 3, 1971.
- First Pitcher ever to pitch a No-hitter and hit two Home runs in the same game: Rick Wise, June 23, 1971.
- Hank Aaron ties the all-time Home run record with number 714: April 4, 1974.
- First stadium to display Metric distances on the outfield walls (100.58 meters down the lines, 114.30 to the alleys, 123.13 to center): 1976.
- Highest season attendance, 2,629,708: 1976.
- First Rain checks issued: August 30, 1978.
- First player to Hit for the Cycle: Mike Easler, June 12, 1980.
- Pete Rose breaks the all-time Hit record with number 4,192: September 11, 1985.
- First player ever to be Caught stealing four times in one game: Robby Thompson, June 27, 1986.
- First Perfect game: Tom Browning, September 16, 1988.
- Longest Home run, 473': Mark McGwire, May 5, 2000.
Football Concerts - The Eagles, August 16, 1978.
- The Rolling Stones, September 14, 1989.
- Paul McCartney, May 5, 1993.
- Grover Washington, July 25, 1999.
- George Strait, May 21, 2000.
References - Dittmar, Joseph J. (1997). Baseball Records Registry: The Best and Worst Single-Day Performances and the Stories Behind Them. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786402938
- Munsey & Suppes (1996-2004). Riverfront Stadium. Ballparks.
- Smith, Ron (2000). Riverfront Stadium. The Ballpark Book. The Sporting News. ISBN 0892047038
- Riverfront Stadium Opens. BaseballLibrary.com.
External links See also List of stadiums
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|