Baker Bowl / Philadelphia National League Baseball Park, Philadelphia

Baker Bowl

Phillies baseball in Philadelphia dates back well into the late 1800's. The original ballpark at the intersection of Broad Street & Huntingdon Street led it to being called Huntingdon Street Baseball Grounds. The postcard image below depicts the ballpark as she would have looked back then.

There are not many images of the ballpark as the Phillies moved out in 1938. The postcard shown below displays the image that is most frequently seen. Note the public address announcer with the megaphone behind home plate. The prominent building in the background still stands (barely) today, and can be used as a reference point to orientate the the contours of the ballpark.

An aerial view of the ballpark from the late twenties. Broad Street is behind the right field fence, at the top of the image. Huntington Street runs behind the stands on first base foul line, on the right. The main entrance was on the corner of Huntington & 15th streets at the lower corner. You can note one of the ballpark's idiosyncrasies in this photo. The railroad tracks that come emerge from a tunnel under centerfield, gave the ballpark a hump in center field.

Today, there is a marker on Broad Street that remembers the park and some of her illustrious past.

Today, the site of the ballpark is still being used by a manufacturer. The same can not be said for much of the surrounding neighborhood. Look closely at the numerous broken windows in the building that is also depicted in the postcard image above. This image taken in late 2003, is from the loading dock ramp on 15th off of Huntington and would be be close to home plate.