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Take a
close look at the bottom of this photo. You can
see where the center-field wall jutted into the
field of play; it was built that was to avoid five
houses and a tree.
Griffith Stadium
was one of the first of the classic
concrete-and-steel major-league ballparks built in
the 20th century. It was a pitcher’s park, known
for its "work in progress" look and its
asymmetric design. One of baseball’s great Opening
Day traditions began there and one of its greatest
moundsmen pitched there. But, overall, the park
reflected the brand of baseball played there:
aesthetically challenged and, with a few
exceptions, mostly forgettable.
 |
| Baseball had a long history in Washington, D.C., before the pros moved in. In this Illustration in Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper (Dec. 12, 1874), construction of the Washington Monument took place on the baseball ground, near the White House. (Click on the image for a larger version.) |
 |
| American League Park on May 6, 1905: Philadelphia vs. Washington. The attendance: 9,300. (Click on the image for a larger version.) |
In March of 1911, while the Senators were away at spring training, National Park burned to the ground. A fire caused by a plumber’s blow lamp was to blame. Amazingly, the park was rebuilt with concrete and steel in three weeks, just in time for the opening of the season. Builders worked during the spring and summer to complete the ballpark, finishing in late July. This became the ballpark the Senators would occupy for the next fifty years.
 |
| Clark Griffith as a Cincinnati Red. (Click on the image for a larger version and more photos of Griffith.) |
One of the most noticeable characteristics of Griffith Stadium was its asymmetry. The distances from home plate to the foul poles changed often over the years, but for most of the park’s existence, left field was about 100 feet further away than right field. (LF 410’, CF 420’, RF 320’) This inequity was rivaled only by the dimensions of Ebbets Field. However in 1957, Calvin Griffith, nephew and adopted son of the recently departed Clark, shrunk the distance to left field by sixty feet, installing a six-foot-high fence 350’ from home plate. He had hoped to capitalize on the team’s emerging right-handed sluggers -- Roy Sievers, Jim Lemon, Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew. The results were mixed as the sluggers enjoyed breakout power numbers, but the club stayed mired in the second division.
 |
| Clark Griffith crammed as many fans as he could for the 1924 World Series. Here, in this shot take during the second game of the series, crowds gathered in temporary left-field bleachers as well as on the rooftops of the houses in center field. (Click on the image for a larger version.) |
It was a pitcher’s park all the way, that of the “short right and long left and center” variety. The right field wall stood 31’ high and the massive hand-operated scoreboard extended the wall another ten feet. When the National Bohemian beer bottle (another hallmark) was added to the top of the scoreboard in 1946, the height of the entire structure measured 56’ from the ground. All of this was considered in play.
The amount of foul territory in the infield was massive, but the walls in the corners came in significantly, leaving no foul territory down the lines in the outfield for the last 15 feet (much like Wrigley Field).
 |
| This second deck down the first-base line was added in 1920, giving the ballpark a piecemeal look. (Click on the image for a larger version and other photos illustrating the ballpark's piecemeal flavor.) |
Despite being home to the team from Washington -- "First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League" -- Griffith Stadium showcased Walter Johnson, perhaps the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball history. It also played host to the 1924 World Series, a series the Senators won in a seventh game that featured (all after eight innings) not one, but two pebble deflected ground balls that got by New York Giants third baseman Freddie Lindstrom that plated the tying and winning runs, an easy pop-up foul ball that was misplayed by Giants catcher Hank Gowdy when he tripped on his mask, and “The Big Train” pitching the final four innings of relief to record his first World Series win. (Check out more about the 1924 Senators here.)
The championship was played in Griffith Stadium the next year and one last time in 1933. The park also hosted the All-Star Games in 1937 and 1956.
Griffith Stadium, along with Forbes Field, was home to the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League. When the Senators were on the road the Grays would play in Washington and when the Pirates were on the road they would play in Pittsburgh. The Grays featured the most prodigious power hitting catcher baseball had seen, the "black Babe Ruth," Josh Gibson. In fact, the drawing power of Gibson and the Grays in an increasingly racially mixed section of Washington kept Griffith Stadium afloat during the lean years of the 1930s and 1940s.
 |
| President Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first pitch. (Click on the image for a larger version and other photos of presidents throwing out ceremonial first pitches.) |
By the end of the fifties, Calvin Griffith had grown restless with the Senators' sagging attendance. Faced with the challenges of drawing white fans to a ballpark in a predominantly black neighborhood and with the allure of available markets out west, he moved the team to Minneapolis-St. Paul's Metropolitan Stadium before the 1961 season. Washington was awarded an expansion team to fill the void and the new-fangled Senators actually played their first season in Griffith Stadium. In 1962, they moved across town and into the larger “wet straw hat” confines of D.C. Stadium, later to be re-christened RFK Stadium.
Griffith Stadium was demolished in 1965; at the end the old ballpark looked pretty bleak, as you can see below. Howard University Hospital stands in its place today. --Joe Schwei
Dimensions
| Year | LF | LC | C | RC | RF |
| 1911 | 407 | 391 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1921 | 424 | 391 | 421 | 378 | 326 |
| 1926 | 358 | 391 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1936 | 402 | 391 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1947 | 405 | 391 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1950 | 386 | 372 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1951 | 408 | 372 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1952 | 405 | 372 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1954 | 388 | 372 | 421 | 378 | 328 |
| 1955 | 388 | 372 | 421 | 372 | 320 |
| 1956 | 386 | 372 | 421 | 373 | 320 |
| 1957 | 350 | 372 | 421 | 373 | 320 |
| 1961 | 388 | 372 | 421 | 373 | 320 |
Capacity
| 1921 | 32,000 |
| 1936 | 30,171 |
| 1939 | 31,500 |
| 1940 | 29,473 |
| 1941 | 29,613 |
| 1947 | 29,000 |
| 1948 | 25,048 |
| 1952 | 35,000 |
| 1960 | 28,669 |
| 1961 | 27,550 |
Attendance
| Year | Attendance | Average | Rank in League | Record | Standing |
| 1911 | 244,884 | 3,180 | 7th out of 8 | 64-90 | 7 |
| 1912 | 350,663 | 4,554 | 5th out of 8 | 91-61 | 2 |
| 1913 | 325,831 | 4,204 | 7th out of 8 | 90-64 | 2 |
| 1914 | 243,888 | 3,087 | 6th out of 8 | 81-73 | 3 |
| 1915 | 167,332 | 2,159 | 5th out of 8 | 85-68 | 4 |
| 1916 | 177,265 | 2,230 | 8th out of 8 | 76-77 | 7 |
| 1917 | 89,682 | 1,142 | 8th out of 8 | 74-79 | 5 |
| 1918 | 182,122 | 2,802 | 7th out of 8 | 72-56 | 3 |
| 1919 | 234,096 | 3,297 | 7th out of 8 | 56-84 | 7 |
| 1920 | 359,260 | 4,696 | 7th out of 8 | 68-84 | 6 |
| 1921 | 456,069 | 5,923 |