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  Braves Field
 
Title: "Crowd after game at Braves Field"

Date: 1937

Creator: Leslie Jones

Original Media: 8" x 10" silver gelatin print
Braves Field  
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 Located just off Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Allston neighborhood, Braves Field was the home turf of the National League's Boston Braves. Built in 1915, it was the first stadium with over 40,000 seats and the largest of the era's concrete and steel ballparks. The field was built to compete with the recently opened Fenway Park. James Gaffney, the Braves owner, wanted a spacious playing field so that inside-the-park home runs could be hit in the center, left or right fields.

The first game at Braves Field was on August 18, 1915 between the Boston Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals, and an estimated 46,500 fans packed the stadium to see the Braves win 3-1. The field was also used by the Boston Red Sox especially for Sunday games through the early 1930s. In 1915 and 1916, the Red Sox even played their World Series games there. The last World Series game held at Braves Field was the Braves' six-game loss to the Cleveland Indians in 1948, the year of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain".

At various times throughout its history, Braves Field has been known by other names (sometimes officially changed and other times as nicknames) such as National League Park and as the Bee Hive when the Boston Braves were briefly known as the Boston Bees, a dubious homonym for "B's," a term used to distinguish the team from the Red Sox.

The Boston Braves played in Braves Field through September 1952, their last year as a Boston-based team. When the Braves left Boston for Milwaukee, the field was soon sold to Boston University and is now known as Nickerson Field. A plaque at the site commemorates the heralded place of Braves Field in Boston's sports history.

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