The Grand Stand at the Philadelphia Grounds Burned -- August 4, 2019

Los Angeles Herald, 07-August-1894

125 years ago today, on 04-August-1894, the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, caught fire during a practice and burned. The Phillies went on the road and finished the season on a temporary field. The permanent replacement was one of the first to be made mostly of steel and brick, became known as the Baker Bowl. The Phillies played there until the middle of the 1938 season, when they moved to share Shibe Park with the Athletics.

ANOTHER BASEBALL FIRE.

The Grand Stand at the Philadelphia

Grounds Burned.

Philadelphia, Aug. 6. -- The Philadelphia baseball grand stand, one of the finest in the country is a smoking ruin. The large stables of the omnibus company are now burning, and the car stables of the Philadelphia Traction company and adjoining property are badly damaged. The Philadelphia and Baltimore, players, who were practicing on the grounds noticed a narrow tongue of flame shooting up between the boards of the partition. Soon the entire structure was a roaring furnace. Loss, $100,000.

Seven firemen were badly burned; the total loss on the pavilion, omnibus stables and other property aggregates $113,000, with $50,000 insurance. The game scheduled with Baltimore this afternoon was postponed, and tonight the Phillies left for Boston.