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Sports |
Newspaper Articles March 5, 1916 - Price & Tenney Prefer Baseball Park in Newark October 16, 1952 - Old Ruppert Stadium Headed for Junk Heap
Wiedenmayer Park was built in 1902. The Newark Indians played at Wiedenmayer's Park between 1908 and 1911 in the Eastern League and between 1912 and 1916 in the International League. In 1925 the wooden stands of the ballpark burned to the ground leaving only the playing field. Charles A. Davids from Bayside NY purchased the land for $125,000 and erected Davids Stadium in 1926 using the footprint of Wiedenmayer's Park's burnt stands. The stadium had a seating capacity of 12,000. Less than two years later (1927) the owner and publisher of the Newark Star Eagle, Paul Block, purchased the stadium for $360,00 plus $147,00 in debts. Col. Jacob Ruppert, owner of the NY Yankees, purchased the baseball club and stadium in 1931 increasing the capacity to 19,000. In 1932 the stadium became the home of the AAA Yankees. He owned them until 1949. Lights were installed in the stadium and the first night game was played on June 11, 1935 against the team from Cincinnati. Stock car racing was introduced to the stadium in 1950. On November 25th 1952 the Newark Board of Education purchased Ruppert Stadium for $275,000. The board also recommended that another $50,000 be spent to make the stadium a school sports center. Occupants Newark Indians: 1908-1911 & 1912-1916 Newark Bears: 1926-1949 Newark Eagles: 1936-1948 Seton Hall Pirates: Negotiations in 1928, unknown if they played there. Other Sports Soccer Boxing Stock Car Racing
Ruppert Stadium History from Nat Bodian Ruppert Stadium was built in 1926. It was built by the New York Yankees organization and named after its beer baron owner, Jacob Ruppert on a 15 acre plot of land bounded by Wilson Avenue, and Avenues K and L. The stadium was designed by Charles A. Davids. It was built with a seating capacity of 12,000, but on special occasions in its 41-year life was known to have sandwiched in as many as 22,000. Ruppert Stadium served as a home for the ‘old’ Newark Bears in the international League, as well as for the Newark Eagles, a pennant-winning team in the African-American league. This was an era when baseball was still a segregated sport. The Ruppert Stadium outfield fence was 410 feet from home plate, a feature found mainly in major league ballparks. The Down Neck stadium had also been used as a high school sports field and had been leased out for special sporting events. As baseball attendance in the late 1940s fell off and African-American baseball stars began making their way into the major leagues after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the 1940s, the Yankee organization sold the stadium to the City of Newark for $325,000. The stadium was leveled to the ground in 1967. |
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Copyright 1998 - 2016 Glenn G. Geisheimer |
