The First Night Baseball Games
Early Major League Games Were Few and Far Between
While nighttime baseball had become commonplace by the early 1930s in the semi-pro, minor, and Negro leagues, most big league owners and general managers were still fighting the idea.
Arguments Against Night Baseball
For years, major league officials had contended that night baseball would ruin the sport, basing their beliefs on four arguments:
- The three components of the sport, pitching, hitting, and fielding, would be affected negatively.
- Players would have trouble adjusting from day games to night ones and vice-versa.
- There would be more injuries in night games.
- Fans would not support games under the lights.
Enter Larry MacPhail
The one man who deserves full credit for bringing lights to the majors is Larry MacPhail, a flamboyant baseball executive and innovator for two decades starting in 1930. In that year, MacPhail became president of the Columbus, Ohio, franchise in the minor league American Association. Among the changes he brought to the club was the introduction of night baseball, having noted other minor leagues team‘s success with it. It was a wise decision. In 1931, Columbus outdrew its parent St. Louis Cardinals club by 30,000 for the season, largely due to night games.
The First Major League Night Game
In 1933, MacPhail was elected general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, a franchise that was suffering losing records, poor attendance, and poor finances. Partly through the force of MacPhail’s personality, the National League agreed to allow each of its eight members to play seven night games apiece during the 1935 season. The only team that accepted the offer was Cincinnati. Lights were installed at the old Crosley Field and on May 24, 1935, the Reds defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 in the first night game.
MacPhail’s gamble paid off when fans flocked to the night games. At the end of the season, the Reds total attendance had doubled from the previous year. More importantly, the seven night contests had averaged 18,620 spectators per game; the other 69 home games, a paltry 4700, proving that fans actually seem to prefer non-daylight games. With the increased revenue, MacPhail was able to build winning teams that won pennants in 1939 and 1940 and were the World Series champs in 1940.
Change Comes Slowly
Despite the success of Cincinnati’s night games and some interest shown by other teams, it took three years before a second team adopted night baseball. The Brooklyn Dodgers, with Larry MacPhail now its general manager, played its first home night game on June 15, 1938. Ironically, the opponent was MacPhail’s former team and the Dodgers lost 6-0 when the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer pitched baseball’s first night no-hitter.
1939 saw the Philadelphia Athletics become the first American League team to initiate night baseball and that team was soon followed by the Indians, White Sox, and Phillies. By the end of 1941, eleven of the then sixteen major league teams had installed lights. Following World War II, the number increased to fifteen by 1949, the lone exception being the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs became the last major league team to play home night games, finally installing lights in 1988. Despite being noted for its long resistance to lights, the Cubs had actually contracted for lighting to be installed in Wrigley Field in December, 1941. However, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley donated all the lights, steel and wiring to the War Department. It is rumored that Wrigley, an opponent of night games, was happy to do so.
Sources:
Pietrusza, David, Lights On! (Scarecrow Press, 1997)
“Larry MacPhail” (Baseball Library)
Berger, Ralph, “Larry MacPhail” (The Baseball Biography Project)
