Congress Street Grounds is a former

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

ground located in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The ballpark, as the name implies, was along Congress Street, near the intersection of Thompson Place, and not far from the Fort Point Channel on South Boston Flats, a newly filled in piece of land on

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, located adjacent to Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the Northeastern United States. History 17th century Since its dis ...

. The ground was home to the Boston Reds, that played in the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded American professional baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Pr ...

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

and the American Association in

1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

. Although a short-lived facility, the ballpark witnessed some significant history. First, its occupants won league pennants in their two years of existence. Despite its success, the club was dropped during the NL-AA merger of 1892, as there was already an NL entry in Boston. Then, between May and June 1894, Congress Street Grounds was the home to the

Boston Beaneaters Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

while their home grounds, the

South End Grounds South End Grounds refers to any one of three baseball parks on one site in Boston, Massachusetts. They were home to the franchise that eventually became known as the History of the Boston Braves, Boston Braves, first in the National Association ...

, were being rebuilt after the Great Roxbury Fire of May 15, 1894. It had a close left field fence, which benefited Boston's Bobby Lowe just a couple of weeks later, on May 30, 1894, as he became the first batter to hit four home runs in a single game, all of them down the line in left field. In parts of the years between 1892 and autumn of 1896, the field was used for various local sports, including Gaelic football, hurling, and track-and-field events. By the end of 1896, the ballpark had been dismantled and urban development took over the property. The location is now occupied by several office buildings, and the alley behind them, which would go through the area of the outfield, was used in the 2006 film ''

The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 crime film, crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-lif ...

'', in a key scene where

Martin Sheen Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans over six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and ...

's character is pushed off a roof. Historic New England has a photo of the interior of the park.
Historic New England

Gallery

File:Congress Street Grounds map Boston 1889 Dec 11.JPG, Congress Street Grounds plan, 1889 File:1871 CongressSt Grounds baseball Boston.jpg, Congress Street Grounds pass, 1891

References

External links

SABR's Baseball Biography ProjectAn 1899 map showing the site of the groundsSABR article about the ballpark
{{Greater Boston sports arenas Baseball venues in Boston Defunct baseball venues in Massachusetts Defunct sports venues in Boston Players' League venues

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links