Moving out of North Philly

The Philadelphia Phillies announce 64 years ago today that decaying Connie Mack Stadium will meet the wrecking ball after the 1963 season, and that they will relocate to South Philly.

If only.

Instead of moving into a new stadium in 1964, the Phillies spend another seven seasons playing in the North Philadelphia ballpark that is the envy of all teams when it opens in 1909 as baseball’s first steel-and-concrete stadium and the home of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics.

The Phillies initially become tenants of the ballpark at 21st and Lehigh in North Philly in 1938 before taking over the stadium in 1955 after the A’s move to Kansas City.

During its lifetime, Connie Mack Stadium (nee Shibe Park) hosts two All-Game Games – in 1943, which also is the first All-Star Game at night, and 1952, the first All-Star Game cut to five innings because of rain.

The ballpark in 1964 (Walter Iooss Jr. photo)

By 1961, though, the aging stadium begins a slide into serious decay along with its surrounding neighborhood in North Philly, leading the Phillies 64 years ago today to announce their sooner-rather-than-later moving plans.

Turns out the plans are later rather than sooner as they Phillies remain at Connie Mack Stadium through the 1970 season – six years before the grand old ballpark finally meets the wrecking ball.

The site of Connie Mack Stadium now is home to a 5,100-seat church that is built there after the old ballpark finally is razed in 1976.

“It looked like a ballpark,” says Richie Ashburn, the Phillies’ Hall of Fame center fielder and longtime broadcaster, says of Connie Mack Stadium.

“It smelled like a ballpark. It had a feeling and a heartbeat, a personality that was all baseball.”