History of Night Baseball collection
Scope and Contents
Correspondence between team executives, the Commissioner, and various electric companies. Topics of discussion include the scheduling of night games and rules that accompany them, attendance compared to day games, and types of lighting available. Certain issues arise due to night games, such as flash photography blinding the batter, therefore a new resolution of no flash photographs was passed. Information on the "Great Canadian Forest Fire" of September 1950, caused afternoon games to be played with lights on in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Dates
- 1883-1959
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions but viewing materials does require an appointment. Please contact the Giamatti Research Center, research@baseballhall.org, 607-547-0330.
Conditions Governing Use
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum provides use copies of materials to facilitate private study, scholarship, and research. The Museum welcomes you to use materials in our collections that are in the public domain and to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law and with proper citation. Permission to publish materials must be obtained from: Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, 25 Main St., Cooperstown, NY 13326 Phone: 607.547.0330 E-mail: research@baseballhall.org
Biographical / Historical
The first night game was in 1880 and it would be a long wait, 1935, before the first Major League night game would take place. In 1909, George F. Cahill had invented a portable lighting system and saw the potential for night baseball. On August 27, 1910, Cahill managed to get a game played under the lights at Comiskey Park between two amateur teams. Despite the fact that about 20,000 fans showed up, nothing came of it. It was the Minor League teams who soon realized that night games could triple their attendance, and by 1934, most Minor League parks had lights. In December 1934, Larry McPhail, Cincinnati Reds, requested to play night games in 1935, and he was granted permission to play seven, the first was May 24, 1935. By 1939, both leagues were seeing the benefits of night games.
Extent
.42 Linear Feet (in 1 document box)
.46 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
A collection of correspondence, telegrams, bulletins, and newspaper clippings related to night baseball and its history.
Arrangement
This collection is primarily arranged in chronological order.
Physical Location
Manuscript Archives, Aisle 10, Range c, Shelf 6
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift (BL-2015-00772)
Appraisal
No materials were removed during accessioning or processing.
Processing Information
Items were placed in acid-free folders and into a document box.
- Title
- Guide to the History of Night Baseball collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Claudette Scrafford, Manuscript Archivist
- Date
- December 2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Archives Repository