The Cincinnati Baseball Historical Review No. 4:
Baseball By Boat: Riverfront Baseball Parks And The Steamers Who Helped Bring In The Fans
If you’ve ever taken a shuttle boat to a Reds game, you know how unique and convenient it is. Do you wish to avoid the hassle of parking? Take a boat. Great American Ball Park is unique in that it is one of only three MLB parks that sit on the waterfront (Oracle Park in San Francisco and PNC Park in Pittsburgh are the other two) and fans can use water transportation to get to and from games.
You might think that Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park and before it, Riverfront Stadium, where the only area baseball parks that used river transportation to accommodate fans.
Let’s take a trip back in time to 1875.
When the Cincinnati Reds returned to professional baseball in 1875 after a 5 year hiatus, they needed a place to play while their new ballpark, Avenue Grounds was being constructed in the West End area of Cincinnati. Enter Ludlow, KY and the independent professional Ludlow Base Ball Club, who had built Ludlow Base Ball Grounds on the banks of the Ohio River. Ludlow and the Reds came to an agreement in late summer of 1875 that the Reds could use their park until their grounds were complete later in the season. Besides the Reds playing a game with the Ludlows at the park, several professional teams such as the Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) and Harry Wright and his Boston Red Stockings played games there.
The side-wheel steamer the Champion No. 9, as well as The Fifth Street Ferry were used to carry hundreds of fans across the river from the foot of Walnut St. to the grounds in Ludlow.
In 1891, a new professional baseball club dubbed the Cincinnatis or Kelly’s Killers formed in Cincinnati joining the American Association. Their grounds along the river were called the East End Grounds or Pendleton Park, and where located where Schmidt Recreation Complex sits today.
Much like the Ludlow Park, the East End Grounds sat directly on the riverfront. The steamers the Guiding Star, the State of Missouri and the Island Queen, all Coney Island excursion boats, offered trips to the ballpark. Often times you could go to the amusement park in the morning and catch a late afternoon game on the way back.
Another waterfront park was Wiedemann Park which was briefly the home to the Newport Brewers, a minor league team in the Ohio State League in 1914. The park, built in 1908, also hosted Reds exhibition games in the 1910s. Directly behind the left field wall was a boat dock upon the banks of the Licking River. Fans could row up to a special outfield gate or take a ferry.
Baseball and riverboats, a tradition that continues today.