07/23/2008 12:57 PM -
This was a true neighborhood stadium. Built for baseball and football (the Orioles came from St. Louis three years after it was opened), the park could have had easily been renamed Memorable Stadium for its various (albeit occasionally) football exploits.
It was the home of the man who held most of the passing records in the 1950s and 60s (Johnny Unitas). It was the scene of one of the oddest occurrences ever at a sporting event when a plane crashed into the upper deck late in a playoff game. It housed a Canadian Football League team (that drew surprisingly well) for two seasons. And, when a fan tried to run across the field, LB Mike Curtis showed the form he used on quarterbacks and flattened the intruder with a forearm shiver.
Although the team later fell on hard times and eventually moved to Indianapolis, the NFL Colts were so beloved (and the Memorial Stadium fans were so loud), the place was once referred to as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum.”
The first stadium on these grounds was built in the early 1920s. It was known by several uncreative names such as Baltimore Stadium, Municipal Stadium and, in a tip to the neighborhood where it resided, Venable Park. Although it was used for baseball, this was mainly a football venue. The Army-Navy game was played there on several occasions. When Baltimore was awarded a franchise in the old AAFC (All American Football Conference), the team played there.
The team drew very well in the old stadium but fared very poorly on the field. In four seasons (counting one when the AAFC merged with the NFL), the Colts won just 11 games. The NFL dissolved the franchise but two years later, gave the city a second chance. Commissioner Bert bell told the city it could have a team back if it could sell 15,000 season tickets in a six-week period. That is exactly what happened and Carroll Rosenbloom moved the Dallas Texans to town.
The football stadium was falling apart and the city built Memorial Stadium in 1950 as a 31,000 seat, single level, bleachered facility.
Although the second edition wasn’t much better than the one that had left towns three years before (the Colts were 3-9 in 1953), attendance was fairly consistent (the team drew 23,725 for the home opener against the Bears and 26,005 for the final home game against the 49ers.)
When Baltimore suddenly landed the St. Louis Browns’ baseball team in 1954, the city fathers dug out their checkbooks and added an upper deck to the place, increasing capacity to nearly 48,000.
It would be a year before the Colts’ attendance would noticeably improve. In 1955, a standing room only crowd of 51,587 attended an October game against Washington. The Colts won back-to-back NFL crowns in 1958-59 and overflow crowds were routine occurrences.
Football wasn’t easy to play at Memorial. As was the case with multi-use stadiums at the time, the infield was not re-sodded after baseball season, causing many a player to eat a mouthful of dust. The north end of the stadium was wide open and, on a windy day, could be viciously cold in December. None of this seemed to both the Colts, who had several Hall of Famers in their employ in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s.
The Colts’ success caused the city to add even more seats in the early 1960s, pushing the stadium’s capacity to 60,240. It looked like a love affair that would never end.
But the first seeds of what was to come occurred in 1970 when the NFL merger sent the Colts into the American Football Conference. Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry and the rest of the group that had made the team were getting old and retiring. Fans were no longer seeing old favorites like the Redskins, Giants and Packers on a regular basis. People were beginning to notice a lot of the teams they were now playing had newer facilities.
There was a brief resurgence under coach Ted Marchibroda in the mid 1970s but when attendance fell off to “just” 27,934 for the 1983 season finale, owner Robert Irsay made up his mind.
Irsay had been battling with Baltimore mayor William Schaefer over repairs to Memorial Stadium. Schaefer, who would later become Maryland governor, didn’t think it was necessary and tried to work with the state legislature to grab the Colts via eminent domain. While that battle was going on in the press, Irsay was quietly negotiating with Indianapolis. On a snowy March night in 1984, the Colts simply packed everything into a van and slipped out of town. The NFL did not try to stop them.
Memorial Stadium soldiered on. The Orioles played there until a new ballpark was built for them at Camden Yards in 1991. It appeared Memorial was going to get a pro football occupant in 1986 but the USFL Stars (who had played in College Park the year before) never played a game in the old park. The league folded before the season could begin. There was some football played at Memorial as Maryland played several games and Notre Dame met Navy there in 1988.
The place seemed destined for destruction when, in 1994, it was suddenly announced that Baltimore would be on four U.S. cities that would field a team in the Canadian Football League. The rules were a bit different but football was back at Memorial Stadium. The team drew well and eventually won the Grey Cup (Canada’s Super Bowl) in its second season.
The NFL was watching. Ironically, it was an old rival, Cleveland owner Art Modell, who brought the city back into its old league. Modell had gone some of the same problems Irsay had encountered. While the CFL team was still playing at Memorial in 1995, Modell announced his intention to move to Baltimore.
It took a while for the NFL to negotiate a deal with Cleveland. Once it happened, Baltimore’s CFL team knew better than to stay. Modell’s Browns were now the Baltimore Ravens. It was understood they would get a new ballpark to play in. The city of Baltimore went to work, working with the Maryland Stadium Authority to construct a facility next door to Camden Yards.
While that was occurring, Memorial Stadium had one last, glorious run. History repeated itself. The Ravens sold 50,000 season tickets in a short period and played to sellouts during a two-year run at Memorial Stadium. But the team didn’t do as well on the field, winning just 10 games in its first two seasons. On December 14, 1997, the Ravens defeated Tennessee, 21-19, in the last game ever played at Memorial Stadium. The Ravens brought back many former Colts for one last cheer. Unitas ran one last play. That was it.
The stadium stood empty for a couple of years before it was slowly demolished in 2001. It is now the site of senior apartment complexes, many of whom probably have fond memories of the days when this was the home base of a feared football team.
MEMORIAL STADIUM – BALTIMORE, MD
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Year Opened:
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1950
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Year Closed:
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1997
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Owner:
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City of Baltimore
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Address:
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900 E. 33rd Street
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Construction Cost:
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$ 6.5 million
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Still Standing?
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No
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Professional Tenants:
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Baltimore Colts (two versions AAFC and NFL, 1947-50, 1953-83); Baltimore Stallions (CFL, 1994-95); Baltimore Ravens (NFL, 1996-97)
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Capacity:
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53,371
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