The site of so many wonderful baseball and football memories, Griffith Stadium, had its life ended by the brutal swings of a wrecking ball in 1965. The hapless doormat of the American League, the Washington Senators stopped playing in there after the 1961 season, after which, the days were numbered.
Howard University was looking to acquire the site for their planned expansion, and they did so for the price of $1.5 million in 1964. The 8 1/2 acre D.C. landmark, which was the site of three World Series‘, two All-Star games, an NFL championship, the longest home-run in Major League history and played host to eight U.S. Presidents, was now destined to become Howard’s new hospital.
This sad article from the Washington Post on February 12th, 1965, mourns the death of the stadium.
They started knocking the last legs out from under Griffith Stadium yesterday.
Workmen began toppling the eight 150-foot light towers which surround the abandoned ball park and after they’re cut down to size the wreckers’ ball will eat into the bleachers and grandstand.
…
It was a “ticklish business,” said foreman Roscoe Springer of the General Wrecking Company, as his giant crane maneuvered for elbow room behind the bleachers on narrow 5th st. yesterday.
The crane jockeyed for position most of the morning. Finally, a 20-foot jib was added to the 160-foot boom and work on the first tower progressed quickly after that.
One of the second-story men was forced from the stanchion because its gentle swaying made him dizzy, Springer said.
Another worker, armed with an acetylene torch, sliced the tower in half and the crane delicately lifted the 6-ton top section, which support the lights, free of its legs. Treating it like a giant egg, the boom deposited its lead atop the bleachers.
The metal towers will be sold as scrap metal.
Stripped of its seats and with shoulder-high weeds, the interior of the stadium looked like a disaster area.
Of course the stadium couldn’t stay. All old stadiums have to die eventually (except for Wrigley and Fenway — I can’t believe Yankee Stadium is no more). But, the ghosts of Griffith Stadium are numerous and have a very important connection to the core of this city.
R.I.P. Griffith Stadium (1911 – 1965).
