Clearing The Bases - Issue 032

Read Time:5 Minute, 45 Second

Hello and welcome to Issue 032 of Clearing The Bases, an email newsletter in conjunction with the My Baseball History podcast hosted by Dan Wallach.

On Wednesday, February 12^th, our latest episode with BRIAN POWERS went live.

Brian is a licensed architect and the man behind the unbelievable Bandbox Ballparks project. He was always building, designing, or drawing something as far back as he can remember. Those seeds were planted at an early age as Brian explored the many castles and ruins while living abroad as a self-described “Army Brat”. It was a natural choice that Brian chose architecture and entered architecture school at Auburn University.

As part of a sketch assignment while on a college field trip in Chicago in 1990, Brian made a side-trip to old Comiskey Park, the former home of the Chicago White Sox. Armed with a sketchbook and camera, he spent the day sketching and photographing the “Baseball Palace of the World,” which was entering her 80th and final season. From that point forward, Brian found ways to creatively bridge his passion for the built environment with the sport he loved as a kid. Preserving these historical venues is Brian’s way of understanding the people, neighborhoods, the legacy and the stories of the cities we live in.

While working in Montgomery, Alabama after college, Brian became a charter member of the Friends of Rickwood Field when it was formed in 1992. Shortly thereafter, Brian accepted a position with Kansas City based HOK Sport where he spent nearly a decade as a project architect and a key contributor to the development of some of baseball’s most prominent ballparks.

Since moving to Chicago in 2007, Brian has continued to be a sought-after expert in ballpark history and design. In addition to being cited in books and newspapers, Brian’s work was also showcased in the Sacred Grounds Ballpark Exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Brian has also partnered with the Baseball Heritage Museum in Cleveland, Ohio to develop an interactive exhibition of League Park, which was the home ballpark for the Cleveland Naps, the Cleveland Indians, and the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro Leagues.

Brian led the SmithGroup design team in the rehabilitation of historic Hamtramck Stadium in Hamtramck, Michigan for the centennial anniversary of the Negro Leagues. His rehabilitation work on Hamtramck was awarded the prestigious Michigan Governor’s Award from the State Historic Preservation Office.

In 2019, Brian formed Bandbox Ballparks to share his specialized research of our sports architectural heritage aiming to tell the stories today so the legacies of sports venues can be enjoyed by generations of tomorrow. His work has been featured in many media outlets around the country including The Chicago Sun Times, AP, The Score, WGN, and many others. Brian is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Society for American Baseball Research, and is a Lifetime Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

In this episode, we cover LOTS of ground.

Brian tells us how his surprise at how little was being done to preserve the legacy of Comiskey Park fueled his passion for saving its legacy, culminating nearly thirty years later in his first Bandbox Ballparks project.

We find out what was so special about one of the bathrooms at Cleveland’s League Park.

We learn how part of the Palace of the Fans, which was the ballpark the Cincinnati Reds played in from 1902 through 1911, secretly made its way over to Redland Field, which was later renamed Crosley Field, and acted as home to the Reds from 1912 through 1970.

And we hear where the best seat in the house would have been for each of the ballparks Brian has digitally rebuilt, brick by brick, to this point. Chicago’s Comiskey Park, Cleveland’s League Park, Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, and Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the episode is out now, so you can listen to it as soon as you get done reading this email and re-listen whenever you want after that. Don’t forget to CLICK HERE to follow along with the liner notes as you listen.

The liner notes have over 250 (!!!) carefully curated photos and videos which directly and chronologically follow the conversation Brian and I had. In the caption for each, I also included extra links so you can do a deeper dive into any particular person or story which piques your interest as you listen. I’ve already done all the work for you, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the episode.

As you know, we do giveaways related to each episode, so I also want to tell you about an opportunity to win something for being an active listener to My Baseball History. You can enter for your chance to win win a DVD copy of filmmaker Matt Flesch’s wonderful documentary Last Comiskey, The Story Of The 1990 White Sox And The Final Season At Comiskey Park by following @ShoelessPodcast on twitter or Bluesky. The pinned post at the top of both our Twitter profile and our Bluesky profile asks a trivia question which is answered during the episode with Brian. Answer that trivia question correctly with your quote-post, and you’re automatically entered into the contest.

We’ll pick a winner before the next episode of the podcast goes live on Wednesday, March 12^th. All you have to do to be considered is follow us on whichever platform you use, and re-post that pinned post before then. You can also feel free to tag a friend in the comments or write why you think you should win. It may help your chances of winning…

Don’t forget, it’s a huge help when you Rate and Review the podcast on whatever platform you choose to listen. 5-Star ratings help our podcast get shown on more people’s suggested podcast pages, which means more people will hear our show. It just takes a couple seconds of your time, but it really helps us a lot. And of course, liking us on social media, interacting with our posts, and sharing things with your friends is great, too. Feel free to forward this email to anyone in your life who loves baseball, and hopefully they’ll enjoy the podcast and learn a thing or two. But no matter how you choose to support us, even if it’s just by listening, we appreciate you being here.

Until next time, I’m Dan Wallach, and this is My Baseball History.