MysteryDog, that section of the Forbes Field wall is indeed where Maz hit that homer. Every year on that date, there’s a party at the site, including the playing of a recording of the radio broadcast of the entire game, and a celebration when the Pirates win. Maz hasn’t shown up yet in person, but he’d be the toast of the party.
While we’re musing, the site of Huntington Avenue Grounds, the former home of the Red Sox and the site of the first World Series, is now the location of the Northeastern University athletic facility. In an outdoor plaza, there’s a statue of Cy Young where the pitchers’ mound was.
Colt Stadium in Houston, original home of the Astros (then called the Colt .45’s), actually got moved, twice. It was simply bolted together from trusswork, then unbolted and taken to a scrapyard, which sold it to a town in Mexico. After hosting a Mexican team for a few years, the owner sold it and shipped it again to another Mexican town. By then it was called “El Mecanico (The Erector Set)”.
The Astrodome is still being used. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is held there every year, and other events as well. There aren’t any permanent plans for it, though the new stadium for the Houston Texans football team is being built in the same parking lot.
If you want to go waaaaay back, the Houston Buffalos baseball stadium was knocked down in the 60’s. Fingers Furniture Warehouse was built on the site. They decided to honor the stadium by builing a tiny musuem dedicated to Houston sports, all on the site of the stadiums home plate area. If you’re ever in Houston, I highly recommend this to fans of oddball museums. Free (if you can dodge the furniture salesmen).
In Philly, the First Union Spectrum was saved, but JFK Stadium (site of the USA for Africa concert) was not. JFK was found to be structurally unsound, just after a Grateful Dead concert. The First Union (or FU) Center, home of the Flyers and the 76ers, is built on that site.
The Astrodome is being saved for now. Houston is hoping to host the 2012 Olympics. Their bid emphasises the amount of air conditioned sporting facilities available in Houston in 2012 [new covered baseball, football, and basketball stadiums, plus the existing Compaq center and Astrodome] If they get the bid, they need the Astrodome. If they don’t get the Olympics, the Astrodome becomes a parking lot, any probably afterwards even so.
Empire Stadium, the old home of the BC Lions of the CFL and the site of Vancouver’s British Empire Games (1954?) was torn down to make more green space in the park. Nice place to watch football, unless you were behind one of the roof posts. The Lions, BTW, only sell the bottom half of the seats in their domed stadium…about what Empire Stadium used to seat, or a few thousand more.
Although, when the AAA Canadians left town, a Single A team moved in to their old stadium. The UBC baseball team uses it too.
A major junior hockey team uses the Pacific Coliseum now that the Canucks have moved on.
I guess it depends on whether the owners of the old stadium are willing to accept a lot less revenue.
The Detroit Tigers just moved out of Tiger Stadium into their new place, Comerica Park. The fate of Tiger Stadium is currently in limbo. The city wants to tear it down and develop the site (what would be put in there has not been decided), but a lot of people want Tiger Stadium to be saved as a historic landmark. There’s talk of trying to get a minor league team to come in and use the stadium.
The Lions, BTW, only sell the bottom half of the seats in their domed stadium…about what Empire Stadium used to seat, or a few thousand more.