# What is the largest recorded attendance for a baseball game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 28, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034 "2008-03-28T12:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/1 "2008-03-28T12:00:53Z")
Tomorrow night, the Boston Red Sox will play an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the LA Coliseum instead of Dodger Stadium. [It is expected to draw as many as 115,000 spectators.](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-redsox-roadtrip&prov=ap&type=lgns) Has any baseball game ever exceeded that attendance figure? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/2 "2008-03-28T12:19:21Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Tomorrow night, the Boston Red Sox will play an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the LA Coliseum instead of Dodger Stadium. [It is expected to draw as many as 115,000 spectators.](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-redsox-roadtrip&prov=ap&type=lgns) Has any baseball game ever exceeded that attendance figure? [/QUOTE] Exceeded? No. But the current record was ALSO set at the LA Coliseum! Back in 1959, the Dodgers played at the LA Coliseum, and they played the World Series there against the White SOx. They drew something like 93,000 people for a few of the games. Presumably the record COULD have been broken many times since, but games are rarely played in stadiums big enough to hold more than 60,00 people any more. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/3 "2008-03-28T13:02:58Z")
[Melbourne Cricket Ground](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Cricket_Ground#Olympic_Games), 1956 Olympic Games. > [@](#): > > Apart from athletics, the stadium was also used for the soccer finals, the hockey finals, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and an exhibition game of baseball, which a crowd of 102,000 attended, **still a world record for a baseball game**. [my emphasis] ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/4 "2008-03-28T13:21:37Z")
How short is the right (left?) field fence going to be? IIRC when they played games there decades ago it was like 256 feet- if so, expect a score in the 20’s or 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/5 "2008-03-28T13:43:29Z")
Anyone know about the old Cleveland Ballpark. I believe it was called Municpial Stadium. It was the largest park in the old days and for events like the Yankees and Ruth coming to town, they use to rope off part of Right Field for extra standing room crowd. It sat nearly 80,000 so I wonder how high it got when they packed it. [Found this note](http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/index.htm): On September 12, 1954 against the Yankees, the Indians played in front of their largest crowd in history, 86,563. It was the largest crowd for any team until the Dodgers started playing in the Los Angeles Coliseum. For the Coliseum: The Dodgers hosted an All-Star game and three World Series games in 1959 at the Coliseum. Attendence exceeded 92,000 for each World Series game, and the attendance of 92,706 for game five is a MLB record. In only their second year in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won the 1959 World Series. Sorry about the link, there is no direct linking on this otherwise excellent site. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/6 "2008-03-28T14:28:44Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] How short is the right (left?) field fence going to be? IIRC when they played games there decades ago it was like 256 feet- if so, expect a score in the 20’s or 30’s. [/QUOTE] That’s a good point. [Wikipedia has an interesting account](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Memorial_Coliseum#1950s-1960s) of the configuration used by the Dodgers in 1959: > [@](#): > > The left field fence was only 251 feet (77 m) from the plate because the field was just barely large enough to fit a baseball diamond. Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick ordered the Dodgers to erect a screen in left field to prevent pop flies from becoming home runs. At its highest point at the foul pole, the fence was 42 feet (13 m) high. [1] The cables, towers, girders and wires were in play. Frick originally wanted the Dodgers to build a second screen in the stands, 333 feet (101 m) from the plate. A ball hit to left would have to clear both screens to be a home run; if it cleared the first screen, it would be a ground-rule double. However, the state’s earthquake laws barred construction of a second screen.[7] > > Unable to compel the Dodgers to fix the situation, the major leagues passed a note to Rule 1.04 stating that any ball field constructed after June 1, 1958, must provide a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) down each foul line. > > In 1959, the screen figured in the National League pennant race. The Milwaukee Braves were playing the Dodgers in the Coliseum on September 15, 1959, and Joe Adcock hit a ball that cleared the screen but hit a steel girder behind it and got stuck in the mesh. According to the ground rules, this should have been a home run. However, the umpires ruled it a ground-rule double. Then the fans shook the screen, causing the ball to fall into the seats. The umpires changed the call to a homer, only to change their minds again and rule it a ground-rule double.[7] Adcock was left stranded on second. The game was tied at the end of nine innings and the Dodgers won it in the tenth inning. [2] At the end of the regular season, the Dodgers and Braves finished in a tie. The Dodgers won the ensuing playoff and went on to win the World Series. If Adcock’s hit had been ruled a home run, the Braves may have won the game and could have gone on to win the pennant by one game. > > Although ill-suited as a Major League Baseball field, with its left field line at 251 feet (mentioned above) and power alley at 320 feet (98 m), it was ideally suited for large paying crowds. Each of the three games of the 1959 World Series played there drew over 92,706 fans, a record unlikely to be seriously threatened anytime soon, given the smaller seating capacities of today’s baseball parks. A May 1959 exhibition game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees in honor of legendary catcher Roy Campanella drew 93,103, the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in the Western Hemisphere. The Coliseum also hosted the second 1959 MLB All-Star Game. Also, from baseball’s point of view, the locker rooms were huge, because they were designed for football (not baseball) teams. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/7 "2008-03-28T19:07:28Z")
**Fear Itself** , interesting, thanks. I wonder what the confines of a baseball field have to do with earthquake preparedness? The idea of a layout where over one fence is a double, over two is a homer sounds like some sort of bizarre kids backyard thing though. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/8 "2008-03-29T14:23:41Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] That’s a good point. [Wikipedia has an interesting account](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Memorial_Coliseum#1950s-1960s) of the configuration used by the Dodgers in 1959: [/QUOTE] [Quote=Linked article] The left field fence was only 251 feet (77 m) from the plate because the field was just barely large enough to fit a baseball diamond. [/Quote] The Dodgers had an outfielder named Wally Moon who took advantage of the short distance to left. As the space race was heating up, his homers over that fence-screen combo were known as [“Moon shots”.](http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-moon23mar23,1,663308.story) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/9 "2008-03-29T16:25:07Z")
From Wiki: > [@](#): > > In May 1959, the Dodgers, then playing their second season in Los Angeles, honored Campanella with Roy Campanella Night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The New York Yankees agreed to make a special trip to Los Angeles to play an exhibition game against the Dodgers for the occasion. The attendance at the game was 93,103, still the largest crowd ever to attend a Major League Baseball game. The Yankees won the game, 6-2. Campanella was an amazing and extremely popular catcher who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/10 "2008-03-29T20:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] How short is the right (left?) field fence going to be? IIRC when they played games there decades ago it was like 256 feet- if so, expect a score in the 20’s or 30’s. [/QUOTE] There are now seats where some of the playing surface used to be. For tomorrow’s farce, the wall will be only **201 feet**. It’s gonna look like Arena Football kickoffs. One story in Boston is that there will be a rope set up around the Coliseum, with TV’s showing the game set up outside. Anyone they let inside the ropes to watch the game that way will therefore count in the official attendance. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/11 "2008-03-30T00:13:01Z")
I guess another question is why 115K are expected to attend a game that doesn’t count? Just to see the Sox? Or is whatever charity the game is for that big in LA? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/12 "2008-03-30T03:18:10Z")
Projected atttendance [has been revised](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/15099-MLB-Los_Angeles_Dodgers-MLB_News_Dodgers_Return_to_the_Coliseum-280308): > [@](#): > > The Coliseum is expecting a crowd of 112,000. Ninety-two thousand seats have been sold, as well as twenty thousand, standing room only tickets. This will shatter the previous MLB attendance record of ninety-three thousand. [Here is a graphic](http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-032908-sp-coliseum-g,0,1519954.graphic) of the Coliseum baseball configuration, with an overlay of the Dodger Stadium dimensions. After three innings, Sox lead 5-1 with two home runs. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-recorded-attendance-for-a-baseball-game/443034/13 "2008-03-30T17:14:36Z")
It ended up being 115,300 people which is now not only the MLB record but the world record. [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-coliseumexhibition&prov=ap&type=lgns](http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-coliseumexhibition&prov=ap&type=lgns)