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Forbes Field
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===Opening=== {{Quote box | quote ="Pittsburg can now boast of the world's finest baseball park. It is a marvel of which people in other cities can have no adequate conception until they come here and see it." | source = —[[Fred Clarke]], 1909<ref name=CLP/> | width =25% | align =right | style = padding: 8px; }} [[File:Forbes Field and street.jpg|thumb|Forbes Field and [[Schenley Plaza|Bellefield Bridge]], 1909]] The first game was played at Forbes Field on June 30, 1909, one day after the Pittsburgh Pirates had defeated the [[Chicago Cubs]], 8–1, at Exposition Park. Fans began to arrive at the stadium six and one-half hours early for the 3:30 p.m. game.<ref name=FF17/> Weather conditions were reported as clear skies with a temperature around 80 degrees.<ref name="BonkDan">Bonk, Dan. "Forbes Field: Build it Yourself." Point Four Ltd., 1995.</ref> Flags flew at half staff to honor the recently deceased presidents of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Doves.<ref name="BonkDan" /> Various [[National League (baseball)|National League]] officials and owners attended the pre-game ceremonies, including league president [[Harry Pulliam]], [[American Civil War|Civil War]] veteran and manager of Pittsburgh's first professional baseball team [[Al Pratt (baseball)|Al Pratt]], and [[American League]] president [[Ban Johnson]].<ref name="FF17" /> Pittsburgh Mayor [[William A. Magee]] threw out the stadium's ceremonial first pitch,<ref name="CLP" /> tossing it from the second tier to John M. Morin, Director of Public Safety, on the field below. Morin then went to the mound and threw the first pitch to the Pirate catcher.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland: Organizations: Forbes Field |url=http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n718.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517071933/http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n718.html |archive-date=2008-05-17 |access-date=2008-09-01}}</ref> The ''[[Pittsburgh Press]]'' wrote, "the ceremonies were witnessed by the largest throng that ever attended an event of this kind in this or any other city in the country...Forbes Field is so immense—so far beyond anything else in America in the way of a baseball park—that old experts, accustomed to judging crowds at a glance, were at a loss for reasonable figures."<ref name="CLP">{{cite web|title=35,000 Fans Help to Dedicate Ball Park |url=http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n718.html |publisher=[[Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh]] |date=June 30, 1909 |access-date=September 1, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517071933/http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n718.html |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }}</ref> Records, however, show that the first game was attended by a [[standing-room only]] crowd of 30,338.<ref name="Ball52" /> The first batter at Forbes Field was future Hall of Famer [[Johnny Evers]], the Cubs second baseman and leadoff batter. He was hit by a pitch and later in the inning scored the first run. The first hit by a Pirate was by catcher [[George Gibson (baseball)|George Gibson]], who eventually became a Pirate manager.<ref name="BonkDan" /> The [[Chicago Cubs]] won the first game, 3–2. Dreyfuss declared, "This is indeed the happiest day of my life."<ref name="CLP" />
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