Had a visit from Bud Kerr today, which is always an interesting way to spend a day.

Bud is the Vancouver baseball historian that provided so much of the memorabilia that graced the walls of The Nat over the last few years, and was recently announced as being the man that the Vancouver Canadians will name their upcoming museum after. He’s been to the ballpark most every day there was a game for several decades, including UBC games, and even when the doctor tells him he should be staying home. He’s seen it all. He’s lived it all.

So today he needed something typed up and emailed, and because I live not far from him I volunteered to help. It happened to be a list of former Vancouver ballparks, dating all the way back to 1905, and once we got talking about the various parks, well, let’s just say the conversation went until it physically had to end.

In order to help Bud in his effort to record as many of his memories as he possibly can, I asked if I could put his list online at NFTN; a request he was happy to accept.

So without further delay, here’s a rundown on every Vancouver professional ballpark, from 1905 to 1951, when Capilano Stadium (now Nat Bailey Stadium) opened.

RECREATION PARK:
Recreation Park [seen above] was Vancouver’s
first professional baseball stadium. It was located at the Southeast corner of
Smithe and Homer Streets, and opened for business May 11^th, 1905. The
land was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and leased back to city businessmen who then sublet it to the ballclub, but they eventually opted to kick their tenants out and use the land for warehousing.

Teams that played in Recreation Park in the Northwestern League included:

• 1905-07:
  Vancouver
  Horse Doctors
• 1908-11:
  Vancouver
  Beavers
• 1912:
  Vancouver
  Champions

Bob Brown, who would come to be known in Vancouver as Mr Baseball, bought the Vancouver Beavers in 1910, starting his love affair with the game of baseball in this city that didn’t end until he did, some five decades later. Never one to be humble, when the Beavers won the Northwestern League championship in 1911, Brown changed their name to the Champions for the following season. As well as serving as owner, Brown also managed the team, and played shortstop.

He’d bought the struggling team for $500. His profits on the first year were $3500. The year after they won their first championship, he knocked back an offer of $35,000 for the team.

The park also hosted soccer games on occasion, with the arrival in 1910 of the British Columbia Professional Football League, but when the lease was pulled after the 1912 season, Bob Brown paid $500 for the bleachers, and set about clearing trees for the new home for Vancouver baseball.

ATHLETIC PARK:
Athletic
Park was located at the
Northeast corner of 5^th
Ave and Hemlock
Street. It opened for business on April 18^th, 1913, after Bob Brown literally cleared trees with his bare hands, a few saws, and a couple of sticks of dynamite. Right field was located on what is now the north side of the 1300 block
of West 6^th Ave on the south shore of False Creek.

On October 18^th, 1934, the Vancouver Senior League played an exhibition
game against the Babe Ruth All-Stars, who were barnstorming through Canada on their way to Japan. Lou Gehrig reportedly played first base while wearing galoshes and holding an umbrella.

The teams that played in Athletic Park
were part of the Northwestern League until 1917, and afterwards played in several
leagues, including the International Pacific Coast League, among others. These included:

• 1913:
  Vancouver
  Bees
• 1914:
  Vancouver
  Beavers
• 1915:
  Vancouver
  Champions
• 1916-17:
  Vancouver
  Beavers
• Early 1930’s: Vancouver Asahi (Terminal League)
• 1939-1951:
  Vancouver
  Capilanos
• 1950: University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds

This stadium saw the introduction of night baseball to the region, with Brown forking out $8000 for lights so his club could be the first team west of the Mississippi to play at night. Unfortunately, with its wooden bleachers and the propensity for cigarette butts to light dried peanut shells under the stands, the ballpark burned down twice.

The park was eventually demolished to make way for the Granville St Bridge on-ramp.

CON JONES
PARK:
Con
Jones Park
[seen right] was an entirely wooden stadium located on Renfrew Street
across from the Pacific National Exhibition grounds (bounded by Renfrew, Oxford, Kaslo and Cambridge Streets). The Main entrance was on
the corner of Oxford
and Kaslo Streets, in what is now an open park.

Con Jones was a big name in Canadian soccer, but the park was intended for lacrosse as well, before budgetary thinking saw the park opened to baseball. It was considered Vancouver’s soccer home for a long time, although the original park was destroyed by a fire on July 29, 1934, as was the habit with wooden structures of the time.

When Con Jones died in 1942, the park was willed to
Mrs. Ada Stevenson, who in turn deeded it to the City of Vancouver. Her only demand? That it be renamed for her uncle, John
Callister.

Callister Park would be soccer’s home in Van City for more than five decades, before being demolished
on the February 4th, 1971.

Teams that played in Con Jones/Callister Park included:

• 1930’s:
  Vancouver
  Asahi (Terminal League)
• 1937-1938:
  Maple Leafs (Western International League)
• 1950’s:
  Vancouver
  Firemen (Pacific Coast Soccer League)
• 1966: Vancouver
  Athletics (United Soccer Assocation)

Most people have forgotten that professional soccer in Vancouver started in Callister Park. In fact, most people have forgotten their was a Callister Park.

VANCOUVER CENTRE
PARK:
Thought the opening date is unknown at this time, Vancouver Centre Park
was located at Broadway and Fir St. The main entrance and Northeast corner of
the park was where the 1500 block of West Broadway now stands.

The stadium
housed a women’s softball league, but no hardball.  The ballpark closed in the early 50’s, but
not before quite a few of the women who played there turned out for the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during WWII, made famous by the feature film A League Of Their Own.

And then came The Nat… 

Note: The intention is to host this information so that researchers can have easy access to the data and details, so if you happen to spot anything here that isn’t true as you know it, or you have expanded information, please drop us a comment so we can see to it.