23rd Street Grounds

23rd Street Grounds, also known as State Street Grounds and 23rd Street Park, and sometimes spelled out as Twenty-third Street Grounds, was a ballpark in Chicago, Illinois. In it, the Chicago White Stockings played baseball from 1874 to 1877, the first two years in the National Association and the latter two in the National League.

23rd Street first hosted baseball in 1872-1873, rented out by the Chicago White Stockings as the club nursed its financial wounds following the 1871 Great Chicago Fire (for two years following the fire, it did not field a team). Seven games were even relocated to Chicago by professional teams in other major cities. The Cleveland and Troy clubs played two and four home games here, respectively, in 1872, when they were struggling economically (both went out of business). The Boston Red Stockings played one in 1873 when they were flourishing.

The grounds was on a block bounded by 23rd Street, State Street, 22nd Street (now Cermak Road) and what is now Federal Street. No illustration is known to survive, but contemporary newspaper descriptions imply that the diamond was in the north end of the block; a line drawn from home plate through the pitcher's mound and second base would have pointed south. If so, fair territory would probably have been shaped like a modern five-sided "home plate". (Home plate was square in shape at that time.) It has been discussed in Green Cathedrals, Philip J. Lowry's book on American baseball venues.