Let There Be Light: A History of Night Baseball 1880-2008

Let There Be Light

A History of Night Baseball 1880-2008

Robert B. Payne

Contributor: Tom Pierett

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1-800-839-8640

© 2010 Robert B. Payne. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 2/17/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4490-5359-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-2127-1 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009913105

Dedicated to:

Eleanor and Earl D. Payne, my mother and father,

Winnie Elder Payne, my wife, our children,

Jennifer, Bobby and Emily

Your love is beautiful.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE TO THE BOOK

CHAPTER ONE: Light Comes to the Big Leagues

CHAPTER TWO: In the Beginning … 1880 to 1930

CHAPTER THREE: Lighting Crosley – Lights in a Suitcase

CHAPTER FOUR: The Process

CHAPTER FIVE: Engineers and Prophets

CHAPTER SIX: Reviews and Revenues

CHAPTER SEVEN: The First Major League Baseball - Night Game

CHAPTER EIGHT: … and the Lights were Very Good

CHAPTER NINE: Powel Crosley – Entrepreneur

CHAPTER TEN: Edison and Tesla – the Giants of Light and Power

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Thirteen Ball Fields – Thirteen Years

CHAPTER TWELVE: Reflections on Crosley Field – The Last Night Game

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Lights Come to Wrigley

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Engineers, Owners, and Players – Photos

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Modern Day Ballparks

THE BIGGER PICTURE

APPENDIX A: Military Documents/Photos

APPENDIX B: CG&E Co. Letters

APPENDIX C: 1935 Reds & Phillies Ballplayers

APPENDIX D: Crosley Team Statistics 1935-1945

CHAPTER NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED READINGS

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS AND OTHER MEDIA

CONVERSATIONS

PHOTO CREDITS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book could not have been written were it not for photographs from many sources. But, were it not for the engineering excellence and photographic skills and photography of Colonel Earl D. Payne the book simply would not have been written.

I have many organizations and individuals to thank for their time, encouragement, and professional support in making this book possible. It is with a genuine appreciation that I thank my entire family for their total support, especially when the task of completing the book seemed overwhelming. My wife, Winnie Elder Payne, helped to proofread each chapter and encouraged me to move forward when the odds of success appeared to be fleeting. One of my earliest inspirations was from my daughter, Emily Claire Payne. While in eleventh grade she wrote an outstanding essay on her grandfather, Earl D. Payne, and his total involvement with the lighting of Crosley Field. This essay earned Emily an A+. Her written account helped to encourage me that this short story could be expanded on by the use of photographs and additional stories. My daughter, Jennifer Ellen Lee gave me strong encouragement and technical advice on the use of computers. Her spouse, Steve Lee a real computer whiz, also provided technical computer help saving me hours of unnecessary work. My son, Robert Earl Payne supported the idea of the book and provided three photographs of Wrigley Field with its new lights and the towers on the grandstand roof in 1995.

I have received total and enthusiastic support from the entire staff of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York. The director of photography and photographic archives, Pat Kelly has for years given me support and professional advice on the book. Without her unwavering help this book would not have been published. When I first began my research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in 1995, then president Dale Petroskey was most encouraging along with W.C. Burdick, Dan Bennett, Helen Stiles, and Tim Wiles. A significant number of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library photos complement the book.

The University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Book Library chief archivist, Kevin Grace and I have been mutually helpful. I shared data and photographs with Kevin and he equally shared photographs in the U.C. library. He also connected me with baseball writer Don Dewey.

Donald Dewey in the mid 1990’s provided technical knowledge and information which could only come from a professional baseball writer.

Chuck Foertmeyer, who created the website Where’s Crosley Now used a good many of my Dad’s photos and data I mailed him to create a section called, Night Baseball Comes to the Majors. Chuck clearly has been encouraging and helpful.

Jerry Flauto helped connect me to the Schenectady Museum and Suits Bueche Planaetarium chief archivist, Chris Hunter. Chris has supported the production of this book with seventeen GE photographs and charts of early minor league night baseball fields.

There have been many individual contributors as well. Ed LaCasse of LaCasse Photography, Denver, Colorado provided the aerial photograph of Coors Field. Jenny Burns provided photos and information about her grandfather F.W. Wayne Conover who was so central a figure in both the book and the lighting of Crosley Field. Still others were Dave Altemuehle and E.C. Mauer of CG&E. The photos by Ruthie Yale are wonderful examples of modern day baseball lights in the new Washington Nationals ball park.

Eleanor N. Payne, Joyce Lee McDermott, Sylvia and Earl D. Payne Jr., Philip C. Nunn, Wanda Harkins, Elsie Mae Nickels and Woody and Marcy Clark all helped in the writing of this book by their encouragement and by providing details of the Crosley lighting project.

I am totally indebted to F.W. Wayne Conover a friend and fellow lighting engineer who worked along side of my Dad, Earl D. Payne. Wayne and I shared seven years of personal, friendly and technical correspondence. He provided information on the Crosley Field lighting that only someone who had worked on the actual lighting layout of the field in 1935 could have provided. His contribution to this project completely resonates throughout the Crosley Field chapter and the entire book.

I will be forever appreciative of the chief editor, Tonya Lewis who tirelessly reviewed and edited the entire manuscript. Her sensitivity to my style of writing and conscientious effort to keep the content precisely as written is most extraordinary. While at the same time she made constructive editorial changes making a much better book.

Liza Douglass was very helpful and encouraging by using several of my Dad’s photos in the Actuality Productions film Night which appeared on Modern Marvels.

I wish to genuinely thank early reviewers of the book, John Paul, Jon Ward, and Joyce McDermott. To all of the above people I am most thankful. I wish to thank as well, Patty Annis and hospital chaplain, Father Bernie Gervais who insisted I write this book some years ago.

To Tom Pierett who worked so diligently and cooperated so well in providing his four chapters, thank you. Your knowledge of baseball in general, the Reds, and Crosley Field helped to create a sense of going back in time. This is a real art. You paint beautiful word pictures.

A special thank you to AuthorHouse Publishers and the entire team Nile who are well represented by Veronica Zan. Their professionalism and skills produced clear photos and perfect printing. The initial contact from AuthorHouse was made by John Parsons. I am most appreciative of John’s enthusiastic encouragement from day one all the way to the publishing of the new book – Let There Be Light. I thank Brad Tirey who advised me how to insert the photos throughout the book. Everyone was most helpful.

God bless you all,

Robert B. Payne

PREFACE TO THE BOOK

God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.

God saw that the light was good, and

God divided the light from darkness.

Genesis 1: 3-4

Let me first tell you what this book is not about. Although I have used a few statistics to make a point, this book is not about statistics. The book’s primary subjects are history, science and technology, sports and entertainment as well as brief biographies of some of the most important men involved with the evolution of illuminating professional baseball fields.

There are dramatic elements, incredible inventions, and superior engineering achievements clearly documented in the telling of the story. But, were it not for the photographs the story would be less than complete. In reality were it not for the discovery of Earl D. Payne’s photographs the story would not have been written at all. Hopefully the reader will discover a fascinating story told both by the written word and by the wonderful historical photographs.

Over seventy photographs as well as charts and diagrams document the evolutionary development of baseball fields illuminated by hundreds of 1500 watt floodlights. We know water, when it is plentiful is taken for granted, but if one is in the open desert and water is in short supply, then water is greatly appreciated. This could be said about illuminated ball fields. We tend to take lighted ball fields for granted. Night baseball has been around for almost eighty years in the minor leagues. It is now approaching seventy-five years in the major leagues. So, almost everyone reading this book is too young to remember a time when big league baseball was played exclusively in the daytime.

The photographs in this book are a collection from many sources which the author has collected over a twenty-five year time period. Each photograph has a story to tell. The story is told by text, engaging