On a summer day a century ago, grandpa poses with his grandchildren while families enjoy a baseball game and mingle with neighbors, ladies in white with sun hats and gentlemen in dark suits with boaters. Although we can't see the game, we do see the bleachers on the first base or right field side of the playing field. The house in the background with spectators on the porch is 311 N. Narberth Avenue. The street is visible under the tree on the right.
Coffee Pot Park
Our Town reported local baseball in just about every issue during the season, usually on page one. In 1915 and 1916 it sometimes referred to Narberth's home field as "Coffee Pot Park". A March 20, 1910 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the founding of the Main Line League of 8 teams, including Narberth, but we don't know if this image depicts a league game or whether baseball was played at this location earlier. The houses and the field are consistent with the 1908 and 1913 maps; in 1900 the houses were not yet built and by 1919 the lot had been developed.
Beginning in 1917, Narberth's home games were relocated to Shand Park, today Sabine Park and the adjacent parking lot. Narberth Park, today's setting for local baseball, opened in 1926.
Mapping Coffee Pot Park
The "speculative baseball field" on the map measures 280 feet (right field) × 315 (left) × 390 (center), as large a field as the available lot could accommodate. The lot's shape constrains the playing area to having a shorter right field than left, just as today's Narberth Park has a shorter left field, also about 280 feet. These both resemble Philadelphia's Baker Bowl, home of the Phillies 1887 – 1938 and of Bert Bell's Eagles 1933 – 35. Known as the "Cigar Box" for its rectangular shape, its short right field had the same 280-foot distance as our rendition of Coffee Pot Park.