Billsman
February 12th, 2008, 11:21:49 AM
History
The stadium hosted the Buffalo Bills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills) of the NFL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL) from 1960-1972, the unrelated Buffalo Bills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills) of the AAFC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference) from 1946-1949, Caninius College's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canisius_College) football team, and basball's Buffalo Bisons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bisons) of the International League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_League) during the 1960s and again from 1979-1988 (as part of the Eastern League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_League) and American Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association)). Prior to this, the Bisons played at Offermann Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offermann_Stadium) and Olympic Park, which was located at the corner of Richmond Avenue and Summer Avenue.
War Memorial Stadium was originally constructed as a WPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration) project in 1937 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937). It was originally named Roesch Memorial Stadium, though the name was changed to Grover Cleveland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland) Stadium later in 1937 (honoring the former President and Buffalo public official) and then to Civic Stadium in 1938 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938). The name was changed to War Memorial Stadium in 1960 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960).<sup id="_ref-0" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Memorial_Stadium_%28Buffalo%29#_note-0)</sup> The stadium originally sat 35,000, but many expansions took place over the years, raising the capacity to over 46,500. Despite this, by the time of the AFL-NFL merger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL-NFL_merger) it was by far one of the smallest stadiums in the league, and so in 1973 the Bills left War Memorial Stadium in favor of their current stadium, now known as Ralph Wilson Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wilson_Stadium), which had a capacity of over 80,000.
In its later years it was poorly maintained. Ron Fimrite, writing in Sports Illustrated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Illustrated) (May 7, 1984, p.100), quoted another writer, Brock Yates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Yates), as having once said that this stadium "looks as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines." That look contributed to the oft-used nickname Buffalo residents gave to the stadium: The Rockpile. Ironically, that worn-down look worked perfectly for the 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984) film The Natural (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_%28film%29), about which Fimrite was writing. All of the baseball scenes in that movie were filmed here except for the one scene set at Chicago's Wrigley Field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field), which was actually filmed at Buffalo's All-High Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-High_Stadium).
The stadium hosted the Buffalo Bills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills) of the NFL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL) from 1960-1972, the unrelated Buffalo Bills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bills) of the AAFC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference) from 1946-1949, Caninius College's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canisius_College) football team, and basball's Buffalo Bisons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bisons) of the International League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_League) during the 1960s and again from 1979-1988 (as part of the Eastern League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_League) and American Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association)). Prior to this, the Bisons played at Offermann Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offermann_Stadium) and Olympic Park, which was located at the corner of Richmond Avenue and Summer Avenue.
War Memorial Stadium was originally constructed as a WPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration) project in 1937 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937). It was originally named Roesch Memorial Stadium, though the name was changed to Grover Cleveland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland) Stadium later in 1937 (honoring the former President and Buffalo public official) and then to Civic Stadium in 1938 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938). The name was changed to War Memorial Stadium in 1960 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960).<sup id="_ref-0" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Memorial_Stadium_%28Buffalo%29#_note-0)</sup> The stadium originally sat 35,000, but many expansions took place over the years, raising the capacity to over 46,500. Despite this, by the time of the AFL-NFL merger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL-NFL_merger) it was by far one of the smallest stadiums in the league, and so in 1973 the Bills left War Memorial Stadium in favor of their current stadium, now known as Ralph Wilson Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wilson_Stadium), which had a capacity of over 80,000.
In its later years it was poorly maintained. Ron Fimrite, writing in Sports Illustrated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Illustrated) (May 7, 1984, p.100), quoted another writer, Brock Yates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Yates), as having once said that this stadium "looks as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines." That look contributed to the oft-used nickname Buffalo residents gave to the stadium: The Rockpile. Ironically, that worn-down look worked perfectly for the 1984 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984) film The Natural (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_%28film%29), about which Fimrite was writing. All of the baseball scenes in that movie were filmed here except for the one scene set at Chicago's Wrigley Field (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field), which was actually filmed at Buffalo's All-High Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-High_Stadium).