Apr 19, 2023 - Sports

Flashback: When baseball was on Mayo Island

Karri Peifer

Excavating Mayo Island in 1921 before the stadium opening. Image: Courtesy of Cook Studio and Valentine museum

If you think the current, decadeslong fight to replace a baseball stadium has been fraught with delays and controversy, let us venture back to Richmond's original big-deal stadium, the one on Mayo Island.

Back then, around 100 years ago, Richmond's ballpark issues were almost biblical.

What happened: For the first 50 years or so of baseball in Richmond, teams played wherever they could, including at Monroe Park, at parks along Broad Street and at the site of what would become Lee Circle, RTD columnist Bill Lohmann reported in 2012.

But in 1921, as baseball's popularity was growing, Virginia league owners decided to build the city one big stadium on Mayo Island, which had hosted a team for a season in the 1890s, per newspaper archives.

The season opened in 1921 in a $12,000 stadium, per newspaper archives.

Yes, but: It wasn't all peaches and pickles on the island, which flooded in 1924, 1928, 1936 and 1937.

And in 1927, part of the bleachers collapsed, injuring dozens of baseball fans.
Then there were the complaints: "Housewives" wrote the daily newspaper in droves, saying the game's 4:30pm start time was keeping their husbands too late — and messing up their evening plans.

Finally, in 1941, a fire consumed the stands.

And just like that, baseball on Mayo Island was done.

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Flashback: When baseball was on Mayo Island

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