By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Wildcat bleachers are visible on the roofs and in yards across the street from what was then Bison Stadium in 1932.
During the years of the Great Depression, a few hours at the ballpark remained a diversion that thousands of Buffalonians were still able to enjoy. Enjoying some sunshine and the Buffalo Bisons were a great escape from the realities facing most people outside of the confines of Bison Stadium, which was renamed Offermann Stadium after the death of team owner Frank Offermann in 1935.
Offermann Stadium, 1945.
A great promoter of baseball, Offermann was a beloved figure in Buffalo. With much fanfare, he had light standards erected at the ballpark, and it was with his leadership that the first East Coast night game was played in Buffalo in 1930. He was easily elected Erie County sheriff in 1933.
Offermann was beloved by many, but not by those ballpark neighbors who wanted to make a buck off his Bisons.
Starting in the 1920s and picking up steam in the early 1930s, the yards and roofs of homes across Masten Avenue from the ballpark slowly became filled with wildcat bootleg bleachers, offering baseball fans a cheaper option for a view of the game high above the left field wall.
At a time when a legit bleacher seat inside the ballpark was 25 cents, you could sit across the street for 15 cents.
In 1926, a section of garage-top bleachers was blocked when the team put up a billboard in center field. Further action to remove the neighboring views was started in 1932 and described colorfully in the Courier-Express.
“The doom of the cut-rate bleachers just beyond the ramparts of the Bison Stadium, which have provided seating space at a dime a shingle for thousands of fans during the history of the local park, appears to be sealed as the result of action taken by police yesterday.”
Buffalo police issued tickets to seven neighbors and warned that if the rickety seating collapsed and someone was killed, they’d be charged with manslaughter.
Court battles continued until the 1935 season, when the team put built a 22-foot high, 212-foot long fence, nominally to protect the property of neighboring homeowners from errant balls that broke not only windows, but also bones.
Mrs. Janet Dulac, 446 Masten Ave., testified at one hearing that her 13-year-old son, Edward, was in the family’s yard when he was plugged by a ball off the bat of Babe Ruth during an exhibition game.
Bisons great Ollie Carnegie with Babe Ruth
To this day, the most famous and most beloved Bisons players of all time remain the ones who could routinely hit balls out of Offermann Stadium, no matter what the fences looked like.
Ollie Carnegie played 12 seasons for the Bisons and is still the team’s all-time leader in games played, hits, and home runs.
Luke Easter hit two different home runs over the Offermann Stadium scoreboard. He often referred to those as 500-foot home runs — and he wasn’t that far off.
Bisons sluggers Ollie Carnegie and Luke Easter
Another all-time great home run hitter played at Offermann Stadium early in his career, as well. Hank Aaron was a member of the Negro League Indianapolis Clowns when the team played in Buffalo in 1952. The following year he joined the Braves and began his road to the Major League record books.
