Black Saturday was a 1903 disaster that left 12 spectators dead and injured 232 when a section of a balcony collapsed during a baseball game between the Boston Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. It was the worst disaster in the history of American sports spectating.
National League Park
National League Park (also known as Baker Bowl), was built
in 1895 using novel construction techniques, prominently featuring a cantilever
design to support the roof and upper decks. The modernized building also
heavily utilized fire-resistant materials like steel and brick, in order to
avoid destructive fires like the one that had ravaged the Phillies' previous
stadium, the mainly wood-constructed Philadelphia Base Ball Park, in 1894.
The disaster
On August 8, 1903, during a double-header between the Phillies
and the Braves, two drunken men walking along 15th Street adjacent to the park
were being teased by a group of children. One of the men allegedly grabbed by
the hair a thirteen-year-old girl named Maggie Barry from the group of
children, and after a brief struggle, fell on top of her. Accounts of the
incident say that cries for help from the girl and her friends drew attention
from spectators in the stadium above, and approximately 300 people crowded the
balcony above the street to get a view of the commotion. Under the weight of
the curious onlookers, the overloaded balcony's supports apparently became
detached from their connections at the wall and plunged approximately 30 feet
(9 m) to the street below.
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