When did this stop in baseball? Suits to a game.

QUITCRAB

I am just amazed sometimes when I see people dressed up at a game! Look at "those suits" in the crowed.Some of the old topps cards has every guy in the crowed with the same suit,hat and sun glasses.

Really the only time I see people in suits at a game is in NY-guys getting off the train from manhattan at shea (citifield) or yankee stadium.
I went to games in the early 70s-I never remember my dad wearing a suit-he was a steel worker-not sure he owned a suit !

I have to think by 1975????????? people wore casual clothes to the ballpark. Times and dress really have changed.People dont even wear ties to weddings and funerals anymore.

Scott

Nathaniel1960

I would guess the 1971 World Series. Although I was watching some old Cubs games from the late 60's and it was really a mishmash, everyone under 30 had on a short sleeve shirt, and over 30 was a suit. So I'm guessing this picture captures older baseball executives and businessmen in the nice seats for a W.S. game.

itzagoner

after the '78 World Series....i went with my Dad and a couple of his business associates....it was in the high 80's/low 90's at game time....he was kind enough to allow me to remove my coat but the tie stayed on.

the following year i decided to attend games with my hippie friends instead.

IchiroDeported

suit and tie has no place at the ball park. Mustard is a biznitch to get out of silk!

slantycouch

The day Disco died at Comiskey.

QUITCRAB

http://sliderulesports.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/disco-demolition-lets-get-retro-and-do-this-again/

Check out the photos from the Chicago tribune of Disco night

larryallen73

I remember going to some "businessman specials" at Dodger Stadium in the 80's and early 90's. They were typically Thursday day games and a lot of people popped over from downtown in suits and ties.

Alfonz24

Cool old picture from 1948 and story. It is June in St. Louis and the lady has a wrap.



Babe Ruth made his last appearance at Sportsman’s Park 60 years ago on June 19, 1948. This may have been his last appearance in a big league ball park as he had appeared at Yankee Stadium for the last time a week earlier. Although only 53 years old, Ruth was dying of throat cancer and would pass away eight weeks later.

The purpose of Ruth’s visit was to promote American Legion Baseball. His final tour of baseball parks, which he started during spring training, was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company.

June 19, 1948, was a Saturday. Kids from youth groups and baseball teams throughout St. Louis were invited to the park that morning to hear Babe Ruth speak about baseball. They were invited by the Browns to stay for their afternoon game against the Yankees at which Ruth was the honored guest.

In the summer of 1948 I worked for Joe Causino at the Southside YMCA while attending college. I umpired for the YMCA’s summer baseball league in Tower Grove Park. Joe asked me if I would mind coming out to the ball park on Saturday morning to help him supervise the many boys from the YMCA who were planning to attend the festivities.

There were several thousand boys on hand when Ruth appeared on the field looking very sharp in a navy blue suit and black and white summer shoes. Ruth, however, was very thin and looked frail. As he was dying of throat cancer, he was very hoarse and hard to understand when he spoke. It was almost heartbreaking when the kids with us kept asking when the Babe was going to hit a home run.

I had grown up hearing stories from my father and uncle about Ruth’s great feats as a player. As a result, I was sorry I had gone to the park as the only time I saw Babe Ruth in person he was fighting to stay alive.

Hall of Fame sportswriter, Grantland Rice, described Ruth’s last tour in his Sportlight Column on March 24, 1948:

“It would have been so easy – so simple for the Babe to say, I’m sick and need a rest. But Ruth won’t take a rest….He is taking an incredible physical beating for what Babe believes to be the general good of the human race. This is true.

How many have we like that today in public life, in public office? Just give me one name….There can never be another Babe Ruth. He sits in the twilight of the gods, a human being far above anyone we have in public life today.”

fiveniner

I would say the the decline of day games casual became the clothing of choice.

Allen

The decline of society in action. It is ok though, soon we will all have our grey Obama jumpsuits.

cyots82

I went to college at Ole Miss, Class of '04. We would wear a suit to many football games, especially the big ones. Hell, I tore down the goalposts in a suit after we beat the #3 ranked Gators in 2002. I still have the hole in my pantleg from it! The dressing up for games, from what I've learned from older generations was that you used to dress up to go to athlectic events, because they were considered a treat and you would wear your best clothing for a special event as such. Plus you have to think, athletics were not held to the same crazy high standard they are today. Also, the availability of things such as players jerseys and team apparell was not as plentiful and easy to get a hold of back then. Mainly the older generations just held themselves to a high standard of class and they dressed accordingly! I wish more people would dress up for games. I know when my friends from other bigger, more laid back universities would come visit Ole Miss and go to a game, they loved the fact that everyone dressed up, or well that a large protion of folks dressed up! Many would dress up themselves and had a blast doing it. It's a nice change from the tore up jeans and flip flops you see all the time!

ddfamf

The decline of society in action. It is ok though, soon we will all have our grey Obama jumpsuits.

.....other than those who wear the "brown-shirts"....

WinPitcher

Sometime in the late 60's I'd imagine.

Everything seem to go to hell by then.


Steve

calaban7

<< <i>The decline of society in action. It is ok though, soon we will all have our grey Obama jumpsuits. >>



Damm, Allen you're good.

I really regret not letting you win the Crazyhorse contest.

Don't worry I'll have even a better contest this winter to cheer every one up , providing we're not under Marshall law.

P.S.---- Can't wait for my jumpsuit.