Pitches on the Prairie Ep 2 - Lawndale Baseball Park

Part 1 - Historic Details

Lawndale Ball Park

LOCATION: North Lawndale Community NW Corner of South Pulaski Rd and West Ogden Ave (Cermak St bordered north side of ground) (Photo 2-Chicago map, 3-1909 Sanborn Map)

Shirt: All We Have Is Each Other: Mutual Aid from PM Press (1)

Chicago’s Lawndale community on the west side of the city, has hosted sporting events for more than a century. The Illinois Central Railway built a train line on 40th Street (Pulaski Rd) which terminated at Ogden Ave (Rte. 66) in 1888. This train line spurred growth, and a mix of housing, industry and open space for sports followed.

By the mid 1890’s a baseball diamond had been constructed, and teams from Chicago’s vibrant amateur and semi-professional leagues played there. The Stonewalls, a team made up of Black players under 18 called it home in 1896 (4). In 1908, the more well known Black team, Chicago Union Giants, kicked off their season with a game against a Joliet team (5+6). 

While “Major League” Baseball was a racist, whites-only organization,  baseball in the Chicago area thrived with a plethora of diverse teams. The Bloomer Girls Stars, a primarily female led baseball team played games at Lawndale Ball Park shortly after the turn of the century, and the White Rocks team, that became the Lawndales, enclosed the ground and updated the grandstand in 1905. (7+8) 

The Chicago area has an extensive history of baseball beyond the two MLB teams, and Lawndale Ball Park was one of hundreds of spaces where community teams played competitive games. Imagine if professional baseball had actually been an open competition instead of the closed system run by racist, greedy business owners such as Charles Comiskey. 

Could Chicago have upwards of 15 pro baseball teams, the way Buenos Aires has >15 pro soccer teams? (9) Could women’s professional baseball be playing a full, nationwide season?

Support your local community sports teams! 

#pitchesontheprairie

Photo 1: Narration Video screenshot

Photo 2: Community Map of Chicago, Public Use

Photo 3: Sanborn Map: Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Sanborn Map Company, Vol. B, 1909. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01790_069/

Photo 4-19 June 1896 Chicago Inter-Ocean p. 10

Photo 5-13 Apr 1908 Joliet Evening Herald p. 6; 

Photo 6 Chicago History Museum

Photo 7 Bloomer Girls website (https://baseballbloomergirls.blogspot.com/2025/08/c1905-chicago-stars-champions-of-world.html)

Photo 8-2 Jul 1905 Chicago Tribune p. 10

Photo 9-Buenos Aires Soccer Map (https://spielbeobachter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BsAs_fussballvereine-768x674.jpg)

The 1908 Final at Lawndale Ball Park

Baseball had been played on this site at Pulaski and Ogden since the 1890’s and soccer was not far behind. (PHOTO 1-Historic Detail)

The Lawndale Park ground was established enough in the early 20th century to host a Chicago soccer championship. In 1908, the Chicago area had two competitive Leagues, the Chicago League of Association Football (CLAF), which competed for the Jackson Cup, and the Association Football League of Chicago (AFLC), which competed for the Spalding Cup.

To complicate matters further, the CLAF Jackson Cup series was actually split into separate Fall and Spring competitions. In Fall 1907, Hibernians, an Irish aggregation topped the table, while McDuffs, a primarily Scottish team, won the 1908 Spring season. To earn the Cup, a final was necessary, and on August 2, 1908 Hibs met McDuffs at Lawndale Ball Park in a Shamrock v Thistle duel (2).

It seems the ground was a bit rough for the soccerites (3-3 Aug 1908 Chicago Tribune), and the result in Lawndale was a 0-0 draw, which was resolved a few weeks later when Hibs won a close 1-0 match at the West Side Driving Park. 

While Ted Booth, a soccer player in the Chicago area in the early 1900’s, did not line up in the Jackson Cup final, he did play for Hibernian in 1907 (4). In 1912, after a Wanderers soccer match in Joliet, IL, Booth, accompanying the Wanderers team, was shot and killed on a train headed back to Chicago (5). Was Booth an Irish international now plying his trade in Chicago? Or, an Illinois coalfields born imposter? We’ll talk more about Booth in a future Soccer History Lives Here project where we try to solve some of the mysteries of Illinois soccer history.

Photo 1: Narration Video screenshot

Photo 2: 2 Aug 1908 Chicago Tribune

Photo 3: 3 Aug 1908 Chicago Tribune

Photo 4: 30 Dec 1907 St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Photo 5: 25 Nov 1912 Joliet Evening Herald

Part 3 - Historic Details

Soccer at Lawndale Ball Park (PHOTO 1-Historic Detail 3)

Soccer, baseball and other events, such as the 1906 Bohemian gymnastics association exhibition (2+3), which attracted more than 10,00 people, were held at the Lawndale Ball Park. 

In 1911, the site was attractive enough to the soccer community that Campbell Rovers, another Scottish influenced side, made Lawndale Ballpark their home ground (4).

The Rovers, a successful local team, had won the inaugural Peel Cup in 1909. The Peel Cup, named after Hibernian financial backer Peter Peel (and a man who will feature in many Soccer History Lives Here releases!) kicked off in 1909 and it continues to this day as the Governor's Cup, recognizes the “Champion of Illinois.”

In an indication of just how pervasive Chicago’s soccer culture was in the early 1900’s, in addition to their first team, Campbell Rovers fielded a junior team, which also played at Lawndale Ball Park. The Juniors often played against High School and college teams and in the fall of 1911, the Juniors faced the University of Chicago Maroons. The Maroons won that match 3-2, as Chinese player Chang Tan, a former Yale star, scored a couple of goals (5).

Lawndale Ball Park also hosted “all-star” soccer matches, such as the  1912 game between players of English descent versus players from Scotland. This match was played to raise funds for Old People’s Homes in Chicago. Though the Scots were expected to be the stronger side, the English won 4-0 in front of the “biggest crowd of the year.” (6)   

As one can see from the video we filmed in August 2026, development overtook the open space that was Lawndale Baseball park, and it is now a busy intersection. That can’t take away from the fact that it was the site of some impressive soccer culture in the state of Illinois, and thus is identified as a place where Soccer History Lives.

Photo 1: Narration Video screenshot

Photo 2-3: 18 Jun 1906 Chicago Tribune 

Photo 4: 15 December 1907 Chicago Tribune

Photo 5: 29 Oct 1911 Chicago Tribune

Photo 6: 6 May 1912 Chicago Inter-Ocean