Braves Field Braves Field was a baseball park that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston , Massachusetts . The stadium was home to the Boston Braves National League franchise from 1915 – 1952 , when the team moved to Milwaukee , Wisconsin . Significant portions of the original structure still stand in place , and make up part of the Nickerson Field sports complex . History . Braves Field was also known as The Bee Hive ( or National League Park , formally ) from 1936 – 1941 , a period during which the owners changed the nickname of the team to the Boston Bees ( the renaming of the team and stadium never took hold with the public , and were both eventually dropped ) . It did host the Major League Baseball All - Star Game during that span in 1936 , however . Braves Field served as one of two homes ( with Fenway Park ) of the Boston Bulldogs of the first American Football League ( in 1926 ) and the Boston Shamrocks of the second AFL ( in 1936 and 1937 ) . It was also the home of a National Football League franchise which began in 1932 and also called itself the Boston Braves for one year . The next year , the team moved to Fenway Park and changed its name to the Redskins ( which served the dual purpose of sounding like " Red Sox " and allowing the team to retain its Native American - logoed Braves uniforms ) . In 1937 the team transferred south to become the Washington Redskins . With its capacity to hold more fans than Fenway , Braves Field was actually used by the Red Sox in the 1915 and 1916 World Series . The owner of the team at the time the stadium was built , James Gaffney , wanted to see the game played in a wide open field conducive to allowing numerous inside - the - park home runs . Thus , the stadium was built in what was , at the time , the outskirts of Boston , in a large rectangular plot , contrasting with the cozy and lopsided block containing Fenway Park . The stands were almost entirely in foul territory , leaving little in the outfield to which players could hit a home run into - with the fences over 400 feet away down the lines and nearly 500 feet to dead center , hitting the ball over the outer fences was all but impossible during the Deadball Era . A stiff breeze coming in from center field across the Charles River further lessened any chances of seeing home runs fly out of the park . The only possible target in the outfield was a small bleacher section , which came to be known as The Jury Box after a sportswriter noticed during one slow mid - week game that there were only twelve individuals sitting in the 2 , 000 - seat stand . Ty Cobb visited the park and commented , " Nobody will ever hit a ball out of this park . " The large foul ground area further favored the pitchers . In fact , it would take a seven years , and a livelier ball , before a batter hit a home run that cleared the outer wall on the fly . New York Giants catcher , Frank Snyder , hit the first major league home run in the history of Braves Field in when he cleared the left field foul pole . Meanwhile , it remained a pitchers ' park , perhaps never more so than on May 1 , 1920 , when Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Leon Cadore and Braves pitcher Joe Oeschger locked horns for a pair of complete - game performances that went on for a still - record 26 innings . After all that work , the game ended in a 1 - 1 tie , called on account of darkness . At the advent of the lively ball era , it became clear that the fans were unhappy with Gaffney ' s vision of how baseball should be played , and inner fences were built , and regularly moved , being moved in and out based on whims . The ownership of the team even went so far as to shift the entire field in a clockwise direction ( towards right field ) at one point . After the Braves moved to Milwaukee just prior to the 1953 season , the scoreboard was moved to Kansas City Municipal Stadium , and Braves Field was sold to Boston University . The old ballpark was used as - is until 1955 , when the university reconfigured the stands , demolishing all but the pavilion grandstand at the end of the right field line , which was retained as the core of a football , soccer , field hockey and track - and - field stadium . The stadium was initially called Boston University Field and was later renamed Nickerson Field . Aside from the pavilion , parts of the ballpark retained included Gaffney ' s original outer wall ; and the ticket office , which was converted to the university police station . The rest of the stadium property was replaced by dormitories covering the former main grandstand ; and the Case Physical Education Center , which houses Walter Brown Arena and Case Gym in the vicinity of what was the left field pavilion along Babcock Street . Of the various demolished Jewel Box ballparks , Braves Field probably has the largest proportion of visible remnants still standing . Dimensions . As noted above the fences were moved repeatedly throughout the ballpark ' s existence , sometimes within a given season . 1915 - 21 Left field : 402 ; Left - center : 402 . 5 ( 1915 ) , 396 ( 1916 ) ; Center field : 440 ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 402 ( 1915 ) , 375 ( 1916 ) 1921 - 27 Left field : 375 ( 1921 ) , 404 ( 1922 ) , 403 ( 1926 ) ; Left - center : 402 . 42 ( 1921 ) , 404 ( 1922 ) , 402 . 5 ( 1926 ) ; Center field : 440 ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 365 1928 - 29 Left field : 353 . 5 ; Left - center : 330 ( April 1928 ) , 359 ( July 1928 ) ; Center field : 387 ( April 1928 ) , 417 ( July 1928 ) , 387 . 17 ( 1929 ) ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 364 ( 1928 ) , 297 . 75 ( 1929 ) 1930 Left field : 340 ; Left - center : 359 ; Center field : 394 . 5 ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 297 . 75 1931 - 32 Left field : 353 . 67 ; Left - center : 359 ; Center field : 387 . 25 ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 297 . 92 1933 - 35 Left field : 359 ( 1933 ) , 353 . 67 ( 1934 ) ; Left - center : 359 ; Center field : 417 ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 364 1936 - 39 Left field : 368 ; Left - center : 359 ; Center field : 426 ( 1936 ) , 407 ( 1937 ) , 408 ( 1939 ) ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 297 ( 1936 ) , 376 ( 1937 ) , 378 ( 1938 ) 1940 - 1941 Left field : 350 ( 1940 ) , 337 ( 1941 ) ; Left - center : 359 ; Center field : 385 ( 1940 ) , 401 ( 1941 ) ; Right - center : 402 ; Right field : 350 1942 - 1943 Left field : 334 ( 1942 ) , 340 ( 1943 ) ; Left - center : 365 ( 1942 ) , 355 ( 1943 ) ; Center field : 375 ( 1942 ) , 370 ( 1943 ) ; Right - center : 362 ( 1942 ) , 355 ( 1943 ) ; Right field : 350 ( 1942 ) , 340 ( April 1943 ) , 320 ( July 1943 ) 1944 - 1945 Left field : 337 ; Left - center : 355 ; Center field : 390 ( 1944 ) , 380 ( 1945 ) ; Right - center : 355 ; Right field : 340 ( April 1944 ) , 320 ( May 1944 ) 1946 - 52 Left field : 337 ; Left - center : 355 ; Center field : 370 ( 1946 ) , 318 ( 1947 ) ; Right - center : 355 ; Right field : 320 ( 1946 ) , 320 ( 1947 ) , 319 ( 1948 ) < br > Center field at the flag pole : 520 < br > Deepest center field corner : 550 ( 1915 ) , 401 ( 1942 ) , 390 ( 1943 ) < br > Backstop : 75 ( 1915 ) , 60 ( 1936 ) Seating Capacity . The stadium ' s capacity went as followed :