WELCOME TO FORGOTTEN BUFFALO

The production staff had been searching for a location for the summertime scenes which would authentically recapture the time and spirit of the 1930's as the home of the fictional New York Knights baseball team. Buffalo was "a natural", utilizing the Parkside Candy Shoppe, All-High Stadium, the Ellicott Square Building and War Memorial Stadium. Filming on "The Natural" began on August 1, 1983, but weeks before shooting started, Barry Levinson and key members of his crew were scouting locations. Their primary concern was finding a baseball stadium that looked the way stadiums looked in the '30s. "We quickly determined there were only three appropriate major league parks," says Production Executive Patrick Markey, "but preliminary investigation proved they had such intractable schedules that we realized they would not work. We then started looking for big minor league parks of the right size and period." Early in the search, Markey and Production Designer Mel Bourne were told about a possible stadium in Buffalo. On calling a local newsman they were told that the stadium had been torn down. Having gotten pictures of about 50 stadiums, Markey and Bourne covered the country--Portland, Oregon, Birmingham, Alabama, Albuquerque, New Mexico, the state of Texas, Jamestown, Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, Indianapolis, Jersey City, Louisville, Kentucky. "We even investigated Mexico and Puerto Rico," says Bourne. "Barry told me there was a good stadium in Louisville and I ran down to see it. The stadium was wrong but the people were lovely. I was sitting in the locker room feeling dejected, when an elderly man who had been Satchel Paige's catcher and was now the trainer of the Louisville Red Birds came up to me. 'What's the matter?' he asked. I told him about my search for the right stadium. 'What about Buffalo?' he asked. 'The stadium's been torn down,' I said. 'The hell it is,' he replied, 'we played the Bisons there this year." Bourne was off and running. He called the Buffalo Bisons and contacted Mike Billoni, the public relations director, for the team which is owned by Robert Rich Jr. Bourne explained he was the production designer of the movie "The Natural" and that he was coming to Buffalo to take a look at War Memorial Stadium. Billoni admits that at first he thought the phone call was a prank. "But we thought it best to play it safe," he says. They sent their best limo to pick him up at the airport and then drove him not just to the stadium, but onto the field right up to home plate. "I went out of my mind," says Bourne. "It was so like what I thought the stadium should be. I called Barry and told him he had to see it--there was no question about it--this was our stadium."

Current Status: No longer in use as a train station, and the subject to decades of neglect and vandalism, the remiants of the concourse are currently owned by the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation. Open to the public during speical events and tours, the building, even in its current ruin state, is a must see while visiting Buffalo. Visit website at www.BuffaloCentralTerminal.org

Current Status: Still one of Buffalo’s premier business addresses. Has gone through many historial restroations. Lobby is open to the public during week day business hours.

The "star" of the show. Known affectionately to Buffalonians as "the old rockpile," the stadium was built between 1935 and 1937 as a New Deal relief project. Situated on the grounds of an old reservoir, the rockpile arose out of muddy red clay with the help of an army of 1,300 federal workers, whose shanties and work sheds looked like "a town sprung up overnight following the discovery of gold." Estimated at just under $1 million, the stadium ended up costing a little less than $3 million, of which the city grumblingly chipped in about a tenth. On its completion, sports writers hailed it as a great stadium. "I never saw a better one," wrote Charles Dufour of the New Orleans Item Tribune. But Vincent X. Flaherty of the Washington Times-Herald, although acknowledging that it was "one of the finest," pointed out that "it is now equipped to accommodate no more than 38,000 persons, which in Buffalo's case happens to be too many--mostly because Buffalo doesn't have anything to put in it." He was right. Despite two halcyon periods in the '40s and the '60s, the stadium, whose name was changed four times beginning with Roesch Memorial and ending with War Memorial in 1960, did not find a regular, thriving tenant. When the Bills, members of the fledgling American Football League, ended their agreement with the Rockpile in 1972, the stadium stood empty until 1979. It was written off as officially dead. In Sports Illustrated, Brocks Yates wrote that it was "an arena that looked as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines." Then in 1983, the Rockpile was born anew. Robert Rich, Jr., president of Rich Products, bought the baseball Bisons, helped refurbish the stadium, paid the city of Buffalo $15,000 in rental and pushed attendance to an AA Eastern League leading 122,000. And in the summer of the same year, THE NATURAL chose the rockpile for its fictional Knights park. Director Barry Levinson had a hard time finding ballparks that had that 1930s look and feel. "We quickly determined there were only three appropriate major-league parks," said the film's production executive, Patrick Markey. But the movie was filmed between August and October 1983, in clear conflict with major-league schedules. They finally settled on Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium, where the AA Bisons played. The producers spent about $500,000 fixing up the ballpark, which had been built in the mid-1930s. Work included building of a scoreboard and repainting of the seats in the stands in the big league shade of the '30s--gray and green. About 3,000 people were recruited to play extras in the stands -- at the then-minimum wage of $3.35 an hour. Obviously, there still weren't enough folks to fill the stadium. According to a contributor to Digital City Buffalo's Movies bulletin board, "FN Burt, [a printing company] made cardboard people to be placed in the stadium during filming to cut back on the cost of extras."

Current Status: Nothing remains from the "Natural" era. In 1988, Buffalo’s Triple A baseball team moved into a new stadium downtown and left the Rockpile. The site was cleared to made way for a youth athletic field. Only three of its majestic entrances survive, but were not used in the filming of the movie.

Current Status: After the restaurant closed in the early 1990s, the historic interior was removed. Over the last 20 years, the building has housed offices, a daycare center and now sites unused. The "neon" sign was removed and its location is unknown. In 2007, it was proposed that the City of Buffalo?s film office take over the place to use as offices. Although this site is not open to the public, you must visit the "flagship" location of Parkside Candies just up Main Street from the "Natural" location. The preserved art deco soda shop still services up ice cream and the finest in craft chocolates.  

Current Status: Completely renovated in 2007, All High Stadium lost much of its 30s film appearance during the processes. Open to the public during sporting events.

Current Status: Although public monies have been set aside for its restoration, the Richardson Complex has been sitting mostly vacant since the 1980s. Decades of Buffalo winters have taken its toll on the center that has been designated as a National Historical Landmark. Not open to the public.