This peculiar situation gave the city of Cincinnati two major league baseball teams in the same year with the same nickname.

Many patrons attending east end Reds games were dropped off by steamboat, coming either from the city or from Coney Island.

However, the Cincinnati Association club had difficulty with this because the city had the blue law in place which also disallowed Sunday games.

The next day the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette reported that "It would be commendable in Chief Deitsch if he would display as much zeal in closing saloons and shutting off a few of the crap games that he has shown in stopping Sunday base ball.

"[3][4] As predicted by an Enquirer reporter on March 14, 1891, the east side Reds ballpark proved to be too remote for drawing fans consistently and as a result the club did not fare very well at the box office.

During a day off on August 17, it was decided to suspend operations of the franchise until a new ballpark could be built on the west side of town.

Several of Mike Kelly's Reds joined the Milwaukee club including business manager Frank Bancroft.

The Athletic Club retained the ballfield and grandstand, and built a swimming pool in the center field area near the clubhouse building.

The East End ballpark suffered severe damage following flooding in the spring of 1897, situated as it was in the floodplain of the Ohio River.

The outfield wall and bleachers were swept out into the Ohio River, leaving just the grandstand, pavilion and club house.

[7][8] Thoughts of improving the grounds were not welcomed as the annual flooding prevents permanent structures from being built.

Aerial views from Google maps indicate that water from the Ohio still wreaks occasional havoc with the ballfields there.

The two softball diamonds occupying East End Park's footprint allow the visitor a rare opportunity to imagine major league baseball being played there, over a century earlier.