Rob Neyer links to color movies of the first two games of the 1939 World Series at Yankee Stadium. Note that at the end of the game, the fans exit onto the field. I’m old enough to remember watching Yankees games on television before the remodel of the stadium in the early 1970s. It was normal to see the fans on the field at the end of the game, as they would walk out to visit the monuments in centerfield. I suspect the antics of Mets fans in 1969, when they tore up Shea, led to ballparks stopping the practice. Also, the remodel moved the monuments behind the outfield fence, making them impossible to visit until the team moved the fences in to create a walkway for the fans*.
*It was really done so right-handed hitters like Dave Winfield could hit home runs in the park.
When I attended college, this practice went on at football games. When the contest ended, the fans would go down onto the field, talk with players, then gather in front of the band as we ran through our repertoire of songs. It was all very genteel, until someone at another school got killed tearing down a goal post.
I don’t mean to sound like one of those old ballplayers who thinks no one knows how to play the game today. Going on the field was a nice practice, and I think it gave fans more of a connection to the game.
I like these stories. You know, people mostly behave themselves — they would today too — but then a few chuckleheads do something stupid, and, well, this is why we can’t have nice things.
In Jane Leavy’s bio of Mickey Mantle, she describes how the team had a squad designated to escort Mickey off the field, because all the fans wanted a piece of him. I’m pretty sure this was at home, in Yankee Stadium. I think the flying wedge was players, but it might have been stadium staff.