@@corin164 I feel the same way about living in 80s/90s New York but I do understand a lot of it is probably romanticized (Eg. The crime, crack era, race riots in Brooklyn).
I wish I was alive to experience the classic ballparks of generations past. Camden Yards and then Jacobs Field did a beautiful job with their retro designs, but now they have tinkered with the layouts on those ballparks and they have lost a little bit of the nostalgic feel. I never want to see another “Cookie Cutter” ballpark ever again.
The San Francisco Giants have shown great class by bringing their World Series trophies back to New York and to the site of the Polo Grounds.Few teams that have moved acknowledge their history like that.
Sean G Going , Going , Gone......Gone Forever, The City of New York Government failed to give "The Brooklyn Dodgers" a stadium. You ( The City of New York Government) had something very good for many years...Robert Moses must take the blame. Stop blaming Walter O Malley. Mr. O' Malley pleaded with the "The City Of New York" & Robert Moses to give "The Dodgers" the land on Flatbush Avenue & Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn NY in the late 1950's. Today, The Brooklyn Nets Basket ball team occupies the area for "Sports Entertainment". Blame your Local Politicians of 1957 who allowed "The Dodgers" to move to Los Angeles California. Too Bad & Sad for Brooklyn. Brooklyn's Baseball Identity is forever gone.
I always thinking about Willie Mays. Monte Irvin of the New York Baseball Giants stolen Home Plate in the World Series before Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Had to look that fact up and you are right. The Yankees have 24 HoF'er, and the NY Giants have 20. But there are also 5 SF Giants, bringing the total number of Giants in the HoF to 25, one more than the Yanks. The Giants had a head start on the Yankees, though, since the National League has been around longer. The Giants were initially known as the Gothams and started in 1884. The Yankees (originally known as the Highlanders) didn't were not a NYC team until 1903.
Compare that to the Washington Nationals. They hardly acknowledge they were once the Montreal Expos. In fact the Nationals un-retired the retired Expos' numbers. That was utterly classless and downright shameful!
I had the privilege of attending A Brooklyn Dodger New York Giants double header in August of 1956. I sat in the lower deck in left. The Dodgers lost both ends of that double header that day but late in the second game when the lights were beginning to take effect, Willy Mays hit a towering grand slam well over my head and certainly over the second deck and onto the roof. Who thought years later how significant such an event in such an iconic venue would be for a fourteen year of boy who was just having a fun day watching some of the greatest legends ever to play the game. I've been truly blessed.
every generation has it's legendary players. A young Willy Mays playing in the iconic polo grounds in the middle fifties against the boys of summer is a hard act to beat. It's not bragging, it was conveying history.
robert thomas I envy you. The things I would give just to sit a couple of innings at places like Ebbets Field, Old Yankee Stadium, Forbes Field, and especially the Polo Grounds. Baseball is and always be the worlds greatest sport because it's played and cherished at places like this, by people like you. Hold onto that image, and cherish what you saw, because young fans like myself will never get the chance to take in such a unique experience.
I'm blessed being in being 80 years old, and one of the absolute HIGHLIGHTS was my dad taking me to the Polo Grounds. What a memory...155th St., The stairs! The GROUNDS!
I’ve always tried to imagine it... My mother, a Yankees fan from Queens told me about it.. So, if I’m correct, those stairs lead from Coogan’s Bluff to to stadium, right?..
ByrdLives66 as a current day Giants fan Polo sounds like a dream but one thing I always wanted to know is what is in center field behind the wall and up the stairs
I was 8 years old when my dad a rabid Giant's fan took me to the Polo Grounds to see the Giants play the Dodgers I was too young to really follow the game much but Willy Mays became a hero from listening to my dad making comments while watching games on TV I remember finding out he was black and seeing the photo in the NY Journal-American it was a surprise to me being so young I had never thought about it when my dad took me around to where the players left right on to the street almost, a crowd formed around Willy and he stepped on my foot! This was a huge thing to me the beloved star of the Giants had stepped on my foot! Next year they were gone and it was a black day for my dad when he found out they were leaving he still followed them in S.F. and so did I He eventually became a Mets fan but we would go to Mets games in both the Polo Grounds and Shea when they played the Giants. In 1958 dad took me to Yankee Stadium to see a post season exhibition game "The Willy Mays All Stars vs. The Mickey Mantle All Stars" still being only 9 then I didn't follow that well either but someone hit a foul back up to us right to my dad but he had a pencil in his hand as he was writing down everything on the score card and that caused him to let the ball bounce out of his hands right into a heavy black woman's lap directly behind us I was very disappointed! When Willy came to the Mets in 1972 and hit a home run in his first at bat it was magic, he was not the Willy Mays of his youth but the first year he hit well enough to get by and his aura still drew fans but in 1973 things went badly it was obvious it was his last year and he ended up batting .212. My brother and I took the subway out to Flushing on "Willy Mays Night" the cheering when Willy, who was on the DL, came to the mike was tremendous I could yell at my brother sitting next to me and he could not hear me it went on for at least 20 minutes and Willy said finally while pointing toward the Met's dugout "these kids are the ones that deserve the applause" Willy did not have a good World Series, although he did get the first Mets hit, and the Mets lost the seventh game Sorry for the length and all and thanxs for the posting RIP Dad and all the Giant stars who are no longer with us Vaya con Dios
My Dad took me to the Polo Grounds for a game on a summer Saturday in 1956 then a game at Yankee stadium a few weeks later. I was 7. It was the summer he was trying to show me the sights of NYC. We lived in Manhattan when normal people could do that.
This is extremely well done. I left NYC in 1972. Never saw a game at the Polo Grounds but I remember as a youngster driving past it in my father's car. Thanks for the post.
They should have never demolished this stadium. I'm only 31 years old and I love everything about baseball and not just baseball but all the classic stadiums that I have never been able to see in my life. Fenway is magical especially the very first time you see that field . I could only imagine what polo grounds would have been like. I'm currently writing a book about my daughter and her first year at Fenway. I enjoyed this documentary thank you.
My Dad used to take me to The Polo Grounds in the 1950s. Bobby Thompson was the speaker at our Little League Banquet in 1952 0r 1953. He was from Staten Island and I was in the Great Kills Little League when it started - field was across the street from PS-8.
I remember attending games at the Polo Grounds with my dad and watching many more on TV. One of the most heartbreaking scenes was to see a pitcher being taken out of the game and having to walk, all alone, to the center field clubhouse.
The fact that the city of New York let not one, but TWO MLB franchises leave at virtually the same time tells you something about the city of NY in the 1950's.
There was no baseball south or west of St Louis until the Giants and Dodgers moved out west. This was not that long after the color barrier was broken. Baseball is better for it in my opinion.
Two words: Robert Moses. He refused to allow the Giants and the Dodgers the new ballparks that they wanted and desperately needed. Only after they left did Moses get the ballpark that he wanted in Queens, Shea Stadium.
Polo Grounds would never last today. too many people would bitch and complain about parking, seating, outfield, wi-fi, bathrooms, luxury boxes, bla bla bla bla bla. I hate that modern sport stadiums have to be like some cheap Vegas resort, you want to use the internet and sit in a comfy seat, STAY THE FUCK HOME.
A lot of people forget that the NY Mets played their first 2 seaons, 1962 and 1963, at the Polo Grounds. I remember very well seeing Pirate/Mets games being broadcast from there. One of the early shots in the video shows the Pirates playing with Clemente being in the 'on-deck circle.'
I was so blessed.I got to sit in the 3 N.Y.ball parks. Grew up a Yankee fan so got to go to many doubleheaders at the real Yankee Stadium,and watch Mickey ,Yogi,Roger, Elston, Bobby,Whitey, between 1958 and 1966. My dads dad was a Brooklyn fan, so in 1957 he took me against my moms wish's, to Ebbits Field. The Cubs. Gill and the Duke and Jackie. My dads brother a Giants fan but did not get to the Polo Grounds till 1962 to see the Met's play. Maybe 5 games in 62 and 63 one was against the other expansion team Houston Colt 45's.I got to see games in all 3 classic N.Y.Stadiums.I saw Mays play both against and with the Met' So I also got to see Willie, Mickey and the Duke.Nothing tops that!
i was born in 64' and grew up a yankee fan. my dad, who grew up in the bronx, was a dodger fan and talks about the day they demolished ebbets field w/the same sense of sadness as when a family member dies. it seems strange that for the amount of history that place saw (possibly the greatest play (rhompson's HR) and the greatest player (willie mays) it really doesn't seem to resonate in the hearts and memories of most new yorkers.
Charles McCarron yes..possibly. its gotta be right up there but there have been other equally dramatic, historic plays that reasonable people could argue about. Mazeroski's WS winning HR, Fisk's foul pole HR, Kirk Gibson's HR, Buckner's error vs. the Mets just to name a few. These plays are all etched in the minds of baseball fans no matter where they're located or which team they root for. IDK, I wasn't born yet when that happened so perhaps i can't grasp the enormity of it but the other plays i mentioned have stood the test of time as well
I know, it was so sad☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️. Id rather have the polo grounds leave than ebbetts field. I am a red sox fan but if the dodgers were to move back to brooklyn today, i would be a dodgers fan.
Charles McCarron i thought the big feud was b/t O'Malley & Robert Moses, at least as far as the Dodgers were concerned. I never knew of any efforts to replace/rebuild the polo grounds or keep the Giants in NYC.
how the hell do you go from Dodgers to Red Sox? I completely get it if you became a Met fan b/c of home city/NL connection but your choice is baffling.
I understand how you guys feel I live here in Baltimore and the Orioles used to play at Memorial Stadium it was a pretty ballpark but me and my father spent many hours there and that's what I miss the most I was only about three or four years old when the Dodgers and the Giants left New York places like this will never leave people's hearts the true Baseball fans will never forget
I'm so glad I found this video. It is wonderful to see that I am not alone in my love of the Polo Grounds. I was born a Giants fan but in 1965 in California so I never had the chance to visit the Polo Grounds. But for some reason it has always held a special place in my baseballing heart and videos like this are simply a treasure to watch. I would love to go to New York one day and visit the area where the Polo Grounds once stood. I know it is a housing tract now but I hear they have restored the John T. Brush Stairway that lead to the Polo Grounds. It is wonderful that the Giants have respected their history and have brought back each of the World Series trophies to New York to pay their respects to their history.
+Celeste Johnston That's not what happened. When the Stairway was discovered and verified as legit by the city planners' office, NYC immediately contacted the SF Giants about restoring it. The SF Giants ownership (not the current owner, the previous one) flat out refused to pay and actually said that their history begins in SF and that their fans don't care about anything that happened when the Giants were in NY. The next morning, George Steinbrenner called Mayor Guiliani and told him that the Yankees would pay to restore the Brush Stairway and for a historical site marker. He said it was too big of a part of NYC baseball history not to be saved. The NY Football Giants then offered to kick in towards the restoration (and then like 3 days later, after public pressure, as usual, the Mets made a small donation). So, the SF Giants dumped all over their own history, and the later visit to Harlem was a PR move as they've been trying to make up for that disrespectful act ever since. Just an FYI
LindenWalker the previous team ownership ( Bob Luire) sucked !!!!!! Peter McGowan was a New Yorker and he never forgot where the Giants came from, I love the Giants, both the New York history as well as the San Francisco history. I teach them to my kids and soon, this month when my first grandchild is here I will teach it to him. Also I’m a Yankees diehard !! The Giants and Yankees had a great relationship when they were in New York and also at one point shared the Polo Gorounds ! And they were avid Dodger haters !!!!!!!
I lived in the (Colonial Houses) projects from 68-77 near where the Polo Grounds Stadium stood. Although I never got to see the stadium, I always knew it was once there, & was reminded by all the many stairs in the train station (155th Street - D & C line) closed to the public that were once used by crowds of people coming & going to the games there. Thanks for posting & sharing this video !
That was a very nice story. I'm a Dodgers fan myself, born in L.A. Ebbets Field in Brooklyn is long gone, too. Time marches on. But those of us who are from California wouldn't be true baseball fans if we didn't acknowledge and respect our hometown teams' historic roots on the east coast. The Giants and Dodgers are as much a part of New York lore as they are of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and we ought to never forget that.
I don't begrudge the West Coast baseball fan. In fact I lived in San Diego for 10 years. It's a shame that baaeball couldn't elevate the old PCL to MLB status. They had a long rich tradition out there that seems to have been forgotten. The old Padres, San Francisco Seals, Oakland Oaks, LA Angels, etc. Lots of great ballplayers and stories.
The Giants moved for the same reason the Dodgers moved, they both wanted new ballparks. The Giants even had interest in moving to Minnesota before settling in California. I believe that the Polo Grounds would not have been saved in any scenario. In case you don't know the stairway shown at 2:14 is the John T. Brush stairway which is the only part of the Polo Grounds that still exists. It is being restored (maybe finished) and preserved as a historical landmark.
The Giants wanted a stadium in Manhattan, not out in Queens. They had no parking and it wasn't safe anymore to go up there by subway anymore. Today, if you go to Yankee stadium the cops are all over the place, it's like an armed camp, for 2 hours before and after the game. Make of that what you will. The mayor wanted the land for housing projects and he wouldn't lift a finger to get the Giants a modern stadium. They weren't drawing any fans so they had to move. Blame the politicians, specifically bonehead Mayor Wagner for the Giants and Dodgers going to California.
Native New Yorker here residing directly across from this site in the Bronx, and cringe whenever I glance at what stands there today. Unfortunately NYC has a terrible reputation at preserving it's history, it's relics and it's customs. Very veeeery few things these days can be attributed to "old New York" anymore ...........
The All Ireland Gaelic football final was played there in 1947, the only time it was played outside of Ireland between Cavan and Kerry. The place will always be a shrine to us back here in Cavan.
Saw my first Major League game at the Polo Grounds in 1962. Upper deck box seats right behind first base. I was only seven. Wish I could go back in time for just one day.
My dad and uncle were Giants fans. They lived on Sherman Ave in Inwood. He loved that place as a boy and was upset when they tore it down. He hated the Yankees and never did he take me to one game.
Went to my very first MLB at the Polo Grounds. The Mets were playing the SF Giants. It was the first year that the Mets were playing and Shea wasn't ready for games. Sat in the left field seats with my then Little League team mates from NJ. Remember Mays in center and he cover it like he still owned the place. The Mets were a bunch of castoffs from around MLB including an old Duke Snider. Amazing memories.
I went to the Polo Grounds as a Cub Scout when I was 10 to watch the New York Titans play the Boston Patriots. The stands were empty and the guy selling hot chocolate sat with us because we were the only ones buying his hot chocolate. My only chance to see the place...I’m so glad I went.
I'm lucky. I've been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid. Fenway Park is still there. I was there about a month ago. It will still be there after I'm gone. Still, it's too bad the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field are both gone. With inter-league play, the Red Sox would have played the Giants at the Polo Grounds and the Dodgers at Ebbets Field this year.
Consider yourself lucky that your team didn't move because before the "Impossible Dream" season, Tom Yawkey, who was a lordly absentee owner who spent more time at his Carolina plantation back then, was sounding notes about the bad neighborhood Fenway was in and how he might move the team, just as O'Malley did. It was only because of 1967 that the fanbase came back and suddenly Yawkey began to appreciate his team again.
I'm also a sox fan I'm really grateful it's been here so long. If it wasn't here so long I wouldn't of been able to sit on the green monster to games in a row. Yet it's very upsetting that they took down Polo grounds and Ebbets Field. GO SOX!
I am also a Red Sox Fan but the reason Fenway shall remain is because the Boston culture allows for preservation and history whereas the New York culture is progressive. As USMC6004 mentions Robert Moses had much to do with the inhumane destruction of the upper half of New York City which destroyed community and replaced it with Orwellian, bland montrosities which may as well be mausoleums for the residents. Having said that, if the Red Sox ever became unprofitable they shall go the way of the Boston Braves.
My late father, born in Brooklyn 1934, felt the same way about Ebbets Field. Whenever he would tell me stories about going there as a kid, his face would light up.
Leigh Silver , please Moses was a piece of work, O'Mally wanted an empty lot where the Barclays center is today, was going to pay the city for it, and Moses wouldn't let him buy it. Why would O'Mally who was from Brooklyn himself want to play in Queens. Moses gets all of the blame period. watch some old film of his arrogant piece of crap that he was.
Moses is really the one the blame. Had he said yes, the Dodgers would have never left Brooklyn and there would have been no San Francisco Giants, period. The Mets have been a poor substitute and will never eclipse the number of World Series championships that both the Dodgers and Giants have won since their move out west.
Moses is not the one to blame. First off, O'Malley was making an impossible demand that had the opposition of not just Moses but ALL of Moses's political enemies in city government who ordinarily would have stood up to him. O'Malley was insisting the city condemn all the land around the Atlantic Avenue site and foot the bill for the relocation of all the businesses and then give all that land to O'Malley. In short, he was asking for a $9 million sweetheart deal that would have mean absolute robbery to the taxpayers. Not to mention the fact that Atlantic Avenue was not going to solve his parking problem, contrary to myth. Second, there never was an offer to the Giants because Horace Stoneham had already decided to move regardless of whether the Dodgers stayed or not. He was going to go to Minneapolis, where the Giants had a AAA team and only went to San Francisco when the Dodgers made it clear they were going to LA. So Moses never had any chance to do an end-run around O'Malley and offer Flushing Meadow to the Giants to induce them to stay in NY as the sole NL team.
Both the Pologrounds and Ebbit’s Field replaced by housing. As a lifelong Southern Californian, I feel sorry for those who lost their teams….but I am also thankful and I respect the rivalry which began before the turn of the century and continues today. You can blame NY city official Robert Moses for not allowing Walter O’Malley to move the Dodgers to a new ball park to be built in the north of Brooklyn, approximately where Barclays Center is today….causing him to move the team west. And it was the league that insisted that the Giants go with them….it was part of the deal, as I read and was told. The Mets’ colors are a tribute to the teams; Blue for the Dodgers and orange for the Giants.
I've been a baseball fan since the 1968 season, but never realized that the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium were practically 'next door' to each other.
life long giants fan from San Fran, man it be awesome to go to the old Polo Grounds a shame it's only a housing project now. No real memory of it just what was left behind.
I live in Phoenix. The Giants, before and since the move to San Francisco, have held spring training here for decades, and our old Phoenix Giants were their farm team. They trained in old Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mays, McCovey, and so many Giants greats trained or played here. Phoenix has had a long time relation with both the New York and San Francisco Giants. I once got to meet and spend time with Johnny Mize when he attended a basketball tournament game. Great memories.
Wow! Fascinating! I always envy folks who lived in Arizona because some of you got to see Reggie Jackson when he played at ASU! Hopefully he didn't admire his home runs when he played college baseball!
Since l came along, long after the departure of the Polo Grounds,and other Iconinc statdiums of the day, L would love to sit down with these guys and just grab knowledge and experience this Iconic stadium through their eyes and words
Losing places like that is just so sad, but if you really want to face reality, consider this: A ballpark is like a person. The park is torn down. The person dies. Each one, within a few generations, is remembered and missed by few if any people. That's terribly harsh but true. So hang on to your beautiful memories. Generations following, who never experienced the place, won't really care, except to maybe enjoy a good book or watch a good video about it like this one. If you never met your great grandmother and never knew her, you can deeply appreciate her life, but you'll still never meet while you're alive. The beat goes on.
My father took my older brother,my mother and I first to the Polo Ground s in August of 1957.Then to Ebbets Field in September of 1957.Of course I don't remember a thing because I was about 15 months old and sat on my mom's lap.My older brother was 8 years old at that time.So I asked him one day what he remembered much about those two particular outings.He said,"You wouldn't shut yer yap.Kept crying both times till mama rocked you on her knee till you went to sleep."Papa was heartbroken when both teams left New York.Luckily he took his family back to the Polo Grounds in 1963 to watch the New York Mets play.This time our baby sister came along.She was 4 years old.
Not many old stadiums left. Wrigley, Fenway. I need to get to them before they're gone. I got to see Tiger Stadium the last season before it was demolished.
My dad took me there in 1961 or two to see the Mets and Dodgers, I saw Sandy Koufax pitch. I'll never forget it was a hot afternoon must have been over 95 degrees my father and I walked over by the third base side he slipped the Usher a few dollars and we got to sit in the shade. I must have been six or seven years old but that is my memory of the old Polo Grounds
It had to be 1962 because the Mets were not yet formed in 1961. The Mets played their first two seasons at the Polo Grounds, 1962 and 1963. They began their play at Shea Stadium in 1964.
*on much smaller scale* This reminds me of my childhood in seattle watching sonics games in the trashpit known as key arena. Losing a team you love is more painful than people realize.
The elevated train spur from the irt jerome ave line went right behind the ballfield i played on, babe ruth field, now the site of new yankee stadium. It traveled into a tunnel at coogans bluff ,site of the polo grounds . I saw frank howard hit the biggest blast i ever saw, it was against the mets in 1962. 45 degree angle laserbeam into the night between the light towers, wow .
True, and I do know that. There was speculation that LaGuardia and Robert Moses offered the Flushing Meadows site to the Giants after the Dodgers sealed the deal to go to LA.
Wow. I can't believe the guy wearing the Yankee hat didn't know what the Polo Grounds were. And the Yankees played there for 9 years and he didn't know what it was.
Brendan Butler doesn't mean he is a Yankees fans, a lot of people here just wear it cause it's popular. Even if he is a fan, he's probably not a super fan of them
I always make the assumption (often wrongly) that if you wear the cap of a baseball team it stands to reason you must be a fan of that team. I once sat on a park bench next to a guy wearing a Tigers cap--not something you would commonly see in my neck of the woods. I started to tell him what I thought of his team's chances to win the AL pennant. He looked at me as if I had three heads. He told me he wasn't a baseball fan. He only wore the cap because he liked the insignia.
it's not like back in the day when when you wore...("when when"??) a cap it actually meant you were a fan of the team. I remember as a child, whenever I saw someone with an LA cap, I immediately felt a kinship. today I just figure they liked the colors. also, baseball's not important anymore. it's not like the old days when the very first thing you associated with a city was its baseball team. Today, if I think of SF, for example, there'd probably be about 50 things that come to mind before I reached the Giants. things change, I guess.
Last time and only time I was there was when I worked in ems and coincidentally the building where I went to was the site where home plate used to be. I’ve been in some dingy projects in my life but this place get 1st place in dirtiest. Just remember feeling so disgusted and seeing the home plate plaque.
I had the privilege to attend the largest Religious International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Polo Grounds and the near by Yankee Stadium...delegates came from 123 lands for eight days...the peak attendance was 253,922 that packed both stadiums...7,136 were baptized as new ministers at Orchard Beach...an unforgettable memory thank you for this video...paulofeastman Eastman,Georgia USA
I remember some routine outfield flys landing in the upper deck while some screaming 400 ft plus liners to center field would be run down. There’s a plaque by the back building of the housing project, I believe 2999 is the number, that indicates where Home Plate used to be.
Thank you, Robert Moses. If it hadn’t been for his determination to make all three NY teams play in the same new stadium, the Dodgers never would have given up on Brooklyn and convinced the Giants to move west with them.
On this day in 1963 {September 18th} the final baseball game ever was played at New York's Polo Grounds; the Mets lost the Phillies, 5 to 1, and the attendance was 1,752 fans... Three months later on December 14th the last sporting event was held; the Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Jets, 19 to 10 {only 6,526 fans were in the stands}...
I'm 28 from NY. As a kid playing baseball games polo grounds seemed like some mythical arena built to the most ridiculous standards. I've only recently learned it was IN NEW YORK.
I wish I could’ve experienced the polo grounds 😢
No you don't. It was a horrible stadium.
Co Rin how was it horrible? I grew up in the Polo grounds Building 3 floor 6?
@@Spdadon im sorry you grew up during that era lmao nah
@@corin164 I feel the same way about living in 80s/90s New York but I do understand a lot of it is probably romanticized (Eg. The crime, crack era, race riots in Brooklyn).
@@corin164 you probably haven’t been there
The fact that each baseball stadium can have its own strange layout and quirks is what makes them all so beautiful and unique.
Baseball is the most unique sport in a hundred different ways!
Yeah.old crosely field that reds played in had that hill on the outfield
I wish I was alive to experience the classic ballparks of generations past. Camden Yards and then Jacobs Field did a beautiful job with their retro designs, but now they have tinkered with the layouts on those ballparks and they have lost a little bit of the nostalgic feel. I never want to see another “Cookie Cutter” ballpark ever again.
The San Francisco Giants have shown great class by bringing their World Series trophies back to New York and to the site of the Polo Grounds.Few teams that have moved acknowledge their history like that.
Sean G Going , Going , Gone......Gone Forever, The City of New York Government failed to give "The Brooklyn Dodgers" a stadium. You ( The City of New York Government) had something very good for many years...Robert Moses must take the blame. Stop blaming Walter O Malley. Mr. O' Malley pleaded with the "The City Of New York" & Robert Moses to give "The Dodgers" the land on Flatbush Avenue & Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn NY in the late 1950's. Today, The Brooklyn Nets Basket ball team occupies the area for "Sports Entertainment". Blame your Local Politicians of 1957 who allowed "The Dodgers" to move to Los Angeles California. Too Bad & Sad for Brooklyn. Brooklyn's Baseball Identity is forever gone.
I always thinking about Willie Mays. Monte Irvin of the New York Baseball Giants stolen Home Plate in the World Series before Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
+Julius M Crooklyn New York
Had to look that fact up and you are right. The Yankees have 24 HoF'er, and the NY Giants have 20. But there are also 5 SF Giants, bringing the total number of Giants in the HoF to 25, one more than the Yanks. The Giants had a head start on the Yankees, though, since the National League has been around longer. The Giants were initially known as the Gothams and started in 1884. The Yankees (originally known as the Highlanders) didn't were not a NYC team until 1903.
Compare that to the Washington Nationals. They hardly acknowledge they were once the Montreal Expos. In fact the Nationals un-retired the retired Expos' numbers. That was utterly classless and downright shameful!
I cannot believe they would even think of tearing the Polo grounds down...what a site it'd be today
The same can be said about Ebbets Field.
Real estate is like gold in NYC...if it's not needed it will go
If that is the case, then why is the old Yankee stadium just an empty lot now?
Funny, nobody cared when the Patriots tore down Foxboro Stadium.
Forbes Field as well....
I had the privilege of attending A Brooklyn Dodger New York Giants double header in August of 1956. I sat in the lower deck in left. The Dodgers lost both ends of that double header that day but late in the second game when the lights were beginning to take effect, Willy Mays hit a towering grand slam well over my head and certainly over the second deck and onto the roof. Who thought years later how significant such an event in such an iconic venue would be for a fourteen year of boy who was just having a fun day watching some of the greatest legends ever to play the game. I've been truly blessed.
it was easy to hit homeruns in that stadium because left and right field were so close to home plate.
you had to pull them down the line, anything in left to right center was a real shot.
every generation has it's legendary players. A young Willy Mays playing in the iconic polo grounds in the middle fifties against the boys of summer is a hard act to beat. It's not bragging, it was conveying history.
robert thomas I envy you. The things I would give just to sit a couple of innings at places like Ebbets Field, Old Yankee Stadium, Forbes Field, and especially the Polo Grounds. Baseball is and always be the worlds greatest sport because it's played and cherished at places like this, by people like you. Hold onto that image, and cherish what you saw, because young fans like myself will never get the chance to take in such a unique experience.
robert thomas I am 14 years old and I dont know what it is about Polo grounds but man I love it. Wish I had the chance to go there and see it...
I'm blessed being in being 80 years old, and one of the absolute HIGHLIGHTS was my dad taking me to the Polo Grounds. What a memory...155th St., The stairs! The GROUNDS!
nice. :)
I’ve always tried to imagine it... My mother, a Yankees fan from Queens told me about it..
So, if I’m correct, those stairs lead from Coogan’s Bluff to to stadium, right?..
ByrdLives66 as a current day Giants fan Polo sounds like a dream but one thing I always wanted to know is what is in center field behind the wall and up the stairs
What was the atmosphere like ?
@@jacobjones5269 I live near there coogans bluff is near there just on Edgecombe Ave going towards 168th
I was 8 years old when my dad a rabid Giant's fan took me to the Polo Grounds to see the Giants play the Dodgers I was too young to really follow the game much but Willy Mays became a hero from listening to my dad making comments while watching games on TV I remember finding out he was black and seeing the photo in the NY Journal-American it was a surprise to me being so young I had never thought about it when my dad took me around to where the players left right on to the street almost, a crowd formed around Willy and he stepped on my foot! This was a huge thing to me the beloved star of the Giants had stepped on my foot! Next year they were gone and it was a black day for my dad when he found out they were leaving he still followed them in S.F. and so did I He eventually became a Mets fan but we would go to Mets games in both the Polo Grounds and Shea when they played the Giants. In 1958 dad took me to Yankee Stadium to see a post season exhibition game "The Willy Mays All Stars vs. The Mickey Mantle All Stars" still being only 9 then I didn't follow that well either but someone hit a foul back up to us right to my dad but he had a pencil in his hand as he was writing down everything on the score card and that caused him to let the ball bounce out of his hands right into a heavy black woman's lap directly behind us I was very disappointed! When Willy came to the Mets in 1972 and hit a home run in his first at bat it was magic, he was not the Willy Mays of his youth but the first year he hit well enough to get by and his aura still drew fans but in 1973 things went badly it was obvious it was his last year and he ended up batting .212. My brother and I took the subway out to Flushing on "Willy Mays Night" the cheering when Willy, who was on the DL, came to the mike was tremendous I could yell at my brother sitting next to me and he could not hear me it went on for at least 20 minutes and Willy said finally while pointing toward the Met's dugout "these kids are the ones that deserve the applause" Willy did not have a good World Series, although he did get the first Mets hit, and the Mets lost the seventh game Sorry for the length and all and thanxs for the posting RIP Dad and all the Giant stars who are no longer with us Vaya con Dios
Willy Mays will always be the game's greatest player to me
That’s so cool you got to experience that, thank you for that memory
My Dad took me to the Polo Grounds for a game on a summer Saturday in 1956 then a game at Yankee stadium a few weeks later. I was 7. It was the summer he was trying to show me the sights of NYC. We lived in Manhattan when normal people could do that.
This is extremely well done. I left NYC in 1972. Never saw a game at the Polo Grounds but I remember as a youngster driving past it in my father's car. Thanks for the post.
I wish I was alive to see it and go there. very fascinating
You left at the right time. 1972 was when New York went to hell for a few decades
They should have never demolished this stadium. I'm only 31 years old and I love everything about baseball and not just baseball but all the classic stadiums that I have never been able to see in my life. Fenway is magical especially the very first time you see that field . I could only imagine what polo grounds would have been like. I'm currently writing a book about my daughter and her first year at Fenway. I enjoyed this documentary thank you.
My Dad used to take me to The Polo Grounds in the 1950s. Bobby Thompson was the speaker at our Little League Banquet in 1952 0r 1953. He was from Staten Island and I was in the Great Kills Little League when it started - field was across the street from PS-8.
As a San Francisco Giants fan, I have deep feeling towards the New York Baseball Giants. Such a great history our team has.
I remember attending games at the Polo Grounds with my dad and watching many more on TV. One of the most heartbreaking scenes was to see a pitcher being taken out of the game and having to walk, all alone, to the center field clubhouse.
The fact that the city of New York let not one, but TWO MLB franchises leave at virtually the same time tells you something about the city of NY in the 1950's.
money
No it doesn't. The city was flourishing still. They went because of money, LA and SF were on the up and offered a lot.
There was no baseball south or west of St Louis until the Giants and Dodgers moved out west. This was not that long after the color barrier was broken. Baseball is better for it in my opinion.
Seth, I would have moved the Dodgers to L.A. also. An offer you can't refuse.
Two words: Robert Moses. He refused to allow the Giants and the Dodgers the new ballparks that they wanted and desperately needed. Only after they left did Moses get the ballpark that he wanted in Queens, Shea Stadium.
It was actually a pretty good football stadium (had a much better seat layout for football than baseball.)
Polo Grounds would never last today. too many people would bitch and complain about parking, seating, outfield, wi-fi, bathrooms, luxury boxes, bla bla bla bla bla. I hate that modern sport stadiums have to be like some cheap Vegas resort, you want to use the internet and sit in a comfy seat, STAY THE FUCK HOME.
+Kurtis Kaskowski not true the most beloved ball parks are Fenway Park and Wrigley Field which both have no parking
+Onix Navarro why would that be reaching
well said.....
It wouldn't last because everybody would have too many homeruns in the season because I have to do is hit it down the line did get a homerun
Yankee Stadium was beloved by baseball fans and now look. it only exists in video and memory
A lot of people forget that the NY Mets played their first 2 seaons, 1962 and 1963, at the Polo Grounds. I remember very well seeing Pirate/Mets games being broadcast from there. One of the early shots in the video shows the Pirates playing with Clemente being in the 'on-deck circle.'
Yes. You can see the number 21 clearly--and that definitely ain't Cleon Jones!
I was so blessed.I got to sit in the 3 N.Y.ball parks. Grew up a Yankee fan so got to go to many doubleheaders at the real Yankee Stadium,and watch Mickey ,Yogi,Roger, Elston, Bobby,Whitey, between 1958 and 1966. My dads dad was a Brooklyn fan, so in 1957 he took me against my moms wish's, to Ebbits Field. The Cubs. Gill and the Duke and Jackie. My dads brother a Giants fan but did not get to the Polo Grounds till 1962 to see the Met's play. Maybe 5 games in 62 and 63 one was against the other expansion team Houston Colt 45's.I got to see games in all 3 classic N.Y.Stadiums.I saw Mays play both against and with the Met' So I also got to see Willie, Mickey and the Duke.Nothing tops that!
i was born in 64' and grew up a yankee fan. my dad, who grew up in the bronx, was a dodger fan and talks about the day they demolished ebbets field w/the same sense of sadness as when a family member dies. it seems strange that for the amount of history that place saw (possibly the greatest play (rhompson's HR) and the greatest player (willie mays) it really doesn't seem to resonate in the hearts and memories of most new yorkers.
Charles McCarron yes..possibly. its gotta be right up there but there have been other equally dramatic, historic plays that reasonable people could argue about. Mazeroski's WS winning HR, Fisk's foul pole HR, Kirk Gibson's HR, Buckner's error vs. the Mets just to name a few. These plays are all etched in the minds of baseball fans no matter where they're located or which team they root for. IDK, I wasn't born yet when that happened so perhaps i can't grasp the enormity of it but the other plays i mentioned have stood the test of time as well
Charles McCarron i used to work on 145th & Lenox which is right there too but that was in the 80's long after the projects were built
I know, it was so sad☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️. Id rather have the polo grounds leave than ebbetts field. I am a red sox fan but if the dodgers were to move back to brooklyn today, i would be a dodgers fan.
Charles McCarron i thought the big feud was b/t O'Malley & Robert Moses, at least as far as the Dodgers were concerned. I never knew of any efforts to replace/rebuild the polo grounds or keep the Giants in NYC.
how the hell do you go from Dodgers to Red Sox? I completely get it if you became a Met fan b/c of home city/NL connection but your choice is baffling.
I love the Polo Grounds
Ms topaz how can you knot the place was a classic
I understand how you guys feel I live here in Baltimore and the Orioles used to play at Memorial Stadium it was a pretty ballpark but me and my father spent many hours there and that's what I miss the most I was only about three or four years old when the Dodgers and the Giants left New York places like this will never leave people's hearts the true Baseball fans will never forget
I'm so glad I found this video. It is wonderful to see that I am not alone in my love of the Polo Grounds. I was born a Giants fan but in 1965 in California so I never had the chance to visit the Polo Grounds. But for some reason it has always held a special place in my baseballing heart and videos like this are simply a treasure to watch. I would love to go to New York one day and visit the area where the Polo Grounds once stood. I know it is a housing tract now but I hear they have restored the John T. Brush Stairway that lead to the Polo Grounds. It is wonderful that the Giants have respected their history and have brought back each of the World Series trophies to New York to pay their respects to their history.
+Celeste Johnston That's not what happened. When the Stairway was discovered and verified as legit by the city planners' office, NYC immediately contacted the SF Giants about restoring it. The SF Giants ownership (not the current owner, the previous one) flat out refused to pay and actually said that their history begins in SF and that their fans don't care about anything that happened when the Giants were in NY. The next morning, George Steinbrenner called Mayor Guiliani and told him that the Yankees would pay to restore the Brush Stairway and for a historical site marker. He said it was too big of a part of NYC baseball history not to be saved. The NY Football Giants then offered to kick in towards the restoration (and then like 3 days later, after public pressure, as usual, the Mets made a small donation). So, the SF Giants dumped all over their own history, and the later visit to Harlem was a PR move as they've been trying to make up for that disrespectful act ever since. Just an FYI
LindenWalker the previous team ownership ( Bob Luire) sucked !!!!!! Peter McGowan was a New Yorker and he never forgot where the Giants came from, I love the Giants, both the New York history as well as the San Francisco history. I teach them to my kids and soon, this month when my first grandchild is here I will teach it to him. Also I’m a Yankees diehard !! The Giants and Yankees had a great relationship when they were in New York and also at one point shared the Polo Gorounds ! And they were avid Dodger haters !!!!!!!
Ebbetts Field and Polo Grounds, two stadiums made great by two great teams and a rivalry like no other.
One of the biggest crimes in baseball has to be moving both the giants and dodgers to California smh...
No…both teams have never been bigger. Best move they made! Go Dodgers!!!!
I was born in the 80s. And Never knew Polo Ground was Stadium. I go all the times to Polo Ground. Now I understand the energy I feel when I go.
I lived in the (Colonial Houses) projects from 68-77 near where the Polo Grounds Stadium stood. Although I never got to see the stadium, I always knew it was once there, & was reminded by all the many stairs in the train station (155th Street - D & C line) closed to the public that were once used by crowds of people coming & going to the games there. Thanks for posting & sharing this video !
That was a very nice story. I'm a Dodgers fan myself, born in L.A. Ebbets Field in Brooklyn is long gone, too. Time marches on. But those of us who are from California wouldn't be true baseball fans if we didn't acknowledge and respect our hometown teams' historic roots on the east coast. The Giants and Dodgers are as much a part of New York lore as they are of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and we ought to never forget that.
I don't begrudge the West Coast baseball fan. In fact I lived in San Diego for 10 years. It's a shame that baaeball couldn't elevate the old PCL to MLB status. They had a long rich tradition out there that seems to have been forgotten. The old Padres, San Francisco Seals, Oakland Oaks, LA Angels, etc. Lots of great ballplayers and stories.
The Giants moved for the same reason the Dodgers moved, they both wanted new ballparks. The Giants even had interest in moving to Minnesota before settling in California. I believe that the Polo Grounds would not have been saved in any scenario.
In case you don't know the stairway shown at 2:14 is the John T. Brush stairway which is the only part of the Polo Grounds that still exists. It is being restored (maybe finished) and preserved as a historical landmark.
GreenReaper1331 Also, with the coming of TV and no blackouts attendance was way off for both parks.
The Giants wanted a stadium in Manhattan, not out in Queens. They had no parking and it wasn't safe anymore to go up there by subway anymore. Today, if you go to Yankee stadium the cops are all over the place, it's like an armed camp, for 2 hours before and after the game. Make of that what you will. The mayor wanted the land for housing projects and he wouldn't lift a finger to get the Giants a modern stadium. They weren't drawing any fans so they had to move. Blame the politicians, specifically bonehead Mayor Wagner for the Giants and Dodgers going to California.
Mom used to talk about the Polo Grounds. I never got there before moving to Florida. That is so sad!
Detroit still misses Tiger Stadium. She was a grand old lady, reduced to rubble and memories. I miss you grandpa, we had fun at those games.
Native New Yorker here residing directly across from this site in the Bronx, and cringe whenever I glance at what stands there today. Unfortunately NYC has a terrible reputation at preserving it's history, it's relics and it's customs. Very veeeery few things these days can be attributed to "old New York" anymore ...........
The All Ireland Gaelic football final was played there in 1947, the only time it was played outside of Ireland between Cavan and Kerry. The place will always be a shrine to us back here in Cavan.
I have an end seat from The Polo Grounds original orange and black, with the Giants NY logo my favorite baseball artifact.
Well... At least we can play there in MBL The Show 17
Wonderful to see this! My dad used to speak of the Polo Grounds. I had no idea. Thank you!
Saw my first Major League game at the Polo Grounds in 1962. Upper deck box seats right behind first base. I was only seven. Wish I could go back in time for just one day.
That would have been the Mets. I went to a Mets game at the Polo Grounds in 1962. I got there 15 minutes late and they had already made 3 errors.
My dad and uncle were Giants fans. They lived on Sherman Ave in Inwood. He loved that place as a boy and was upset when they tore it down. He hated the Yankees and never did he take me to one game.
That was awesome!
My grandfather always talked about seeing games at the Polo grounds but never knew where it was. Thanks!
Very nostalgic...😥
Great story!! Never saw it, not even on TV but read and heard so much about it.
Went to my very first MLB at the Polo Grounds. The Mets were playing the SF Giants. It was the first year that the Mets were playing and Shea wasn't ready for games. Sat in the left field seats with my then Little League team mates from NJ. Remember Mays in center and he cover it like he still owned the place. The Mets were a bunch of castoffs from around MLB including an old Duke Snider. Amazing memories.
Nostalgic piece. Enjoyed it.
But, time moves on folks.
I miss my childhood too. I'm 70 years old.
Beautiful. I remember reading a book from the perspective of the Giants: The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff.
I went to the Polo Grounds as a Cub Scout when I was 10 to watch the New York Titans play the Boston Patriots. The stands were empty and the guy selling hot chocolate sat with us because we were the only ones buying his hot chocolate. My only chance to see the place...I’m so glad I went.
I'm lucky. I've been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid. Fenway Park is still there. I was there about a month ago. It will still be there after I'm gone. Still, it's too bad the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field are both gone. With inter-league play, the Red Sox would have played the Giants at the Polo Grounds and the Dodgers at Ebbets Field this year.
Same here
Go sox
Consider yourself lucky that your team didn't move because before the "Impossible Dream" season, Tom Yawkey, who was a lordly absentee owner who spent more time at his Carolina plantation back then, was sounding notes about the bad neighborhood Fenway was in and how he might move the team, just as O'Malley did. It was only because of 1967 that the fanbase came back and suddenly Yawkey began to appreciate his team again.
I'm also a sox fan I'm really grateful it's been here so long. If it wasn't here so long I wouldn't of been able to sit on the green monster to games in a row. Yet it's very upsetting that they took down Polo grounds and Ebbets Field. GO SOX!
I am also a Red Sox Fan but the reason Fenway shall remain is because the Boston culture allows for preservation and history whereas the New York culture is progressive. As USMC6004 mentions Robert Moses had much to do with the inhumane destruction of the upper half of New York City which destroyed community and replaced it with Orwellian, bland montrosities which may as well be mausoleums for the residents. Having said that, if the Red Sox ever became unprofitable they shall go the way of the Boston Braves.
Fantastic short!
The amazing thing is Yankee Stadium is right across the river from Polo Grounds!
My late father, born in Brooklyn 1934, felt the same way about Ebbets Field. Whenever he would tell me stories about going there as a kid, his face would light up.
You can blame Robert Moses for the reason the Giants and the Dodgers left NY.
Please it wasn't Moses fault he offered both of them what became Shea Stadium.
Leigh Silver , please Moses was a piece of work, O'Mally wanted an empty lot where the Barclays center is today, was going to pay the city for it, and Moses wouldn't let him buy it. Why would O'Mally who was from Brooklyn himself want to play in Queens. Moses gets all of the blame period. watch some old film of his arrogant piece of crap that he was.
Moses is really the one the blame. Had he said yes, the Dodgers would have never left Brooklyn and there would have been no San Francisco Giants, period. The Mets have been a poor substitute and will never eclipse the number of World Series championships that both the Dodgers and Giants have won since their move out west.
he offed both of thejm what became Shea Stadium. They balked.
Moses is not the one to blame. First off, O'Malley was making an impossible demand that had the opposition of not just Moses but ALL of Moses's political enemies in city government who ordinarily would have stood up to him. O'Malley was insisting the city condemn all the land around the Atlantic Avenue site and foot the bill for the relocation of all the businesses and then give all that land to O'Malley. In short, he was asking for a $9 million sweetheart deal that would have mean absolute robbery to the taxpayers. Not to mention the fact that Atlantic Avenue was not going to solve his parking problem, contrary to myth.
Second, there never was an offer to the Giants because Horace Stoneham had already decided to move regardless of whether the Dodgers stayed or not. He was going to go to Minneapolis, where the Giants had a AAA team and only went to San Francisco when the Dodgers made it clear they were going to LA. So Moses never had any chance to do an end-run around O'Malley and offer Flushing Meadow to the Giants to induce them to stay in NY as the sole NL team.
this was incredibly sad
Both the Pologrounds and Ebbit’s Field replaced by housing.
As a lifelong Southern Californian, I feel sorry for those who lost their teams….but I am also thankful and I respect the rivalry which began before the turn of the century and continues today.
You can blame NY city official Robert Moses for not allowing Walter O’Malley to move the Dodgers to a new ball park to be built in the north of Brooklyn, approximately where Barclays Center is today….causing him to move the team west.
And it was the league that insisted that the Giants go with them….it was part of the deal, as I read and was told.
The Mets’ colors are a tribute to the teams; Blue for the Dodgers and orange for the Giants.
Yes, from what I understand the deal was that two teams had to go to the west coast together or neither could move.
I've been a baseball fan since the 1968 season, but never realized that the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium were practically 'next door' to each other.
One looked DOWN at the Polo Grounds. That I remember.
I LOVE BASEBALL since 66' as a child
Story's like this make me 😢😭😥
I wish it was still there.. Would have been amazing to tour now
life long giants fan from San Fran, man it be awesome to go to the old Polo Grounds a shame it's only a housing project now. No real memory of it just what was left behind.
This broke my heart.
I live in Phoenix. The Giants, before and since the move to San Francisco, have held spring training here for decades, and our old Phoenix Giants were their farm team. They trained in old Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mays, McCovey, and so many Giants greats trained or played here. Phoenix has had a long time relation with both the New York and San Francisco Giants. I once got to meet and spend time with Johnny Mize when he attended a basketball tournament game. Great memories.
Wow! Fascinating! I always envy folks who lived in Arizona because some of you got to see Reggie Jackson when he played at ASU! Hopefully he didn't admire his home runs when he played college baseball!
It’s kind of nice knowing that all existing baseball that have played in New York have also played at the Polo Grounds
LOL, that's funny. It didn't register right away but yes, the Dodgers played there as a visiting club.
I kind of wish there was still a ballpark like the Polo Grounds. For younger generation like me.
I am 47 never seen these parks but wish they still were around.
Worked at the polo grounds nycha. Loved the place. Live in Belize now. Manny.
Since l came along, long after the departure of the Polo Grounds,and other Iconinc statdiums of the day, L would love to sit down with these guys and just grab knowledge and experience this Iconic stadium through their eyes and words
Losing places like that is just so sad, but if you really want to face reality, consider this: A ballpark is like a person. The park is torn down. The person dies. Each one, within a few generations, is remembered and missed by few if any people. That's terribly harsh but true. So hang on to your beautiful memories. Generations following, who never experienced the place, won't really care, except to maybe enjoy a good book or watch a good video about it like this one. If you never met your great grandmother and never knew her, you can deeply appreciate her life, but you'll still never meet while you're alive. The beat goes on.
Imagine being there for the Fred Merkle game in 1908? To me that's just a fascinating sports story.
Yeah, that clusterf**k was how the Cubs won their only World Series until recently.
My father took my older brother,my mother and I first to the Polo Ground s in August of 1957.Then to Ebbets Field in September of 1957.Of course I don't remember a thing because I was about 15 months old and sat on my mom's lap.My older brother was 8 years old at that time.So I asked him one day what he remembered much about those two particular outings.He said,"You wouldn't shut yer yap.Kept crying both times till mama rocked you on her knee till you went to sleep."Papa was heartbroken when both teams left New York.Luckily he took his family back to the Polo Grounds in 1963 to watch the New York Mets play.This time our baby sister came along.She was 4 years old.
Not many old stadiums left. Wrigley, Fenway. I need to get to them before they're gone. I got to see Tiger Stadium the last season before it was demolished.
My dad took me there in 1961 or two to see the Mets and Dodgers, I saw Sandy Koufax pitch. I'll never forget it was a hot afternoon must have been over 95 degrees my father and I walked over by the third base side he slipped the Usher a few dollars and we got to sit in the shade. I must have been six or seven years old but that is my memory of the old Polo Grounds
It had to be 1962 because the Mets were not yet formed in 1961. The Mets played their first two seasons at the Polo Grounds, 1962 and 1963. They began their play at Shea Stadium in 1964.
*on much smaller scale* This reminds me of my childhood in seattle watching sonics games in the trashpit known as key arena. Losing a team you love is more painful than people realize.
Nice use of Explosions in the Sky here!
821Burks which track is it?
Well done
The elevated train spur from the irt jerome ave line went right behind the ballfield i played on, babe ruth field, now the site of new yankee stadium. It traveled into a tunnel at coogans bluff ,site of the polo grounds . I saw frank howard hit the biggest blast i ever saw, it was against the mets in 1962. 45 degree angle laserbeam into the night between the light towers, wow .
when i was 6 my father took me to see the Giants in the polo grounds that was the last time i ever went to see a sporting event
Cathedrals of Baseball! ⚾️❤️
Very nicely done. Wish it was one hour long. Keep up the good work.
beautiful ballpark.
So many times I visit the polo ground projects & I never had no idea the SF Giants played there & that they played 4 NY
Explosions in the Sky set a nice backdrop for this clip.
What a great urban development plan that was....
That’s crazy when I visit new York I stay in the polo grounds towers with my cousins and I never knew this (from North Carolina)
I wish all the old stadiums was still standing so much history just gone
I've luckily been born into this.
My father left some photos behind when he passed of some players at the Polo Grounds including his favorite, Mel Ott.
True, and I do know that. There was speculation that LaGuardia and Robert Moses offered the Flushing Meadows site to the Giants after the Dodgers sealed the deal to go to LA.
Wow. I can't believe the guy wearing the Yankee hat didn't know what the Polo Grounds were. And the Yankees played there for 9 years and he didn't know what it was.
a lot of people wear Yankees hats
Brendan Butler doesn't mean he is a Yankees fans, a lot of people here just wear it cause it's popular. Even if he is a fan, he's probably not a super fan of them
I always make the assumption (often wrongly) that if you wear the cap of a baseball team it stands to reason you must be a fan of that team. I once sat on a park bench next to a guy wearing a Tigers cap--not something you would commonly see in my neck of the woods. I started to tell him what I thought of his team's chances to win the AL pennant. He looked at me as if I had three heads. He told me he wasn't a baseball fan. He only wore the cap because he liked the insignia.
it's not like back in the day when when you wore...("when when"??) a cap it actually meant you were a fan of the team. I remember as a child, whenever I saw someone with an LA cap, I immediately felt a kinship. today I just figure they liked the colors. also, baseball's not important anymore. it's not like the old days when the very first thing you associated with a city was its baseball team. Today, if I think of SF, for example, there'd probably be about 50 things that come to mind before I reached the Giants. things change, I guess.
A NY hat mostly means they're from ny or are pretending so. Its the most least likely hat to be worn by people actually interested in baseball.
Last time and only time I was there was when I worked in ems and coincidentally the building where I went to was the site where home plate used to be. I’ve been in some dingy projects in my life but this place get 1st place in dirtiest. Just remember feeling so disgusted and seeing the home plate plaque.
I had the privilege to attend the largest Religious International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Polo Grounds and the near by Yankee Stadium...delegates came from 123 lands for eight days...the peak attendance was 253,922 that packed both stadiums...7,136 were baptized as new ministers at Orchard Beach...an unforgettable memory thank you for this video...paulofeastman Eastman,Georgia USA
I always think 'gee, even I could've hit a HR down the RF line at that place!'
I remember some routine outfield flys landing in the upper deck while some screaming 400 ft plus liners to center field would be run down. There’s a plaque by the back building of the housing project, I believe 2999 is the number, that indicates where Home Plate used to be.
Thank you, Robert Moses. If it hadn’t been for his determination to make all three NY teams play in the same new stadium, the Dodgers never would have given up on Brooklyn and convinced the Giants to move west with them.
Moses was a control freak
Thats great people still have memories of this. NL NY baseball is deep. It would be cool to see former Giant and Dodgers w stautes at citi field.
Even I, a lifelong Dodger fan has to love the Polo grounds
I wish the polo grounds was still there then I would go to there
We still have Rickwood Field. 1910 Bam !
On this day in 1963 {September 18th} the final baseball game ever was played at New York's Polo Grounds; the Mets lost the Phillies, 5 to 1, and the attendance was 1,752 fans...
Three months later on December 14th the last sporting event was held; the Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Jets, 19 to 10 {only 6,526 fans were in the stands}...
I'm 28 from NY. As a kid playing baseball games polo grounds seemed like some mythical arena built to the most ridiculous standards. I've only recently learned it was IN NEW YORK.
Nice Speed Darlington cameo
Pete Hammel is a LEGEND!!!!!
Without the dodgers and giants leaving town I would never have been so lucky to be a mets fan but my heart goes out to those old giant and dodger fans