BASEBALL GALLERY

PETER LASKOWICH

“I link your ordinary experience – what you see, hear and feel – with the history of New York, the nation and the world.”

Peter Laskowich: Historian, Lecturer and Guide

Brooklyn, June 1869 - The Cincinnati Red Stocking vs. the Brooklyn Atlantics in what becomes baseball's pivotal game. It determined that the best players would no longer be amateurs and led within two years to the establishment of professional leagues. (Underhand pitching would continue, however.)

The original Polo Grounds in 1886

The original Polo Grounds, here in 1887, stood on 5th Ave. (parallel to the first base line) and 110th Street (third base line). The trees to the right are within Central Park.

The Yankees began existence - quietly - here at Hilltop Park in 1903. This is 165th Street and Broadway, now the site of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, with the Hudson River and Palisades in the background.

The High Bridge (rear), the Harlem River Drive and the Polo Grounds at its new location above 155th Street circa 1905 - Was the Yankee Stadium frieze meant to mimic the High Bridge?

The original luxury boxes - This is the Polo Grounds in 1902.

The Polo Grounds circa 1910

Pirates vs. Giants at the Polo Grounds in 1908

The Polo Grounds, probably during the red-hot three-way (Giants, Cubs, Pirates) pennant race of 1908

Fans could see a little of the diamond and a chunk of the outfield from 175 feet up. That's Coogan's Bluff.

The Polo Grounds circa 1910

From Coogan's Bluff again - In the early 1900s the powerful Giants, winners of ten pennants in 21 years, were the most popular team in sports.

The Polo Grounds was baseball's palace in 1912. Baseball Magazine referred to it as "the mightiest temple ever erected to the goddess of sport."

The Polo Grounds in 1916

The Polo Grounds circa 1916

How dead was the ball during the dead-ball era? Here's Babe Ruth batting at the Polo Grounds in 1919. Take a look at those outfielders!

Babe Ruth batting at the Polo Grounds in 1922. The Yanks played here as tenants of the Giants from 1913 - 1922.

Said the Giants as the Yanks were leaving the Polo Grounds, "The Yankees will have to build in Queens or some other forsaken place. Let them go away and wither on the vine." The Yankees instead built directly across the Harlem River.

The Bronx was a bit less crowded in 1923. This is Yankee Stadium the week it opened.

Yankee Stadium in April 1923

Yankee Stadium in 1923

July 1929 - The Concourse area of the Bronx filled up considerably in six years.

Yankee Stadium in 1937

The Polo Grounds in 1934

The Polo Grounds and Upper Manhattan

Trolley-Dodging I - Brooklyn trolleys killed 51 people in 1893. Admiral Peary, in for a visit, said they were as dangerous as one of his trips through the Arctic.

Trolley-Dodging II - Fare-beating, often by hanging onto the side. The term "Dodgers" connotes illegal activity and was itself a slur on the people of Brooklyn.

Babe Herman, nuttiest of the relentlessly eccentric 1920s Dodgers - Wrote one reporter, they instinctively finished sixth (seven times in eight years) but always featured a fine cast of lunkheads who kept the fans entertained.

Outfielder Casey Stengel fit right in. They became revered as the team of the oppressed and the forsaken, as the sporting world's very symbol of the miserable and the lost. These were the Brooklyn Dodgers...

... dem Bums.

Ebbets Field was a neighborhood ballpark - here, looking up Bedford Ave. in Flatbush in the early Forties.

Flatbush

Ebbets Field (lower right) with Prospect Park to the left and Manhattan straight up Flatbush Ave., above

1941 - The Dodgers have won the pennant and prepare for the World Series: "Gripped by an advanced case of galloping lunacy, Brooklyn, borough of bats in the belfry, today staged a wild, tempestuous and completely unruly celebration turned riot in honor of its beloved pennant-winning Bums. It was a borough gone berserk as a milllion slap-happy, slap-nutty men, women and children poured into Downtown Brooklyn for a victory parade of the Dodgers." - Wire Service report

1941 Dodger parade

General Manager Larry MacPhail and Manager Leo Durocher get to ride up front.

1941 Dodger Parade - Branch Rickey: "One could not live in Brooklyn and not catch its spirit of devotion to its baseball club, such as no other city in America equaled.... A baseball club in any city is a quasi-public institution, and in Brooklyn the Dodgers were public without the quasi."

If the 1940 Olympics had not been cancelled, Jackie Robinson would have been the gold-medal favorite in the decathlon.

Spring Training 1947 - Robinson is still with the top Brooklyn farm club and G.M. Branch Rickey arranges a seven-game set against the Dodgers. "Be a demon against the Dodgers," Rickey tells him. "Get on base. Run wild. Be the most conspicuous player on the field." In this series Robinson steals seven bases and hits .625. Let's repeat that: .625. Manager Leo Durocher finds this convincing.

April 10th, 1947 - The team of the underdog signs Jackie Robinson.

Opening Day 1947 - Jackie Robinson heads out for his first at-bat.

Tuesday, April 15 1947, Ebbets Field - Jackie Robinson's first game with the Dodgers

White newspapers paid little attention to Robinson's debut. Not so the Black papers, like (here) the Pittsburgh Courier.

Jackie Robinson on April 16th, 1947 - the day after breaking in with the Dodgers. Writes biographer Jonathan Eig, "Robinson was a trial balloon, and everyone was watching."

April 1947 - Across the street from Ebbets Field

This was a daring political statement outside of Brooklyn in 1947. These buttons were for sale at souvenir stands around Ebbets Field from Opening Day.

The Brooklyn Dodgers, a neighborhood team, became a national issue.

Wrote a reporter midway through Robinson's rookie year, "Jackie Robinson can usually count on the first pitch coming in just below the nostrils." In July he had already been hit by pitches more often than the league-leader had been the entire season before.

1947 - Said Branch Rickey, "Perhaps the succeeding generation will look back in amazement and wonder what the fuss was all about."

Robinson batting against the Cardinals in June 1954 - How did Brooklyn put a Black man on the field when no other big-league community would consider it? This advance traces to the character of the East River. It made Brooklyn rival of and subservient to Manhattan.

Dodger broadcaster Red Barber called Robinson the only man in history for whom breaking a rundown was even money, keeping them alive for 30 seconds, 45, even a minute or more. He scored on this one.

Robinson frequently advanced two bases on sacrifice bunts, frequently scored from second base on ground-outs, and on at least one occasion continued to second on a walk. Said Barber, "When Jackie Robinson was on base, every eye in the ballpark was on him. Every eye."

Robinson roars in on one of his19 steals of home. Nineteen!

Robinson steals home, 1955 World Series - A recently-discovered photo (it's two panels over) proves he was safe.

1955 World Series, Game 1 - Robinson steals home.

Time has blurred this photo. Until a few years ago we could see Robinson's toe on the edge of the plate while Berra has not yet made the tag.

1955 World Series, Game 3 - Robinson (age 36) terrifies Bob Turley.

September 1953 - Here's Robinson playing shortstop for the only time in his big league career. Robinson appeared there at his request and for all nine innings. So far I'm unable to find out why.

Says sportswriter Mike Lupica, "Jackie Robinson was in flames when he played baseball!"

And so, the matter of racial integration in the United States begins to play out in the little ballpark in the heart of Flatbush.

Jackie Robinson enters the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, accompanied by Branch Rickey and his wife, the magnificent Rachel Robinson - While scouting Robinson in the mid-Forties, the Dodgers looked closely into his character and that of those close to him. The Dodger report on Rachel: "If Jackie Robinson is good enough for Rachel Robinson, he's good enough for the Brooklyn Dodgers."

Joe DiMaggio's 56-game streak in 1941 made him a national hero and soon had a direct effect on national policy. When the U.S.. entered World War II that December, FDR endorsed the internment of Japanese-Americans but not Italian-Americans. Said Roosevelt, "The American public will not stand for the internment of Joe DiMaggio's parents."

Yankee Stadium in April 1946 - Bob Feller pitching to Joe DiMaggio

Notice anything unusual? It's always fun to scare Yankee fans. Here's Joe DiMaggio with brother Dominic in 1946.

Ebbets Field circa 1947 - Watching a game at Ebbets Field, said Jimmy Breslin, was like dinner at your first apartment with all the in-laws over.

Most ballparks of the era took up about 7 acres of space. Ebbets Field was tiny: 4.5 acres.

The '51 Dodgers never did reach that magic number.

The Polo Grounds

Black Wednesday - First pitch of the Bobby Thomson game, Sal Maglie to Carl Furillo

The Giant yearbook in 1952...

... and the Dodgers'

Willie Mays playing stickball outside his home at 80 St. Nicholas Place, a five minute walk up the hill from the Polo Grounds. Mays lived there during his first two seasons with the Giants.

Centerfielders are arguably the best athletes in the game. Give them their stage: All centerfields should be at least 440 feet deep.

1955 Spring Training - Willie Mays, Laraine Day (Mrs. Leo Durocher) and Manager Durocher. This cover photo caused extraordinary reaction in parts of the United States. The cause? A white woman's hand on the shoulder of a Black man.

Music Appreciation Night (it's a long story) at Ebbets Field, August 1951 - Free admission for anyone showing up with an instrument, and did they ever: trombones, guitars, piccolos, drums, ukuleles, ocarinas, banjos...

... bugels, cymbals, accordions...

... flutes, saxophones, harmonicas...

... fiddles, mandolins, zithers...

... violins, a washboard, a glockenspiel...

... and seven guys with a piano. Another fan showed up with just paper and a comb but was denied entry. Said the Dodgers, "Even we have standards."

Music Appreciation Night

"The noise was nothing like you have ever heard anywhere," says Vin Scully. A local newspaper reported that windows around Flatbush were closed all evening long.

Casual interaction between player and fan was common at Ebbets Field. Duke Snider gets a kiss and a cake on his 24th birthday in 1950. "It seemed the whole team belonged to Brooklyn," said Dodger rightfielder Carl Furillo.

Gil Hodges says hello.

Ed Roebuck warming up in the Dodger bullpen

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field in 1953 - That's Vin Scully in the middle of the three men sitting.

It's Pee Wee Reese's birthday in July 1955 - Turn out the lights in the middle of the fifth inning, wheel out the cake and everybody sing Happy Birthday to Pee Wee.

The screwy Dodger Sym-Phony

Usually the Sym-phony sat behind the Dodger dugout or marched around the stands but sometimes barged in on warm-ups. Think these guys knew anything about music?

The circus clown Emmett Kelly...

... was the official Dodger mascot in 1957.

Here with Roy Campanella, Kelly's character Weary Willie won him fame as the greatest clown of all.

What fun it was at Ebbets Field!

Ernie Banks batting at cramped, tiny Ebbets Field. Pitcher Carl Erskine says he could easily pick out the faces of family and friends from the mound.

Brooklyn after the final out of the 1955 World Series

Ebbets Field

Vin Scully and Gil Hodges at Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field

"You felt a relationship with that team," said Ken Kesey. "They had these guys like the rifle squad in a war movie. A little Southern guy. A Jew. A Pole. The first Black player. They were like the Grapes of Wrath team. They were the Joads."

Hank Aaron at Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field - Willie Mays and Gil Hodges

How often did a batter hit the sign and win a suit? Maybe once per year. Dodger rightfielder Carl Furillo did it, and he's making the catch here in 1951.

Furillo was master of that wall. It bore some 300 angles but Furillo assured everyone only two dozen by which the ball would carom, usually.

Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field - Johnny Podres pitching against the Braves with Johnny Logan on deck

Ebbets Field in 1955 - That's Gil Hodges at bat with Pee Wee Reese on second.

Ebbets Field, 1956 World Series - Sal Maglie pitching to Hank Bauer

Ebbets Field from across Bedford Ave. in the Fifties

At the corner of Sullivan and McKeever

Ebbets Field

Duke Snider

Walter O'Malley offered 11 cents on the dollar for the intended site of the Dodger Dome. The City said no.

The Polo Grounds in 1950 - Jim Hearn warming up for the Giants

The Polo Grounds - Those clubhouses in dead center had a profound effect on baseball history - a major factor in winning the Giants one pennant (the '51 sign-stealing adventure) and losing them another (Fred Merkle, 1908).

Why were the Polo Grounds clubhouses out in centerfield instead of underneath the grandstand? Look to Manhattan's extremely dense bedrock.

From the Polo Grounds press box - Sure it was only 260 feet down the lines but look at all that foul territory. The Reds' Ted Kluszewski is batting in 1957.

The Polo Grounds

The Polo Grounds (lower left) and Yankee Stadium (upper right) - Upwards of one-quarter (147/665) of all World Series games to date were played in these two ballparks within 3000 of one another across the Harlem River.

The Polo Grounds (above) and Yankee Stadium (below) in the Fifties

Night games in Manhattan (Polo Grounds, above) and in the Bronx (Yankee Stadium, below) with the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River in the background

September 1957 - Last game of the New York Giants

October 1957 - Farewell to a great New York institution

The Polo Grounds circa 1960 - Notice the race track around the outfield? The Giants are gone.

1958 - The Giants and Dodgers are gone so it's up to the Yankees to pull New York (Father Knickerbocker) through the season. They won another World Series that year but the Yanks, now alone in the New York, saw their attendance decline. Decline!

What's Julius Erving circa 1975 doing in this gallery? It was only when the Giants and Dodgers left after the '57 season that basketball became the city game, this according to Hall of Fame point guard and Brooklyn native Lenny Wilkens. It's just a coincidence that storied Rucker Park here is on the site of the Polo Grounds but not that the NFL took off shortly thereafter.

1960 World Series - Whitey Ford pitching to the Pirates' Bill Virdon

Mickey Mantle

Yankee Stadium in 1961 - That expansive outfield made the presence of the monuments acceptable in the original Stadium. It also accounts for the expression "out of left field" and is why the Yankees were essentially the first team to wear uniform numbers.

Yankee Stadium in the Fifties

Yankee Stadium in 1961

Yankee Stadium circa 1962

Yankee Stadium circa 1965

The Yanks and Tigers are in a virtual tie for first place and the Tigers are in for a doubleheader. It's July 4th, 1961. Attendance: 74,246.

Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium in 1973

Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium redefined the fan experience in American sports.

Yankee Stadium and the Bronx

If the new Yankee Stadium had been built as planned along West 33rd Street in Manhattan, left-handed batters would be pulling home runs towards the Empire State Building.

1962 - The Mets are at the Polo Grounds and National League baseball returns to New York. That's Yankee Stadium in the background to the right.

The Polo Grounds, original home of the Mets

The Mets played their first two seasons at the Polo Grounds. They honored their National League heritage in those early years by hosting a Stan Musial Day, a Warren Spahn Day, a Duke Snider Day, a Gil Hodges Day, and especially...

... a Willie Mays Day. Mays returns here for the first time on the glorious Friday evening of June 1st, 1962.

Welcome Home

The Giants, back at the Polo Grounds

Felix Mantilla batting for the Mets against the Giants

Duke Snider up for the Mets at the Polo Grounds in 1963 - Frank Thomas on deck

Sandy Koufax pitching against the Mets

April 1963 - Polo Grounds panorama

The Polo Grounds during the Mets' tenure

Shea Stadium (1964 - 2008)

Shea Stadium and Citifield

September 1969

1969 World Series - Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones and Ken Boswell return to the dugout (in front of Governor Nelson Rockefeller) after the second of Agee's two game-saving catches in Game 3.

1969 - This is more than a baseball club winning a championship. In the late Sixties this is a wounded city - said to be a dying city - finding hope in the least likely source of all.

Joy

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The Brooklyn Bridge and Downtown Manhattan

Ebbets Field in 1955 - That's Gil Hodges at bat with Pee Wee Reese on second.

Downtown Manhattan before 9/11, with the Hudson River to the left and the East River to the right - Why doesn't the East River freeze, and how does that matter?

The Polo Grounds in 1950 - Jim Hearn warming up for the Giants

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