Posts by Byron Bennett
The Polo Grounds, Coogan’s Bluff, and the Brush Memorial Stairway
The Polo Grounds was located in Harlem, New York, at 157th Street and 8th Avenue. Various incarnations of ballparks at that location were home to three different major league teams: the National League New York Giants from 1891 to 1957, the New York Yankees from 1913 to 1922, and the New York Mets in 1962…
Read MoreCandlestick Park (Be Sure to Bring a Sweater)
When the New York Giants left the Polo Grounds and moved to San Francisco for the 1958 season, they played their first two season on the West Coast in Seal Stadium. In 1960, they moved to brand new Candlestick Park, where they would play their home games for the next 40 seasons before moving into AT&T Park in 2000. Because…
Read MoreSan Francisco’s Seals Stadium and the Double Play Bar
Seals Stadium was home to the major league San Francisco Giants for two years from 1958 to 1959. From 1931 until 1957 it was the home of the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals and from 1931 until 1938 it was the home of the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Missions (who moved to Los…
Read MoreNellie Fox Bowl
Before the Marvin Miller era, many major league players had to find work during the off season to help make ends meet. Future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox was no exception. Born and raised in St. Thomas Township, Pennsylvania, Mr. Fox broke into into the major leagues in 1947 with the Philadelphia Athletics. It was while…
Read MoreBaltimore’s Other Major League Ballfield – Terrapin Park Oriole Park
Terrapin Park (later known as Oriole Park (V)) was home to the Federal League Baltimore Terrapins in 1914 and 1915, the International League Orioles from 1916 to 1944, and the Negro American League Baltimore Elite Giants from 1939 to 1942. Terrapin Park was located at the northwest corner of East 29th Street and Greenmount Avenue…
Read MoreShoeless Joe Jackson Comes To Savannah
Shoeless Joe Jackson was born in South Carolina in 1887. He began his professional baseball career in 1908, playing first for the Greenville Spinners and then for the Philadelphia Athletics later that season. In 1909 Shoeless Joe started the year with the Savannah Indians, before once again being called up by the Athletics. After being…
Read MoreBaltimore’s First American League Park – Original Home of the Future New York Yankees
The southwest corner of East 29th Street and Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, is the site of two former major league baseball fields. From 1890-1891, the site held Oriole Park (II) (the second Oriole Park according to Phillip Lowry and his excellent book Green Cathedrals) and was home to the American Association Baltimore Orioles. A…
Read MoreBallpark Found – Fort Pulaski And The First Known Photo Of Baseball
This post concerns not a lost ballpark, but a ballpark found. Well, not actually a ballpark, but a place where the game was once played. Captured for posterity in a photograph from 1862 is a baseball game in progress in the courtyard of Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia. The players can be seen playing behind an…
Read MoreThe Field Where Babe Ruth Played – St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys
The baseball field where Babe Ruth honed his skills as a child still remains to this day in an area just west of downtown Baltimore at 3225 Wilkens Avenue. With the demise of the House That Ruth Built and the demolition of so many of the major league parks where he once played, there appears to…
Read MoreCleveland’s League Park – The Oldest Former MLB Park Still Standing (Somewhat)
Located at the corner of Lexington and East 66th Street, just three miles east of the Cleveland Indian’s current home, Progressive Field, is a historical baseball structure unmatched anywhere else in the United States. For at that corner stands League Park, or what’s left of it. Once home to both Cleveland’s National League and American League…
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