*One correction, the Giants were known as the “Gothams” previously at the first Polo Grounds, the Metropolitans were a separate Franchise who played there.
Quite an added attraction was the fact that in about the distance of a mile, a short walk over the McCombs Dam Bridge, over the Harlem River, is Yankeee Stadium. To add to the charm of the venue is the fact that right up the block ( two blocks??) is the playground where the Rucker Games are held. That the event where great former city basketball ball legends, former pros or not , play a WILD playground version of BB
That's where the Mets get their name. Also, although the Mets are named after the Metropolitans, that was never their name. The official name of the New York Mets IS the "New York Mets."
@@christophersorrentino1271 I believe that short walk is the real reason why the upper deck at the Polo Grounds was extended all the way to center field----to block out the view of Yankee Stadium. Speaking of blocking views, one of the big reasons for the upper deck in the first place (which I think was originally built in the pre-1912 Polo Grounds) was not just to increase capacity but to block the view of the playing field from people standing on Coogan's Bluff behind the ballpark. In 1908, there was a pivotal game at the Polo Grounds played the last day of the year to decide the National League pennant. Although 30,000 were in the stands (which was a HUGE number in the 1900's) there were over a 100,000 fans watching the game from Coogan's Bluff.
Yankee Stadium on the hill across the river. And I remember looking down into the Polo Grounds from outside Yankee Stadium when I was a kid. So close together!
I'm a huge SF Giants fan and I once visited where the Polo Grounds used to be. There is also a plaque that marks the approximate location of home plate at the Polo Grounds housing.
Im a huge SF fan too. But I grew up in CT and going to yankee games on weekends at their old stadium (which was a total dump despite the history and fanfare). Ive seen the plaque too. Pretty cool.
There’s a similar setup at the site of the old Atlanta-Fulton County stadium. It’s now a parking lot, but the diamond is painted on the pavement, and there’s a “Hank Aaron wall” marking the spot of his famous home run.
My dad took me to the Polo Grounds in the early 1950s to see the Giants, my favorite team at that time, play the Pittsburgh Pirates. I saw my favorite baseball player, Willie Mays, make a fantastic, over the shoulder catch to take away an extra base hit. Wow, what special memories, a real treat for a youngster!
@@scottymacdewder5229 You mean the style of catch? Because I don’t know of a famous catch Willie Mays made against the Pirates. I know of THE Catch from game 1 of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, though.
Yeah, Willie would do that every other game. It was a real thrill to watch Mays in center field at the Polo Grounds. Much later, when the Giants played the Mets in the Polo Grounds, I saw Felipe Alou hit a moon shot to center field that was caught right in front of the fence. A 470 foot flyout.
The Polo Grounds also hosted the Championship game of Gaelic Football in 1947. The game between Kerry and Cavan was the first and only time the All Ireland final was played outside Ireland.
my father was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan I went to the polo grounds In 1957 with him to see the Dodgers and Giants .I was 7 .Jonny antonelli against don drysdale .the Dodgers won 1 to 0 After the game they let you walk on the field to exit .I still remember looking up at stands and the lights . Never forget it after all these years.
I've been on the field at 5 different major league ballparks, the 4 most memorable of which being the old parks: Tiger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, and Fenway Park. Nothing beats a stroll where legends once played!
@@robertflowers6621 yeah, Robert, I have been on 4. took a drink from the cubbies' electric water cooler in Wrigley! and swung Rod Carew's bat in Minnesota!!! GOOD TIMES!! I AM sooooh sorry I never ran the bases with the kids after a Rockies game! and I which I had stepped off in 'paces' at Fenway Park from home to the left field wall to see how far it was! Gaylord Perry said he stepped it off and it wasn't 300 feet!!!
The Polo Grounds should have been preserved. So much sports history was written there. Imagine being able to visit today and see the old baseball diamond and walk in the outfield where Willie Mays made that legendary catch.
I would LOVE to see the polo grounds rebuilt. The Mets missed an opportunity when they build Citi Field. The Field of Dreams game proved the fans crave nostalgia, and a rebuilt polo grounds would have drawn HUGE.
The Mets primarily took the old Dodgers fanbase, while the Giants fanbase mostly eventually migrated to the Yankees. The Yankees are WAY more popular in Manhattan, so it’d have made less sense for the Mets to move there. If the Mets were going to honor NY baseball history while trying to stay closer to their primary fanbase (Queens and Long Island), it’d make more sense to move to Brooklyn and try to reclaim it from Yankee encroachment. But as it stands, outside of Queens I don’t know of anywhere else in the NYC Metro that has more Mets fans than Yankee fans. I grew up on Long Island and my schools always had more Yankee fans than Mets fans. If Brooklyn also has more Yankees fans, then maybe staying in Queens was truly best?
If a new Polo Grounds were built in the same configuration, it would have to be wide enough so the left and right field dimensions would be at least 330 feet, and of course, the center field distance would have to be a lot shorter than 475 feet lol
The green seats in Citi Field pays homage to the green seats that was in The Polo Grounds, while the outside of Citi Field pays homage to some of the features of Ebbets Field.
1:23 Babe Ruth hit 54 and 59 HR in the polo grounds, which had 450 foot fence in right field, before Yankee Stadium was built. This makes his superman.
actually, the fence down the line in the polo grounds was 256 both before and after the 1911 fire. But the fence ran parallel to the line between home plate and second base. The stadium giveth and it takes away. 433 before the fire and varying between 475 and 488 after. the same could be said about the left feild fence after the fire. running parallel to the line between home and second. It was not like that before the fire. you can always tell before . no second deck out to nearly centerfield., I do believe Ruth reached the centerfield bleachers before the outfeild dimensions changed. perhaps twice. .Both landed to the right of dead center.
483ft to dead center when the Giants played there, and 475ft when the Mets played in '62 and '63. I'm always trying to find pictures, and documentation on the 2nd Polo Grounds, later known as Manhattan field. It was an odd, but interesting little park with very strange dimensions that somehow managed to make dead center the most shallow part of the outfield
When I was a kid I received a set of mini baseball stadium replicas; included were Wrigley, Fenway, and the original Yankee Stadium (this being when it was still open), along with Ebbets Field, Tiger Stadium and-of course-the Polo Grounds. I knew about the Giants having been in NY, but I didn't know where they played, and was amazed at how much their stadium resembled a football stadium more than baseball
I just bought MLB The Show 2022 and you can play at this field. It's really fun. I've hit 440 ft drives to dead center that were (barely) caught for outs but if you pull it down the lines it's like 250! Fun ripping liners off the facade or hitting moonshots onto the roof. They have a bunch of old parks, including Sportsman's Park which my dad and grandpa went to before Busch Stadium I was built in the mid-'60s.
i can remember goint to the Polo Grounds to see the original Mets play. Incredible that it was over 480 feet to dead center. If I remember correctly, the club house was located in a portion of the stadium in center field so the players had to walk all the way out there to get to their locker rooms. I remember the video of Bobby Thompsons home run and Ralph Branca and the rest of the Dodgers having to walk all the way out there as the Giants celebrated winnig the pennant. Talk about adding to the pain! I grew up playing baseball in Roosevelt Stadium in Union City, NJ which had similar, all though not quite, as big as the Polo Grounds. I believe Roosevelt Stadium was 460 to dead center and under 300, at least down the right field line. Great video. Thanks!
Bob Kaden-Don't forget the 1951 Giants would not have erased the 13.5 game deficit to the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers had it not been for the fact they cheated by sign stealing, much like the 2017 Astros did.
@@kevinmiller6380 Geez. I hadn't heard that. You really think they made up 13.5 games just by stealing signs? I would imagine it took some collapse by the Dodgers too. I was only 3 when he hit this homerun so I don't remember the details of that season. Once Mantle came along, I was a Yankees fan for life!
Big fact: the main reason the Giants moved out west is that the Dodgers had made a handshake deal to move to L.A. and the league would only approve the relocation if another team went with them. The owners of both teams got together and struck a deal with the league, so they both went out west the same season.
Yes the dodgers were also playing some of their 1956 and 1957 home games at Roosevelt stadium in Jersey City using that as leverage the giants were having trouble drawing but the dodgers were even richer than the Yankees they left New York City to make more money !
O’Malley wanted Moses to condemn the land where the Barclays center stands today and was going to use private money to build a new stadium for the dodgers Moses said no and that was it LA here we come !
@@ernestpassaro9663 In St Louis Park MN where I grew up they have a park named "Candlestick" which was the land where the Giants first planned to build their new stadium after moving to the Minneapolis area.
@@alanas9939 the giants had a triple a team in Minneapolis and held territorial rights there so they were prepared to move there but O’Malley conned stoneham into moving to California with him !
Excellent video. I was born in 58 so I missed this era. If you can do a video on Dexter Park in Cypress Hills. Many great players passed through this park. Thank you
Al Jackson. I remember that name and saw him pitch. He was a perennial twenty game loser. Us Mets fans always cheered (not jeered) for him because of that.
The Polo Grounds is the only MLB stadium to be the primary home stadium for 3 different teams with Giants, Yankees and Mets. I believe County Stadium in Milwaukee has hosted Braves, Brewers and White Sox games but the White Sox it was just for a handful of games for a few years, never their primary home stadium.
What's crazy about the Polo Grounds is, with its what we would consider insane (middle-school foul lines, gargantuan CF) dimensions, the two plays it's best known for would be impossible today: the Shot Heard 'Round the World would be off the Monster at Fenway and a routine fly ball anywhere else, while the smash that Willie May's ran down and Caught would be so far gone that the center fielder wouldn't even bother turning around, much less giving chase.
As a west-coast, Giants forever fan, I always wonder: if Willie Mays had played his entire career with the tiny dimensions of Yankee Stadium - 8' wall included - how many HRs would he have hit? And conversely, if the Babe had played in the Polo Grounds - and Candlestick (with the winds blowing in) - how many would he have hit? Granted, Ruth played a far shorter career, but if the ballparks were flipped, I could easily imagine their HR totals would also flip. Mays would have 714. (And Bonds might have hit 73 in Yankee Stadium WITHOUT the juice).
@@ernestpassaro9663 The walls at Old Yankee were only 10 feet tall. Mays hit alot to straightaway center - 480' in the Polo Grounds. At Candlestick, when he played there, center field was not closed in and the winds came off the Bay and denied many homers to Mays, McCovey, et. al.
The polo grounds was a better right handed hitters park than the original Yankee stadium when opened in 1923 it was 487 feet to centerfield 500 ft to left center field and then gradually reduced to 461 feet to centerfield and 457 feet to left center field DiMaggio lost countless hrs there and so would mays !
Hey forgotten places! I have a quick video suggestion, I think you should make a video on the rise of Orlando. Me and my grandparents were driving through Orlando and noticed just how much it has grown. They said it was nothing but orange groves and trailer parks until Disney came in. Keep up the great work on your videos!
I've been living in Orlando for 50 years...I remember how u could drive by orange groves in the spring and get :high" on the smell of the orange blossoms...when the grove owners died their kids sold the groves to developers who built homes....we used to have spring training baseball at Tinker Field...made a lot of friends with the snow birds going to the games for 3 bucks...I never knew life here before Disney but it was great memories....great people ...
My Dad grew up as a fan of both New York Giants teams and often told stories of his pastor treating the altar boys to games at the Polo Grounds. They would sit in the center field bleachers which doubled as end zone seating for football.
I play at this field most of the time in mlb the show for PS5 - this was the most stood out stadium that ever existed! I wish they never destroyed it - I could only imagine how it would look now
Quick corrections; It wasn't actually IN Central Park - It was across 110th st, adjacent to Central Park. Second, saying that they moved from Central Park to Manhattan is redundant. Central Park is in Manhattan.
When I was a mere stripling living in Brooklyn, my late father was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and when National League baseball left NYC, there was a void in his ( and many others ) hearts. When the Mets brought NL baseball back to NYC in 1962, I was almost 3 years old and just barely remember going to the Polo Grounds. I recall absolutely nothing about the game, just how big the stadium was.
I am a lifetime baseball fan, and I have heard about the Polo Grounds from the beginning, but this is the first article, story, or video that I have ever seen or heard about the facility itself.
I remember being overwhelmed by the size and scope of this stadium in May of 1962 as i watched from the cheap seats in left field as the METS dropped 2 to the DODGERS on their return to the east. Of all the features of the plant, I think I was impressed the most by the fact that the visitors bullpen was on the warning track just below us.
I grew up in New Jersey and we were giant fans . The last time I went to the polo grounds was in 1963 to see the Mets play the SF Giants . I don’t recall much about the game as I was 13 and I’m 72 now but I do remember seeing a football game here as kid , an AFL game with the titans I guess . The short right and left field porch was so weird with such a deep center field . My father called anyone who hit a homer down the line a “ Chinee Homer “ . The meaning was that it was cheap . He told me Mell Ott hit 500 home runs but 350 were Chinee! 😝
The baseball Giants were planning on moving to the Twin Cites in Minnesota, then Walter O'Malley decided to move the Dodgers to L.A. MLB wouldn't allow it unless another NL team went to California with them. Thus the Giants moved to San Francisco.
I wish current stadiums would have a CF wall as far back as the one in the Polo Grounds. Nowadays, owners are more worried about casual fans cheering for home runs.
Seems like the Giants should have stayed in New York. Their net worth would be higher than it would be in San Francisco today most likely. I guess low attendance in 1957 forced them to do it.
My father and grandfather were both NY Giants fans, and took me to games in the early 1960s when the Mets played there (terrible teams, but fun banner parades and Casey Stengel humor). I remember ALMOST snagging a foul ball, which slid beneath my rickety seat, and also recall sitting in outfield seats with impeded site lines, where you could only see part of the infield.
yeah, my favorite mlb 'ballyards' include: Yankee Stadium (better known to you New Yorkers as "The Stadium", "The Cathedral" before George 'Frankensteinbrenner' ruined it to look more like Shea Stadium), Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Oakland Coliseum, Fenway Park, Chase Field, Cleveland Memorial Stadium, Forbes Field, Crosley Field, but the GREATEST OF ALL, has to be the Astrodome in Houston (even got a Major League baseball the first time I saw a game there, off the bat of Al Ferrera)!!!
Does anyone know if anyone hit a homer to dead center field? I know in the old Yankee stadium when center field was 461, Mickey Mantle and Bill Skowren would bet who would hit the most homers over the center field fence during the season.
Well the Polo Grounds had the kind of character that simply doesn't exist in todays stadiums. They were more intimate with the fans more connected to the players. But, modern stadiums have box sections for the wealthy, large screens to show replays and scores, and are generally better at protecting the spectators from the weather.
aaah...actually...I wish you could see a game at Coors Field! my first game there, I was sitting on the 3rd base side about 20 rows from the field. on a close play, I looked at the HUGE scoreboard for the 'replay'. there was none! I turned to the fans close to me and said, "Don't they show replays on controversial plays!!?!" I was told to look above me. on the deck above us was a tv monitor every 20 feet showing EVERY replay!! GOOD TIMES!!!
I “went” to the Polo Grounds a few weeks ago when I time traveled via Classic Baseball on the Radio for a Sunday 1963!Doubleheader ( If I don’t know what happened it’s live no matter how many years later) between the Mets and Pirates. In reality The Polo Grounds was before
I saw what you did with that one photo fairly early on. You didnt want to show the man giving the finger that looked like a cigar but was indeed the bird.
The field of dreams game was such a success, mlb needs to rebuild a replica stadium (actual location tbd) and play one game there every year. I’m sure they would need to make some ADA and other adjustments for safety but otherwise make it exactly the same. The demand would be massive
@@perryegolson833👈🤓 ☝️😆👍 You realize it was 400 to straightaway right, right? You realize it was 440 to both power alleys, right? You realize it was 475 to dead center, right? Right?
Wow, now I know. I have passed by those projects a billion times and never knew the reason or the great history behind that name. How great would it had been if that stadium was still there basically right across the river from Yankee Stadium. Thanks by the way.
Oh, never poopoo a nickel, Lisa! A nickel will get you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake, AND a newsreel, with enough change to take the trolley from Battery Park to the Polo Grounds!
I have always been interested in these old ballparks, such as Sportman's Park, Ebbets Field, Forbes Field, Crosley Field Shibe Park Braves Field in Boston Briggs in Detroit, etc.
Well, the "Fall" part of the Polo Grounds wasn't really its own fault at all. Ballpark designs were rapidly changing in the 1960's, and sadly settled into the Cookie Cutter dimensions that MLB has never gone away from since. A farfetched theory of mine is that if they really wanted to, the Mets could have spent more than enough money to renovate the Polo Grounds to the point where they wouldn't have needed Shea Stadium in the first place. It's sad to know that MLB (and any organized baseball league for that matter) will never try bold and daring ballpark dimensions like the Polo Grounds again, because I believe that is one of the key things sorely affecting baseball's popularity. The sport has become unimaginative, unfriendly, and over the top greedy against the fans.
From what I gather, the Polo Grounds was in pretty rough shape by the time the Giants left in '57, and it only would have gotten worse. And, as the narrator mentioned, the neighborhood had changed, too. You can build the greatest stadium ever, but if fans don't feel safe going to the game, they're not going to go.
There is no way the Mets could have saved the Polo Grounds. The Yankees redid Yankee Stadium after 1973, to the tune of $100 mil (in 1973 dollars). Refurbishing the Polo Grounds would likely have cost twice to three times that amount. That's what a new stadium cost 25 years later. Had the Mets stayed in the Polo Grounds even close to 1970, there would likely have been a structural failure at the park that would have been a humanitarian disaster that would resemble soccer riots in 3rd world countries. The Polo Grounds needed to be demolished from a safety standpoint.
As someone that only knows the "Housing Projects" that the Polo Grounds were replaced with ... Its really interesting. Projects have historically been built for dirt poor Black, Hispanics and Jews (mostly in Queens) and placed on the least desirable areas of the city. Areas not that accessible to the rest of the city. NOW ... The area has already gotten a NEW legendary status from the hood. Polo Grounds is KNOWN to be one of the most dangerous projects in Harlem, NY during 90's and early 2000's. Gentrification of the surrounding area slowed down some the action. One if the only positive effects of gentrification. Not many outside that though.
I just played wiffle ball at the restored Katy Park at the Silos in Waco Tx yesterday. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig among others played there when the Waco Pirates were a minor league team there. Ruths bronze footprints are embedded at home plate where he once stood. I love historic old ball parks. I hit one off the fence but didnt get a homer. Maybe next time.
Me who just discovered this park through mlb the show 23… me now sad wishing this stadium was alive again 😂 no matter what though, not even Aaron judge can but a homer in the outfield of polo. Don’t know if they have a blocker or what, but it’s impossible. Sammy sosa can definitely crank one out, but they have to have a blocker on it prohibiting it
You didn’t mention dozens of major boxing matches, including 5 world championship fights from June to September of 1923, one of the most dynamic periods in the history of what was arguably the second most popular sport in the U. S. at the time. And this was a time when there were 8 major weight divisions and…..GASP…only ONE CHAMP PER DIVISION! The last fight held there was the second Patterson-Johansson fight, where Patterson because the first heavyweight champ to regain the title.
*One correction, the Giants were known as the “Gothams” previously at the first Polo Grounds, the Metropolitans were a separate Franchise who played there.
Quite an added attraction was the fact that in about the distance of a mile, a short walk over the McCombs Dam Bridge, over the Harlem River, is Yankeee Stadium. To add to the charm of the venue is the fact that right up the block ( two blocks??) is the playground where the Rucker Games are held. That the event where great former city basketball ball legends, former pros or not , play a WILD playground version of BB
That's where the Mets get their name. Also, although the Mets are named after the Metropolitans, that was never their name. The official name of the New York Mets IS the "New York Mets."
@@christophersorrentino1271 I believe that short walk is the real reason why the upper deck at the Polo Grounds was extended all the way to center field----to block out the view of Yankee Stadium. Speaking of blocking views, one of the big reasons for the upper deck in the first place (which I think was originally built in the pre-1912 Polo Grounds) was not just to increase capacity but to block the view of the playing field from people standing on Coogan's Bluff behind the ballpark. In 1908, there was a pivotal game at the Polo Grounds played the last day of the year to decide the National League pennant. Although 30,000 were in the stands (which was a HUGE number in the 1900's) there were over a 100,000 fans watching the game from Coogan's Bluff.
@@christophersorrentino1271 yankee stadium was like a 10 minute walk from the polo grounds just walk over macoombs dam bridge and your there
@@eddiejc1 I heard yankee stadium was built there to piss off the giants who evicted them !
Yankee Stadium on the hill across the river. And I remember looking down into the Polo Grounds from outside Yankee Stadium when I was a kid. So close together!
I'm a huge SF Giants fan and I once visited where the Polo Grounds used to be. There is also a plaque that marks the approximate location of home plate at the Polo Grounds housing.
Same, the area around the plaque was pretty scary
@@Jpk21 Yeah, go during daytime.
Im a huge SF fan too. But I grew up in CT and going to yankee games on weekends at their old stadium (which was a total dump despite the history and fanfare). Ive seen the plaque too. Pretty cool.
Let’s go Giants me too
There’s a similar setup at the site of the old Atlanta-Fulton County stadium. It’s now a parking lot, but the diamond is painted on the pavement, and there’s a “Hank Aaron wall” marking the spot of his famous home run.
My dad took me to the Polo Grounds in the early 1950s to see the Giants, my favorite team at that time, play the Pittsburgh Pirates. I saw my favorite baseball player, Willie Mays, make a fantastic, over the shoulder catch to take away an extra base hit. Wow, what special memories, a real treat for a youngster!
One of the most iconic catches in the history of the game...
@@scottymacdewder5229 You mean the style of catch? Because I don’t know of a famous catch Willie Mays made against the Pirates. I know of THE Catch from game 1 of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, though.
@@NathanDav42 I thought he was referring to "the catch" forgive me, I was born in the 80s
Yeah, Willie would do that every other game. It was a real thrill to watch Mays in center field at the Polo Grounds. Much later, when the Giants played the Mets in the Polo Grounds, I saw Felipe Alou hit a moon shot to center field that was caught right in front of the fence. A 470 foot flyout.
@@scottymacdewder5229 No harm, no foul! I’m from the 80s as well!
The Polo Grounds also hosted the Championship game of Gaelic Football in 1947. The game between Kerry and Cavan was the first and only time the All Ireland final was played outside Ireland.
my father was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan I went to the polo grounds In 1957 with him to see the Dodgers and Giants .I was 7 .Jonny antonelli against don drysdale .the Dodgers won 1 to 0
After the game they let you walk on the field to exit .I still remember looking up at stands and the lights .
Never forget it after all these years.
I've been on the field at 5 different major league ballparks, the 4 most memorable of which being the old parks: Tiger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, and Fenway Park. Nothing beats a stroll where legends once played!
@@robertflowers6621 yeah, Robert, I have been on 4. took a drink from the cubbies' electric water cooler in Wrigley! and swung Rod Carew's bat in Minnesota!!! GOOD TIMES!! I AM sooooh sorry I never ran the bases with the kids after a Rockies game! and I which I had stepped off in 'paces' at Fenway Park from home to the left field wall to see how far it was! Gaylord Perry said he stepped it off and it wasn't 300 feet!!!
1957!??!?! My mom wasn’t even born. God bless you my elder
My dad would take me to the Polo Grounds in late 40s. Always sat in right field seats; close enough to talk the players. Great time.
As a huge fan of old time baseball I would have loved to have gone to a game at the Polo Grounds
Same here. Even though it was never designed for baseball.
Went to several games there in '62 & '63 as a 10 & 11 year old Mets fan. 60 years later I'm still true to the Orange & Blue.
Why did you become a Mets fans? Was your dad a Giants fan and became a Mets fan after they left?
@@porcelinaofvastoceans You know it.
Stay true to the very end fellow longtime baseball fan.
As a kid one of the things that frightened me was passing the polo grounds when the demolition was happening.
Really made me sad.
I was too young to remember. But I've seen pictures, and they look horrible.
The demolition of any ballpark is sad.
SF Giants fan here, thanks for this. I love hearing and seeing the history of the franchise from its original roots in NYC.
The Polo Grounds should have been preserved. So much sports history was written there. Imagine being able to visit today and see the old baseball diamond and walk in the outfield where Willie Mays made that legendary catch.
I would LOVE to see the polo grounds rebuilt. The Mets missed an opportunity when they build Citi Field. The Field of Dreams game proved the fans crave nostalgia, and a rebuilt polo grounds would have drawn HUGE.
The Mets primarily took the old Dodgers fanbase, while the Giants fanbase mostly eventually migrated to the Yankees. The Yankees are WAY more popular in Manhattan, so it’d have made less sense for the Mets to move there. If the Mets were going to honor NY baseball history while trying to stay closer to their primary fanbase (Queens and Long Island), it’d make more sense to move to Brooklyn and try to reclaim it from Yankee encroachment. But as it stands, outside of Queens I don’t know of anywhere else in the NYC Metro that has more Mets fans than Yankee fans. I grew up on Long Island and my schools always had more Yankee fans than Mets fans. If Brooklyn also has more Yankees fans, then maybe staying in Queens was truly best?
If a new Polo Grounds were built in the same configuration, it would have to be wide enough so the left and right field dimensions would be at least 330 feet, and of course, the center field distance would have to be a lot shorter than 475 feet lol
The green seats in Citi Field pays homage to the green seats that was in The Polo Grounds, while the outside of Citi Field pays homage to some of the features of Ebbets Field.
Chris-And I'm sure the same thing could be said about Ebbets Field if it was rebuilt.
Those field dimensions are horrible.
1:23 Babe Ruth hit 54 and 59 HR in the polo grounds, which had 450 foot fence in right field, before Yankee Stadium was built. This makes his superman.
actually, the fence down the line in the polo grounds was 256 both before and after the 1911 fire. But the fence ran parallel to the line between home plate and second base. The stadium giveth and it takes away. 433 before the fire and varying between 475 and 488 after. the same could be said about the left feild fence after the fire. running parallel to the line between home and second. It was not like that before the fire. you can always tell before . no second deck out to nearly centerfield., I do believe Ruth reached the centerfield bleachers before the outfeild dimensions changed. perhaps twice. .Both landed to the right of dead center.
@@brianwilcox3478 So, all that in reply to the period 1920 to 1923? That's when Ruth played there.
As an MLB The Show player, this stadium is the bane of my existence
One of MLB's former ballparks I wish I could have watched a game at.
The Jets and the Titans are the same franchise; they changed their name to Jets in 1963.
I know
He knows.
483ft to dead center when the Giants played there, and 475ft when the Mets played in '62 and '63. I'm always trying to find pictures, and documentation on the 2nd Polo Grounds, later known as Manhattan field. It was an odd, but interesting little park with very strange dimensions that somehow managed to make dead center the most shallow part of the outfield
He scarcely mentioned the Mets. Not even that it was their original ballpark.
And Babe Ruth played there before Yankee Stadium was built, he hit 54 and 59 HR there to that monster 450 foot fence. Look at 1:23
@@scottbilger9294
Psssh. Mets. Psssh.
Piddly pissants. Psssh.
@@scottbilger9294
Psssh. Mets.
Psssh.
@@scottbilger9294
Psssh. Mets. GivesAShit?
When I was a kid I received a set of mini baseball stadium replicas; included were Wrigley, Fenway, and the original Yankee Stadium (this being when it was still open), along with Ebbets Field, Tiger Stadium and-of course-the Polo Grounds. I knew about the Giants having been in NY, but I didn't know where they played, and was amazed at how much their stadium resembled a football stadium more than baseball
I just bought MLB The Show 2022 and you can play at this field. It's really fun. I've hit 440 ft drives to dead center that were (barely) caught for outs but if you pull it down the lines it's like 250! Fun ripping liners off the facade or hitting moonshots onto the roof. They have a bunch of old parks, including Sportsman's Park which my dad and grandpa went to before Busch Stadium I was built in the mid-'60s.
I wish we had a ballpark with these kinds of bananas dimensions today.
I saw one Mets game there in 1963 in the stadium's final year. It had an awesome baseball atmosphere.
The atmosphere was from the fans. Everyone was intent on the game. Fenway's like that too.
i can remember goint to the Polo Grounds to see the original Mets play. Incredible that it was over 480 feet to dead center. If I remember correctly, the club house was located in a portion of the stadium in center field so the players had to walk all the way out there to get to their locker rooms. I remember the video of Bobby Thompsons home run and Ralph Branca and the rest of the Dodgers having to walk all the way out there as the Giants celebrated winnig the pennant. Talk about adding to the pain! I grew up playing baseball in Roosevelt Stadium in Union City, NJ which had similar, all though not quite, as big as the Polo Grounds. I believe Roosevelt Stadium was 460 to dead center and under 300, at least down the right field line. Great video. Thanks!
Bob Kaden-Don't forget the 1951 Giants would not have erased the 13.5 game deficit to the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers had it not been for the fact they cheated by sign stealing, much like the 2017 Astros did.
@@kevinmiller6380 Geez. I hadn't heard that. You really think they made up 13.5 games just by stealing signs? I would imagine it took some collapse by the Dodgers too. I was only 3 when he hit this homerun so I don't remember the details of that season. Once Mantle came along, I was a Yankees fan for life!
She was an important part of baseball history, let her not be forgotten
It should have been preserved as a historical landmark.
Big fact: the main reason the Giants moved out west is that the Dodgers had made a handshake deal to move to L.A. and the league would only approve the relocation if another team went with them. The owners of both teams got together and struck a deal with the league, so they both went out west the same season.
Yes the dodgers were also playing some of their 1956 and 1957 home games at Roosevelt stadium in Jersey City using that as leverage the giants were having trouble drawing but the dodgers were even richer than the Yankees they left New York City to make more money !
O’Malley wanted Moses to condemn the land where the Barclays center stands today and was going to use private money to build a new stadium for the dodgers Moses said no and that was it LA here we come !
Yes it wouldn’t have worked with only one team so he conned stoneham to come with him originally the giants were going to Minneapolis
@@ernestpassaro9663 In St Louis Park MN where I grew up they have a park named "Candlestick" which was the land where the Giants first planned to build their new stadium after moving to the Minneapolis area.
@@alanas9939 the giants had a triple a team in Minneapolis and held territorial rights there so they were prepared to move there but O’Malley conned stoneham into moving to California with him !
Excellent video. I was born in 58 so I missed this era. If you can do a video on Dexter Park in Cypress Hills. Many great players passed through this park.
Thank you
That Willy Mays Catch was 436 ft long
In other words, it would be impossible in any stadium standing today.
That game ended in a 280 foot walkoff home run lol
@user-em4wh5ji3w yeah... how ironic is that?
All I remember as a kid was that Lou Brock hit one 460 feet off of Al Jackson. Lou Brock was a tremendous athlete.
Yes Lou was one of only 4 players that reached the centerfeild bleachers in its final configuration
Al Jackson. I remember that name and saw him pitch. He was a perennial twenty game loser. Us Mets fans always cheered (not jeered) for him because of that.
@@saulchapnick1566 67-99, lifetime 3.98 ERA. Yikes😁His Mets numbers weren’t good. 10 year MLB career not too shabby.
@@chrisweidner4768 Yes. He was an enigma. Mets fans loved him. The Mets yearbook had a huge two page spread about him.
Thanks for making this! I always love learning more about the past of the Giants
A stadium with character.
The Polo Grounds is the only MLB stadium to be the primary home stadium for 3 different teams with Giants, Yankees and Mets. I believe County Stadium in Milwaukee has hosted Braves, Brewers and White Sox games but the White Sox it was just for a handful of games for a few years, never their primary home stadium.
Gone but never Forgotten!
What's crazy about the Polo Grounds is, with its what we would consider insane (middle-school foul lines, gargantuan CF) dimensions, the two plays it's best known for would be impossible today: the Shot Heard 'Round the World would be off the Monster at Fenway and a routine fly ball anywhere else, while the smash that Willie May's ran down and Caught would be so far gone that the center fielder wouldn't even bother turning around, much less giving chase.
As a west-coast, Giants forever fan, I always wonder: if Willie Mays had played his entire career with the tiny dimensions of Yankee Stadium - 8' wall included - how many HRs would he have hit? And conversely, if the Babe had played in the Polo Grounds - and Candlestick (with the winds blowing in) - how many would he have hit? Granted, Ruth played a far shorter career, but if the ballparks were flipped, I could easily imagine their HR totals would also flip. Mays would have 714. (And Bonds might have hit 73 in Yankee Stadium WITHOUT the juice).
@@guidonagle5075 are you nuts the old yankee stadium was the worst right handed hitters park in baseball history mays would hit very few there !
@@ernestpassaro9663 The walls at Old Yankee were only 10 feet tall. Mays hit alot to straightaway center - 480' in the Polo Grounds. At Candlestick, when he played there, center field was not closed in and the winds came off the Bay and denied many homers to Mays, McCovey, et. al.
@@guidonagle5075 mays never hit a hr to centerfield at the polo grounds !
The polo grounds was a better right handed hitters park than the original Yankee stadium when opened in 1923 it was 487 feet to centerfield 500 ft to left center field and then gradually reduced to 461 feet to centerfield and 457 feet to left center field DiMaggio lost countless hrs there and so would mays !
Hey forgotten places! I have a quick video suggestion, I think you should make a video on the rise of Orlando. Me and my grandparents were driving through Orlando and noticed just how much it has grown. They said it was nothing but orange groves and trailer parks until Disney came in. Keep up the great work on your videos!
I've been living in Orlando for 50 years...I remember how u could drive by orange groves in the spring and get :high" on the smell of the orange blossoms...when the grove owners died their kids sold the groves to developers who built homes....we used to have spring training baseball at Tinker Field...made a lot of friends with the snow birds going to the games for 3 bucks...I never knew life here before Disney but it was great memories....great people ...
My Dad grew up as a fan of both New York Giants teams and often told stories of his pastor treating the altar boys to games at the Polo Grounds. They would sit in the center field bleachers which doubled as end zone seating for football.
That was a great one to do you should do Ebbetts field next and still think maybe you can do memorial stadium in Baltimore and the RCA dome too?
I play at this field most of the time in mlb the show for PS5 - this was the most stood out stadium that ever existed! I wish they never destroyed it - I could only imagine how it would look now
Quick corrections; It wasn't actually IN Central Park - It was across 110th st, adjacent to Central Park.
Second, saying that they moved from Central Park to Manhattan is redundant. Central Park is in Manhattan.
When I was a mere stripling living in Brooklyn, my late father was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and when National League baseball left NYC, there was a void in his ( and many others ) hearts. When the Mets brought NL baseball back to NYC in 1962, I was almost 3 years old and just barely remember going to the Polo Grounds. I recall absolutely nothing about the game, just how big the stadium was.
I am a lifetime baseball fan, and I have heard about the Polo Grounds from the beginning, but this is the first article, story, or video that I have ever seen or heard about the facility itself.
I remember being overwhelmed by the size and scope of this stadium in May of 1962 as i watched from the cheap seats in left field as the METS dropped 2 to the DODGERS on their return to the east. Of all the features of the plant, I think I was impressed the most by the fact that the visitors bullpen was on the warning track just below us.
my favorite place to play on mlb the show, haha
Me too
Polo grounds was great if you were a dead pull hitter !
Once located at 155th and Fredrick Douglas Blvd which is now an Apartment Complex
I'd give almost anything to have been able to see a ballgame there.. a Dodger/Giants game would have been awesome.
The Bobby Thomson home run was pretty famous too. THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!!!
I grew up in New Jersey and we were giant fans . The last time I went to the polo grounds was in 1963 to see the Mets play the SF Giants . I don’t recall much about the game as I was 13 and I’m 72 now but I do remember seeing a football game here as kid , an AFL game with the titans I guess . The short right and left field porch was so weird with such a deep center field . My father called anyone who hit a homer down the line a “ Chinee Homer “ . The meaning was that it was cheap . He told me Mell Ott hit 500 home runs but 350 were Chinee! 😝
I/m sure the late great Mel Ott hit some Chinese home runs but I think 350 is exaggerated.
The baseball Giants were planning on moving to the Twin Cites in Minnesota, then Walter O'Malley decided to move the Dodgers to L.A. MLB wouldn't allow it unless another NL team went to California with them. Thus the Giants moved to San Francisco.
I wish current stadiums would have a CF wall as far back as the one in the Polo Grounds. Nowadays, owners are more worried about casual fans cheering for home runs.
Waited for this vid forever
July-August 1958 saw an event that filled both te Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, a commemorative plaque can be found on the Monument Walk
Jehovah's Witnesses international convention.
@@wessew6185 Correct! Largest attended event in Yankee Stadium history. That also filled the Polo Grounds.
@@tysonstransitcam2190 I was there.
What an unique baseball park. It’s a playable stadium in MLB The Show
Seems like the Giants should have stayed in New York. Their net worth would be higher than it would be in San Francisco today most likely. I guess low attendance in 1957 forced them to do it.
There were some famous boxing matches there: Dempsey/Firpo, Louis/Conn 1 and the rematch of Patterson/Johansson.
My father and grandfather were both NY Giants fans, and took me to games in the early 1960s when the Mets played there (terrible teams, but fun banner parades and Casey Stengel humor). I remember ALMOST snagging a foul ball, which slid beneath my rickety seat, and also recall sitting in outfield seats with impeded site lines, where you could only see part of the infield.
I saw a Mets game in Polo Grounds during their first year. Also went to a NY Titans football game. The stadium looked like it was about to fall down.
Along with Ebbet's, my two favorite stadiums.
yeah, my favorite mlb 'ballyards' include: Yankee Stadium (better known to you New Yorkers as "The Stadium", "The Cathedral" before George 'Frankensteinbrenner' ruined it to look more like Shea Stadium), Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Oakland Coliseum, Fenway Park, Chase Field, Cleveland Memorial Stadium, Forbes Field, Crosley Field, but the GREATEST OF ALL, has to be the Astrodome in Houston (even got a Major League baseball the first time I saw a game there, off the bat of Al Ferrera)!!!
I saw a frank howard blast into the night next to a roof top light stanchion 45 ° angle 1962
Does anyone know if anyone hit a homer to dead center field? I know in the old Yankee stadium when center field was 461, Mickey Mantle and Bill Skowren would bet who would hit the most homers over the center field fence during the season.
Went to a Mets - Dodgers game in July of 1962, the first year of expansion Mets . Dodgers won by 17-2 , Unforgettable!!
Leaving a piece of the stairway. Cool.
Home run Derby at polo ground lol. You're lucky to pull them down the line ahaha
Well the Polo Grounds had the kind of character that simply doesn't exist in todays stadiums. They were more intimate with the fans more connected to the players. But, modern stadiums have box sections for the wealthy, large screens to show replays and scores, and are generally better at protecting the spectators from the weather.
aaah...actually...I wish you could see a game at Coors Field! my first game there, I was sitting on the 3rd base side about 20 rows from the field. on a close play, I looked at the HUGE scoreboard for the 'replay'. there was none! I turned to the fans close to me and said, "Don't they show replays on controversial plays!!?!" I was told to look above me. on the deck above us was a tv monitor every 20 feet showing EVERY replay!! GOOD TIMES!!!
I “went” to the Polo Grounds a few weeks ago when I time traveled via Classic Baseball on the Radio for a Sunday 1963!Doubleheader ( If I don’t know what happened it’s live no matter how many years later) between the Mets and Pirates. In reality The Polo Grounds was before
I saw what you did with that one photo fairly early on. You didnt want to show the man giving the finger that looked like a cigar but was indeed the bird.
Isn't the Polo Grounds also the place in 1951 when " the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant".
They should rebuild the polo grounds in real life and inter league series
It was also the site of the Dempsey-Firpo fight in 1923.
How about Roosevelt Stadium. Jersey City, NJ
The field of dreams game was such a success, mlb needs to rebuild a replica stadium (actual location tbd) and play one game there every year. I’m sure they would need to make some ADA and other adjustments for safety but otherwise make it exactly the same. The demand would be massive
There is also a plaque in the housing project
Imagine if they built a stadium like that today. Home runs would be a rarity.
Left n right field corners were short
I would doubt that. Players would play to pull the ball constantly.
You realize it was 257 feet down the right field foul line right?
@@perryegolson833👈🤓
☝️😆👍
You realize it was 400 to straightaway right, right?
You realize it was 440 to both power alleys, right?
You realize it was 475 to dead center, right? Right?
@@josephhouk6703
Between 1911-1957, only three players ever did that successfully. Mel Ott, Johnny Mize and some guy named Babe Ruth.
Wow, now I know. I have passed by those projects a billion times and never knew the reason or the great history behind that name. How great would it had been if that stadium was still there basically right across the river from Yankee Stadium. Thanks by the way.
Those dimensions are ridiculous. How did anyone score?
I seen tweets at the poll grounds.i was a young gamer school kid with a packed lunch on the bus with the local playground summer for kids.i loved it.
Gotta do a video of the historic Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey.
I would like to see an aerial view of the site now.
Just found out that the light structures were saved and are currently in use at Arizona states baseball field.
Oh, never poopoo a nickel, Lisa! A nickel will get you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake, AND a newsreel, with enough change to take the trolley from Battery Park to the Polo Grounds!
I saw my first major league games there when the Mets played there. I remember silver haired Duke Snyder playing center field
Very interesting, thank you for posting this.
I have always been interested in these old ballparks, such as Sportman's Park, Ebbets Field, Forbes Field, Crosley Field Shibe Park Braves Field in Boston Briggs in Detroit, etc.
0:54 my life long question for 30 years of what a "met" has finally been answered. Ahhhhhh
Very cool little video
Well, the "Fall" part of the Polo Grounds wasn't really its own fault at all. Ballpark designs were rapidly changing in the 1960's, and sadly settled into the Cookie Cutter dimensions that MLB has never gone away from since. A farfetched theory of mine is that if they really wanted to, the Mets could have spent more than enough money to renovate the Polo Grounds to the point where they wouldn't have needed Shea Stadium in the first place.
It's sad to know that MLB (and any organized baseball league for that matter) will never try bold and daring ballpark dimensions like the Polo Grounds again, because I believe that is one of the key things sorely affecting baseball's popularity. The sport has become unimaginative, unfriendly, and over the top greedy against the fans.
From what I gather, the Polo Grounds was in pretty rough shape by the time the Giants left in '57, and it only would have gotten worse. And, as the narrator mentioned, the neighborhood had changed, too. You can build the greatest stadium ever, but if fans don't feel safe going to the game, they're not going to go.
There is no way the Mets could have saved the Polo Grounds. The Yankees redid Yankee Stadium after 1973, to the tune of $100 mil (in 1973 dollars). Refurbishing the Polo Grounds would likely have cost twice to three times that amount. That's what a new stadium cost 25 years later.
Had the Mets stayed in the Polo Grounds even close to 1970, there would likely have been a structural failure at the park that would have been a humanitarian disaster that would resemble soccer riots in 3rd world countries. The Polo Grounds needed to be demolished from a safety standpoint.
@@ckersh74 New York winters are tough on people and things alike...
man I would kill to see a polo grounds game, it would be so cool.
Long lost eras of history, an America once great, now turned into a 3rd world cesspool.
I just love your content
As someone that only knows the "Housing Projects" that the Polo Grounds were replaced with ... Its really interesting. Projects have historically been built for dirt poor Black, Hispanics and Jews (mostly in Queens) and placed on the least desirable areas of the city. Areas not that accessible to the rest of the city.
NOW ... The area has already gotten a NEW legendary status from the hood. Polo Grounds is KNOWN to be one of the most dangerous projects in Harlem, NY during 90's and early 2000's. Gentrification of the surrounding area slowed down some the action. One if the only positive effects of gentrification. Not many outside that though.
What makes those areas undesirable are the occupants.
I just played wiffle ball at the restored Katy Park at the Silos in Waco Tx yesterday.
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig among others played there when the Waco Pirates were a minor league team there.
Ruths bronze footprints are embedded at home plate where he once stood.
I love historic old ball parks.
I hit one off the fence but didnt get a homer.
Maybe next time.
The Polo Grounds looks like a place where fast hitters could hit a bunch of inside the park home runs just by getting the ball past the outfielders.
Great video. Just one correction, the Jets & Titans were the same franchise.
I know, i wasnt claiming them to be separate
Well Done!
All five professional teams in one stadium.
Me who just discovered this park through mlb the show 23… me now sad wishing this stadium was alive again 😂 no matter what though, not even Aaron judge can but a homer in the outfield of polo. Don’t know if they have a blocker or what, but it’s impossible. Sammy sosa can definitely crank one out, but they have to have a blocker on it prohibiting it
And we MUST bring back "handlebar mustaches".
Now Baseball fans can witness the struggle of getting HRs in this stadium in MLB The Show
Cool video!
Interesting video
Verry cool Video watch the Video in my lunch break at 1 p.m.
Nice job.
You didn’t mention dozens of major boxing matches, including 5 world championship fights from June to September of 1923, one of the most dynamic periods in the history of what was arguably the second most popular sport in the U. S. at the time. And this was a time when there were 8 major weight divisions and…..GASP…only ONE CHAMP PER DIVISION! The last fight held there was the second Patterson-Johansson fight, where Patterson because the first heavyweight champ to regain the title.