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Did They Ever Play Polo at the Polo Grounds?
By
Toby von Meistersinger
Published Jul 21, 2008
Modified Jul 21, 2008
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By
Toby von Meistersinger
Published Jul 21, 2008
Modified Jul 21, 2008
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Yes and no.
The name “Polo Grounds” was originally just a generic name describing the function of the place – grounds where polo was played – and got transmogrified into a proper name. Like another Manhattan sports venue, Madison Square Garden, it was the name for several different structures, but it was only the first where polo was actually played.
The original Polo Grounds, located across from Central Park on 110th Street between 5th and Lennox Avenues was built for polo in 1876. In 1880 it was converted into a baseball stadium for the New York Metropolitans (or Mets, no relation to the current Mets), an independent professional team founded by and former baseball player Jim Mutrie backed by tobacco magnate John B. Day and August Belmont (who would later finance the IRT subway). The team joined the American Association in 1883 the same year the ownership fielded a National League team known as the New York Gothams, which would change their name two years later to the Giants. The Giants outlasted the Mets, which got sold and moved to Staten Island in 1886 only lasting a year there before being bought out for the territorial rights by the Brooklyn Dodgers after the 1887 season.
After being evicted by the city in 1889 – a season split playing in Staten Island and Jersey City, the Giants moved in 1890 to 155th Street and Eighth Avenue (now Fredrick Douglas Boulevard). Two ballparks were on the site, the larger Brotherhood Park home to a Player’s League team and the Giants new smaller park which they named the Polo Grounds. After the Players League folded in 1891, the Giants moved into the larger park and renamed it to the Polo Grounds.
It was at this iconic Coogan's Bluff location that got seared into the collective New York baseball memory in the two stadiums that followed on the site. The first being an expanded version of the old stadium, the second was a new concrete stadium built after a 1911 fire.
Like the two previous incarnations, neither ever saw a polo match, but instead saw boxing, professional and college football, galeic football and soccer. The ballpark was also home of the Yankees from 1913 to 1922. Probably the most famous moments at the final Polo Grounds were Bobby Thompson’s “Shot heard round the world” in 1951 and “The Catch” by Willie Mays in game one of the 1954 World Series.
The final incarnation stadium was also home for the football Giants from 1925 to 1955 and the Titans, later renamed the Jets, from 1960 until 1963. The Titans were the only tenant after the Giants decamped to the west coast in 1957 until the Mets came into the National League in 1962. The Mets and Jets moved into the new Shea Stadium in 1964.
The stadium was torn down in 1964 and the site met the same fate as the Dodgers’ Ebbets Field – a public housing complex the Polo Grounds Towers. All that remains other than a plaque marking the location of home plate is the John T. Brush Stairway (named after the teams owner) which was built in 1913 to have fans access the ballpark from below. The stairway still exists, but is in a decrepit state and may get restored as part of renovations to Highbridge Park.
Tagged
baseball
Coogans Bluff
history
new york giants
new york jets
new york mets
New York Titians
new york yankees
Polo Grounds
Toby von Meistersinger
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