Where Giants Roamed
New York Post, May 23, 2004
by Brian Costello
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Francis Giles stands on the sidewalk of 154th Street, pointing to a spot in the
distance. "It was right over there," he says.
He points toward a small playground where children are climbing a jungle gym
near 8th Avenue.
"My head still rattles when I think about it," Giles says. "I never thought he'd
make that catch."
For Giles, 85, the picture of Willie Mays robbing Vic Wertz in 1954 is still
clear in his mind. A Yankees fan, Giles sat in the center-field bleachers of the
Polo Grounds for Game 1 of the World Series between the Giants and Indians
when Mays made the most famous catch in baseball history.
Today, it requires some imagination to envision the canyon-sized center field
where Mays roamed. On this site is "Polo Grounds Towers," four 30-story
apartment buildings where Giles has lived for 32 years. Most of the tenants
know little about what used to reside on this piece of land wedged between
Coogan's Bluff and the Harlem River, but Giles remembers when there was a
ballpark here.
Forty years after its demolition, the Polo Grounds remains the most unique
stadium in baseball history. From its bathtub shape to the clubhouses in center
field, the stadium was full of quirks. It also was the site of some of the most
indelible images in sports. On the ground where the towers now sit, Bobby
Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round The World," Mays became a legend and
sportswriter Grantland Rice immortalized four Notre Dame football players,
dubbing them the "Four Horsemen" during a game against Army in 1924. It
was home to the Giants through 1957 when they moved to San Francisco. It
also housed the Yankees and the Mets for short periods, and the Football
Giants for 30 years.
"It was a park like no other park," said Sal Yvars, the former Giants catcher.
The stadium that stood on 159th Street and 8th Avenue was the fourth bearing
the name "Polo Grounds." The first was located at the north end of Central
Park and polo actually was played there. The Giants relocated to Northern
Manhattan in 1899. They played in a stadium on the southern end of the lot for
the first two years before moving to the more familiar site. A fire in 1911
wiped out the majority of the wooden ballpark. A new park made of concrete
and steel replaced it.
Home plate was at the foot of a cliff known as Coogan's Bluff. The stadium
was built as an oval, and the foul lines were not parallel with the walls of the
stadium, creating interesting dimensions and plenty of foul territory. The
right-field foul pole was just 258 feet from home.
"We would see a guy pop up," former Giants broadcaster Ernie Harwell said,
"and we'd say, 'The second baseman goes back ... oh, there it goes. It's a
home run.' It was the size of a couple of tennis courts from home to right field."
Left was a little farther at 279, but the upper deck, which had a scoreboard on
its face, extended 23 feet into fair territory. While balls did not have to go far
to get out in either corner, the fences jutted out sharply to center, which was
483 feet from home, creating huge power alleys. The bullpens were located in
fair territory, but were so far from home that the relievers rarely had to dodge
hits.
Only Luke Easter (in a Negro League game), Joe Adcock, Hank Aaron and
Lou Brock hit home runs into the center-field bleachers. The dimensions were
enough to give a pitcher headaches.
"It was an interesting park to pitch in," said George Spencer, who pitched for
the Giants from 1950-55. "Any fly ball down either line if it was a hair up at all
it was a home run. You tried to keep everything from right-center to
left-center, especially when you had Willie Mays back there."
Mays had played at the Polo Grounds before he ever joined the Giants. He
played there as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons, but it was in his
Giants No. 24 jersey that he became a legend.
"I enjoyed playing at the Polo Grounds," Mays said last month. "It was a good
stadium for me. I hit a lot of home runs there. I lived right there on St. Nicholas
Place. I could walk to the stadium."
During the 1951 World Series with the Yankees, Mays said he would even
walk to the away games, stopping to play stickball with kids on the street, of
course.
While Mays hit plenty of homers at the Polo Grounds, Mel Ott holds the
record with 323 hit there.
Another slugger who enjoyed the short porches at the Polo Grounds was
Babe Ruth. On May 6, 1915, Ruth, then of the Red Sox, hit his first major
league home run at the stadium off Yankees pitcher Jack Warhop.
The Yankees shared the Polo Grounds with the Giants from 1913-22. When
Ruth joined the Yankees in 1920, he took advantage of his new park, having
one of his best seasons with 54 home runs. He finished with 86 home runs at
the Polo Grounds, and Ruth's presence there began to draw more and more
fans for the Yankees. They outdrew the Giants by 300,000 in 1920, causing
embarrassment for the Giants, who soon grew tired of their co-tenants. The
Yankees moved out of the Polo Grounds after the '22 season, building their
own baseball palace directly across the Harlem River.
Despite world titles in 1921, '22, '33 and '54, the Giants struggled to fill the
56,000-seat stadium. In their dramatic comeback season of 1951, they barely
drew one million fans. Thomson's home run was not even seen by a capacity
crowd.
Despite the empty seats, by most accounts it was a great place to watch a
game. The odd shape brought the fans close to the players, and fans would
walk across the field to the center-field exit.
"I loved the Polo Grounds," said author Robert Creamer, who attended his
first game there in 1931. "I loved everything about it. It even smelled the right
way. It was a great place to watch a game."
The best time to be there was when the Dodgers were in the opposing dugout.
In the early-to-mid 20th century, no rivalry was better than Giants-Dodgers.
One of the Polo Grounds' quirks added to the atmosphere. The clubhouses
were located in center field, giving the teams a long walk from the clubhouse to
the dugouts.
"You can't describe the atmosphere," Mays said. "[The Dodgers] would come
out of the clubhouse and have to walk across center field and you would hear
the boos. They would boo everyone who had a Dodger uniform on."
"It was a long walk," former Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca said.
The most famous Dodgers-Giants game came in 1951 with Branca on the
mound when Thomson gave the Giants the pennant with his dramatic
ninth-inning home run. The blast was unusual because it landed in the lower
stands. With the grandstand hanging over the field so far, and a 17-foot wall to
clear, it was tough to sneak a ball under it.
"Bobby Thomson's homer was the only homer I saw hit into the lower stands,"
said Alvin Dark, who played shortstop for the Giants from 1950-56. "You just
couldn't hit one into the lower stands. But his was just one of those bullets that
just kept going."
"I had hit it pretty well," Thomson said. "It was a pretty high wall, so when I
realized it was sinking, I wasn't sure. But it didn't take long for it to disappear."
In recent years, the Giants' 1951 comeback season has come under scrutiny
because of the discovery that the team stole opponents' signs. The center field
clubhouses again came into play in their scheme with a coach stationed in
manager Leo Durocher's office with a telescope. He would then relay the signs
to Yvars in the bullpen by code on a buzzer. Yvars would then signal the hitter
to let him know what was coming.
The story did little to taint the legacy of Thomson's home run and only added
to the lore of the Polo Grounds.
Owner Horace Stoneham took the Giants out of New York in 1957, and only
12,000 fans came to their final game at the stadium. It got a new life in 1962
when the expansion Mets used it for home games while Shea Stadium was
being built. They played there in 1962 and '63, participating in the final game at
the field on Sept. 18, 1963 against the Phillies. The same wrecking ball that
razed Ebbets Field four years earlier took down the Polo Grounds on April
10, 1964.
The Polo Grounds Towers apartment complex was built on the site and
remains there today. There are reminders of the stadium on signs welcoming
you to the complex that have a baseball stadium on them. There is also a
plaque at the approximate site of home plate. A sign near the management
office says, "This development was built on the location that Willie Mays and
the Giants made famous, Let's Keep it Beautiful."
On a sunny day in May, the complex has plenty of people walking around,
enjoying the weather. There's basketball being played across the street at
Rucker Park, but no one playing baseball.
The buildings shoot up into the sky like four red, brick headstones
commemorating the site of some of baseball's best moments.
"Every once in a while I drive by it on the Major Deegan," Thomson said.
"You can see the apartment buildings across the river. That's life. Time moves
on. But it's nice to have a few memories."
(C) 2004 New York Post