JERSEY CITY’S HORACE STONEHAM BELONGS IN BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

STOEHAM LUCAS

JERSEY CITY’S HORACE STONEHAM BELONGS IN BASEBALL HALL OF FAME by Ed Lucas

In a tranquil, sunny corner of Jersey City’s Holy Name Cemetery, on West Side Avenue, you’ll find a memorial with the name “Stoneham.” Not many visitors stop by these days, but for local baseball fans, it’s a name that should ring out through the decades.
Charles Stoneham, who grew up in Newark and served as an altar boy at several Hudson County parishes, owned the New York Giants baseball club from 1919 until his death in 1936. He is buried in his family’s Jersey City plot. Under Stoneham’s watch, the NY Giants became a premiere team in the National League, winning the World Series in 1921, 1922 and 1933.
After Charles Stoneham’s death, his son, Horace, inherited the club. At just 32 years old in 1937, Horace became the youngest owner of a Major League baseball team.
One of the first things he did was to establish a successful minor league Giants franchise in Jersey City, at Roosevelt Stadium, keeping the family’s connections to Hudson County strong. This also ensured generations of Giants fans in Jersey City, many of whom still root for them.
Both versions of the Giants were winners under Horace, who worked in several capacities, including as de facto general manager. He kept them at or near the top of the league.
Unfortunately, attendance at the Polo Grounds and in Jersey City was declining by the 1950s. Fans just stopped showing up, even though both clubs actually won titles in the 40’s and 50’s.
For other owners, this wouldn’t be a major crisis, but for Stoneham it was a disaster. The Giants were his primary business. They were the sole income stream for his family. Fewer tickets sold meant a dip in personal fortunes.
In 1951, the Jersey City club relocated to Ottawa, Canada. The city of New York wasn’t offering assistance in updating the Polo Grounds, either, so Stoneham began looking for a new home for the big club.
Realizing the potential for western expansion in baseball, Horace first explored a move to Minnesota. When that fell through, he was courted by the mayor of San Francisco. He signed the deal to move the Giants to California in 1957, even before the Dodgers signed theirs. Continue reading

NIKE RUNNING CLUB (THE LOCAL) AND MEMBERS OF THE NYGPS MEET AT THE BRUSH STAIRS

NIKE

Last night (April 10), the Nike Running Club (Some 150 plus runners using the name The Local) led by Coach Knox Robinson and organizer/tour-guide/historian/writer Kevin Fitzpatrick had their weekly run around NYC. Every Friday night Nike organizes a run in one of the five boroughs. 3 to 5 miles to see different neighborhoods and learn about them.This run ended at the John Brush Stairway in Upper Manhattan, the last piece of the Polo Grounds that remain. Kevin informed me that they open up “The Local” online registration each Sunday night for that week. The run filled up in 2 minutes, and had no spots open, only a waiting list to get on. He told me that this was the first time that’s ever happened! Kevin asked some members of the NYGPS to be on hand at the “finish line” to share some history and memories about the NY Giants, the Brush Stairs, and the Polo Grounds. A wonderful time was had by all. We want to thank Kevin, Knox, and Nike for asking us to attend their festivities. Nike provided the NYGPS members with sneakers, jackets and tickets to the Red Sox/Yankee Game that ended at 2:14AM April 11th!! Members were thrilled to be attending and sharing stories with the Nike Running Club. For those who don’t know, the Polo Grounds were about a mile from Yankee Stadium. Some members of both organizations walked to the game, others took a shuttle! I would bet this is the most people at this hallowed locale in decades!

HISTORY TRAVELS WEST AS POLO GROUNDS LIGHT POLES ILLUMINATE ASU STADIUM

ASU lightpoles

BY MICHAEL NOWELS Thu Apr. 2, 2015

PHOENIX—At Arizona State baseball’s new-again home, relics of the past reach high into the dry, dusty desert air. Ten 75-year-old light poles hoist bulbs that illuminate Phoenix Municipal Stadium. But the steel beams weren’t always in the middle of the Mojave.
In the shadow of these light poles, Mel Ott used his trademark leg kick to smack the 511th and final home run of his career on Opening Day 1946. Bobby Thomson hit his 1951 pennant-clinching “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” Willie Mays chased down a fly ball off the bat of Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series to make one of the most iconic catches in baseball history.
Before finding a home in the desert, the 160-ton, 150-foot towers brought light to the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants, beginning on May 24, 1940. That night, Bill Terry’s Giants defeated Casey Stengel’s Boston Bees 8-1 in the stadium’s first night baseball game. The lights replaced low-altitude football lights that were unsuited for baseball.
“Back then, they made things to last,” Phoenix Municipal Stadium manager James Vujs said of the light poles that have stood among Phoenix’s Papago Buttes for more than a half century after a 25-year stay across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.
Ed Logan Jr. played ball with childhood friends under those light poles when they towered over the old ballpark below Coogan’s Bluff. His father, Eddie Logan, was the Giants’ clubhouse manager for more than 30 years, spanning the team’s move from New York to San Francisco after the 1957 season.
“Just watching those guys climb up to change the lights gave me a dizzy feeling,” Ed remembered. The lights are just one stitch of an intricate tapestry of memories from a true baseball cathedral for Ed Logan Jr.
Ed was the Giants’ bat boy for that final season in New York between his junior and senior years in high school but as a child, he hung around in the center-field clubhouse with the players before games and after wins. After losses, his father made him wait outside until the players had calmed down.
“They did not censor anything,” Ed said. “There was lots of joking and lots of swearing, not PC like now. But it was totally integrated (racially).”
It wasn’t always so fun for Ed, though. He was tasked with keeping an eye on manager Leo Durocher’s son, Chris, who is five years Ed’s junior. For that duty, the skipper gave Ed a Schwinn bicycle.
Baseball fans are naturally nostalgic but the Polo Grounds’ character evokes a cascade of memories from those who visited it. Rich Rogers and Steve Rothschild were both raised as New York Giants fans and are involved with the New York Giants Preservation Society, as is Ed. Continue reading