Michael W. Mitchell still remembers the days fondly.
From his childhood home on 162nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, he and his family would walk two blocks to the John T. Brush Stairway, down the steps and onto a grassy knoll, then across the street to what was then the upper level of the Polo Grounds. There were no busy highways, no guardrails — just the welcoming sights and sounds of baseball.
Decades later, Mitchell stood in the same spot he had many times as a kid, with the Brush stairwell looming at his back, gazing at what used to be his haven. Now all that stands on that hallowed ground are stained reddish-brown public housing buildings, the stadium that once housed five major New York sports teams left to linger in the memories of aging fans.
But on Thursday, the city took a step toward remembering.
At a rededication ceremony at the bottom of the Brush Stairway, the New York Department of Parks and Recreation officially unveiled renovations — which were completed last year — on 102nd anniversary of the stairwell’s opening. It signified a commitment to the rich history of New York baseball, and more specifically the Giants organization that departed for San Francisco in 1958.
“There’s one thing that New Yorkers do not have, and that’s a lack of pride. We care about our place,” said former Met and Yankee Lee Mazzilli, who grew up in Brooklyn. “We talk about Yankee Stadium being the cathedral of baseball. We know how iconic the Stadium is. But before Yankee Stadium, that’s what the Polo Grounds was. It was a part of baseball history, but more importantly, people forget that right here where we stand was a part of American history.”
The New York baseball Giants presented the Brush Stairway to the City of New York on July 9, 1913, naming it honor of former owner John T. Brush, who died in 1912. The stairwell served as an important passageway for fans to travel from the top of Coogan’s Bluff’s rocky cliffs down to Polo Grounds, the home of the baseball and football Giants, the Yankees, the Jets and later, the Mets.
Mitchell was one of the residents who frequented the Brush Stairway as a kid. So was New York Assemblyman Denny Farrell.
Farrell grew up two blocks away from the Polo Grounds on 159th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, and he remembers one day when the Cardinals were playing at the stadium. The team took the wrong train and ended up on 157th Street and Broadway instead of 157th and 8th Avenue. Continue reading →

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: MICHAEL ARONSON

It was exactly 102 years ago today, July 9, 1913, that the Giants baseball team gave New York City a stairway that fans used to descend from the heights of Coogan’s Bluff to the Polo Grounds ballpark and to climb home again after games.
A newspaper of the time (the Daily News first appeared six years later) wrote that the “stairway had been under consideration by the Park Department for some time, but, owing to the lack of funds, the city could not build it.”
Today, the stadium is, of course, a faded memory — with the stairs the only remaining relic of the Polo Grounds.
For decades, the 80-step steel structure rotted and was fenced off. Then, seven years ago this editorial column called for rehabbing the stairs as a way to connect two tiers of Highbridge Park.
Recalling generosity of yesteryear, the Daily News called on the Giants (now of San Francisco) and the four other clubs that once called the Polo Grounds home (the Yankees and the Mets and the NFL’s Giants and Jets) to chip in to a reconstruction fund.
The quintet came through in high style, donating a total of $500,000, with then-Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer adding $400,000. Major League Baseball gave $50,000.
Using that $950,000, the Parks Department has rebuilt the stairs and put them to public use. Today, marking the anniversary, the baseball and football Giants, Yanks, Mets, Jets and Major League Baseball will be recognized at a rededication ceremony.
A hearty salute to them all.