https://www.si.com/…/2017/09/28/new-york-giants-polo-grounds
HARRY SWARTOUT
Thursday September 28th, 2017
New York is a two-team town Giants-Jets, Knicks-Nets, Yankees-Mets but it hasn’t always been. In the Golden Age of Baseball, New York had three teams, all championship-caliber, in the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers.
Since 1883, the New York Giants had played ball in Manhattan (and in the Polo Grounds since 1911), but the stadium was getting old, and the city was changing. In 1957, Horace Stoneham decided to move the team west along with the Brooklyn Dodgers, absolutely gutting New York baseball fans.
The Giants moved and prospered, but the fans they left behind have been reckoning their love for a home team 300 miles away.
https://www.si.com/…/2017/09/28/new-york-giants-polo-grounds

By Shannan Ferry
City officials celebrate the life of a baseball legend by pitching up a permanent tribute. NY1’s Shannan Ferry was there and has the story from Harlem.
A lot has changed in Harlem since the 1950’s — it’s been sixty years since the New York Giants called this neighborhood home.
But on Friday, city officials honored the past — and one man in particular, renaming the corner of West 155th Street and The Harlem River Drive after Willie Mays, the baseball great who began his career with the Giants at the nearby Polo Grounds — and lived in the neighborhood, too.
“I mean how many guys brought a World Series, to Harlem?!” asked Jacob Morris, director of the Harlem Historical Society.
The ceremony came on the 63rd anniversary of a magic Mays moment.
His iconic over-the-shoulder catch in Game One of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds.
The ‘Say Hey’ kid spent six years with the Giants here through the 1957 season, then moved with the team to San Francisco, where he played until ending his career back in New York with the Mets in 1973.
His son Michael Mays says he and his dad who is 86 are thrilled by this honor, because Harlem is where it all began.
“You can’t beat the pride,” the younger Mays said. “He’s a person in history, he’s a significant person, he’s in the white house, and a medal of honor, I mean the achievements in his life, it’s incredible.”
Organizers say they hope the street sign also inspires the younger generation. Some young players we spoke with say seeing it right here in Harlem, makes them even more motivated.
“Now just want to be like him, especially I’m an outfielder he was an outfielder, so that inspired me to look at videos and try to be like him,” said Wanter Martin, a high school junior.
This is not the only new honor for Mays. Major League Baseball announced Friday that the World Series MVP award will be named the “Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player.”
And from this ceremony near the old Polo Grounds, it is clear Mays is still an MVP to Harlem.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2017/09/29/city-honors-new-york-giant-willie-mays-with-street-renaming-in-harlem.html

A three-section mural of the fabled Polo Grounds site was officially dedicated today, August 30, at the Polo Grounds Towers at 2931 8th Avenue in Upper Manhattan. The mural, “Illustrates the story of the Polo Grounds housing development’s past, present, and future, including the Polo Ground’s rich sports history as the location of the NY Giants fabled field.” The project was spearheaded by Groundswell www.groundswell.nyc, an organization that “Brings together artists, youth, and community organizations through the Scaffold Up! model to use art as a tool for social change, for a more just and equitable world. Projects beautify neighborhoods, engage youth in societal and personal transformation, and give expression to ideas and perspectives that are underrepresented in the public dialogue”. Claudie Mabry and Robyne Walker Murphy, spoke on behalf of the Groundswell group. Remarks were then made by former Polo Grounds Towers tenant leader Barbara Williams and Property Manager Clara Garcia, as well as the President of the NYGPS. Lead Artist Demetrius Felder and Assistant Artist Iris Loughran then closed out the ceremony thanking everyone including their hard-working artists!!

Pictured are members Carmine Magazino, Paul Ellis-Graham, Tim Penman, and Gary Mintz

June 21st saw Robert Garratt visiting the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse (www.bergino.com ) to discuss his fabulous new book, Home Team: The Turbulent History of the San Francisco Giants, in front of 2 dozen members of the New York Giants Preservation Society. Garratt spoke about the ownership of the team in particular, the Horace Stoneham era. This era, especially the latter part of his Stoneham’s tenure in both NY and SF, has much to do with the title of the book. Garratt then added wonderful tales about the Bob Lurie era and spoke of Peter Magowan’s era as well. The night ended with a Q/A session before Mr. Garratt signed books for those who purchased them. I want to thank Robert Garratt and of course Jay Goldberg (owner of the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse) for making this a wonderful event!!

Now a housing complex, the stadium that once stood on 155th Street was home to the New York Giants baseball team — and an MLB legend.
By Nikki M. Mascali
Published : June 02, 2017 | Updated : June 02, 2017
http://www.metro.us/…/revitalizing-harlems-historic-polo-gr…
The history of Harlem is so vast, it could be the city’s sixth borough, but sadly over time, many of its once-notable areas have disappeared, replaced by endless skyscrapers or long forgotten altogether.
Such is the case of the former Polo Grounds, a stadium that was on 155th Street in Harlem and was home to MLB’s New York Giants from 1883 to 1957, before the team moved to San Francisco in 1958.
In what was known as “The Bathtub” for its unique shape, Bobby Thomson made his game-winning “shot heard ’round the world” against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951, and Willie Mays made “the catch” in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.
In an effort to remind New Yorkers of that storied MLB lore while also revitalizing portions of the landscape that was demolished in 1964 to make way for the Polo Grounds Towers and Rangel Houses complexes, hundreds gathered Thursday under the 155th Street Viaduct to take part in Pernod Ricard’s annual Responsib’all Day.
For the second year in a row, the global beverage company partnered with environmental nonprofit EarthShare and the New York Restoration Project to revitalize several acres of land for the more than 7,000 residents living in nearby public housing.
“I live about 10 blocks from here, and it’s kind of isolated from the rest of Harlem,” state Sen. Marisol Alcantara said. “One in seven kids has asthma in this area, and there is not a lot of green space. What you’re doing today is going to make a difference in many kids’ lives.”
Among the work included in the daylong project was clearing vegetation on the complex property, planting wildflowers, assisting with a neighborhood garden and working in nearby Highbridge Park, where Responsib’all Day took place last year.
“This has been a dumping ground for 30 years. I hope this is the beginning of a destination,” Barbara Williams, president of the resident association at the Polo Grounds Towers, added.
For many diehard Giants fans, like those in the New York Giants Preservation Society, the site has always been a destination.
“I’m a San Francisco Giants baseball fan, but I live in New York. Willie Mays was my idol, and Willie’s origins are here,” member Paul Ellis-Graham said.
“It’s a storied history, a storied franchise, and we want people to not forget that there was a team here,” added Gary Mintz, the society’s president, who began the organization in 2011 to honor his father, a longtime Giants fan.
Though the main portion of The Bathtub is long gone, little reminders do exist, like the John T. Brush Stairway. Built in 1913 and named after the man who owned the Giants from 1890 until his death in 1912, the stairway still leads down into the Polo Grounds Towers property from Coogan’s Bluff. It was restored in 2014 using donations from the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets and the MLB, Yankees, Mets and San Francisco Giants.
On one of the Polo Ground Towers buildings is a faded sign that reads, “This development was built on the location that Willie Mays and the Giants made famous.” A little further into the complex on another building is a weathered bronze plaque that commemorates where home plate used to be — and serves as a reminder that the Giants shared the field with the Mets and Yankees for several years as well.
“New York doesn’t really celebrate the history of this city enough, but this needs to be preserved,” Mintz said. “But today is not about baseball, it’s about restoring neighborhood pride.”
To watch a video about the Pernod Ricard’s and NYRP’s work at the Polo Grounds site as part of its Responsib’all Day, click here.

June 2, 2017

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — On the corner of 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem there’s now a big housing development, but it used to be a ballpark.
The Polo Grounds were home of the New York Giants baseball team.
“The Giants left town September 29, 1957. It’s embedded in my heard. I was at that game,” Carmine Magazine remembers.
He is now 76 years old. You have to be an older American to remember.
“In 1954, I started to go to the Polo Grounds,” says Larry Hans. “I was 11 years old. I always thought they’d just come back.”
They are members of the New York Giants Preservation Society. It’s run by Gary Mintz, who never made it to the Polo Grounds.
He was born four years after the Giants moved to San Francisco. But he has remained a New York Giants fan, because his dad was one and it helps keep the memory of their relationship alive. He says his dad was his best friend.
Members of the group helped in a cleanup effort around the area of the Polo Grounds, which hasn’t been kept up as well as it might have.
The Pernod Richard liquor group allowed 300 of their employees to take a day off of work on June 1 to come to the area around 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard to take part in the day, which was also sponsored by the New York Restoration Project (NYRP) and the nonprofit ground Earthshare.
It’s hoped that some day there might be a mural near the site to commemorate the Giants’ ballpark, the Polo Grounds. There are already some plaques and a restored stairwell that had been used to get fans down to the park from Coogan’s Bluff.
The park, and the team, mean a lot to the history of New York and fans are hoping their memory won’t die.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/…/06/02/sweet-spot-polo-grounds/

Our next NYGPS meeting will be on June 21 at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse at 6:30PM, with author Robert Garratt, who will be talking about his new book entitled: HOME TEAM: THE TURBULENT HISTORY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS, a great new book on the Giants that NY fans will very much enjoy if they have kept their fandom when the team moved westward.

Here is the synopsis:
In 1957 Horace Stoneham took his Giants of New York baseball team and headed west, starting a gold rush with bats and balls rather than pans and mines. But San Francisco already had a team, the Seals of the Pacific Coast League, and West Coast fans did not immediately embrace the newcomers.
Starting with the franchise’s earliest days and following the team up to recent World Series glory, Home Team chronicles the story of the Giants and their often topsy-turvy relationship with the city of San Francisco. Robert F. Garratt shines light on those who worked behind the scenes in the story of West Coast baseball: the politicians, businessmen, and owners who were instrumental in the club’s history.
Home Team presents Stoneham, often left in the shadow of Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, as a true baseball pioneer in his willingness to sign black and Latino players and his recruitment of the first Japanese player in the Major Leagues, making the Giants one of the most integrated teams in baseball in the early 1960s. Garratt also records the turbulent times, poor results, declining attendance, two near-moves away from California, and the role of post-Stoneham owners Bob Lurie and Peter Magowan in the Giants’ eventual reemergence as a baseball powerhouse. Garratt’s superb history of this great ball club makes the Giants’ story one of the most compelling of all Major League franchises.

This should be a terrific meeting following the ones with Dan Taylor, Jerry Liebowitz & Hal Bock, and our impromptu session at the Polo Grounds with Mark Melacon. Please RSVP ASAP as we expect a full house. Books can be purchased for $26 that night. (Hard-covered)

On, May 25th, the NYGPS held its second meeting of the year at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse in lower Manhattan. Jerry Liebowitz and Hal Bock shared the program with close to 30 members in attendance. Liebowitz, batting lead-off, displayed many of his one of a kind pieces of NY Giants memorabilia via a video presentation. His collection is truly remarkable. Bock, the highly acclaimed author, spoke about his new book, Banned, which details players who have been banned from the National Pastime for various infractions. Bock spoke of the NY Giants players and personnel who were “banned”. Liebowitz and Bock both took questions from the crowd. The NYGPS would once again like to thank Jay Goldberg for making the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse www.bergino.com our home base!!

For more information and other stories check out our FB Page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Giants-Preservation-Society-BASEBALL/160353950762500

Citing a desire to find out more about the NY Giants and the history of the Giants franchise, Mark Melacon met some members of the NYGPS on Monday, May 8th, prior to the Mets/Giants game. Melancon spoke, asked questions, and signed autographs for almost 2 hours. He was so pleasant to all! We can’t thank Mark, John Fuller, Anica Chavez, Katy Batchelder, Iman Rodney,and Staci Slaughter for setting this very special day up. Here is a short video

2ND NYGPS MEETING OF 2017-MAY 25
The second NYGPS meeting of 2017 will take place on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 6:30PM at our home base the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse. We will have 2 guest speakers for the evening. Leading off will be NYGPS Member Jerry Liebowitz who is a NYG and SF Giant memorabilia collector with over 2,000 pieces of Giants history/memories many of which he will share with us on this day. Jerry’s collection is second to none and he has talked about and displayed the pieces at many events. Jerry is pictured with a John J. McGraw Bronze plaque. It was awarded to John McGraw on March 12, 1927, at a Silver Jubilee Dinner at the Hotel Venice in Venice, Florida, in honor of his 25th consecutive year as Manager of The New York Giants. He also owns the original dinner program and a number of photos of the event and two different photos of Mrs. McGraw posing in front of the plaque in the McGraw apartment.
Provenance: John McGraw, Mrs. McGraw, Barry Halper and Liebowitz.
Concluding the evening’s festivities will be author Hal Bock. Hal Bock was an award-winning sports writer at The Associated Press for 40 years covering 30 World Series, 30 Super Bowls and 11 Olympic Games. He grew up a Giants fan and spent many happy days with his father at the Polo Grounds. Oct. 3, 1951 remains a highlight of his childhood.
He has written 16 books including the narratives for The Associated Press Pictorial History of Baseball and Willard Mullin’s Golden Age of Baseball Drawings. His latest book is “Banned Baseball’s Blacklist of All-Stars and Also-Rans,” and it includes some tales about our favorite team. Here are a few:
Willie Kauff was a star in the Federal League and then for McGraw’s Giants. Unfortunately, he went from stolen bases to stolen cars, leading Judge Landis to suspend him for life.
Shufflin’ Phil Douglas had an affinity for liquid refreshment causing frequent clashes with McGraw. Angered by his manager’s repeated fines and lectures, he wrote a letter to an opposing player, offering to disappear in order to cost the Giants the pennant. When Landis found this out, he shuffled Douglas out of baseball.
Dr. Joseph Creamer tried to bribe umpire Bill Klem before the 1908 playoff game between the Cubs and Giants. He is the only team physician ever banned from baseball.
Bock will discuss these and other episodes in his book at our May 25 meeting at Bergino’s Baseball Clubhouse. His book will be available for sale/autographed that evening.
Please RSVP ASAP as this event will surely be well attended. Once again, we thank Jay Goldberg for allowing his Bergino Baseball Clubhouse www.bergino.com to be our home base for the evening.