This is an edited version of NYGPS member Greg Prince’s latest Faith and Fear in Flushing entry on his Mets blog found at http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/. Greg has more knowledge of the Mets than anyone I know. He has written many books on his beloved Metropolitans, his latest being The Happiest Recap: First Base (1962-1973): 50 Years of the New York Mets As Told in 500 Amazin’ Wins (Volume 1) Greg joined our group due to his love of the game and the Mets tie into the NY Giants. Greg also wants to thank fellow NYGPS member John Barr with his help for the piece. ENJOY!!
Rebuilding is often as much about preservation and restoration as it is rehabilitation or transformation, so another thumb up for the Mets taking part in a terrific episode of making New York whole again. The Mets, along with the Yankees, the Jets and two teams of Giants have chipped in to make passable once more the John T. Brush Stairway, the last physical connection remaining to the cradle of your New York Metropolitans.
The staircase — which connected the 1911 version of the Polo Grounds to the road above it on Coogan’s Bluff — was presented to the City of New York by the baseball Giants in memory of Brush, their then recently deceased owner, one hundred years ago this July. And one half-century ago this month, the Mets commenced their second season in that same staircase’s shadow; 1963 marked the last spring and summer the grand old ballpark would be filled with fun and frolic (not to mention 34 wins for the good guys). A year later, one week before Shea Stadium opened, the Polo Grounds succumbed to the wrecking ball. While a housing project rose, everything else came down…everything but the stairs, though those fell into terrible disrepair. You could still make out the dedication plaque that was etched into one of its landings if you were in the neighborhood, but climbing the steps could be hazardous to your health. Continue reading →

NYGPS member Stew Thornley, author of Land of the Giants: New York’s Polo Grounds wrote me the following:
“I will be editing an anthology on the Polo Grounds for McFarland Publishers that will feature historical research and essays and memories from players and fans. The book will probably not be out until 2016 and (as you may have figured) there will no remuneration, only fame and a warm, fuzzy feeling, for contributors. Essays may be of any length, covering a particular topic or just a brief memory of time spent at the Polo Grounds. Thanks for your help.” If you are interested in this venture, please email me with your real email address and I will send you a release form and where to mail your work.
Here’s your chance to be a celebrity and explain your love for the NY Giants and the famed PG’s!!

CO-FOUNDER & CO-PRESIDENT OF THE NYGPS STEVE ROTHSCHILD

SPEAKER & FORMER NY GIANTS BATBOY ED LOGAN

SPEAKER & STADIUM CONNOISSEUR FRANK DANIEL

Surprise, Arizona 4/10/13
What better time to have the first West Coast Meeting of the New York Giants Preservation Society Meeting? Yesterday marks 50 years that the last opening day was held at the Polo Grounds.It was not the Giants but the New York Mets.They had their second opening in their history at a stadium filled with history but really neglected.In addition we are only a short while away from the dedication of the John T. Brush Staircase.

Steve Rothschild, Frank Daniel (he was at the Polo Grounds for the final NY Giants Home Game on 9/29/57) and Former Batboy Ed Logan handled the meeting and displayed quite some memorabilia.Frank had some amazing large framed photos from the late 1940s and early 1950s.Ed Logan had some fantastic items as did Steve.

Frank showed us where he was in that famous photo from 9/29/57 with everyone leaving towards the famed clubhouse in CF.Frank was in the photo under the 483′ sign about to remove the sign when a cop told him to get lost!!
Continue reading →

BY KEN BELSON OF THE NY TIMES 4/9/13

Ebbets Field is in the spotlight this year because the long-departed home of the Brooklyn Dodgers is in the centennial of its birth. But this is also a significant month for the Polo Grounds, the other New York home for National League baseball that succumbed to the wrecking ball decades ago.
After all, it was on April 9, 1963, that the Polo Grounds hosted the last opening day in its long history.
The Mets — not the Giants, who left for San Francisco after the 1957 season — were the home team that day, 50 years ago. And the Mets were reluctant tenants. They had hoped to move into Shea Stadium at the start of that season, their second in the major leagues, but delays in the construction of Shea forced the team to play an extra year in Upper Manhattan.
By then, the final incarnation of the Polo Grounds, which opened in 1911, was on its last legs. There was limited parking, the locker rooms were cramped and the concession stands outdated. Maintenance and restoration work had all but ceased.
Continue reading →

You can never get enough of looking at these two pictures!!

These are the three known calls of the most famous home run in MLB history. Thanks to Joshua Prager for having all 3 on his website and sharing them for all to enjoy. Everyone has heard the Hodges… call, a few the McLendon call, but I believe very few the Red Barber call. Enjoy!!
http://www.joshuaprager.com/books/echoing-green/audio-book/
More on the calls at wikipedia:

Several television and radio[14] broadcasters captured the moment for baseball fans in the New York City area and nationwide.[15] Some sources claim additional radio broadcasts were done by Al Helfer for the Mutual network, by Buck Canel and Felo Ramírez for a Spanish language network, and by Nat Allbright in a studio re-creation for the Dodgers’ secondary network in the South. Harry Caray was in the Giants’ radio booth with Hodges and may have also participated in the broadcast.[16][17]
Continue reading →

BY TOM EDWARDS
Found this at Sports Collectors Digest @
http://www.SPORTSCOLLECTORSDIGEST.COM

Thanks to NYGPS member Keith Remland for spotting it!!
Looks like a great site for collectors!! Happy Passover & Easter to you all!!

My interest in baseball memorabilia began shortly after a visit to Ebbets Field to see my hometown Brooklyn Dodgers play the Milwaukee Braves. Watching a team with rookie manager Walter Alston and players such as Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges made it easy to become a fan of the game.
In those days, my collection consisted of baseball cards, yearbooks and magazines. Over the years, I have enjoyed adding tobacco cards, press pins, autographed baseballs, bats, lithographs, books, postcards and seats to my collection.
Of those, I would put the seats at the top of the list of memorabilia that provides the biggest fun factor. Having spent a lot of my youth at Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds, I set a goal years ago of adding seats from those classic ballparks to my collection.
In the 1980s, I saw an ad in a memorabilia publication for a row of three seats from the Polo Grounds. The owner lived about two hours from where my wife and I lived at the time, so we drove up to take a look. After a very brief negotiation, it was a done deal. One park down, two to go. Although I had those seats from the home of the New York Giants, I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to add a row of four floor standing seats with the N.Y. logo on both ends, so that row was added to our sports room.
Continue reading →

Found this great article from some years back by Allan Barra that appeared in Sports Illustrated. Spoke to the artist Thom Ross and suggested he contact NYC Parks Department to get his work displayed at the redidcation of the Brush Stairway. Enjoy!!

-It has been said that baseball is the only thread that ties America together over three centuries. If so, as artist Thom Ross has discovered, it is a slender and fragile thread.

Ross, who lives in Seattle, came to New York five years ago to commemorate the most famous defensive play in baseball history, on its 50th anniversary. As every baseball fan knows, on Sept. 29, 1954, in Game 1 of the World Series, the Cleveland Indians’ Vic Wertz slammed a ball deep into the Polo Grounds center field, traveling an estimated 450-460 feet from home plate. There it landed in the glove of the Giants’ young phenom Willie Mays, who, running furiously with his back to home plate, caught the ball, wheeled around and fired it back into the infield to complete a play that, in the words of Birmingham News sports editor Alf Van Hoose (who had covered Mays since he played for the Birmingham Black Barons), “you had to see not to believe.”

It may have been true, as Mays later insisted, that he made better catches during his career, but no one has ever argued that no greater play has been made in all of World Series history.
Continue reading →

New York Giants Preservation Society Meeting (Surprise, AZ)
New York Giants Preservation Society Meeting
9:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Sun City Grand Chaparral Center (Pima Room)
19781 N. Remington Drive, Surprise, AZ 85374

Unlike the San Francisco Giants move from New York, the New York Giants Preservation Society remains physically entrenched in New York. On April 10, 2013, however, we are heading west … sort of. Co-President Steven Rothschild has scheduled a meeting in Surprise, Arizona, on April 10, 2013. It should be a terrific time for all.

Come meet Eddie Logan, 1957 Giants batboy whose father and grandfather were both clubhouse managers for the Giants at the Polo Grounds, and Frank Daniel, a ballparks expert who attended the final game at the Polo Grounds.

Our previous two meetings with Joshua Prager and the World Series Trophy Tour in NY were terrific events. Hope to see you there!-Steve

Our 2nd meeting of the year will take place on April 23rd at Berginos Baseball Clubhouse (67 East 11 Street New York, NY 10003 (212) 226-7150, at 6:30PM. This is a Tuesday Night. I am pleased to announce th…at Dr. Lawrence Hogan will be our guest speaker. He has penned SO MANY SEASONS IN THE SUN: A Century and More of Conversation with Baseball’s Greatest Clubhouse Managers. Books will be available to be purchased and signed. If you are interested in attending and are not on my regular email list, please RSVP ASAP. Last day to respond is by March 23. Should be a wonderful and entertaining evening. Come early and check out the Clubhouse for great baseball gifts and hobnob (Wizard of Oz all over the place these days!) with other NYGPS members.