General
Information
Address:
55 Sullivan Place
Brooklyn, NY
Who Played Here: Brooklyn
Dodgers (NL)
First Opened: April 9, 1913
Surface: Grass
First night game: June 15, 1938
Last game: September 24, 1957
Demolished: February 23, 1960
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 25,000 (1913); 32,000 (1932)
Architect: Clarence
Randall Van Buskirk
Construction: Castle Brothers, Inc.
Owner: Brooklyn Dodgers
Cost: $750,000

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History
Cramped, yet always colorful, Ebbetts
Field was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. They struggled
here in the 1920s and 1930s, brought Jackie Robinson to major
league baseball here in 1947, and won the World Series here in
1955. It was originally built without a press box (one was
finally added in 1929) and no one brought the key to the bleachers
for the first game.
It was built by Dodgers owner Charlie Ebbetts in 1913, who had
risen through the organization from ticket seller to business
manager. He became the owner in 1902, buying the team from
Harry von der Horst, who wanted the team to stay in Brooklyn and
so passed over higher bidders who would have moved the team;
Ebbetts had no money, and instead of solidifying the team's
finances by selling his star ballplayers he concentrated on
building the team a new, modern ballpark. The only location
he could afford was a garbage dump 3 miles south by southwest of
the Manhattan Bridge, down Flatbush Avenue, known as Pigstown - so
called because pigs would feast on the waste each morning - which
smelled of sulfur and rotten fish.
The park opened in 1913, and the city of Brooklyn began to grow
around it. The parcel of land was tiny, meaning that the
spacious field allowed a capacity of just 18,000. As the
grandstand was expanded, the field shrunk - as the grandstand was
extended to left and center in the early 1930s, the distance to
left was reduced to 353 feet, and the distance to center fell to
400 feet. By 1948, the power alleys were just 352 feet, and
center field stood a very reasonable 384 feet away - these
distances were made even shorter by the upper deck, which hung
over the playing field. The distance to the 38-foot right
field wall was just 297 feet at the foul pole.
Right
Field Wall: The
right field wall was a gem. The wall towered 38 feet high
and abutted Bedford Avenue; the top half was a black screen, and
the bottom half was a patchwork collection of local ads. The wall
was would deflect line drives at unpredictable angles, and the
quirky, angled centerpiece added to the mayhem. The large
black scoreboard featured the famous Abe
Stark "Hit sign, win suit" advertisement on the
bottom, and a Schaefer beer ad on top which gave the official
scorer's ruling on hits and errors by lighting up the appropriate
letter (H or E).
The
Fans: As colorful as the ballpark itself was, the boisterous
fans here really made it the jewel in the firmament of classic
ballparks. They would hoot and holler incessantly, and
carried on a long-running love affair with their team. There
was the Dodger Sym-Phony, a group of musically inclined fans who
would play songs that ranged from mildly irritating to a
nails-on-the-chalkboard cacophony, depending on the amount of
alcohol imbibed. There was Jack Pierce, who would buy an
extra seat for his bartender whenever he attended. The
bartender's job was to blow up balloons, which Jack would let go
during the game.
There was Hilda Chester, who cheered so loud she suffered a heart
attack; after that, she would still attend every game and bang a
frying pan with a spoon to urge her team on. The Dodgers
gave her her trademark brass cowbell in the late 1930s so she
wouldn't get food all over her fellow fans. There is a story
about Chester slipping a note to giving a note to Pete Reiser,
Brooklyn's center fielder, and asking him to give it to manager Leo
Durocher. The note said, "Get Casey hot. Wyatt's
losing it." Leo the Lip (who visited Hilda in the
hospital after her second heart attack) thought the note came from
team president Larry McPhail because he had seen Reiser conversing
with the GM moments before; so upon reading the note, he began
warming up reliever Hugh Casey. Eventually, starter Whit
Wyatt - who had pitched brilliantly - gave up a hit, and Durocher
pulled him in favor of Casey, who made a close game out of it
before barely saving the win for Wyatt.
Exasperated, Durocher ordered Reiser not to hand him notes from
McPhail anymore during the game. When Reiser told him who the
note was from, Durocher flew into an unintelligible, apoplectic
rage.
By 1957, Ebbets Field had grown too old to satisfy Dodger owner
Walter O'Malley, and in 1958 Brooklyn's beloved Dodgers were in
Los Angeles. Only 6,673 fans attended the final game, and the park
was demolished in 1960.
Ten
Most Memorable Moments
1. Vander Meer's second no-no - June 15, 1938:
Fans who showed up to watch the first night game ever at Ebbetts Field got a
special treat. More
2. Game 4, 1947 World Series - October 3, 1947:
Bill Bevens of the New York Yankees took a no-hitter into the 9th inning, and
had two down before Cookie Lavagetto doubled in two runs, costing him the no-no
and the win. More
3. April 15, 1947:
Jackie Robinson becomes the first
black ballplayer to play in the major leagues when he started at first base for
the Brooklyn Dodgers.
4.
August 26, 1939: A historical milestone, as baseball makes its
television debut. With Dodger announcer Red Barber at the
mike, NBC telecast the first game of a Saturday double-header
between Cincinnati and Brooklyn. According to the New
York Times, "Television set owners as far as fifty miles
away viewed the action and heard the roar of the
crowd."
5.
Game 4, World Series - October 5, 1941: Brooklyn catcher
Mickey Owen drops a third strike in the ninth inning of what would
have been a Dodger victory over the Yankees to level the Series at
2 games apiece. The Yankees Tommy Henrich reaches base, and
the Yankees follow with 4 runs, win the game to go up 3-1, and win
the Series in 5.
6.
August 15, 1926: A story - perhaps apocryphal - in Ebbett's
folklore goes like this: a taxicab cruised past the stadium, and
the cab driver called out, "How's the game going?"
A fan yells back, "The Dodgers have three men on
base!" Disbelievingly, the cabbie asks, "Which
base?"
The story was inspired by a game against the Braves on this
date. Brooklyn's catcher was on third, pitcher Dazzy Vance
was on second, and infielder Chick Fewster was on first.
Babe Herman strode to the plate and promptly hit a long drive to
right. The ball hit the wall, and the runner from third
scored easily; Dazzy Vance should have scored easily as well, but
he held up so long to see if the ball would be caught that he only
had time to round third and get halfway home. So he decided
to play it safe and return to third - alas, he got caught in a
rundown between third and home. He managed to scramble back
to third, only to find Fewster already there.
Meanwhile, Herman was running flat out as soon as he hit the ball,
and got to second. Here is how he described the play later
to a friend: "I saw the ball hit the wall as I was on my way
to first base and from the way it bounced I figured I could make
it to second. I slid into second safely with a double, but
as I was lying there, I see that a rundown is taking place between
third and home. Naturally, I figure it is Chick Fewster in
the rundown, who'd been on first, so I get up and sprint for third
like I'm supposed to. That way we'll have a man on third
base, even if Fewster is tagged out.
But when I get to third, Fewster is already there, and then
here comes Vance into third from the other side. That
really surprises me, 'cause I thought he'd scored long
ago. After all, he was on second and even if you're slow as
a turtle you should be able to score from second on a double.
Anyway, there we are, all three of us on third base at one and the
same time. Boston third baseman Eddie Taylor doesn't know
what to do, so he tags all of us. Vance was declared safe
and Fewster and I were both out. If there was any justice,
Vance would be declared out, because he's the one who caused the
traffic jam in the first place. But down through history,
for some reason, it's all been blamed on me."
7.
September 21, 1934: A dose of the Dean brothers - Dizzy
pitches a three-hit shutout in the first game of a double-header,
and brother Paul follows up in the second game with another
shutout.
8.
August 2, 1938: The only time baseball experimented with
yellow baseballs at the major league level. The new balls
were supposed to be easier to see, but the players weren't
impressed and the fans didn't like it, so the idea was dropped.
9.
September 16, 1924: St. Louis first baseman Jim Bottomley hits
a grand slam home run, a two-run homer, a double and three singles
in six times at bat, driving in a record twelve runs, as
the Cardinals trounce the Dodgers 17-3.
10.
July 31, 1954: Joe Adcock hits four home runs and gets a
double, driving in seven runs and accounting for 30 total bases
with just seven swings of the bat. Milwaukee triumphs 15-7.
Analysis
The park was a terrific hitter's park,
thriving because of it's small size and boosting both runs and
home runs dramatically after the renovations in 1948 brought the
left field and center field walls in by 14 feet. The crooked
outfield wall baffled visiting outfielders who often chased every which way
after caroming baseballs. Dodger outfielders did better - Dixie Walker and
Carl Furillo became wizards at playing the odd caroms, and racked up plenty of
assists year after year. Jackie Robinson
and Pee Wee Reese
were consistently aided by the park's dimensions, and catcher Roy Campanella
hit 140 of his 242
career home runs at Ebbetts.
Duke Snider loved this park -
from 1950 to 1957 he terrified opposing pitchers, averaging close
to 40 home runs a season, leading the league in total bases three
times and in slugging percentage twice. During this period,
he hit 171 home runs at home, and 120 on the road. His
left-handed stroke was perfect for the cozy confines of the
ballpark, and he would pepper the 297-foot-distant right field
wall with line drives. The other big hitter on the Dodgers
during the 1950s was Gil Hodges, who hit more home runs at home
than on the road in every single season from 1948 to 1957 except
1951 - over this period, he hit 172 HR at Ebbetts, and 125 on the
road.
Both right-handed and left-handed hitters thrived here; the fly
ball pitchers on the Dodgers would get killed - guys like Ralph
Branca - though power pitchers Preacher Roe and Don Newcombe
strung together a series of superlative performances in the
mid-1950s.
Park
Factors
|
Run |
HR |
1932 |
93 |
95 |
1933 |
99 |
120 |
1934 |
93 |
100 |
1935 |
90 |
106 |
1936 |
115 |
109 |
1937 |
114 |
95 |
|
|
|
1948 |
110 |
112 |
1949 |
100 |
127 |
1950 |
113 |
133 |
1951 |
92 |
120 |
1952 |
103 |
123 |
1953 |
107 |
104 |
1954 |
104 |
123 |
1955 |
106 |
122 |
1956 |
103 |
120 |
1957 |
133 |
145 |
©
2001 STATS, Inc.
Seating
Chart
Location
Flatbush section of Brooklyn,
NY, about . Left field (N),
Montgomery Street; third base (W), Franklin Avenue, later Cedar
Place, later McKeever Place; first base (S), Sullivan Place; right
field (E), Bedford Avenue.
Dimensions
- History
Left
field: 419 (1913), 410 (1914), 418.75 (1921), 383.67 (1926),
382.83 (1930), 384 (1931), 353 (1932), 356.33 (1934), 365 (1938),
357 (1939), 365 (1940), 356 (1942), 357 (1947), 343 (1948), 348
(1953), 343 (1955), 348 (1957).
Note: According to Total
Baseball, there is some confusion about the distances. The left
field foul line and grandstand wall were the same near the corner
between the 343 and 357 markers.)
Left-center:
365 (1932), 351 (1948)
Deep
left-center at bend in wall: 407 (1932), 393 (1948), 395
(1954)
Center
field: 450 ft. (1914), 466 (1930), 460.79 (early 1931), 447
(late 1931), 399.42 (1932), 399 (1936), 402 (1938), 400 (1939),
399 (1947), 384 (1948), 393 (1955)
Right
side of center-field grandstand: 390 ft. (1932), 376 (1948)
Right-center’s
deepest corner: 500 ft. (1913), 476.75 (1926), 415 (1932), 403
(1948), 405 (1950), 403 (1955)
Right
side of right–center field exit gate: 399 ft. (1932)
Right-center:
352 ft.
Scoreboard
- left side: 344 ft.
Scoreboard
- right side: 318 ft.
Right
field: 301 ft. (1913), 300 (1914), 296.17 (1921), 292 (1922),
301 (1926), 296.08 (1930), 295.92 (1931), 296.5 (1934), 297 (1938)
Backstop:
64 ft. (1942), 70.5 (1954), 72 (1957).
Fun
Facts
-
The same wrecking ball that was used to demolish
this ballpark was used four years later to demolish the Polo Grounds.
Demolition began on February 23, 1960.
-
There was no press box here until 1929.
- Schaefer Beer sign (added after WWII) on top
of the right-center scoreboard notified fans of official scorer’s decision
- the 'H' in Schaefer lit up for a hit, an 'E' for an error.
- Jackie Robinson School, previously known as
Crown Heights, houses the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame.
- Abe Stark sign offered a free suit at 1514
Pitkin Avenue to any batter hitting the 3-by-30-foot sign.
- Baseball's first televised baseball game was
played here by the Dodgers on August 26, 1939 against the Reds.
- Jackie Robinson became the first black man
in the 20th century to play in Major League Baseball here on April 15, 1947.
- The only year in which the Dodgers won the
World Series while tennants of Ebbets Field was 1955.
- Built on the site of the Pigtown garbage
dump at a cost of $750,000.

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