Ebbets Field

Very few ballparks have claimed a city's heart like Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. Perhaps it was Charles Ebbets continued investment in the community, or perhaps it was the long wait for the Dodgers to finally beat those dreaded Yankees in hte world Series. What ever the reason may be, what is certain is that Brooklyn's heart was ripped out of its chest when Ebbets Field was torn down. Let's take a look at how a simple ballpark became so interwoven in a city's soul.

The Conception

Charles Ebbets was walking around Brooklyn one day when he stumbled upon an ugly little site nestled in an area known as "Pigtown". He looked past the 16-foot high slope by Bedford Avenue and the unsightly hole right in the middle of the 5.7 acre plot and into the future. He had grown weary of constantly fettering away fans at 16,000 seat Washington Park and looked admirably at the nine different lines of track that led near to the vacant lot.

Even though the site was a dump, it was close to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the Consumer Park Brewery. A decade later, Brooklyn would undergo a massive rebirth in construction as apartments began to pop up all over the city. Brooklyn was about to explode and Charles Ebbets wanted a piece of the action.

After buying the land, Ebbets realized that he was quickly running out of money and sold half the yet-to-be constructed ballpark and the Dodgers to Steve and Ed McKeever in order to secure financing. Ground was broken on March 14, 1912 and construction commenced under the watchful eye of architect Clarence Randall Buskin.

Soon, a standard Dead Ball Era edifice began to emerge from the muck. Girded with steel and fortified with concrete, the new ballpark was adorned with a marble rotunda that was lit up with 16 electric light bulbs, each designed to resemble a ball handing from a bat. Despite the fact that they had to scrap plans for bleachers in the outfield, the trapezoid shaped ballpark came together nicely.

The Early Years

The Dodgers opened their new ballpark on April 5, 1913 in a preseason matchup with the New York Yankees. the 24,000 seat ballpark was so full that as many as 10,000 people were left to listen to the game outside of its gates. Fittingly, the Dogders beat the Yankees.

Four days later, Ebbets Field officially opened. 14,000 fans braved the frigid 37 degree weather as their Dodgers lost to the Phillies 1-0. Ebbets Field enjoyed some success at the box office that first year, bringing in 347,000. Over the next two years, that number dwindled to as low as 122,671 while the Federal League was trying in vain to make a name for itself.

From the very beginning, Ebbets Field was much more than just a baseball park. Once a year, Charles Ebbets allowed orphans to use his ballpark for a field day, rent free. Later one, he would allow students in for free to watch their peers in baseball and football, sometimes with key rivalries on the line such as Erasmus and Manual. This courtesy gave the community a sense of ownership over the ballpark. They loved going to college baseball games, boxing matches and soccer games and felt spoiled when Army and Navy ended in a scoreless tie in 1923 right there in the heart of Brooklyn.

By 1916, the Federal League had folded and the Dodgers began to draw attendance again just in time to win their first pennant. Going into the 1916 World Series, Charles Ebbets unwisely raised ticket prices which led to fewer fans. He would never make that mistake again. The Dodgers won the first World Series game ever played at Ebbets Field, a 4-3 win in Game 3, but lost in five to the Boston Red Sox.

The Great War loomed shortly thereafter and Ebbets Field, like all ballparks, was hit hard. It drew just 84,000 fans in 1918 as the Dodgers waited out the conflict.Once the 1918 season ended abruptly, Ebbets Field was used as a storehouse for war related material.

By 1919, a splendid thing had occurred in new York: the Blue Laws were no more. Now the Dodgers could rake in even more revenue on Sundays. Partly due to this phenomenon, the Dodgers drew 361,000 fans in 1919, the second highest total in the ballpark's history.

Ironically, the Dodgers actually played better on the road in those early days as their fans -passionate as they were- could be equally cruel to their own players. Ebbets even warned the fans about their behavior, explaining to them that they just might cost their beloved ballclub the pennant if their collective attitudes continued to be so sour towards their own team. In time, the fans agreed and became some of the best fans a home team could ask for.

After drawing an incredible 808,000 fans, the Robins returned to the World Series in 1920, facing of against a Cleveland Indians squad still reeling from the death of their teammate Ray Chapman. Although the Robins won two out of three games at home, they ultimately lost to the Indians.

From 1920 until 1934, Ebbets Field drew less than 500,000 just once. It survived some lean years by the Dodgers and even survived the deaths of both Charles Ebbets and Ed McKeever. However, that's when things got complicated. In total, 33 different heirs inherited parts of Ebbets Field and the Dodgers and with the heirs came trustees and lawyers and disputes and over one big headache after another. From then on, Ebbets Field lost some of the magic that its namesake had envisioned. It still had the Dodgers though.

The Heart of Brooklyn

With the new power structure in play, there were more mouths to feed. With few willing to reinvest their dividends into the club or ballpark, The Dodgers made less than they paid out in dividends for the last four years of the 1920s. It was only in 1930 when it finally made more than it paid out. Seeing how thousands had been turned away due to overcrowding at least a dozen times over the past year, chairman Steve McKeever tried in vain to get his fellow board members to agree to expansion, but they refused. As a sign of good faith, they allowed him to erect a 20 foot extension wall in right field to protect passerby against out of the park home runs.

In 1937, the Dodgers tried in vain to get the city to move Montgomery Street so that they could expand at a much better angle. With the refusal in hand, the Dodgers scrapped plans for a three-tier stand in left field and settled for a double-decker bleacher section in that same area. As a result, center field was moved in by 100 feet and Ebbets Field reached its peak capacity at 35,000

Both manager Leo Durocher and Larry MacPhail arrived in the late 1930's, instantly bringing change to the organization. Incredibly, MacPhail got the Brooklyn Trust Company to loan the debt-riddled ballclub $300,000 to spruce up its home and make it more modern. Anticipating night baseball and television opportunities, he used some of those funds on lights.

In 1939, Ebbets field hosted the first televised MLB and NFL games. On August August 26, Hugh Casey helped the Dodgers beat the Reds 6-1 and on October 22, the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23-14.

As the team lost to the Yankees time and again, Ebbets Field continued to be filled with lively fans such as Hilda Chester. After her incessant yelling caused a heart attack, she swapped the shouting for banging a ladle on a frying pan until Dodger players gave her a cowbell to use during games. The Brooklyn Sym-Phony often played to annoy the opposition, filling the ballpark with a lively set of tunes as Gladys Goodding played the organ in the heat of the summer. The ballpark truly had a carnival atmosphere.

In 1944, Walter O'Malley, an attorney for the Brooklyn Trust Company and trustee of the Ebbets and McKeever heirs, came aboard as Branch Rickey and John Smith banded together to buy the club.

Ultimately, this led to what endeared this ballpark with its city was baseball and the eternal pursuit of that elusive championship. From 1941 through 1953, the Dodgers lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series five times, each trip hurting more than the last. Still, general manager Branch Rickey never lost heart, building the fabled "Boys of Summer" into one of the more endearing stories in baseball.

Radio personality Red Barber brought the club to life every day as great players such as gil Hodges, Duke Snider and Pee Wee Reese tried time and again to beat the Yankees in the World Series. Rickey made history in 1947 when he signed the first African American in the major leagues, Jackie Robinson.

In 1949, Ebbets Field hosted the All-Star game where the A.L. won 11-7 in front of 32,577. The following year, Vin Scully joined the Dodgers as a color analyst for radio and eventually television.

In 1955, the Dodgers again faced off against the Yankees in the World Series. At first it looked like it would be the same as usual after the Dodgers lost the first two games. However, they took the next three at home and waited until Game 7 to finally beat the Bronx Bombers. It was the only world championship in Brooklyn's history.

The Dodgers couldn't keep the magic alive the following year as they lost 9-0 at Ebbets Field in Game 7. It was the last postseason game in the ballpark's history. In 20 games, Ebbets Field won 11 and lost nine.

By then, Walter O'Malley had taken full control of the organization and was looking to move. Decades after the ballpark's namesake overlooked the lack of parking while constructing his ballpark, Ebbets Field was seeing fewer and fewer fans in its seats as a direct result. The neighborhood was falling apart too, with more families moving to the suburbs.

Ebbets Field hosted its last game on September 24, 1957, a 2-0 Dodgers victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of just 6,702. Danny McDevitt played the whole game, striking out nine. When Dee Fondy grounded out to the shortstop, it signaled the end of an era. Ebbets Field was demolished three years later and is now the site of an apartment complex.

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