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A's 8, Giants 2: 1913

October 9, 1913. The scene at the Polo Grounds in New York after the third game of the World Series. Philadelphia Athletics 8, New York Giants 2. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

October 9, 1913. The scene at the Polo Grounds in New York after the third game of the World Series. Philadelphia Athletics 8, New York Giants 2. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

 

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Hank Aaron

I found this by Googling Baseball Almanac

Four sluggers have put a ball over the center field wall in the Polo Grounds (Version IV). Those sluggers are Luke Easter of the Negro Leagues in 1948; Joe Adcock on April 29, 1953; Lou Brock on June 17, 1962; and Hank Aaron on June 18, 1962.

Polo Grounds

If I'm not mistaken Aaron never did it. If my memory serves me well the 3 people who hit it in the bleachers were Adcock, Orlando Cepeda and Lou Brock of all people!

Arlington Stadium?

Scribe 9999,

Do you have a Kodachrome of Old Arlington Stadium? Or just the memories?

I have several collages of Arlington Stadium that are really neat.

I am trying to find different pictures of Arlington Stadium pre-1984 before the wrap-around scoreboard was added.

Also, any wide shots of stadium before the Upper Deck/Plaza was added before the 1972 season and any pics with the old Texas Shaped scoreboard.

You can shoot me an E-mail at buckynance@hotmail.com

Thanks,

Bucky

Into the Bleachers

So did Lou Brock, then playing for the Cubs. I've also read that Luke Easter of the Old Negro Leagues did it, too.

A's won it all, right?

Wasn't this the series where the upstart A's shocked the heavy favored Giants? There's an interesting story by Christy Mathewson about why the Giants lost that World Series.

Mel & Richie

Mel Ott is a New Orleans hometown hero. Yes, sadly he is not given enough ink. Richie Ashburn of the Phillies swung an extra heavy bat for a lead-off batter. That big bat helped him hit some very long balls.

Polo Grounds cont'd

I stand corrected, it wasn't Richy Asburn who hit the homer into the bleachers but Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. Hank Aaron also did it later.

Speaking of Mel Ott

Speaking of Mel Ott, he was one of my favorite players from the All-Time All-Star dice baseball game I had as an early teen, and is one of the greatest mostly-forgotten stars of the 20th century (I'd put Stan Musial first in that category). Ott has the distinction of having among the third most severe home/road power discrepancies -- 63% of his dingers came at home (Home Run Handbook via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Ott ). The Polo Grounds helped Babe Ruth in his two greatest seasons of 1920 and 1921 too, as he perfected pulling balls right down that short right field line.

Oh, the outfield wasn't completely doubled-decked.

I envy Mr. Mel for having actually been to one of the classic old ballparks -- he has memories of Coogan's Bluff, I've got Arlington Stadium and the Astrodome.

Polo Grounds

My memories the stadium don't go back to a previous life. Two things I remember are the "505 feet" sign on the front of the single decked bleacher section and the "257 feet" sign high on the right-field wall. I saw my first baseball game there in 1943 or 44 and Mel Ott, my hero and namesake, popped one over that wall for a home run. That shot would have been a medium long foul ball in just about any other ballpark.

re: Exiting the bleachers

Mr. Mel's memories are of the Polo Grounds following its 1923 reconfiguration when the entire outfield was double-decked. In 1911-1922 center field was "only" 433 feet from home plate. After expansion that weird notch in center field placed the clubhouse steps 483 feet from the plate. The 505-foot figure may have been to the scoreboard above the clubhouse.

http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html has diagrams of the original (well, this was actually the FIFTH Polo Grounds!) and expanded configurations.

Amazing that someone such as Richie Ashburn, with only 29 career home runs, could hit a ball out of his back yard, much less a major league stadium.

Exiting the Bleachers

If I remember correctly, there were staircases that led from the bleachers to the ground floor and you went out of the park, passing the turnstiles. The bleachers were behind the outfield, separated by the clubhouse (locker rooms etc) with 2 long staircases, one from the visitors side and the one on the right from the Giants side. The players entered the field from there. The distance from home plate to those bleachers was 505 feet, the only player I know of that hit one out was Richy Ashburn of the Phillies. Willie Mays patrolled center and caught just about anything that was hit there. The bullpens were also out there and when a pitcher was taken out, the walk to the mound seemed to take forever, and then he took the ball from the guy he was replacing and he had to walk back to the showers. At the end of their reign the Giants started using cars to transport them.

Outfield bleachers

It looks like the only way to get out of the outfield bleachers is to climb over the wall and drop down onto the field.

Train Yards

The trains seen in this photo are in a layup yard behind left field in the Polo Grounds. These trains were assigned to the 6th and 9th Ave els and were used during rush hours when more trains were required to handle the increased need.

Its the 9th Avenue Elevated Line

The polo ground shuttle was merely the cut down remnant of the 9th Avenue Elevated line which had a station at the Polo Grounds as shown in this photo which shows the station with the stadium at the left...

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?47747

PS: It's interesting to see that one of my favorite brews "Bass Ale" was sold in the states as early as 1913!

Polo Grounds Shuttle

Yes, the "Polo Grounds Shuttle" was the last functioning piece of the Ninth Avenue El. Same railway!

Polo Grounds Shuttle

There was a NYC Subway shuttle train that ran from 167th Street and Jerome Avenue to 155th Street and 8th Ave (the Polo Grounds stop). That could be the station in the picture. I believe it also went from 161st Street and River Avenue as well. Service was discontinued in 1958, about a year after the Giants moved to San Francisco. When the line was running it moved people from the Bronx or those who came uptown on the IND subway to the games. In another picture, it shows fans walking across the field. They were heading to the exits and the buses and trains. It was a great experience, today the security people won't let you anywhere near the turf.

Polo Grounds Railroad

That should be the Ninth Avenue Elevated line...

http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html

Railroad in backgound

Does anybody know anything about the railroad that can be seen behind the left field wall?

Ow

"Green River, The Whiskey Without a Headache" -- say, where do I get some of that? 'Cause the whiskey I'm drinking contains several headaches in every bottle.

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