To avid baseball fans, summer is everything: season tickets, double plays, the crack of the bat, doubleheaders, cracker jacks, the disabled list. These days, New Yorkers have some elegant stadiums to watch both major and minor league ball?but the oldest among them, the Richmond County Bank Ballpark and MCU Park, where the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones play, were built in 2001. Citi Field and Yankee Stadium's latest incarnation are even newer. So as the summer wears on, the All-Star break comes and goes, and the Subway Series grows ever more heated, take a moment to remember the city's great ballparks that were. Journey from the very early days of the Capitoline Grounds to the expansion of Harlem's Polo Grounds, where people perched on bluffs to watch the matches for free. Remember the dear departed Ebbets Field (sadly replaced by an apartment complex, though its flagpole stands at Barclays Center) and the wonderfully retro 60s-era colored paneling of the original Shea Stadium. If we missed any of your favorites, please let us know in the comments or by email. Now please doff your cap to rise for the national anthem. And play ball!
? Union Grounds
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Team: Brooklyn Hartfords
In operation: 1862-1883
? Washington Park I, II & III
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Teams: Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Brooklyn Tip Tops
In operation (in various locations): 1883-1915
? Eastern Park
Location: Brownsville, Brooklyn
Teams: Brooklyn Ward's Wonders and Brooklyn Dodgers
In operation: 1890-1898
? Ridgewood Park
Location: Ridgewood, Queens (on the border of Brooklyn
Team: Brooklyn Bridgrooms and Brooklyn Gladiators
In operation: 1883-1959 (under various names, see a full history via Brooklyn Ballparks)
? Polo Grounds I
Location: 110th Street, at the northeast corner of Central Park
Team: New York Giants and New York Metropolitans
In operation: 1880-1888
? Polo Grounds II (later known as Manhattan Field when II was built next door) and Polo Grounds III
Location: In "Coogan's Hollow" around 155th Street along the Harlem River, along the border between Harlem and Washington Heights
Team: New York Giants at II; the New York Giants, New York Yankees, and New York Mets at III
In operation: 1889-1910 for II; 1890-1963 for III
? Capitoline Grounds
Location: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Team: Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Enterprise, and Brooklyn Excelsior
In operation: 1863-1880 (more history via Brooklyn Ballparks)
? St. George Cricket Grounds
Location: St. George, Staten Island
Team: New York Metropolitans and New York Giants
In operation: 1886-1889
? Hilltop Park
Location: Broadway between 165th and 168th streets, Washington Heights
Team: New York Yankees
In operation: 1903-1914
? Ebbets Field
Location: Flatbush, Brooklyn
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
In operation: 1913-1957 (with a renovation in 1931; more history via Brooklyn Ballparks)
? Dexter Park (history)
Location: Woodhaven, Queens
Team: Brooklyn Royal Giants
In operation: 1920s-1930s
? Yankee Stadium (I)
Location:
Team: New York Yankees
In operation: 1923-2008
? Shea Stadium
Location: Flushing-Meadows Corona Park, Queens
Team: New York Mets
In operation: 1964-2008
?Photos via Forgotten New York
? Richmond County Bank Ballpark
Location: St. George, Staten Island
Team: Staten Island Yankees
In operation: 2001-present
? KeySpan Park (now called MCU Park)
Location: Coney Island, Brooklyn
Team: Brooklyn Cyclones
In operation: 2001-present
? Citi Field
Location: Flushing, Queens
Team: New York Mets
In operation: 2009-present
? Yankee Stadium
Location:
Team: New York Yankees
In operation: 2009-present
· Brooklyn Ballparks [history & photos]
· Museum of the City of New York Collections [MCNY]
· History Lessons archive [Curbed]
· Summer Flashbacks archive [Curbed]
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