New York, New York

Brooklyn and Bronx train going between Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium.  Makes sense to me.  Looks good!!

I've never been to New York.  What part of the city was the Polo Grounds in and where is Shea Stadium?

The Polo Grounds were in upper Manhattan.  Shea was in Flushing Queens.

They should have a train that runs directly from Mid-Town Manhattan to Peter Lugers.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Brooklyn and Bronx train going between Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium.  Makes sense to me.  Looks good!!

I've never been to New York.  What part of the city was the Polo Grounds in and where is Shea Stadium?

The Polo Grounds was in Manhattan, on the western side of the Harlem River, and was the home ball park of the New York Giants baseball team from around the early 1900s until they moved to San Francisco around 1957.

Here it is:

LOL.

The Polo Grounds was also the home ball park of the New York Mets in the early 1960s until Shea Stadium in the borough of Queens was built.

Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, on the eastern side of the Harlem River. Here it is:

LOL.

Also known as the House that Ruth Built, Yankee Stadium was built around 1921, shortly after Babe Ruth joined the team.

Gee Mark, I can't thank you enough for asking the questions you asked, which has been so much fun for me to answer.

And, of course, I will never forget Yogi Berra in left field at Forbes Field, watching Bill Mazeroski's walk off home run clear the fence in the 7th game of the 1960 World Series. At that moment, you must have been ecstatic! LOL, Arnold

Feel free, folks, to post anything related to New York in your train collections and on your layouts.

New York Ontario & Western 44 ton center cab diesel:

Thank you, Mike and Arnold for the scoop.  I think I can now remember seeing games on TV and they said Flushing for Shea Stadium.  That was a long time ago.  I did not have any idea where the Polo Grounds was, and certainly didn't think it was on Manhattan. 

Arnold, you reminded me of the joke around these parts told on Yogi when he knew the 1960 World Series was finally over.  Actually, I was 4 years old, but I do remember hearing folks talking about Mazeroski and the Pirates.  The wall is still there with a plaque where Yogi watched the ball, the 436-foot mark, and the 457-foot mark.  That still doesn't compare to the deep spot at the Polo Grounds.  What was it, about 600 feet?  I can see the photograph in my mind where Willie Mays catches Vic Wertz looooonnnnnggggg fly ball.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

The Polo Grounds was in Manhattan, on the western side of the Harlem River, and was the home ball park of the New York Giants baseball team from around the early 1900s until they moved to San Francisco around 1957.

The Polo Grounds was also the home ball park of the New York Mets in the early 1960s until Shea Stadium in the borough of Queens was built.

Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, on the eastern side of the Harlem River. Here it is:

The only thing you’re missing, Arnold, is Ebbets Field I am proud to say I was at the last game the Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets... my mother (who didn’t have a ticket!!!) took me - I was in a stroller. I now identify as a legally qualified, long suffering Met fan - my parents took my brother and I to several Met games played at Coogan’s Bluff (aka the Polo Grounds). I am still a Met fan... had a Saturday Plan at Shea from 1986 to 2018 (I was at the 7th game of the ‘86 series - where we were sitting, you had a better chance of getting a beer from a flight attendant on the next flight over than from a vendor finding a our seats). And I still refuse to call it Citi Field!!! As for Yankee Stadium, I went to a game there once or twice when in day camp back in the 60’s, and my last visit was when Pope John Paul II said a mass there in 1979.

Love the Brooklyn engine. I bought one when I found out that my Cab-2 would control it - a nice hefty engine for the price.

They built an apartment complex where the Polo Grounds was. There is a plaque there or at least was. I saw it many years ago. The Polo Grounds was the home of the New York Mets for two seasons ‘62 and ‘63. In ‘64 they went to Shea. I wish I could have seen those days. I believe you could see the Polo Grounds from Yankee Stadium. Three major league teams in one city and most of the time one or more of them made the postseason.

The New York (baseball) Giants, and the Brooklyn Dodgers, both left NYC in 1957. It was a calculated move, to have 2 MLB teams on the West Coast. SF for the Giants, LA for the Dodgers. Both teams had crummy stadiums, weren’t putting fans in the seats, and the respective neighborhoods weren’t so good either. Robt. Moses blocked Walter O’Malley’s effort to secure Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards as a site for a new stadium for the Dodgers. LA’s City Council made the offer of a new stadium, and it became a done deal.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Thank you, Mike and Arnold for the scoop.  I think I can now remember seeing games on TV and they said Flushing for Shea Stadium.  That was a long time ago.  I did not have any idea where the Polo Grounds was, and certainly didn't think it was on Manhattan.

Arnold, you reminded me of the joke around these parts told on Yogi when he knew the 1960 World Series was finally over.  Actually, I was 4 years old, but I do remember hearing folks talking about Mazeroski and the Pirates.  The wall is still there with a plaque where Yogi watched the ball, the 436-foot mark, and the 457-foot mark.  That still doesn't compare to the deep spot at the Polo Grounds.  What was it, about 600 feet?  I can see the photograph in my mind where Willie Mays catches Vic Wertz looooonnnnnggggg fly ball.

Dead center field at the Polo Grounds was 483 feet. Here it is:

Gee, I thought it was farther.  Thank you, Arnold.  That’s only 26 feet farther than Forbes Field.

I love all of the old ball parks.

Yes I agree, Arnold.  Crosley Field in Cincinnati was an interesting one with the ‘hill’ for a warning track.  Wrigley Field in Chicago, Fenway Park of course...we could go on and on

Thanks Arnold for, as always incorporating Baseball and trains. I have seen photos looking from the Polo Grounds and you can see Yankee Stadium across the river. They were that close.

Shea was my home full season plan 85 - 2007. I had those 3rd deck seats for game 6 in 86. Saw the guy parachuting in the top of the first and Mookie's ground ball in the 10th. Not much for Citi Field but I sure do want to go to a game or 2 this year.

Don't know why they can't figure out how to run Metro north train to Queens, Amtrak makes this big loop into Queens to get to Penn Station. Bridgeport by car on a good day hour to 90 minutes. maybe 50 coming home. Metro North to Grand Central and the 7 line out to Shea about 2 1/2 hours.

Here's one for you Long Island lovers:

LOL, I like the comment about being handed a beer from a flight attendant at Shea. No one outside of New York would have understood that.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Brooklyn and Bronx train going between Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium.  Makes sense to me.  Looks good!!

I've never been to New York.  What part of the city was the Polo Grounds in and where is Shea Stadium?

What, never been to New York!? Aren't you near Pittsburg? Mark, you have to put that on your bucket list. New York is one of the greatest cities in the entire world- as iconic as London, Rome, or Paris.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

The Polo Grounds was in Manhattan, on the western side of the Harlem River, and was the home ball park of the New York Giants baseball team from around the early 1900s until they moved to San Francisco around

The Polo Grounds was also the home ball park of the New York Mets in the early 1960s until Shea Stadium in the borough of Queens was built.

Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, on the eastern side of the Harlem River.

Also known as the House that Ruth Built, Yankee Stadium was built around 1921, shortly after Babe Ruth joined the team.

Gee Mark, I can't thank you enough for asking the questions you asked, which has been so much fun for me to answer.

And, of course, I will never forget Yogi Berra in left field at Forbes Field, watching Bill Mazeroski's walk off home run clear the fence in the 7th game of the 1960 World Series. At that moment, you must have been ecstatic! LOL, Arnold

Of course that Yankee Stadium is no more. Didn't Willie Mays make the catch in the deep center field  real estate of the Polo Grounds?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrsg_-dV7Q

And then of course there is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T0drh8i4Tw

A lot of baseball history at the Polo Grounds.

@ChooChoo1972 posted:

LOL, I like the comment about being handed a beer from a flight attendant at Shea. No one outside of New York would have understood that.

LOL I was going to comment, I think the guy who parachuted into Shea in Game 6 86 exited the plane below us

@Mannyrock posted:

They should have a train that runs directly from Mid-Town Manhattan to Peter Lugers.

They do. The m train runs down 6th avenue and stops at Marcy avenue

BlueLine, is that a subway train?  (Only two things in life I am terrified of.  Brown recluse spiders and the N.Y. subways.)

@Will posted:

What, never been to New York!? Aren't you near Pittsburg? Mark, you have to put that on your bucket list. New York is one of the greatest cities in the entire world- as iconic as London, Rome, or Paris.

I do live 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, Will.  Yes, I-80 all the way.  Our younger daughter and her husband have been there and found a lot to see for little cost, mostly public transportation.  Hopefully when we don’t have to take care of my mother-in-law, we will be young enough to travel some.  😄  It’s been a bummer; retire and have to stay home 😄

The Polo Grounds site (Coogan's bluff) is almost directly across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium. A section of the old 9th ave el, that ran on a viaduct at 155th street (demolished I believe in 1960), connected the Polo grounds to the #4 IRT just north of Yankee Stadium. The Shuttle ran until 1958,after the Giants had moved to SF.  As others have pointed out the Polo Grounds was also the home of the NY Mets in their early days, NY Jets (nee Titans) played there from 1960 to 1963.

There had been several stadiums at that location, and yeah they did play polo there at one point. The final one was built in 1911 and centerfield at one point was 505 feet, they later brought it in. As far as I know the only person to hit a ball out of the stadium was Babe Ruth.

Yep, Willie May's "The Catch " in 1954 against the Cleveland Indians was in dead center in the Polo Grounds, I have a signed picture of it in my home office.

In 1951 it was the site of the infamous (least in NYC) Bobby Thomson home run in the bottom of the 9th inning, of a one game playoff between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Giants when they finished tied at end of regular season (one of those miracle seasons, the Dodgers led the Giants by like 14 games in August I believe), called I believe "the shot heard round the world". I have a personal connection that that, my parents were dating, weren't married yet, they both lived in the Bronx, travelled to work on the D train, and they dared each other to play hooky and go to the game..and they did.

Thanks, Arnold, another great thread.

"It's a wonderful town!"

"The Bronx is up and the Battery down, the people ride in a hole in the ground!"

Above quotes from the Broadway musical "On the Town" - music by Leonard Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Additional lyrics by Bernstein.

@bptBill posted:

Thanks Arnold for, as always incorporating Baseball and trains. I have seen photos looking from the Polo Grounds and you can see Yankee Stadium across the river. They were that close.

Shea was my home full season plan 85 - 2007. I had those 3rd deck seats for game 6 in 86. Saw the guy parachuting in the top of the first and Mookie's ground ball in the 10th. Not much for Citi Field but I sure do want to go to a game or 2 this year.

Don't know why they can't figure out how to run Metro north train to Queens, Amtrak makes this big loop into Queens to get to Penn Station. Bridgeport by car on a good day hour to 90 minutes. maybe 50 coming home. Metro North to Grand Central and the 7 line out to Shea about 2 1/2 hours.

   

In theory they could. There is a technical issue with the third rail, LIRR is on top of the rail, Metro north bottom, which would require having multiple shoes I assume. Once the LIRR access into Grand central is completed, in theory you could build a connection outside grand central to bring the Metro North Trains onto the LIRR tracks over the 63rd street tunnel to queens and then on to the lIRR Citifield station. However, the LIRR trains come in their own tunnel, below the level of the Metro North tracks and I don't think there is any plan to connect them, plus I don't know lIRR lines all that well, could a train coming off the 63rd street tunnel get routed to Citifield without having to go through all kinds of weird routing. If the 63rd street tunnel route could connect to Citifield, then you could take Metro North to Grand central and change to a LIRR train, they have that concept today (though much more crude) where you take a Metro North train to GCT, take the subway to Penn Station, and then take a train out to Swamp Palace ie Metlife stadium, this would take out the subway portion of that.

@Mark Boyce posted:

What part of the city was the Polo Grounds in and where is Shea Stadium?

Where is Shea? In some dust pile. Shea was demolished after Citi Field was completed in 2009 adjacent to the old stadium.

@Apples55 posted:

The only thing you’re missing, Arnold, is Ebbets Field I am proud to say I was at the last game the Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets... my mother (who didn’t have a ticket!!!) took me - I was in a stroller. I now identify as a legally qualified, long suffering Met fan - my parents took my brother and I to several Met games played at Coogan’s Bluff (aka the Polo Grounds). I am still a Met fan... had a Saturday Plan at Shea from 1986 to 2018 (I was at the 7th game of the ‘86 series …

As for refusing to call the new stadium Citi Field, what do you call it? It has never had any name and it certainly isn’t Shea Stadium. Call it Ebbets Field, if you want. At least it looks like Ebbets.

@Jim R. posted:

Where is Shea? In some dust pile. Shea was demolished after Citi Field was completed in 2009 adjacent to the old stadium.

As for refusing to call the new stadium Citi Field, what do you call it? It has never had any name and it certainly isn’t Shea Stadium. Call it Ebbets Field, if you want. At least it looks like Ebbets.

Jim, Thank you for the clarification.  "Is" is what I meant.    I didn't even know Shea Stadium was demolished.  I thought it was renamed to Citi Field like the Pittsburgh Civic Arena was renamed Mellon Arena.   As Will pointed out earlier, I just haven't gotten around. 

For the Subway Series in 2000, the MTA did up two trains - one for the Mets, one for the Yankees. These are MTH add-on cars from around that time...

A friend of my brother actually had a photo of the two trains on adjacent tracks with Shea Stadium in the background - wish I could get a copy of it.

And finally, one of the Redbirds on the 6 Local (another MTH add-on). I spent a lot of time riding those cars on that line between 1974 and 2012 (first college and then work - not sure when they were retired).

@ChooChoo1972 posted:

LOL, I like the comment about being handed a beer from a flight attendant at Shea. No one outside of New York would have understood that.

Agreed!

Peter

Great thread and great memories.....

Always took the subway to Yankee Stadium......I lived in Pelham Bay....the #6 down to 125th St and then the #4 to the Stadium.....

I was older when I went to Shea and most often drove across the Whitestone Bridge....

When my Dad was in his 80s and living with my sister in Monticello....my son and I went up there to visit......drove to Tarrytown.....MetroNorth to Grand Central.....then the 7 to Shea. I still have not been to Citi Field.

Only went to the Polo Grounds once.....summer of 63......I remember the place being a wreck.....great game. thougt.....Roger Craig was going for his 19th loss in a row....but a grand slam in the 9th by either Jim Hickman or Rod Kanehl (I can't remember who) thwarted Roger's attempt at baseball immortality.....

Peter

@Mark Boyce posted:

I do live 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, Will.  Yes, I-80 all the way.  Our younger daughter and her husband have been there and found a lot to see for little cost, mostly public transportation.  Hopefully when we don’t have to take care of my mother-in-law, we will be young enough to travel some.  😄  It’s been a bummer; retire and have to stay home 😄

If you drive in on 80 you will pass a few miles by my house. I cross 80 or use it almost every day. I'm right near the Delaware Water Gap.

@Tinplate Art posted:

"The Bronx is up and the Battery down, the people ride in a hole in the ground!"

"Manhattan women are all dressed in satin, so the fellows say."

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

And, of course, I will never forget Yogi Berra in left field at Forbes Field, watching Bill Mazeroski's walk off home run clear the fence in the 7th game of the 1960 World Series. At that moment, you must have been ecstatic! LOL, Arnold

One of the reasons why I am too this day a Pirates fan.  Plus like me he was a 2nd baseman.

@Will posted:

If you drive in on 80 you will pass a few miles by my house. I cross 80 or use it almost every day. I'm right near the Delaware Water Gap.

I’ve never been out that far east.  Photographs of the Delaware Water Gap look beautiful.

@Mannyrock posted:

BlueLine, is that a subway train?  (Only two things in life I am terrified of.  Brown recluse spiders and the N.Y. subways.)

And he could be at the throttle of THAT consist!