"There Used To Be A Ballpark, Right Here"

[Radiobarry]

Yes, I am a baseball sentimentalist. Yes, I am a softie. And I am sure that I probably think about baseball and it's place in the overall fabric of society and American history a bit more than the average fan.

Having said that, I've been doing some thinking about what it must have been like for New York baseball fans, 50 years ago this month.

No Dodgers, no Giants - their teams having moved some three thousand miles away.

Teams come, teams go - the same with the great green cathedrals they play in.

[Radiobarry]

Check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http:...?v=b1sKMHUE6co

What a great tune by Sinatra.

I don't think I'm overstating it by saying for the greatest part, baseball fans cherish their old parks more than football or basketball/hockey fans, etc.

Your thoughts...

[Barbaraann]

Nice Video Barry. It's a shame, but in the name of progress, nothing remains the same.

Even our beloved Disneyland someday, may not be there.

So we need to enjoy things while we have them, and pass down as much as we can to our children with photos, and memories.

[PanTheMan]

Long Live Fenway and Wrigley!

And even though i'm a Red Sox Fan I will say I will miss Yankee Stadium

[Disneyland Daddy]

You know it's funny.......my wife and I were driving around Anaheim recently and I said "Oh look - see that's Moore Field - where I used to play Little League in the last 70's and early 80's - and behind it is Myer Field where I used to play too..." And then we drove by Edison Park where my Dad coached a Ball Team for North Anaheim Little League in the early/mid 70's....and it brought back so many memories.....these vacant fields......if those in the park only knew the joy and excitement that once roared through there.......snack stands, popcorn, sodas and cotton candy...the grinding of snow cones and you heard the 'clink' of a baseball bouncing ferociously off of a metal baseball bat into the homerun zone....

I know you were discussing BIG LEAGUE parks, but I had such fun playing Little League...and the memories.......and your thread topic made those come alive again - at least for a moment.

When I watch The Bad New Bears with Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal, it was made in a time when I was the Bat Boy for my Dad's Cardinals Baseball Team in the mid 70's - and the flavor of the time period just comes back to me....since we were heavily enveloped in North Anaheim Little League back them.......and it's a good memory........

Thanks for sparking some good remembrances in me.........

[Barbaraann]

I come from a generation, where we played baseball in the schoolyard. That schoolyard isn't there anymore.

[Radiobarry]

Back to what I was originally talking about in my opening post...

I've only been to New York City once in my lifetime, so I really have no way of knowing directly about how the departure of Dodgers and Giants affected that city.

All I know is what I've seen in numerous films and read about in several books...which is that for so many people, it tore their hearts out...particularly in Brooklyn.

I imagine that there are still some folks in that borough that will never forgive Walter O'Malley for moving their beloved Bums.

From all I read, legendary Ebbets Field was crumbling, and O'Malley tried to get a new ballpark there for the Dodgers. But Los Angeles, the home of the Pacific Coast League Angels, made him an offer he couldn't turn down.

And Horace Stoneham brought the Giants west, at least in part, to make two NL teams out here.

The Dodgers have dedicated this season to their 50 years in Los Angeles. They even are playing an exhibition game in the LA Coliseum, where they first played before Dodger Stadium was built.

I can't help but wonder what the folks in Flatbush, who remember "The Boys of Summer" might be thinking.

-- Barry

[Radiobarry]

if those in the park only knew the joy and excitement that once roared through there.......snack stands, popcorn, sodas and cotton candy...the grinding of snow cones and you heard the 'clink' of a baseball bouncing ferociously off of a metal baseball bat into the homerun zone....

I know you were discussing BIG LEAGUE parks, but I had such fun playing Little League...and the memories.......and your thread topic made those come alive again - at least for a moment.

Thanks for sparking some good remembrances in me.........

Thank you for some wonderful memories of your own.

I come from a generation, where we played baseball in the schoolyard. That schoolyard isn't there anymore.

Cue Frank Sinatra..."and there used to be a schoolyard...right here..."

-- Barry

[steamboatpete]

I empathize with Brooklyn fans. OTOH, sure, the boroughs that lost the Giants and Dodgers have lost their teams, but at least there are teams left in NYC. Now, for L.A. football fans ... we got hosed, and there is no consolation.

[DisneyIPresume]

You know what's amazing to me? After the Yankees move into their new stadium, Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest ballpark in current use in the major leagues! I was thinking which ones are older and I can only come up with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

For that matter Angel Stadium will easily rank as the fourth or fifth oldest park -- even though it has been extensively remodeled twice it still is technically the same stadium.

[Radiobarry]

You know what's amazing to me? After the Yankees move into their new stadium, Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest ballpark in current use in the major leagues! I was thinking which ones are older and I can only come up with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

For that matter Angel Stadium will easily rank as the fourth or fifth oldest park -- even though it has been extensively remodeled twice it still is technically the same stadium.

Dodger Stadium opened in '62...Anaheim Stadium/Edison International Field/Angel Stadium in 1966...that is amazing.

[Radiobarry]

I empathize with Brooklyn fans. OTOH, sure, the boroughs that lost the Giants and Dodgers have lost their teams, but at least there are teams left in NYC. Now, for L.A. football fans ... we got hosed, and there is no consolation.

Sure, there was still one team left, Pete...but I believe that as much as Giants and Dodgers fans didn't like each other, they were united in strong hatred for the Yankees...

(and for good reason)

-- Barry

[Barbaraann]

The ballpark in Chicago at Clark and Addison, known as Wrigley Field, is destined to be changed one way or another. I remember the quieter days, when the Cubs were a losing team. I could ride my bicycle around the park on game day, and hope a ball would fly over the wall. There were only a few ballhawks back then. Parking didn't cost the price of a ticket, because the park was never full. Now when you show up on game day, there's just as much activity outside the park, as there is inside. Going to a game at Wrigley Field has become something every tourist wants to do if they come to Chicago.

Enjoy it if you can. Changes are coming, and they aren't necessarily positive ones.