Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the sport of polo. Bound on the south and north by 110th and 112th streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) avenues, just north of Central Park, it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880.
For other uses, see Polo Grounds (disambiguation).Former names
Brotherhood Park (adjacent to Polo Grounds II, 1890)
Brush Stadium (1911–1919)
bounded by West 155th Street, Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Harlem River Drive in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City
40°49′54″N 73°56′14″W / 40.83167°N 73.93722°W Polo Grounds III (1891–1963)
40°49′49″N 73°56′16″W / 40.83028°N 73.93778°W Polo Grounds II/Manhattan Field (1889–1890/1891–1948)
40°47′53″N 73°57′2″W / 40.79806°N 73.95056°W Polo Grounds I (1876–1889)
New York Giants
34,000 (1911)
55,000 (1923)
Left field: 279 ft (85 m)
Left-center: 450 ft (137 m)
Center field: 483 ft (147 m)
Right-center: 449 ft (136 m)
Right field: 258 ft (78 m) 
Grass
1890
April 19, 1890
June 28, 1911
1923
December 14, 1963
Henry B. Herts
The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890, and renovated after a fire in 1911, was in Coogan's Hollow and was noted for its distinctive bathtub shape, with very short distances to the left and right field walls and an unusually deep center field.
The original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 to 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 to 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third Polo Grounds from 1891 to 1957. The Polo Grounds was also the home of the New York Yankees from 1913 to 1922 and New York Mets in their first two seasons (1962, 1963). Each version of the ballpark held at least one World Series. The final version also hosted the 1934 and 1942 All-Star Games.
In American football, the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 to 1955. The New York Titans/Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the league's inaugural season of 1960 until 1963.
Other sporting events held at the Polo Grounds included soccer, boxing, and Gaelic football. Its final sporting event was a pro football game between the Jets and Buffalo Bills. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets. The Polo Grounds was demolished and a public housing complex, Polo Grounds Towers, built on the site.[1]
Sports other than baseball[edit]
Football[edit]
The various incarnations of the Polo Grounds were well-suited for football, and hundreds of football games were played there over the years.
The first professional football game played in New York City was played at the Polo Grounds on December 4, 1920. The game featured the Buffalo All-Americans against the Canton Bulldogs in the first year of the American Professional Football Association. The Buffalo All-Americans won the game, 7–3. Some argue that the Buffalo All-Americans are tied with the Akron Pros for the first championship of the American Professional Football Association, which soon came to be known as the National Football League. In 1921 the NFL's New York Brickley Giants played the final game of their 1921 season against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds. The game ended in a 17–0 Giants loss.[31] Shortly afterwards, the team folded. The Brickley Giants were originally formed with the intent of competing in 1919, and having all of their home games held at the Polo Grounds. However, after the team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against the Massillon Tigers, was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws. In 1919, the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded until 1921.
Other than the name, there is no relation between the Brickley Giants and the modern New York Giants franchise.[32]
Both the New York Giants of the National Football League and the New York Jets (then known as the New York Titans) of the American Football League used the Polo Grounds as their home field before moving on to other sites. The Giants moved initially to Yankee Stadium in 1956 while the Jets, founded in 1960, followed the New York Mets to Shea Stadium in 1964.
The football Giants hosted the 1934, 1938, 1944, and 1946 NFL Championship Games at the Polo Grounds, while the 1936 NFL Championship Game, originally scheduled for Fenway Park, was moved to the Polo Grounds by mutual agreement of Boston Redskins franchise owner George Preston Marshall, the Green Bay Packers, and the NFL due to low ticket sales in Boston; the Redskins would relocate to Washington in 1937.[33]