Comments on: The New York Giants And The Polo Grounds… Not Much Left.

By: Martin Sablik

Martin Sablik — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:33:36 +0000

I was eighteen years old when the Giants moved from the Polo Grounds and away at
college. However, as a diehard Giants fan in those days, I attended many many games—averaging 10 or 12 a season, mostly with my dad, since 1945. The Polo Grounds was a hallowed place to me. We sat mostly in the right field bleachers and I got many an autograph as the Giants players went back and forth from the clubhouse in center field. But when it started to rain, they let everyone into the grandstands to wait out the shower. I remember that stairway down Coogan’s Bluff from the streets above. There was an entrance into the upper grandstands from that stairway. I remember the shuttle from the 169 St el station in the Bronx. Often the visiting team would be coming up from their hotel in midtown Manhattan and would ride that shuttle. I got autographs from the 1948 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1950
Philadelphia Phillies and the 1949 Cincinnati Reds. I loved being at that old stadium. In my early years at the Polo Grounds, my favorite player was Johnny Mize. I remember how he battled Ralph Kiner for the home run title. Kiner would not have hit so many home runs if it weren’t for Greenberg Gardens, and Mize would not have hit so many home runs if it weren’t for the 250 ft right field foul line. Walker Cooper might have hit more home runs in another ball park, as he often hit into the power alleys, winding up with triples instead of home runs. I met Willard Marshall once
in the mid 1960s. He was a real estate broker, and I was thrilled to meet him.

I also remember my excitement in 1951 when the Giants won the pennant with Bobby Thomson’s walk-off homer. Ralph Branca was never the same pitcher after that. But it wasn’t the first home run that Thomson hit off Branca, and he never should have been brought in to face Thomson. Don Mueller was also a big favorite of mine because of his bat control. I hated to see him break his leg in the ninth inning of that game, and I always felt that if the Giants had Mueller, they might not have succumbed to the Yankees in the World Series.

Whoever started this blog has flushed us old Giant fans out of the woodwork.

By: dolores ferris lintz

dolores ferris lintz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:07:10 +0000

Are you Dick Chilton who lived in Leonia in the 50’s?? If so we had some great badminton games and a good Yankees/Giants battle going!!

By: Joe Pellino

Joe Pellino — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:13:21 +0000

Yes, I remember Don Mueller’s hit on the intentional walk. I saw it on Channel 11. There must be a way to search it out on the internet.

Do you remember that Mueller broke his leg on a slide into third when Whitey Lockman doubled driving in a run with 2 out and making the score Dodgers 4..Giants 2 just before Bobby Thompson’s ‘Shot Heard Round The World’?

By: Richard Chilton

Richard Chilton — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:00:00 +0000

What a great piece. I would like the book if availbale. I was at that last game with my wife, and I have to admit I went out to center field where Willie stood and took a piece of turf about 4″ X 4″ and have it to this day. The dirt, the grass long since died. It is a hallowed piece for me. I have the opening day ticket, April 18, 1957,Section 24, Box 2E, Seat 7 framed with the last game on September 29, 1957, Section 13, Box 2B, Seat 5. along with the front page of the Daily News They have hung proudly in my den for all these years.

By: Ralph Zig Tyko

Ralph Zig Tyko — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:48:02 +0000

The response to this post has awesome!! Thank you, one and all.
Zig

By: Jeff Stuart

Jeff Stuart — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:39:38 +0000

More from Twilight Teams. Availiable from me $7 includes shipping and handling.
DEMOLITION OF THE POLO GROUNDS
Demolition of the Polo Grounds began on April ninth, 1964, making way for a public housing project, known at the Polo Grounds Apartments. The Wrecking Corporation of America, tasked with destroying the grand old park had gotten so much publicity that it had changed its logo to a baseball, and its slogan to “On the Ball.” Harry Avirom, Vice President of the company, wielded a sledgehammer himself for the occasion. “One thing I’ll say for this place,” he said. “No collapse action here, very well built. It could have lasted forever.” But it didn’t. A two ton steel ball, painted like a baseball for the occasion, smashed into the concrete walls.
“Those chairs over there are for sale, three bucks each,” Avirom said, pointing to piles of green seats on the infield. The Birmingham Blue Dukes minor league team took five hundred seats. Yonkers Raceway purchased six hundred seats. The city of St. Augustine, Florida, took two thousand. Some went to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Others went to local schools.
The thirty foot flag poles sold for fifty dollars each. A couple of hundred spectators at the park looked for their own free souvenirs. A man from Yonkers took just an envelope of dirt.
Workers, wearing Giants’ baseball shirts, pounded the roof of the visitor’s dugout with sledgehammers. A black cat who had taken up residence there scrambled out of the dugout, paused for a last look, and ran off to search for a new home. “Cats and dogs who live here will be able to care for themselves,” said Avirom. “We slug harder than the Giants ever did in this park. Slug, bang, slam! Gotta make the right moves. Gotta take calculated risks. Yeah, yeah, something like baseball you could say. Getting at the Polo Grounds was something I’ve always wanted to do. This makes up for the sad day we went after Ebbets Field in 1960.” Avirom, a die hard Dodger fan, reveled in the destruction.
Crew member Stephen McNair, also a Dodger fan, pointed to the section of the left field fence below the “Section thirty-three” sign. “I’m going to take that down myself. History was made there.” Bobby Thomson hit the “Shot heard round the world” over that fence in 1951, keeping the Dodgers out of the World Series.
The scoreboard clock, one of the last items of historical importance to be removed, was frozen at ten twenty-four. It wasn’t clear whether it was morning or evening.
The demolition was completed on May thirtieth. On that same Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 38,472 at Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, the New York Mets defeated the San Francisco Giants, six to two. Willie Mays, in center field for San Francisco, tripled and singled.

By: Jeff Stuart

Jeff Stuart — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:37:55 +0000

THE END From Twilight Teams, by me, Jeff Stuart.
On Sunday September twenty-ninth, Russ Hodges, voice of the Giants, hosted the pre-game ceremonies before the Giants last game at the Polo Grounds. Virtually every generation of stars in Giant history was represented, including eighty-six-year-old Jack Doyle, who ¬ man¬ aged the club in the pre-McGraw era. Stars from previous Giant teams introduced at home plate on a warm sunny afternoon were Red Murray, George Burns, George “Hooks” Wiltse, Moose McCormick, Frank Frisch, Rosie Ryan, John “Hans” Lobert, Larry Doyle, Rube Marquard, Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott, Hal Schumacher, Billy Jurges, Monte Irwin, Sal Maglie, Buddy Kerr, and George “Kiddo” Davis. Recently retired players included Sid Gordon, and Willard Marshall, who also played for the Braves in their last season in Boston. Eighty-one-year-old George Levy, former stadium announcer who once used a megaphone to announce, “the ‘batreez’ for today’s game,” was also introduced. Each former Giant received a noisy ovation.
With a sense of occasion, Rigney started as many of the 1951 and 1954 pennant winners as he had available. Antonelli was on the mound with Wes Westrum behind the plate. Thomson and Lockman occupied opposite infield corners. Rhodes and Mueller flanked Mays in the ¬ outfield. Between innings Rosemary Clooney’s hit song, This Old House, played over the Public Address System.
If it mattered, the Pirates won, nine to one, behind Bob Friend. The Giants finished in sixth place, twenty-six games back of the League-Champion Milwaukee Braves. Rhodes sacrifice fly in the first inning scored Mueller with the final New York Giant run ever. The loss went to Antonelli. His eighteen losses were the most in his eight year career. The final out was recorded at four thirty-five Sunday, when Dusty Rhodes grounded a three two pitch to Dick Groat at short. Before the infielder’s throw reached first base, fans were leaping barriers, and surging toward the Giant clubhouse in center field.
The players fled for the safety of the center field clubhouses with Mueller, and a puzzled Rigney, puffing, and bringing up the rear. The fans chanted, “Hang Horace, Hang Horace.” The Giants’ owner, who maintained an apartment on the fourth floor of the blockhouse in ¬ center field. The chants soon turned to “We want Willie, we want Willie.” The usually accessible Mays, who still sometimes played stick ball with the kids in the streets outside his Harlem apartment, did not make a farewell appearance either.
The post game demonstration was motivated by a curious blend of anger, affection, annoyance, nostalgia, excitement, and curiosity. Most fans remained in the stands. Those on the field were mainly souvenir hunters. They ripped up home plate, the pitcher’s rubber, the bases, and even gouged out sections of outfield grass. Will Anderson, now a publisher in Portland, Maine, was at the game. Then a high school senior from Ardsley, New York, he claimed a heavy orange and black sign reading “To Upper Stands” as a souvenir. “What do those people in California know about baseball,” he mused. There was no heavy ¬ vandalism, or violence. The New York Police mostly monitored the activities, without intervention. They did, however, retrieve the bronze plaque that was removed from the Eddie Grant Memorial in center field from three teenage boys. The memorial, placed in 1921, honored the late Giant infielder who died in World War I. He was the only Major League baseball player ever killed in military service prior to the War in Viet Nam.
New York Times’ columnist Milton Bracker reported:
Officially, the last fan to leave the Polo Grounds was a woman: Mrs. Blanche S. McGraw. She had attended games at least three times a week when her husband, perhaps the greatest single figure in Giant history, managed the team. Her right eye moistened a little as she was asked what she remembered with greatest joy at the Polo Grounds. ‘Why Mr. McGraw winning pennants,’ she smiled. And which pennants? “All of them.”

By: Ralph Zig Tyko

Ralph Zig Tyko — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:28:19 +0000

Judy,
Our seats were in the right field grandstand. Grandfather and grandson with the same view of things [Whitey Lockman's grace, Willie's heroics...] as #22. About 20 years ago, feeling nostalgic, I called Don and asked him if he’d take a moment and chat about those days. “You betcha,” and talk he did. What a mench, would have said my grandmother.

By: Judy

Judy — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:07:22 +0000

Don Mueller is living in St. Louis. I by chance met him when my 80 year old father was recovering from bypass surgery. I have sat several times with Don and enjoy listening to his stories of his playing days. He talks of hitting corn kernels with a stick growing up and how he held the bat different than most that allowed him to place the ball so accurately. He turned 81 this past April.

By: Mark Silber

Mark Silber — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:05:35 +0000

Does anyone remember the game played when the Giants were down, runners were on, and word came from the opposing dugout to walk Don Mueller? The count was perhaps 2 and 0 to Mueller when, on the 3rd pitch or so, Mueller reached well out over the plate and singled off the outside pitch. the Giants won the game. I’m trying to locate a more accurate account of that game. Does anyone know if Mueller is alive and around?