# Long-Gone Ball Parks - Any With Historical Markers, etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342 "2008-05-14T21:39:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/1 "2008-05-14T21:39:09Z")
I know that many Major League Baseball parks (or their parking lots) are built on or adjacent to the sites of their predecessors. Others - not so much. I’m curious if, across the US, there are any historical markers or other means of alerting the public to the fact that they are on the spot where a beloved park used to stand. By way of example, I give you: [The site of the old Sportsman’s Park in Saint Louis](http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAuR3JhbmQrQm91bGV2YXJkK2FuZCtEb2RpZXIrU3RyZWV0K1NhaW50K0xvdWlzJTJjK01PJTdlc3N0LjAlN2VwZy4xJmJiPTU0Ljg3NjYwNjY1NDEwODclN2UtNjAuNDY4NzUlN2UyNS43MjA3MzUxMzQ0MTIxJTdlLTExNS40ODgyODEyNQ==), which appears to be a whole lot o’ nothin’. (NOTE: I may not be doing the map correctly. If so, I apologize in advance). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/2 "2008-05-14T21:46:55Z")
Scroll down to see what is left of [Ebbets Field.](http://www.projectballpark.org/history/nl/ebbets.html) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/3 "2008-05-14T21:53:06Z")
And here is a plaque commemorating [Elysian Fields](http://mysite.verizon.net/charliesballparks/stadiums/hoboken.htm) in Hoboken NJ, the birthplace of baseball and Frank Sinatra. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/4 "2008-05-14T22:16:55Z")
Atlanta’s old ball field was [Ponce de Leon Park](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiller_Field), which is where the Atlanta Crackers and the Atlanta Black Crackers played. Today, the spot is occupied by Whole Foods and a Home Depot (among other shopping center tenants). There is a marker across the street commemorating the field, and the magnolia tree that used to stand in the outfield has amazingly been spared. (It now stands behind the shopping center). Balls landing in the tree remained in play! 😃 As for [Atlanta Fulton County Stadium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta-Fulton_County_Stadium), the former home of the Braves, it is now a parking lot for Turner Field, and there is a marker in the spot where Hank Aaron’s 715th homer cleared the fence. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/5 "2008-05-14T22:25:08Z")
This [marker](http://www.ballparkreviews.com/seattle/sicks.htm) stands on the site of home plate from Sick’s Stadium, now the parking lot of a Lowe’s hardware store. Without looking, hands up from all those who know where Sick’s Stadium was. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/6 "2008-05-14T22:27:24Z")
This is a little bit of interesting history about the [Polo Grounds](http://www.roadtripamerica.com/OnTheRoad/Baseball-Parks-Across-America.htm). And also markers for 9 other deceased parks. > [@](#): > > The New York Giants originally played baseball at a city polo field on 111th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. But when owner John Brush moved the team here to Coogan’s Bluff in 1891, he kept the name “Polo Grounds.” An odd “bathtub-shaped” ballpark, the Polo Grounds was home to some of the greatest moments in baseball history, including Willie Mays’s famous catch in the 1954 World Series and Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard 'Round the World” home run to beat the Dodgers in 1951. In 1964, the stadium was demolished and now the Polo Grounds Towers, a housing project, occupies the site. The original staircase leading down to the ticket booth still exists, and a plaque marks the site where home plate once sat. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/7 "2008-05-14T22:39:39Z")
There is a marker in the middle of the Mall of America where the home plate of Metropolitan Stadium used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/8 "2008-05-14T23:04:25Z")
There’s a marker in the parking lot of the new Comiskey Park (well, Cellular One Park) that shows where home plate was in the old Comiskey Park. Can’t link to a photo right now, sorry! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/9 "2008-05-14T23:12:43Z")
As part of the 50 years in San Francisco celebration, the Giants recently put a plaque in the street where Seals Stadium used to be, at 16th and Bryant, where the Giants played their first two seasons in California. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/10 "2008-05-14T23:26:25Z")
There was an article in the local paper that covered this recently, but the field to one of the founding teams of the National League, the Hartford Dark Blues, is still relatively intact. I can’t find the specific article, but Google turned up [this one](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E3DE143BF930A25757C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all) from the NY Times. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/11 "2008-05-14T23:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] the Atlanta Black Crackers [/quote] Talk about cognitive dissonance! 😃 There’s a statue of Cy Young where the mound used to be at Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, surrounded by Northeastern University buildings. The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN has a brass plate in the floor where Met Stadium’s home plate was. If you stand there and look at the edge of the 3rd (I think) floor, bolted onto it you can see the stadiium seat Harmon Killebrew hit with his longest HR. The street it’s on is still named for him. The ticket arcade and right field bleachers from Braves Field still exist, as part of BU’s Nickerson Field. There are 3 dorm buildings where the main grandstand was, arranged to suggest its former location. I understand the housing projects that replaced Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds use those names even if there’s nothing left to show what was there. Shibe Park in Philly is a parking lot. League Park in Cleveland, where the Tribe played \*before \* moving to the lakefront (!) is still there, and used by youth leagues. [www.ballparks.com](http://www.ballparks.com) is the master site for all of this stuff, though. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/12 "2008-05-15T00:17:57Z")
The Forbes Field wall that Mazeroski hit the 1960 Series winner over is still in Pittsburgh, complete with distance marker and ivy, with the flagpole in front of it. The plate is located in Posvar Hall on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The actual location of the plate is a few feet from where it should be, but that can be forgiven because it’s a ladies’ room. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/13 "2008-05-15T00:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] By way of example, I give you: [The site of the old Sportsman’s Park in Saint Louis](http://maps.live.com/#JnE9eXAuR3JhbmQrQm91bGV2YXJkK2FuZCtEb2RpZXIrU3RyZWV0K1NhaW50K0xvdWlzJTJjK01PJTdlc3N0LjAlN2VwZy4xJmJiPTU0Ljg3NjYwNjY1NDEwODclN2UtNjAuNDY4NzUlN2UyNS43MjA3MzUxMzQ0MTIxJTdlLTExNS40ODgyODEyNQ==), which appears to be a whole lot o’ nothin’. (NOTE: I may not be doing the map correctly. If so, I apologize in advance). [/QUOTE] You mapped correctly, but the “whole lot o’ nothin’” is actually the site of the Herbert Hoover Boys Club and the club’s athletic field was built where the Sportsman Park diamond was originally located. The Cardinals donated the site when they moved out. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/14 "2008-05-15T00:55:03Z")
Though there is no plaque, but the oldest still standing section of a ballpark is one wall of [Washington Park](http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/Dodgers/dodgers.html), home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Brooklyn Federal League team. The park opened in 1898. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/15 "2008-05-15T01:28:45Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] This [marker](http://www.ballparkreviews.com/seattle/sicks.htm) stands on the site of home plate from Sick’s Stadium, now the parking lot of a Lowe’s hardware store. Without looking, hands up from all those who know where Sick’s Stadium was. [/QUOTE] Seattle. Appropriate name for a stadium that hosted a team that lasted one year. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/16 "2008-05-15T01:51:26Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Talk about cognitive dissonance! 😃 [/QUOTE] I see people wearing their retro jerseys around town sometimes. The team name does tend to provoke a double-take from those who don’t know the history. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/17 "2008-05-15T13:29:03Z")
Shibe Park (later known as Connie Mack Stadium) at 20th and Lehigh in Philadelphia, has been replaced with a church, but there is a ‘marker’ at the site to commemorate the ball park. Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia is now a parking lot for Citizens Bank Park and the rest of the Philadelphia, PA, USA sports complex, but it is marked with the field layout of the old stadium. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/18 "2008-05-15T13:35:57Z")
Connie Mack Link: [http://www.ballparks.phanfare.com/album/371172#imageID=23211958](http://www.ballparks.phanfare.com/album/371172#imageID=23211958) Veterans Stadium Link: [http://www.ballparks.phanfare.com/album/549323#imageID=35869991](http://www.ballparks.phanfare.com/album/549323#imageID=35869991) So if you are ever in south Philadelphia, go to the corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue and look for the markers. They are directly across the street from the Spectrum arena. She may be gone now, but she had a place in Philadelphia sports lore. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/19 "2008-05-15T13:53:12Z")
Great thread, everything I was going to add has already been mentioned except for a good link for old & current stadiums: [http://www.ballparks.com/](http://www.ballparks.com/) Baseball specific is here: [Ballparks by Munsey and Suppes](http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/index.htm) When the Baltimore O’s collapsed as a team from being raided of talent by the Giants, Ban Johnson found new owners for it moved the team to NYC. This team became known as the Highlanders for playing at Hilltop Park. The team eventually started being called the Yankees and then actually moved into the New Polo Grounds for a about a decade in 1912. Hilltop Park was torn down in 1914. The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center has occupied the site since the 1920s. Jim ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342/20 "2008-05-15T14:50:13Z")
Memorial Stadium here in Baltimore was bulldozed in 2001. The land that it occupied is now home to a YMCA and a couple of apartment complexes. I drive past it periodically, but have never noticed whether there’s any sort of plaque there to commemorate the ballpark. The [satellite view](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=39.330132,-76.601497&spn=0.005784,0.010042&z=17) of the site still shows the construction phase. That image must be from about 2004 or 2005. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-ball-parks-any-with-historical-markers-etc/449342.md?page=2)