BATTER UP!

[belfastboy]

View attachment 92378
Spalding’s Base Ball Guide of 1883
View attachment 92380

"Early Shoes and Kangaroos
Little is known about the very earliest baseball shoes. Most likely they were identical to athletic shoes of the day: high-tops, with simple canvas uppers and no spikes. As canvas tended to break down where creases formed, baseball shoes of the 1870s incorporated portions made of leather. Spalding’s “Chicago Club Shoe” was their first foray into a combined leather-canvas upper, and the sporting goods company claimed that the shoe was the “same as used by the Chicago and other League clubs.” The first all-leather shoe made available by Spalding was the calf skin “League Club Shoe,” first offered in 1882 for $6 per pair. By the end of the decade, Spalding had introduced an all-Kangaroo leather shoe available for $7 per pair. Strong, soft, and remarkably durable, Kangaroo leather remained a popular material for baseball uppers throughout much of the 20th century.”

My kangaroo leather baseball shoes were my prized possession. Found them in a clearance bin but cannot remember the price. A bit small but I wore them for years. Sadly I threw them away in a moment of cleaning frenzy weakness.

 

[2jakes]

“BAMBINO”

 

[LizzieMaine]

Note the oxidized green copper color of the Yankee Stadium frieze in the second photo. Although many people think of it as having been white, and it was memorialized as white in both the "renovated" Yankee Stadium and the new, current one, it wasn't actually painted white until 1967. It was actually this oxidized green color for most of the Stadium's "classic era."

 

[2jakes]

Note the oxidized green copper color of the Yankee Stadium frieze in the second photo. Although many people think of it as having been white, and it was memorialized as white in both the "renovated" Yankee Stadium and the new, current one, it wasn't actually painted white until 1967. It was actually this oxidized green color for most of the Stadium's "classic era."

When you visited the stadium, did you taste the hotdogs?
Were they as good as I’ve read?
I haven’t attended baseball stadiums up North and was curious.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I never made it to the original Stadium, although I drove by it once, but the hot dogs were very similar if not identical to those served at Fenway Park, since both parks were serviced by the same concessionaire, Harry M. Stevens Company. The standard dog for most of the 20th Century was a skinless frank served on a Ward's roll with Gulden's mustard. The manufacturer of the weenies themselves was usually local -- in the Era, the New York parks favored Stahl-Meyer -- but by the early eighties, both Fenway and Yankee Stadium served Colonial franks -- billed as "Fenway Franks" in Boston and as "Yankee Franks" in New York, but otherwise identical.

Stevens no longer services Fenway, and the dog offerings have changed -- there is now a foot-long specimen alongside the standard model, and Gold's mustard is served instead of Gulden's, which annoys me no end because if there is one taste that's inextricably tied to a ballgame in my mind it's Gulden's mustard. The franks themselves went from Colonial to Kahn's in the last years of the Stevens contract, and are now provided by Kayem. I believe the New York parks still use Stevens as their concessionaire, and serve Nathan's brand weenies. Hot dogs are one of the few things you can get a major league park that haven't been standardized by MLB -- most teams use local/regional brands rather than a national brand.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Note the oxidized green copper color of the Yankee Stadium frieze in the second photo. Although many people think of it as having been white, and it was memorialized as white in both the "renovated" Yankee Stadium and the new, current one, it wasn't actually painted white until 1967. It was actually this oxidized green color for most of the Stadium's "classic era."

Yankee Stadium acquired its white and navy blue colors when it was owned by Rice University in Houston, who’se school colors are, you guessed it, navy blue and white.

 

[Fading Fast]

Note the oxidized green copper color of the Yankee Stadium frieze in the second photo. Although many people think of it as having been white, and it was memorialized as white in both the "renovated" Yankee Stadium and the new, current one, it wasn't actually painted white until 1967. It was actually this oxidized green color for most of the Stadium's "classic era."

Even though I grew up in the "white era" and that's the Yankee Stadium I came to know, the green looks more natural, more classic baseball to me.

 

[2jakes]

Even though I grew up in the "white era" and that's the Yankee Stadium I came to know, the green looks more natural, more classic baseball to me.

This also applies to classic tennis.
Wimbledon still tries to maintain the tradition of the beautiful green structure
and the only "white" on the grass courts is the dress code for the players.
It's nice to see no ads or labels on
the players or around the walls.

I remember when HBO carried the broadcast of the Wimbledon action
with the commentating by the British.
It was very refreshing to listen.
They spoke very little and only at certain
instances on a specific point.
"Good shot that!"

They gave you credit that if you were watching, you knew that was a passing
backhand down the line stroke for a winner.
The chair umpire called the score.

There was moments of just the echoing
sound of the tennis ball being hit on the sweet spot, the murmmer of awe
from the stands and best of all
no loud grunting or screaming from the
players.

 

[2jakes]

Day Babe Ruth came to my hometown:

March 1930 ~ Taken by San Antonio Light Photog Jack Sprecht,
when the slugger sent a ball zooming over the center field fence
at League park in San Antonio. The Yankees won 14 to 4 over the
San Antonio Indians.

Standing in front of the Menger Hotel, San Antonio.

 

[2jakes]

Note the oxidized green copper color of the Yankee Stadium frieze in the second photo. Although many people think of it as having been white, and it was memorialized as white in both the "renovated" Yankee Stadium and the new, current one, it wasn't actually painted white until 1967. It was actually this oxidized green color for most of the Stadium's "classic era."

The amount of copper in the Statue of Liberty could make 30 million pennies!
When the statue was originally assembled, it was a dull brown color, reflecting the natural color of its copper plates.
Over the years, though, it slowly turned to the oxidized green color you see today.

 

[Fading Fast]

And it continues to this day.

The American Copper Buildings (not that far from where I live):

"The exterior of the building is clad in copper. This metal cladding is similar to other SHoP-designed buildings, such as Barclay's Center. As of April 2016, the copper exterior has begun to patina, and the structures will eventually change color entirely."​

Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Copper_Buildings

 

[2jakes]

And it continues to this day.

The American Copper Buildings (not that far from where I live):

"The exterior of the building is clad in copper. This metal cladding is similar to other SHoP-designed buildings, such as Barclay's Center. As of April 2016, the copper exterior has begun to patina, and the structures will eventually change color entirely."​

Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Copper_Buildings

View attachment 95271

You weren’t kidding!...Not for all the NYC pizzas would you get me on that contraption!

 

[LizzieMaine]

October 1, 1951 -- and a capacity crowd packs Ebbets Field for the first game of the best-of-three pennant playoff series against the Giants. Note that every available spot for several blocks around is being used for parking.

Directly across Bedford Avenue, behind the right field wall, is Young Motors, a prominent Plymouth-DeSoto dealer and Mobilgas station which sold its lot for parking on game days. The lot across Montgomery Street, behind the left field side of the park, was owned by the Dodgers, and held about 700 cars. The complex on Franklin Avenue, a block behind the third-base side with the tall smokestack is the former Consumers Park Brewery, which in 1951 was home to the Daisy Mattress factory. The two large vacant lots immediately to the left of the old brewery were once the site of the Flatbush Hygiea Ice Company, but in 1951 they were, to the frustration of Walter F. O'Malley, just empty lots not available for parking.

 

[2jakes]

Michael T. McGreevey and players of the amateur baseball team that he sponsored, the Nuf Ceds, 1910. Note the mascot of the Nuf Ceds in the center.
(Boston Public Library)

 

[2jakes]

The Sandlot.
Joe Garagiola (First Row, Left) Yogi Berra (Second Row, Center.

 

[Fading Fast]

You weren’t kidding!...Not for all the NYC pizzas would you get me on that contraption!
View attachment 95272

Not my thing either - but I am looking forward to watching it patina. It will be like one giant copper penny sitting out in the rain for years.

View attachment 95443
October 1, 1951 -- and a capacity crowd packs Ebbets Field for the first game of the best-of-three pennant playoff series against the Giants. Note that every available spot for several blocks around is being used for parking.

Directly across Bedford Avenue, behind the right field wall, is Young Motors, a prominent Plymouth-DeSoto dealer and Mobilgas station which sold its lot for parking on game days. The lot across Montgomery Street, behind the left field side of the park, was owned by the Dodgers, and held about 700 cars. The complex on Franklin Avenue, a block behind the third-base side with the tall smokestack is the former Consumers Park Brewery, which in 1951 was home to the Daisy Mattress factory. The two large vacant lots immediately to the left of the old brewery were once the site of the Flatbush Hygiea Ice Company, but in 1951 they were, to the frustration of Walter F. O'Malley, just empty lots not available for parking.

Surprised the owner of those empty lots couldn't have been easily talked into opening them up for parking on game days - seems like easy money to leave on the table.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've often wondered about that, and the only reason I can come up with is that maybe the mattress factory used those lots for access for shipping and delivery trucks.

What's even more remarkable is that if Google is to be believed, those lots are still vacant to this day. The brewery complex is now a company that imports and distributes bulk spices, but the ice plant site is still more or less undeveloped. Given the price of Brooklyn real estate these days, even in that neighborhood, it's astonishing that the lots haven't been built up in the eighty-odd years since the ice plant was torn down.

There was a lot of talk when Walter F. O'Malley started to complain about parking in the years after the war about possible options, some of them involving buying up more property in the neighborhood for the construction of a parking garage, but the ice company lots don't seem to have ever entered into the discussion, at least not that I've come across. No doubt the real reason was that O'Malley had no desire or interest in staying in that "changing" neighborhood under any circumstances, even if they gave him those lots, built him a garage, and put a giant illuminated statue of him on the roof, revolving slowly on a turntable so that it always faced the sun.

 

[2jakes]

President Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first ball, opening day, 1916

 

[2jakes]

Athletic equipment, Eastern High School, Washington, D.C. / National Photo Co. 1941

 

[Fading Fast]

I've often wondered about that, and the only reason I can come up with is that maybe the mattress factory used those lots for access for shipping and delivery trucks.

What's even more remarkable is that if Google is to be believed, those lots are still vacant to this day. The brewery complex is now a company that imports and distributes bulk spices, but the ice plant site is still more or less undeveloped. Given the price of Brooklyn real estate these days, even in that neighborhood, it's astonishing that the lots haven't been built up in the eighty-odd years since the ice plant was torn down.

There was a lot of talk when Walter F. O'Malley started to complain about parking in the years after the war about possible options, some of them involving buying up more property in the neighborhood for the construction of a parking garage, but the ice company lots don't seem to have ever entered into the discussion, at least not that I've come across. No doubt the real reason was that O'Malley had no desire or interest in staying in that "changing" neighborhood under any circumstances, even if they gave him those lots, built him a garage, and put a giant illuminated statue of him on the roof, revolving slowly on a turntable so that it always faced the sun.

My guess, one of two things. One is that there is some ownership legal entanglement. Usually, when a lot of land in NYC sits fallow for decades - especially, in an area that is booming - that's the reason. The only thing most people like more than making money is preventing someone they hate from making money - hence, these battles can rage on and on.

The second reason is zoning, permit, payoff, etc., issues. This is the other common reason for land to sit unused in NYC. An owner will want to put up X, but needs a permit / zoning change / community board approval / etc. for that type of project / height / footprint / usage / etc. and, like the legal battle of reason one - a combination of stubbornness and egos have both sides dig in and nothing changes on the ground for decades (sometime the next generation takes up the battle - it happens more than you would believe).

Of course, there are other reasons, but usually when income opportunities like this are passed up for decades in NYC, it's one of those two reasons.