The Ghosts of Ebbets Field

"[It is] one of the most notorious abandonments in the history of sports." (U.S. Federal Judge)




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebbets_Field#/media/File:Ebbets1913OpeningDay.jpg

Charlie Ebbets started buying up parcels of land in Brooklyn, a block at a time, including a garbage dump where pigs used to dine which they called Pigtown.  Within five years, he built a baseball stadium, but neglected to include a flag, keys to the bleachers and a press box.

The opening game featured the Brooklyn Dodgers, named after the streetcars that its fans used to dodge, and the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Dodgers quickly worked their way into the hearts of Brooklynites.  With the bleachers full, more seats were added in the 1920's.  Lights were added in 1938 to pave the way for the first night game.  The press box was added in 1929, along with a scoreboard in 1940.

The scoreboard came at the time of major success for the Dodgers, a baseball team that captured the pennant several times including 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956.  

Probably Ebbets Field's biggest claim to fame came in 1947, when the color barrier in baseball was broken with manager Branch Rickey's hiring of Jackie Robinson.  Number 42 stole many a base at Ebbets Field with his wife Rachel, and later his children, cheering him on from the stands (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/04/april-15.html).

While the Dodgers kept knocking on the door of success, they were never able to clinch the World Series.  That all changed in 1955.  Once more, the Brooklyn Dodgers faced the New York Yankees, the heavy favourites.  Ebbets Field was packed for the series.  For Brooklynites who couldn't get tickets, they stayed home and watched the series on their televisions or listened to it on the radio.  One fan pointed out that he was going to the game to watch it "in colour, rather than in black and white".  Things looked bleak for the Dodgers after the Yankees took the first two games.  No baseball team had ever come back to win the World Series after such a start.  However, with players like Jackie Robinson, the team came back to win the championship.

Henry Petroksi, a former Brooklyn resident, said in his book Paper Boy that the streets surrounding Ebbets Field were surprisingly quiet at first, filled with disappointed Yankee fans returning home.  Brooklyn fans were in shock.  However, within 90 minutes, Brooklynites erupted in celebration.  After decades, Brooklyn's loyal fans had finally been rewarded.

Sadly, the celebration was short lived.  As one writer says, the Dodgers were "victims of their own success".  Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley wanted to expand Ebbets Field, but had no where to go.  He wanted to build a new stadium at the Atlantic Yards where an old market was being torn down.  New York City Commissioner Robert Moses (after whom the Parkway is named) wanted a baseball stadium built at Flushing Meadows.  However, Walter O'Malley said that his team was called the "Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Queen's Dodgers".  In 1956, real estate developper bought Ebbets Field.  The following year, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebbets_Field).

In 1960, Ebbets field met the fate of the wrecking ball.  Where famous ball players once played, a massive apartment complex was built, named Ebbets Field apartments.  In 1972, when Jackie Robinson died, the complex was renamed in his memory. 

Ebbets Field would not soon be forgotten.  Frank Sinatra sang about it in his tune "There Used to be a Ballpark".  Roger Kahn wrote about it in his book The Boys of Summer.  The HBO documentary filmed it in Brooklyn Dodgers:  Ghosts of Flatbush.  One U.S. federal judge called it "one of the most notorious abandonments in the history of sports".  

http://uspsstamps.tumblr.com/post/32212104084/on-september-24-1957-the-brooklyn-dodgers-played

Jackie Robinson

"Jackie Robinson was a sitter inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides." 

(Martin Luther King Jr.)

Pitchers threw at his head.  Runners tried to spike him.  Players taunted him.  Fans issued death threats.  The Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson, despite all of the abuse, turned the other cheek.  It was through his talent on the baseball field, rather than through fighting back, that he earned the respect of the nation.  

Jackie Robinson at UCLA courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Minor_leagues.

Born in rural Georgia and raised in Pasadena, California, Jackie Robinson faced adversity at an early age when his father walked out on his family.  Robinson excelled as an athlete, lettering in four sports at the U.C.L.A.  He joined the Army where he even learned how to box.  It was during his Army stint that he was reprimanded for sitting beside a white person on a bus.  It would be the first of many reprimands.

Jackie Robinson in the U.S. Army courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#/media/File:Jackie_Robinson_military.jpg.

Brooklyn Dodgers coach Branch Rickey saw promise in Jackie Robinson.  He asked him to sign with his farm team, the Montreal Royals.  He had one question for the athlete:  "Did he have the guts?"  Jackie immediately said yes.  Mr. Rickey qualified the question:  "Did he have the guts not to fight back?"  Jackie promised to keep his temper in check.

Jackie Robinson playing for the Montreal Royals courtesy 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Minor_leagues.

In 1947, Jackie broke the colour barrier in major league baseball when he played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  It was a historic occasion, but it was the first step in the process of integration.  Travelling with the team, Jackie was sometimes banned from the all white hotels.Some Dodgers voiced formal complaints about a black being on the team.  IN an era when Black sports reporters still sat in the stands rather than the press box, fans booed Jackie.  Some stadiums banned the baseball club they had a Black player on their team.  And Phillies player, and later manager, Ben Chapman called Jackie a "nigger" and told him to "Go back to the cotton fields."  The abuse was so volatile that it made headlines in the New York papers.  

Jackie Robinson poses with Ben Chapman circa 1947, a publicity stunt to prove that Chapman was not a racist courtesy http://seamheads.com/2013/04/20/ben-chapman-and-jackie-robinson/.

However, some individuals stood behind Jackie.  Mr. Rickey continued to support his newest player.  A black sports writer befriended Jackie and followed him from game to game, reporting on his success.  And Jackie's wife, Rachel, was always by his side, giving Jackie a stability that he never had when he was a little boy.  

The Robinsons on their wedding day circa 1946 courtesy http://munaluchibridal.com/throwback-thursdays-the-marriage-of-jackie-and-rachel-robinson-1940s-wedding-fashion/.

Jackie led the Dodgers to a World Series pennant in 1955 and retired two years later, to the disappointment of his loyal fans.  In a shocking twist, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter.  The times were changing.  

Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series in 1955 courtesy http://lipulse.com/2015/10/02/celebrating-the-60th-anniversary-of-the-dodgers-world-series-win/.

Jackie worked as an executive at Chock Full of Nuts.  He became the voice of the civil rights movement.  He never hesitated to speak up about what was wrong with America.  He participated in the famous March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his I Have a Dream speech in 1963.  Jackie never had the chance to enjoy his retirement.  He succumbed to diabetes and heart disease at the young age of 53.

Jackie Robinson, with wife Rachel on the right and son David on the left, participates in the famous March on Washington in 1963 courtesy 

http://theundefeated.com/features/jackie-robinson-vs-malcolm-x/.