After Tuesday’s description of teams, and yesterday’s discussion of some of the ball fields in Brooklyn, it’s time for stadiums in Manhattan. Like yesterday, this is not an exhaustive list, just some of the interesting highlights…excluding the more famous major league fields. All three are north of Central Park, where the large amount of land needed for a field was still available in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Dyckman Oval was just north of the north end of the Harlem River Drive – formerly known as the Speedway, and constructed as a pleasure drive rather than a highway – and therefore a location familiar to a sporting crowd. It was a multipurpose field, used by the Cuban Stars, and the first in new York with lights for night play.
Lenox Oval was further south in Harlem, jammed up against the Harlem River (similar to Dyckman and similar to the later Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium), and used by the Lincoln Giants and the Lincoln Stars, as well as, in the picture below, the Female Giants of 1913.
The name “Polo Grounds” was used for four ball fields on three different sites in Harlem. The first was on the north side of 110th Street, across from Central Park, and was used by the Metropolitans and Giants in the 1880s, including both teams in 1883, 84, and 85. Below, the Boston and New York National League teams before opening day in 1886. Note the wood columns in the grandstand.
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