Everyone knows the story: At the end of the 1957 baseball season, the Dodgers moved out of their Crown Heights ballpark and decamped to Los Angeles.
But the 45-year-old stadium on Bedford Avenue didn’t sit empty.
It was used by semipro leagues and college teams before the wrecking ball, painted to resemble a baseball, finally arrived in February 1960.
Following two years of construction, the Ebbets Field Apartments—beige, monolith buildings rising 20 stories—opened to the public as rentals.
The apartments are still there, looking worn. And somewhere on the property this plaque also exists, a small commemoration of the fabled ballpark that opened 100 years ago this month.
Ebbets Field wasn’t the only city stadium to get the ugly apartment building makeover. The Polo Grounds, former home of the New York Giants, is now the Polo Grounds Towers, a public housing complex.
One small, faded plaque marks the former site of home base.
Tags: Baseball in Brooklyn, Brooklyn baseball, Crown Heights street, Ebbets Field Apartments, Ebbets Field history, Ebbets field torn down, what became of Ebbets field, What happened to Dodger Stadium, When the Dodgers left Brooklyn
Ephemeral New York 
April 10, 2013 at 12:46 am |
an absolute shame, disgusting replacements for such historical places.
April 10, 2013 at 1:26 am |
My grandmother (apparently, so family lore has it) mourned the Dodgers exit. I have memories of her listening to Yankee games on a transistor radio. A baseball fan to the end. Man, those buildings couldn’t be any more bleak. Did you see the NY Mag. compilation of celebs NYC childhood memories. I wanted more.
April 10, 2013 at 1:30 pm |
I was locating the Brooklyn ballpark that preceded Ebbets Field and found it was on the block bound by 1st & 3rd Streets and 3rd and 4th Avenues. This when they were the Superbas and won the national championship a couple times.
I believe I read somewhere (hopefully it wasn’t here) that the white wall in the Google street view here is from the original ballpark.
http://goo.gl/maps/eP4y0
April 10, 2013 at 3:24 pm |
I’ve read about that wall too–apparently it was home to a small-time team called the Brooklyn Tip-Tops!
Curbed has the story: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/10/01/the_five_oddest_requested_landmarks_in_nyc.php
April 10, 2013 at 10:37 pm |
Please fix the last line of the Polo Grounds mention. It should read:
One small, faded plaque marks the former site of home plate.
Any self-respecting baseball fan will cringe if they see “the plate” referred to as a “base.”
April 14, 2013 at 3:22 am |
We just saw “42” today and thought it was such an excellent film. I was in tears most of the time. Brooklyn Dodgers 4Ever!
May 7, 2021 at 12:20 am |
I don’t think Brooklyn ever forgave the Dodgers
for leaving them.