Wow we all got this video recommended to us this week 😂 I googled the polo grounds because I was driving on the harlem river drive the other day and looked across at yankee stadium and then looked and said to myself “jesus the polo grounds was a half mile away!”
I remember this. This game felt like an ode to the game. Amazing how games were able to do things like this in 04 but don’t do it now. Wish games would do more things like this to educate about the history of the sport
And espn NFL 2k 5 had a game mode where you can replay historical nfl games and scenarios as well as 70 pages with information on football strategies techniques and lineups
Agreed, I grew up playing this era of sports games and the amount I learned about the sports from them probably shaped a lot about my love for them now. I guess todays kids can just look it up on a phone or something, but it's definitely not the same as accidentally discovering something like this.
Every sit at the top of Shea Stadium? It was freakin scary. The incline was so ridiculously steep, that when you stood up, it felt like you were going over the edge. And then every ten minutes, a low flying 737 soared over your head.
@@afuzzycreature8387 Please note that while NFL and AFL football was played here along with soccer and Gaelic football, polo was never played at this version of the Polo Grounds. It was built in 1911 and is actually PG III (Fire destroyed wooden PG II at the same location). The Giants decided to keep the name from PG 1.
Very cool. The field of play at the Polo Grounds was crazy. Upper deck hanging way over the field, bullpen on the field, really short down the lines, super long to center, etc etc
The old Tiger Stadium right field upper deck hung over the the lower deck as well. It had a flagpole in the field of play in centerfield. I BELIEVE cf was 440 feet from homeplate.
The PG was very neutral in terms of runs scored, but Extra Base hits and Home Runs were off the charts. Pitchers were affected nearly every at bat by the short distances down the line, hitters trying to pull everything they could, defensive challenges for even the best outfielders. The bullpens, the Foul Territory, the Center Field clubhouse. What a ballpark. I need a time machine.
@@brianreed1859 Dusty Rhodes hit a cheap three run homer that just got over the 257' foot mark in right field to win Game 1 of the 1954 World Series for the Giants in a 5-2 victory in 10 innings.
@@hiphopheadgamer All-Star Baseball 2004 by Acclaim which was based on the 2003 season. It was available for the PS2, XBox, and GameCube. Unfortunately, Acclaim went belly up a few short years after this, and their 2005 (2004 season) showing was a bit weak. But 2003 and 2004 were really great, immersive games. If you have an old console, I would recommend picking this up on ebay or Amazon or a local used game store. Games like The Show will outshine it, and there are some weird physics with lefthanded batters, but it is still a fun game to dig into. I occasionally turn on my old xbox just to mess around with my old expansion franchise.
I always had a love for both Shea Stadium and Old Yankee Stadium cause it defined what New York baseball really was I still miss both of these stadiums Citi Field and New Yankee will never compare to these absolutely awesome stadiums
Those old stadiums needed to be replaced. Shea was not a significant stadium. Old Yankee Stadium was old. I love the new stadium and would love to see a game there one day
@@brianreed1859 yes they needed to be replaced but they shouldnt have just made some ugly boring cookie cutter stadiums that dont represent ny baseball. Love my yankees but the new yankee stadium is too corporate for me to have any attachment to it
💥father's daddy💥 every stadium is corporate. Thats how they make money, which in turn pays for our excellent players, which produces wins, which is what we want right?
David Lafleche That's because it wasn't demolished till 2002, had it been demolished sometime after the 2003-2004 titles it would be a different story.
If they use an American construction company it will take years. If they use a company from Japan Dubai or Israel it can be done in the off season and no games will be lost
Yeah. Ebbetts. Forbes, Baker Bowl, Sportsman's Park, Candlestick, Polo Grounds, Shibe, and the list goes on. Those were real baseball parks, not sports "complexes" that we have today. Maybe the closest of the new ones is Camden. But the originals were married to the beginning of history. When the greatest of the greats walked their corridors and took their fields. That was a link from their era to the fan.
@@michaelgerhardt7130 nah i want a modern team with a stadium like that. The feel like your favorite team is right in your backyard. The stadium incredibly intimate but i understand its just not possible in today's game.
@Red Greene the difference is the pyramids still exist. These ball parks dont so the video is a pretty good representation of experiencing the ball park.
Very good virtual tour of the Polo Grounds. I'm especially glad that you included the six plaques on the wall of the clubhouse, behind the Eddie Grant monument. My only suggestion is to add pitchers sitting on the bullpen benches. Many young fans are unaware that the bullpens were in the outfield, in fair play! Thanks for the tour.
Native New Yorker here and it makes my blood boil to think of how rotten our city has been to these old gems. Not to mention it's checkered cabs, corner hotdog vendors, old tenements buildings, original elevated subway lines, streetcar routes, and the list goes on & on ......
Thanks for this virtual tour. I live within walking distance of where the Polo Grounds were located (and by extension old and current Yankee Stadiums as well, across the river in the Bronx). Every time I go near there I wonder what it must have been like to have that stadium in the neighborhood and two ball clubs right across from one another. Additionally, while I know this was about baseball, you might have also mentioned that both the New York (football) Giants and the New York Titans (who became the Jets) at one time also played there, and that the Jets later shared Shea with the Mets. Furthermore, in 1975 Shea was home to the Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets, while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and before Giants Stadium was built in the Meadowlands.
Yes, the old Yankee Stadium with the short fences down the foul lines was so much more interesting. The new Yankee Stadium(s) don't look much different than any other ballpark built after 1970.
Very cool. You should add Yankee Stadium through 1973. The first version was essentially torn down and rebuilt in 1974 and 1975, when the Yankees call Shea Stadium home.
I was fortunate to see games at all four of these venues. I saw the Dodgers play the Pirates and the Cardinals at Ebbets Field in 1957, the final season. I saw the Giants play the Phillies and the Cubs at the Polo Grounds in 1957, and then the Mets play the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 and also saw the Gotham Bowl football game between Utah and Nebraska. I saw dozens of games at the original, pre-remodeled Yankee Stadium in the 1960's, as well as a few Giants football games. And, I saw the Mets and Jets play at Shea Stadium. The Polo Grounds were not so wonderful like the "after-the-fact" lovers of classic parks think today. The park smelled awful; the bathroom toilets leaked; there was no hot water in the sinks; the seats were old and uncomfortable--the type that gave you saddle sores; and as a kid, each row was not high enough up from the row in front to see over the fan sitting in front of you. Shea Stadium was boring but had much better convenience, but the airport noise was terrible. When Tom Terrific was pitching, it was always worth the price of a ticket. Yankee Stadium was like a religious experience until Steinbrenner mistakenly exorcised the ghosts of Yankees Past. Parking was better there than at the other parks. Ebbets Field was the one that I remember most fondly, even though I was only 6 years old when I went there. The best way I can describe it is to imagine being in the heart of the industrial part of your city with all the industrial buildings on the street fronts. Then, you walk through the door of one of these industrial factories, and instead of a lobby, you see this incredibly green ballpark that makes you feel like you have arrived in Oz. Drab dark red and brown gave way to vibrant colors. No ballpark since has been able to approach the coziness of that park. You felt like you were at a large family banquet rather than an expansive stadium.
@wi54725 I never went to see the baseball Giants play at the Polo Grounds though I did watch them play there on TV during the 1950s. But I did go to the Polo Grounds once in 1962 and twice in 1963 for baseball. I don't remember any uncomfortable seats in 1962 or 1963 (I sat in the upper deck behind home plate). Nor do I recall any bad smells at the Polo Grounds then. I can't speak to 1957 since I wasn't there. But reportedly the Dodgers' and Giants' owners knew as early as 1954 that they were headed west. If so, then for obvious reasons they couldn't say anything about moving west until at least September/October 1957. So very likely the Giants had little incentive to keep the Polo Grounds in decent repair. Nor apparently did the AFL Titans in 1960 - 1962 (before they were the Jets). Very simply the New York Titans in those days were on a very tight budget. I do recall though that the Mets worked hard to upgrade the Polo Grounds with e.g. fresh paint and a new scoreboard in center field. I thought the Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963 was as good a place as Yankee Stadium (in 1961) to watch games. Of course during games you could always smell lots of cigar smoke at the Polo Grounds. But in 1962 and 1963 during games that was normal at all major sports arenas.
I saw my first game ever at the Polo Grounds in April of 1962. The Mets beat the Phillies for their first ever win at home. I went to dozens of games there during the 1962 and 1963 seasons. The place was decrepit despite the money spent on sprucing it up. The upgrades to the Polo Grounds were mostly cosmetic. The field and scoreboard were replaced and the joint got a coat of paint. Seating was not comfortable. The slope angle was so low that kids always had to sit in front of adults. Box seats at field level were delineated by metal chains. The bathrooms were ancient, with wet floors and a seriously foul order that was attached to the walls. Outside, the parking was not paved; it was gravel. Shea was a huge improvement, but it was limited by the engineering skills and technology of the day. Improvements were constantly made over the years. But one thing could never be changed: Shea was too tall and steep. The upper deck was quite far from the field. Walking up to your seat would leave you breathless and craving oxygen. Walking back down gave you the feeling you were about to fall 3 levels onto the field. As for Citi Field, I didn't care for it much when it opened or for the next few years. Very little indicated it was the home of the Mets. That's changed tremendously. I now feel very comfortable and very much at home at Citi Field.
When I was a little Dodgers fan in Brooklyn, my father and my uncle took me to visit the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium as well as our home stadium, Ebbets. The differences were very odd. But at Ebbets Field, you could hear the players yelling.
great stuff...thanks for posting, i've always felt nostalgic about old ballparks...i suppose it's got something to do with looking back at one's past when we were all younger and alive and living in the times...
Very cool. My stepdad grew up in Brooklyn and talked about meeting Mrs. O’Malley when he was 12, through a friend, and she gave him free tickets to the game. Apparently she loved to do that. He said the fans were crazy, people would dress up in costumes, play instruments, but most of all they were really loud😁
Old Yankee Stadium was actually renovated in 1974-1975, not 1976. By early 1976 it was mostly done, and the Yankees christened the newly renovated stadium in April 1976 with a win, and later cruised to the division title that year and then won the American League pennant.
Very informative, thank you for the efforts. As a person who is also a fan of cricket I was interested to hear the details of the slope on the Polo Grounds. The famous Lords cricket Ground, the home of cricket, in suburban London had a very similar slope until recent times. I'm fortunate enough to say I have had a detailed tours of both the Oval and the Yankee Stadium depicted here.
This virtual reality tour of these classic New York ballparks is very cool! I can see how pull hitters would have loved to play at the Polo Grounds with the short left and right field porches.
I was fortunate to have experienced the 'Old" Yankee stadium from a player's perspective during a tryout in 1971. Came close, but didn't get signed. I tattooed "iron mike'though, almost hitting one out to left field! I vividly remember a sign in the Yankee locker room, it read; "What you see here, what you hear here, stays here!"
97RAVINEAVE He most certainly did. Sign was up for years. Had a childhood friend who was a batboy during the 66 season and he told me it was up then. Bouton was just financially frustrated when he wrote “Ball Four” while a member of the Astro’s during the 1970 Pennant race. I don’t think he ever made more than $20K for any season. He only made $10K during his 20 win season!
I only went to Shea once(rare Yankee fan that doesn't hate the Mets) happened to be Fleet Week, my friend noticed the sailors in the LaGuardia flight path seats and said "Look the upper deck is covered with Seamen.
Even though I'm a yankees fan..my uncle had season tickets front row behind 3b. I loved going. U couldnt give Mets tickets away in those days. Those upper deck bleachers were so steep
Thanks for the upload. One thing that made baseball fascinating to me was the irregularities of each field. A true home field advantage. As baseball moves forward we see fewer and fewer of these idiosyncratic layouts.
@@hudsonhawk0016 I don't think hitting that far is the problem. The problem is, I'm guessing most people wouldn't be able to make contact with a 95 mph pitch, or a hard 12 to 6 curveball
As a Yankees fan, we usually go into the rightfield stands. The Yankees have had a history of left handed home run hitters. My favorite memories were bat day at the stadium from 1969 to 1973.
The Ebbets Field lights while the light towers seem about right look a bit off in terms of how the bulbs looked. The virtual Polo Grounds tour is the 1950s era Polo Grounds, minus the center field scoreboard added for 1962-63 when the Mets played there.
Does anyone feel the nostalgia. The music too reminds u of what is was like back then. I was lucky enough to be able to see both shea stadium and the old yankee stadium. As a cubs fan, fingers crossed that wrigley field manages to stay around for another 100 years!
In the old Stadium pre-1974 the monuments and flag pole where on the field! The fence was the wall the plaques are seen on in this video! That's a long ways away!
gosh wonder what it was like as a fan attending these historic ballparks...glad last year 2019 i was able to attend globe life park...too bad dodgers were not playing but oh well had to check out the ballpark
Ebbets Field: Perhaps for legal reasons (which I cannot imagine being an obstacle), the outfield advertising as shown does not reflect the ones which were there. Above the scoreboard was the Schaefer Beer sign, where we read Koehlert, and below, where it reads, Mike Skinner, it read "Abe Stark" (tailor); "Hit this Sign, Win Free Suit." The "h" or the "e" in Schaefer would light, respectively, indicating hit or error. Omitted from mention is the unique "enclosure," where the black centerfield wall came to a 45 degree angle with the rightfield wall.
@@Soxruleyanksdrool What was I thinking? I wasn't. There were two Abe Stark signs, and the first was a lot easier to hit than the second, cf. “The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers,” Bob McGee (2005, Rutgers University Press). Abe Stark had taken over the billboard space in Ebbets Field once occupied by Bull Durham tobacco (penultimate right). This was a lager sign than would later appear and measured about 3 feet by 30 feet. It was in 1931 that Abe Stark's name first appeared directly under the Ebbets Field scoreboard in right-center field, reading: “Hit Sign, Win Suit. Abe Stark. 1514 Pitkin Ave. Brooklyn's Leading Clothier.”
@@Soxruleyanksdrool I didn't read anything negative in your response. I missed writing what I'd meant to and happy someone cared enough to respond. PS. As a former Dodger fan, later Reds, fan, in the American League, I have always loved the Red Sox.
The scoreboard at the Polo Grounds used to say ABC as in Always Buy Chesterfield a hit, while the Giants played there and Rheingold, The Dry Beer when the Mets played there, yet another one of those political corrections that eliminated quite a lot of history there. Chesterfield were a cigarette brand and Rheingold was a beer, so to replace these with chalk is really unhistoric and misleading! Also, the Yankees won one World Series and lost another while playing the Giants at the Polo Grounds before Yankee Stadium was built. The left centerfield gap at Yankee Stadium had its fence brought in twice (once in 1985 and finally in 1988), the first time in order to allow a walk way for fans to see the Monument Park up close and the second to please slugger Jack Clark, and it used to be 430 ft. to left center and 417 ft. to center from 1976-84 and 411 and 410 respectively from 1985-87 (the only instances where center field was less than a power alley in MLB)! Before that major remodel, it used to be sort of a triangle oval off centered to the left side, originally having sharp angles because of the old wooden bleachers between 1923 and 1937 (I suppose that they didn't want the symmetry of the Polo Grounds after moving out, because they could have had that by building it in a different shape in relation to the property size)?
Who played Take Me Out To The Ballgame for it sounded like Eddie Layton, Paul Cartier, or Ed Alstrom on the Hammond Elegante (or maybe even the older Collonade) at Yankee Stadium?
The renovations to the original Yankee Stadium were in 1974 and 1975, not 1976. The second edition of Yankee Stadium *opened* in 1976. The Yankees played in the Mets’ Shea Stadium in 1974 and1975 while the original Stadium was being renovated.
Yankee Stadium was renovated in 1974+1975 when the Yankees played two seasons at Shea Stadium. The Stadium was re-opened for the 1976 season ... NOT RENOVATED in 1976.... name the famous player who played two seasons for the Yankees but did not play a single game as a Yankee in Yankee Stadium? Answer: Bobby Bonds
Actually when they won their first world series in 1923 it was actually the first championship out of 27. They won 27 total world series championships and that is the most ever by any team and then right behind them was the St. Louis Cardinals
Graciela Marroquin apparently this tour is from a video game that was released in 2004, 5 years before their last championship. It confused me at first as well.
i would have loved to see a game at the Polo Grounds. If the outfielders don't cut off a gap'er, it could be an inside the park home run. Very exciting
@@brianreed1859are you a dodgers fan or something? I see you in every comment chain here and all you do is talk mad shit about a ballpark that was demolished 60 years ago. Was your grandma murdered there or something? I can understand not liking it but hating it as much as you do to the point that you comment like 10 times about it borders on a mental issue.
Very interesting. Loved the tour of the Polo Grounds. Was there ever a more unusual and crazy playing field dimension than that? Bullpens in fair territory?
GOD I wish that this franchise could of kept going, just imagine what it would be on PS3/PS4 or Xbox One. I miss some of these retro stadiums. All Star Baseball was a great game, but the graphics need improvement. I LOVED the Expansion Mode, Modern games need this feature.
I didn't really like the gameplay in this game but the stadium selection was way ahead of its time. The Show still doesn't have classic stadiums like this or MVP Baseball had so I still stick to older baseball games. Stadiums make the game!
Anybody catch the incorrect placement of the LF upper deck in Yankee stadium? These old early to mid 2000s era baseball games were the best though. Really felt like you were playing baseball. MLB The Show made a lot of improvements to the front end, the broadcast, the graphics, but the gameplay took a step back it has never recovered from.
hockeyman001 I have to disagree as well. I think MLB the show is actually the most realistic gameplay. Hitting and pitching is spot on to real life. The PS2 games were fun but not as realistic as the show.
Took me a while to figure out the last narrator from the Polo Grounds section was Cal Ripken, I knew I recognized the voice of an ex-player turned sometimes TV analyst. They should have listed the narrators in the credits, unless I missed it. I recognized Thom Brennaman on Ebbets Field as well.
I agree, It was a egregious error not to say that Fenway is one of the oldest stadiums in baseball. I believe the Yankees were known as the Highlanders, when Fenway opened.
Nice job, but I would have like to seen time devoted to the original Yankee Stadium as well. An animated tour was deployed on UA-cam a few years ago by a guy named Rick Kaplan and it was fantastic!
The polo grounds is just about the most bizarre baseball field I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how any team can play there on a regular basis since the dimensions and features were so odd for a baseball stadium.
You're right. It had the most ridiculous dimensions of any stadium ever built. Pop fly homeruns down little league foul lines. 450 Foot, tape measure outs. Enough room in foul territory to play a second game. Add to that the fact that by all accounts, the Polo Grounds was an absolute DUMP at the end of its life. Cats, rats, and pigeons ruled the place. One sports writer of the time described it as "pigeon befouled." Another referred to it as "that grimy old slum on the Harlem River." On Wikipedia, when it talks of the Mets having to play there while Shea was being built, it describes it as "hardly the last word in 20th Century stadia."
![BASEBALL VIDEO GAMES EVOLUTION [1976 - 2023]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ccjPTF7NQPI/mqdefault.jpg)
Older video games just hit different.
I love how polo grounds had the bullpen benches in fair play
But to be fair, they were probably about 600 feet from the plate.
@@olafbigandglad I think that they were that far. They were probably around 450 feet away from Homeplate because it is 480 feet to dead center field.
@Greg Pettis The most impressive part about the play wasn't even the catch itself, it was the amount of ground he covered to get to it.
Wow we all got this video recommended to us this week 😂
I googled the polo grounds because I was driving on the harlem river drive the other day and looked across at yankee stadium and then looked and said to myself “jesus the polo grounds was a half mile away!”
Dan Ski tell me about it lol. Y’all dug up my comment from 2 years ago I forgot I even made lol
I remember this. This game felt like an ode to the game. Amazing how games were able to do things like this in 04 but don’t do it now. Wish games would do more things like this to educate about the history of the sport
And espn NFL 2k 5 had a game mode where you can replay historical nfl games and scenarios as well as 70 pages with information on football strategies techniques and lineups
Agreed, I grew up playing this era of sports games and the amount I learned about the sports from them probably shaped a lot about my love for them now. I guess todays kids can just look it up on a phone or something, but it's definitely not the same as accidentally discovering something like this.
What game is this?
Old Yankee Stadium 🏟 was the site of the only perfect game in World Series history (Don Larsen, 10-8-56. New York Yankees 2, Brooklyn Dodgers 0).
Every sit at the top of Shea Stadium? It was freakin scary. The incline was so ridiculously steep, that when you stood up, it felt like you were going over the edge. And then every ten minutes, a low flying 737 soared over your head.
That's what I feel like at Anaheim. Had tickets at the very top deck, so it was scary.
was nuts-i remember when yanks won game 5, 2000, at shea, i almost took a header down the stairs-that was that balllparks last great moment
I felt like I was closer to the planes than the playing field
A's fans like it like that
That was my favorite part, as a child untill 2005 my favorite part of mets games was plane spotting...and still to this day at citi field!
The Polo Grounds, my favorite old stadium.
Ebbets Field
Watching this the Polo Grounds was a horrible baseball stadium. 2nd deck stuck out from the wall? What a terrible design
Yep.
@@brianreed1859 i think you have to take the name into consideration... it probably wasn't built for primarily baseball in mind
@@afuzzycreature8387 Please note that while NFL and AFL football was played here along with soccer and Gaelic football, polo was never played at this version of the Polo Grounds. It was built in 1911 and is actually PG III (Fire destroyed wooden PG II at the same location). The Giants decided to keep the name from PG 1.
Very cool. The field of play at the Polo Grounds was crazy. Upper deck hanging way over the field, bullpen on the field, really short down the lines, super long to center, etc etc
Actually a terrible baseball design
The old Tiger Stadium right field upper deck hung over the the lower deck as well. It had a flagpole in the field of play in centerfield. I BELIEVE cf was 440 feet from homeplate.
The PG was very neutral in terms of runs scored, but Extra Base hits and Home Runs were off the charts. Pitchers were affected nearly every at bat by the short distances down the line, hitters trying to pull everything they could, defensive challenges for even the best outfielders. The bullpens, the Foul Territory, the Center Field clubhouse.
What a ballpark. I need a time machine.
@@brianreed1859 Dusty Rhodes hit a cheap three run homer that just got over the 257' foot mark in right field to win Game 1 of the 1954 World Series for the Giants in a 5-2 victory in 10 innings.
This game is deeply underrated. Not too many other games I can think of that offered an expansion franchise.
The Buck O'Neill interview was the best
What game is this
@@hiphopheadgamer All-Star Baseball 2004 by Acclaim which was based on the 2003 season. It was available for the PS2, XBox, and GameCube. Unfortunately, Acclaim went belly up a few short years after this, and their 2005 (2004 season) showing was a bit weak. But 2003 and 2004 were really great, immersive games. If you have an old console, I would recommend picking this up on ebay or Amazon or a local used game store. Games like The Show will outshine it, and there are some weird physics with lefthanded batters, but it is still a fun game to dig into. I occasionally turn on my old xbox just to mess around with my old expansion franchise.
@@DCLocal84 oh ok I never played this game because I mostly MLB the show I might pick up this game to check it out sometime
@@robertgardiner3119 what interview
I always had a love for both Shea Stadium and Old Yankee Stadium cause it defined what New York baseball really was I still miss both of these stadiums Citi Field and New Yankee will never compare to these absolutely awesome stadiums
Those old stadiums needed to be replaced. Shea was not a significant stadium. Old Yankee Stadium was old. I love the new stadium and would love to see a game there one day
@@brianreed1859 yes they needed to be replaced but they shouldnt have just made some ugly boring cookie cutter stadiums that dont represent ny baseball. Love my yankees but the new yankee stadium is too corporate for me to have any attachment to it
💥father's daddy💥 every stadium is corporate. Thats how they make money, which in turn pays for our excellent players, which produces wins, which is what we want right?
@@danski6694Yankees haven’t won but one chip in the last 23 years. Only one in the new stadium
the bronx is never the same since the old yankee stadium got demolished
Funny, nobody mourned when Foxboro Stadium was demolished.
David Lafleche That's because it wasn't demolished till 2002, had it been demolished sometime after the 2003-2004 titles it would be a different story.
Corey Gibson no matter how long it took the new stadium should have been built on the exact location home plate area was hollowed ground
Then where would the Yankees play their games while it's being built?
If they use an American construction company it will take years. If they use a company from Japan Dubai or Israel it can be done in the off season and no games will be lost
As a Dodger fan I would’ve loved to have gone to Ebbets Field
You just did if you watched the video
Yeah. Ebbetts. Forbes, Baker Bowl, Sportsman's Park, Candlestick, Polo Grounds, Shibe, and the list goes on.
Those were real baseball parks, not sports "complexes" that we have today.
Maybe the closest of the new ones is Camden.
But the originals were married to the beginning of history. When the greatest of the greats walked their corridors and took their fields. That was a link from their era to the fan.
@@michaelgerhardt7130 nah i want a modern team with a stadium like that. The feel like your favorite team is right in your backyard. The stadium incredibly intimate but i understand its just not possible in today's game.
@Red Greene what was weird?
@Red Greene the difference is the pyramids still exist. These ball parks dont so the video is a pretty good representation of experiencing the ball park.
Very good virtual tour of the Polo Grounds. I'm especially glad that you included the six plaques on the wall of the clubhouse, behind the Eddie Grant monument. My only suggestion is to add pitchers sitting on the bullpen benches. Many young fans are unaware that the bullpens were in the outfield, in fair play! Thanks for the tour.
This was from all star baseball 2004
Native New Yorker here and it makes my blood boil to think of how rotten our city has been to these old gems. Not to mention it's checkered cabs, corner hotdog vendors, old tenements buildings, original elevated subway lines, streetcar routes, and the list goes on & on ......
eyestoenvy no above groud penn station😢 and i here they wanna take down the flushing towers too
NY keeps winning because it’s always evolving.
@@tswagg504 lol when was the last team a new york team won? yankees have a 10 year drought going
i hear that they took the wooden escalators out of macy's.
@@tswagg504 Always evolving? People are fleeing from New York. Your comment aged like a small business in NYC.
This is pretty cool. Id like to see something similar with other old parks like Comiskey, Tiger Stadium, Exhibition Stadium etc. Good stuff
I remember seeing The Beatles at Comisky.
Thanks for this virtual tour. I live within walking distance of where the Polo Grounds were located (and by extension old and current Yankee Stadiums as well, across the river in the Bronx). Every time I go near there I wonder what it must have been like to have that stadium in the neighborhood and two ball clubs right across from one another.
Additionally, while I know this was about baseball, you might have also mentioned that both the New York (football) Giants and the New York Titans (who became the Jets) at one time also played there, and that the Jets later shared Shea with the Mets. Furthermore, in 1975 Shea was home to the Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets, while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and before Giants Stadium was built in the Meadowlands.
Very appropriate to have music from "The Natural" playing in the background.
I would have preferred a tour of the OLD Yankee Stadium not the refit one
I second that
@@CWA61 Third
Yes, the old Yankee Stadium with the short fences down the foul lines was so much more interesting. The new Yankee Stadium(s) don't look much different than any other ballpark built after 1970.
What is this film taken from?
Jake Russell Jake had you been to yankee games? The “old” stadium was a dump!
They needed a new stadium
The Polo grounds is the most unique baseball stadium ever.
...and the worst.
01:57....."Current stars like Bernie Williams"......That made me giggle
Funny thing about that...I believe this game was actually called All Star Baseball 2004 Featuring Derek Jeter
Man... to see Murderer’s Row play at Polo Grounds. A dream for any baseball fan.
Very cool. You should add Yankee Stadium through 1973. The first version was essentially torn down and rebuilt in 1974 and 1975, when the Yankees call Shea Stadium home.
Thank you, Peter! That's what I've been saying for years! The "renovated" version that opened in 1976 was much different.
Old Yankee Stadium was NOT torn down. It was gutted and renovated.
@@careyconley4690 "Gutted" is a good word for what happened.
The monuments use to be in play...and free to look at. You were able to do so when you left via the outfield.
I love taking my son to Ebbets, every time we go it's all he talks about for days after.
I loved the old scoreboard at Shea stadium with the lighted Mets (sometimes Yankee ) logo.
Id still buy this game loved the unlockable teams
I was fortunate to see games at all four of these venues. I saw the Dodgers play the Pirates and the Cardinals at Ebbets Field in 1957, the final season. I saw the Giants play the Phillies and the Cubs at the Polo Grounds in 1957, and then the Mets play the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 and also saw the Gotham Bowl football game between Utah and Nebraska. I saw dozens of games at the original, pre-remodeled Yankee Stadium in the 1960's, as well as a few Giants football games. And, I saw the Mets and Jets play at Shea Stadium.
The Polo Grounds were not so wonderful like the "after-the-fact" lovers of classic parks think today. The park smelled awful; the bathroom toilets leaked; there was no hot water in the sinks; the seats were old and uncomfortable--the type that gave you saddle sores; and as a kid, each row was not high enough up from the row in front to see over the fan sitting in front of you.
Shea Stadium was boring but had much better convenience, but the airport noise was terrible. When Tom Terrific was pitching, it was always worth the price of a ticket.
Yankee Stadium was like a religious experience until Steinbrenner mistakenly exorcised the ghosts of Yankees Past. Parking was better there than at the other parks.
Ebbets Field was the one that I remember most fondly, even though I was only 6 years old when I went there. The best way I can describe it is to imagine being in the heart of the industrial part of your city with all the industrial buildings on the street fronts. Then, you walk through the door of one of these industrial factories, and instead of a lobby, you see this incredibly green ballpark that makes you feel like you have arrived in Oz. Drab dark red and brown gave way to vibrant colors. No ballpark since has been able to approach the coziness of that park. You felt like you were at a large family banquet rather than an expansive stadium.
@wi54725 I never went to see the baseball Giants play at the Polo Grounds though I did watch them play there on TV during the 1950s. But I did go to the Polo Grounds once in 1962 and twice in 1963 for baseball. I don't remember any uncomfortable seats in 1962 or 1963 (I sat in the upper deck behind home plate). Nor do I recall any bad smells at the Polo Grounds then.
I can't speak to 1957 since I wasn't there. But reportedly the Dodgers' and Giants' owners knew as early as 1954 that they were headed west. If so, then for obvious reasons they couldn't say anything about moving west until at least September/October 1957. So very likely the Giants had little incentive to keep the Polo Grounds in decent repair. Nor apparently did the AFL Titans in 1960 - 1962 (before they were the Jets). Very simply the New York Titans in those days were on a very tight budget.
I do recall though that the Mets worked hard to upgrade the Polo Grounds with e.g. fresh paint and a new scoreboard in center field. I thought the Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963 was as good a place as Yankee Stadium (in 1961) to watch games. Of course during games you could always smell lots of cigar smoke at the Polo Grounds. But in 1962 and 1963 during games that was normal at all major sports arenas.
Steinbrenner had nothing to do with the renovation of old Yankee Stadium.
I saw my first game ever at the Polo Grounds in April of 1962. The Mets beat the Phillies for their first ever win at home. I went to dozens of games there during the 1962 and 1963 seasons. The place was decrepit despite the money spent on sprucing it up. The upgrades to the Polo Grounds were mostly cosmetic. The field and scoreboard were replaced and the joint got a coat of paint. Seating was not comfortable. The slope angle was so low that kids always had to sit in front of adults. Box seats at field level were delineated by metal chains. The bathrooms were ancient, with wet floors and a seriously foul order that was attached to the walls. Outside, the parking was not paved; it was gravel. Shea was a huge improvement, but it was limited by the engineering skills and technology of the day. Improvements were constantly made over the years. But one thing could never be changed: Shea was too tall and steep. The upper deck was quite far from the field. Walking up to your seat would leave you breathless and craving oxygen. Walking back down gave you the feeling you were about to fall 3 levels onto the field. As for Citi Field, I didn't care for it much when it opened or for the next few years. Very little indicated it was the home of the Mets. That's changed tremendously. I now feel very comfortable and very much at home at Citi Field.
The narrator for Yankee and Shea stadium is the stadium PA announcer for the Texas Rangers, Chuck Morgan.
Didn't realize the music was added by you until I read the description. It fit perfectly
The Natural is probably the best baseball movie ever made. Also they play that music at Globe Life Park when one of the Rangers hits a home run.
I had this game as a kid I always loved this feature. Forgot about it until now
When I was a little Dodgers fan in Brooklyn, my father and my uncle took me to visit the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium as well as our home stadium, Ebbets. The differences were very odd. But at Ebbets Field, you could hear the players yelling.
Shea was the 4th oldest behind wrigley, dodger stadium and Fenway park
Kev R It said National League, so it was the 3rd oldest.
"there used to be a ballpark right here"
great stuff...thanks for posting, i've always felt nostalgic about old ballparks...i suppose it's got something to do with looking back at one's past when we were all younger and alive and living in the times...
Very cool. My stepdad grew up in Brooklyn and talked about meeting Mrs. O’Malley when he was 12, through a friend, and she gave him free tickets to the game. Apparently she loved to do that. He said the fans were crazy, people would dress up in costumes, play instruments, but most of all they were really loud😁
Like the planes taking off behind Shea Stadium. Nice touch.
Had to be frustrating playing outfield at Polo Grounds
Old Yankee Stadium was actually renovated in 1974-1975, not 1976. By early 1976 it was mostly done, and the Yankees christened the newly renovated stadium in April 1976 with a win, and later cruised to the division title that year and then won the American League pennant.
Very informative, thank you for the efforts. As a person who is also a fan of cricket I was interested to hear the details of the slope on the Polo Grounds. The famous Lords cricket Ground, the home of cricket, in suburban London had a very similar slope until recent times.
I'm fortunate enough to say I have had a detailed tours of both the Oval and the Yankee Stadium depicted here.
This virtual reality tour of these classic New York ballparks is very cool! I can see how pull hitters would have loved to play at the Polo Grounds with the short left and right field porches.
This was the greatest baseball game ever. LOVED THE MANAGER MODE !!
I love how Marty and Thom Brennaman are calling this. Go Reds!
Polo Grounds...loved that park but was never there in person! I was stuck at Connie Mack in Phila. Well done guys!
If there was ever a time machine for sports Id love to sit in Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, and Old Comiskey Park and watch a game back then.
Cute idea for the old "Chesterfield" sign at the Polo Grounds.
I was fortunate to have experienced the 'Old" Yankee stadium from a player's perspective during a tryout in 1971. Came close, but didn't get signed. I tattooed "iron mike'though, almost hitting one out to left field! I vividly remember a sign in the Yankee locker room, it read; "What you see here, what you hear here, stays here!"
97RAVINEAVE He most certainly did. Sign was up for years. Had a childhood friend who was a batboy during the 66 season and he told me it was up then. Bouton was just financially frustrated when he wrote “Ball Four” while a member of the Astro’s during the 1970 Pennant race. I don’t think he ever made more than $20K for any season. He only made $10K during his 20 win season!
I had this game, the plane taking off during Shea was a great touch.
I wish Shea Stadium was not destroyed. We did not go to many games but whenever we went, we had fun regardless if the Mets won or not.
The big Shea, I miss it also.
I only went to Shea once(rare Yankee fan that doesn't hate the Mets) happened to be Fleet Week, my friend noticed the sailors in the LaGuardia flight path seats and said "Look the upper deck is covered with Seamen.
Even though I'm a yankees fan..my uncle had season tickets front row behind 3b. I loved going. U couldnt give Mets tickets away in those days. Those upper deck bleachers were so steep
this is the most underrated baseball game of all time
Thanks for the upload. One thing that made baseball fascinating to me was the irregularities of each field. A true home field advantage. As baseball moves forward we see fewer and fewer of these idiosyncratic layouts.
"Retro Dodger Stadium."
What they didn't get permission to call it Ebbets?
because before the Los Angeles Dodgers went to Los Angeles they were the Brooklyn Dodgers
why
Jonathan5599 totally answers the question. you're so smart!
Johnathan slow...
@@Jonathan5599 Brooklyn Dodgers were in ebbetts.
The Yankee stadium one made me choke up
280 ft from home plate? I can hit a ball over that!
No. You can't.
@@TheBatugan77 if you can't hit a ball 280 feet you need to play tennis or something.
@@hudsonhawk0016 I don't think hitting that far is the problem. The problem is, I'm guessing most people wouldn't be able to make contact with a 95 mph pitch, or a hard 12 to 6 curveball
@@moosehead84 I never had a problem hitting a fastball. The big rainbow curves got me every time.
hudsonhawk 001 just sit on them, or go to the cages and go to the slowest speed. Hitting a curve is tough if you aren’t sitting on it.
As a Yankees fan, we usually go into the rightfield stands. The Yankees have had a history of left handed home run hitters. My favorite memories were bat day at the stadium from 1969 to 1973.
I can't believe no mention was made to the historic game at Yankee Stadium in 1961 when Roger Maris hit his 61st. homer of that season.
Nice shot of plane leaving nearby LaGuardia Airport at about 3:30 to add realism to Shea.
Nice catch!
Death valley In left center at Yankee stadium was 430 feet in the 70s. They should have left it alone.
The Ebbets Field lights while the light towers seem about right look a bit off in terms of how the bulbs looked. The virtual Polo Grounds tour is the 1950s era Polo Grounds, minus the center field scoreboard added for 1962-63 when the Mets played there.
The escalators to the top at Shea were scary as hell.
Does anyone feel the nostalgia. The music too reminds u of what is was like back then. I was lucky enough to be able to see both shea stadium and the old yankee stadium. As a cubs fan, fingers crossed that wrigley field manages to stay around for another 100 years!
In the old Stadium pre-1974 the monuments and flag pole where on the field! The fence was the wall the plaques are seen on in this video! That's a long ways away!
gosh wonder what it was like as a fan attending these historic ballparks...glad last year 2019 i was able to attend globe life park...too bad dodgers were not playing but oh well had to check out the ballpark
All Star Baseball 2004 was awesome. With statcast, we could now make the real life A+ to D- player ratings
I never visited these ballparks in person but after seeing this video, I felt like I just did.
I miss the old Yankee Stadium.
More than anything I want Ebbets field in MLB the show.
Deadpool I know! Ebbets Field is barely available in MLB games.
Yes
Ebbets Field looked like a great place.
Miss Chuck Morgan being the stadium announcer in baseball video games! Go Rangers!
Kolby Weber I thought that was him! One of the greatest announcers in the history of the game. Go Rangers!
Don't you mean Ms.?
@@howie9751 You mean Mr, don't you? A Miss is a wom- an, not a man.
@@kevinmiller1985 Talk to Kolby Weber.
Ebbets Field: Perhaps for legal reasons (which I cannot imagine being an obstacle), the outfield advertising as shown does not reflect the ones which were there. Above the scoreboard was the Schaefer Beer sign, where we read Koehlert, and below, where it reads, Mike Skinner, it read "Abe Stark" (tailor); "Hit this Sign, Win Free Suit." The "h" or the "e" in Schaefer would light, respectively, indicating hit or error. Omitted from mention is the unique "enclosure," where the black centerfield wall came to a 45 degree angle with the rightfield wall.
Actually the Abe Stark sign said "Hit sign win suit". But your right. They should of left the original advertising.
@@Soxruleyanksdrool What was I thinking? I wasn't. There were two Abe Stark signs, and the first was a lot easier to hit than the second, cf. “The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers,” Bob McGee (2005, Rutgers University Press). Abe Stark had taken over the billboard space in Ebbets Field once occupied by Bull Durham tobacco (penultimate right). This was a lager sign than would later appear and measured about 3 feet by 30 feet. It was in 1931 that Abe Stark's name first appeared directly under the Ebbets Field scoreboard in right-center field, reading: “Hit Sign, Win Suit. Abe Stark. 1514 Pitkin Ave. Brooklyn's Leading Clothier.”
Well you obviously know morw than me on this sibject. Sorry if my post seemes condescending. It was not my intention.
@@Soxruleyanksdrool I didn't read anything negative in your response. I missed writing what I'd meant to and happy someone cared enough to respond. PS. As a former Dodger fan, later Reds, fan, in the American League, I have always loved the Red Sox.
I wish they had recreated this iconic stadiums
The scoreboard at the Polo Grounds used to say ABC as in Always Buy Chesterfield a hit, while the Giants played there and Rheingold, The Dry Beer when the Mets played there, yet another one of those political corrections that eliminated quite a lot of history there. Chesterfield were a cigarette brand and Rheingold was a beer, so to replace these with chalk is really unhistoric and misleading! Also, the Yankees won one World Series and lost another while playing the Giants at the Polo Grounds before Yankee Stadium was built. The left centerfield gap at Yankee Stadium had its fence brought in twice (once in 1985 and finally in 1988), the first time in order to allow a walk way for fans to see the Monument Park up close and the second to please slugger Jack Clark, and it used to be 430 ft. to left center and 417 ft. to center from 1976-84 and 411 and 410 respectively from 1985-87 (the only instances where center field was less than a power alley in MLB)! Before that major remodel, it used to be sort of a triangle oval off centered to the left side, originally having sharp angles because of the old wooden bleachers between 1923 and 1937 (I suppose that they didn't want the symmetry of the Polo Grounds after moving out, because they could have had that by building it in a different shape in relation to the property size)?
Who played Take Me Out To The Ballgame for it sounded like Eddie Layton, Paul Cartier, or Ed Alstrom on the Hammond Elegante (or maybe even the older Collonade) at Yankee Stadium?
Zach LaFleur You can't really advertise beer and cigarettes in a E rated game
Zach LaFleur who was jack Clark
Major Leaguer from 1975-92. Pertinent to this video, one of his teams was the Yankees in 1988. .267 career batting average, 340 home runs.
I doubt that the fence was moved in just for him if so then they moved it in for every other visiting slugger
The renovations to the original Yankee Stadium were in 1974 and 1975, not 1976. The second edition of Yankee Stadium *opened* in 1976. The Yankees played in the Mets’ Shea Stadium in 1974 and1975 while the original Stadium was being renovated.
Yankee Stadium was renovated in 1974+1975 when the Yankees played two seasons at Shea Stadium. The Stadium was re-opened for the 1976 season ... NOT RENOVATED in 1976.... name the famous player who played two seasons for the Yankees but did not play a single game as a Yankee in Yankee Stadium?
Answer: Bobby Bonds
Wow this is one of the best videos ever
Me encantó este vídeo! Los créditos también me fascinaron! Así todo como vintage, que heavy
Actually when they won their first world series in 1923 it was actually the first championship out of 27. They won 27 total world series championships and that is the most ever by any team and then right behind them was the St. Louis Cardinals
Graciela Marroquin apparently this tour is from a video game that was released in 2004, 5 years before their last championship. It confused me at first as well.
awesome video
Makes me want to cry
i would have loved to see a game at the Polo Grounds. If the outfielders don't cut off a gap'er, it could be an inside the park home run. Very exciting
Can u imagine POLO GROUNDS today.279 down the lines. Wow
The credits were just as entertaining as the old fields
id give anything to be able to travel back in time to catch a game at the polo grounds and ebbets field.
Great job guys. amazing video.
It would have been cool if they would have referenced the Beatles at Shea Stadium ... the first instance of such a large, Stadium concert!
We need a better version of polo grounds
We do, every other stadium in the country is better than the Polo Grounds
@@brianreed1859are you a dodgers fan or something? I see you in every comment chain here and all you do is talk mad shit about a ballpark that was demolished 60 years ago. Was your grandma murdered there or something? I can understand not liking it but hating it as much as you do to the point that you comment like 10 times about it borders on a mental issue.
Very interesting. Loved the tour of the Polo Grounds. Was there ever a more unusual and crazy playing field dimension than that? Bullpens in fair territory?
GOD I wish that this franchise could of kept going, just imagine what it would be on PS3/PS4 or Xbox One. I miss some of these retro stadiums. All Star Baseball was a great game, but the graphics need improvement. I LOVED the Expansion Mode, Modern games need this feature.
I didn't really like the gameplay in this game but the stadium selection was way ahead of its time. The Show still doesn't have classic stadiums like this or MVP Baseball had so I still stick to older baseball games. Stadiums make the game!
Anybody catch the incorrect placement of the LF upper deck in Yankee stadium?
These old early to mid 2000s era baseball games were the best though. Really felt like you were playing baseball. MLB The Show made a lot of improvements to the front end, the broadcast, the graphics, but the gameplay took a step back it has never recovered from.
I have to disagree
hockeyman001 I have to disagree as well. I think MLB the show is actually the most realistic gameplay. Hitting and pitching is spot on to real life. The PS2 games were fun but not as realistic as the show.
You're right. The upper deck is much too close to the field, and the spacing between the decks is off.
The Polo Grounds was also the site if the 1923 Dempsey-Firpo fight.
Took me a while to figure out the last narrator from the Polo Grounds section was Cal Ripken, I knew I recognized the voice of an ex-player turned sometimes TV analyst. They should have listed the narrators in the credits, unless I missed it. I recognized Thom Brennaman on Ebbets Field as well.
Fenway Park - "there still is a ballpark here".
This is about old baseball parks. You're welcome.
Joe Vignolo
I agree, It was a egregious error not to say that Fenway is one of the oldest stadiums in baseball. I believe the Yankees were known as the Highlanders, when Fenway opened.
He made the provision that Shea was the (then) third oldest in the National League behind Wrigley and Dodger Stadium.
@@woodencoasterfan Yes, bu t they played @ Hilltop Park before moving into the Polo Grounds & eventually Old Ya nkee Stadium.
Great job here...
Nice job, but I would have like to seen time devoted to the original Yankee Stadium as well. An animated tour was deployed on UA-cam a few years ago by a guy named Rick Kaplan and it was fantastic!
The giant Chesterfield cigarette in centerfield of the Polo Grounds has been changed to a piece of chalk.
For the steel city to get rid of the Forbes Field was a joke, the Pirates stayed in Pittsburgh anyways. The other NYC teams went out west.
Beautiful!
2:28 No one’s gonna talk about the sign on the wall that says Adcock?
Death Valley was 457 in 1973.
Dead Center 463.
The polo grounds is just about the most bizarre baseball field I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how any team can play there on a regular basis since the dimensions and features were so odd for a baseball stadium.
You're right. It had the most ridiculous dimensions of any stadium ever built. Pop fly homeruns down little league foul lines. 450 Foot, tape measure outs. Enough room in foul territory to play a second game. Add to that the fact that by all accounts, the Polo Grounds was an absolute DUMP at the end of its life. Cats, rats, and pigeons ruled the place. One sports writer of the time described it as "pigeon befouled." Another referred to it as "that grimy old slum on the Harlem River." On Wikipedia, when it talks of the Mets having to play there while Shea was being built, it describes it as "hardly the last word in 20th Century stadia."
27 championships for the Yankees
Alex Watterson yeah not like the video was recorded in 2004 ya know before their 26th...
26 in old Yankee Stadium 1 in the new Yankee Stadium
Before 2009
I love how it was posted in 2015 yet said A new Yankee stadium had been in thpught
Kool Kids Well clearly the game came out before 2009.
Kool Kids the game is from 2004