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June 1, 2008
In Ebbets Field, regret marks a lost stadium
River Ave. Blues wonders if current Yankees fans will wax nostalgic about the Yankee Stadium in the future, like Dodgers fans have mourned Ebbets Field for the past 48 years. The difference is that the new Yankee Stadium already upset its surroundings, (not that the Dodgers new digs in LA didn't), but hopefully the nostalgia won't come back in another 48 years to be used for nefarious purposes.
A few weeks ago, I finished reading Bob McGee’s The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field And The Story Of The Brooklyn Dodgers. As Brooklyn Dodger histories go, it’s an appropriate companion piece to Michael Shapiro’s The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together.In one book — McGee’s — O’Malley is the clear villain in moving the Dodgers; in the other, O’Malley tried to keep the team in New York, but Robert Moses was the man responsible for pushing them out of town. O’Malley wanted to build a new stadium near the current Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn, but Moses didn’t want to use his Title I powers to build a baseball stadium. While McGee villianizes O’Malley and Shapiro gives him something of a pass, the truth is, of course, in the middle. Both men were responsible for the Dodgers’ flight to Los Angeles.
Posted by amy at June 1, 2008 8:36 AM