BrooklynBallParks.com

Nowhere has the now National game of Base Ball, taken firmer hold
than in Brooklyn, and nowhere are there better players.


-- Brooklyn Eagle, May 10, 1860

If you read the Mills Report of 1907, you might be tempted to believe that baseball history had something to do with Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, in upstate New York. That whitewash aside, baseball has very complex roots. The first draft of the modern game was codified by Alexander Cartwright and others of the Knickerbocker Club in New York, and aggressively promoted by Brooklyn's Henry Chadwick. He gave us the box score, the whole notion of baseball statistics, and maybe the best press coverage the game ever had.

Largely as a result of Chadwick's influence, Brooklyn became one of the cradles of organized baseball. The borough saw teams in five different major leagues and in the Negro Leagues, with nicknames ranging from the Gladiators to the Royal Giants to the Hartfords to the Bridegrooms to the Mutuals. So we went in search of Brooklyn's professional baseball history, past and (amazingly) present. This is what we have found.

What's New?

The Parks

The Teams

Our Travels

Our Favorite Games

And...

If you'd like to read our minds a little, and see credit where it's due, please check our research notes and guest essays.

To come: a reading list, all those unlinked pages above, a CafePress shop for the truly dedicated, and more photos of more dead ballparks.



BrooklynBallParks.com is brought to you by
Andrew Ross (wonders@brooklynballparks.com)
and David Dyte (tiptops@brooklynballparks.com).
Please contact us with any corrections, additions, or requests.