With the nation on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, many fans are turning to MLB® The Show™ 20 to satisfy their baseball craving. Like the previous installments in the series, the most recent version of The Show™ gives users the option to play in historic ballparks from generations past.
These parks may no longer be in existence, but employing them as a backdrop in The Show™ transports the gamer to bygone eras of baseball bliss. These parks not only possessed quirky features and alluring architecture; they also had eventful histories worth exploring.
Researching the six classic ballparks featured in MLB® The Show™ 20 has given me profound insight into early 20th-century baseball and how the game has evolved in the ensuing decades.
In order to share that knowledge, I have provided the historical background and descriptions of each those parks: the Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Sportsman’s Park, Crosley Field, Forbes Field, and Griffith Stadium.
MLB Teams that played at the Polo Grounds
- New York Giants (1891-1957)
- New York Yankees (1913-1922)
- New York Mets (1962-1963)
Park History
The name “Polo Grounds” was applied to several stadiums in Manhattan. As you might have guessed, the first park to have this moniker did, in fact, host polo matches. But the term “Polo Grounds” usually refers to the final park to bear the name, which was originally built in 1890 and reconstructed in 1911.
The fire that destroyed most of the third iteration of the Polo Grounds in 1911 gave the Giants an opportunity to build something even grander in its place. Whereas the old Polo Grounds had been a wooden ballpark, the new version was inspired by the wave of concrete and steel parks that had recently opened, including Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
Distinguishing Features
The rebuilt stadium included visually appealing elements like an Italian marble facade, a decorative frieze on the facade of the upper deck, and the coat of arms of every National League team on the roof.
For much of its history, flashy advertisements for products like Coca Cola, Gem Razors, and Burma-Shave were plastered on the park’s outfield walls. That changed in 1948 when the Chesterfield cigarette company paid $250,000 for the rights to broadcast Giants games on radio and television. Chesterfield, which had placed a massive ad atop the center field clubhouse wall, demanded that all other outfield advertising be removed.
The Chesterfield promotion consisted of a three-dimensional cigarette with its smoke encircling the words “A Hit!” Beneath the cigarette was a reminder to “ALWAYS BUY CHESTERFIELD;” the “H” or “E” in the brand name would light up any time there was a hit or error. If the ad looks familiar to gamers, it’s because MLB® The Show™ has its own version that reminds fans to “ALWAYS BUY THE SHOW.”
Thanks to its distinctive but irregular horseshoe shape, the Polo Grounds also had irregular dimensions: hitters could easily pop home runs to left field (279 ft) or right field (258 ft), but dead center was almost unreachable at 483 feet. One of the only hitters who was unfazed by the dimensions was Babe Ruth, who hit 85 career home runs at the park.
End of an Era
Declining attendance figures in the 1950s led Giants ownership to seek a new ballpark for the club. The Giants played their final game at the Polo Grounds in 1957 and moved west to San Francisco for the start of the 1958 season.
Major League Baseball would return to the Polo Grounds when an expansion franchise known as the New York Mets was created in 1962. The Mets played their first two seasons at the venue before moving to a more permanent home, Shea Stadium, in 1964.
Several of the most iconic plays in baseball history took place at the Polo Grounds, including Fred Merkle’s baserunning “boner” in 1908, “The Catch” by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series and Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Round the World” to win the National League pennant in 1951.
Want to learn more about other classic ballparks in The Show™ ? Click these links below to explore!!
