Eastern Park was a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the Brownsville neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the 1890s. It was bounded by

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...

—later renamed Pitkin Avenue when Eastern Parkway was diverted—to the north (home plate); the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

Bay Ridge Branch The Bay Ridge Branch is a rail line owned by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway in New York City. It is the longest freight-only line of the LIRR, connecting the Montauk Branch and CSX Transporta ...

and Vesta Avenue (later renamed Van Sinderen Avenue) to the east (left field); Sutter Avenue to the south (center field); and Powell Street to the west (right field). The ballpark held 12,000 people. It was originally the home of the

Brooklyn Ward's Wonders The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders were a baseball team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76–56 record, finishing in second ...

of the

Players' League The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League (PL), was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. The PL was formed by the Brotherhood of Prof ...

in 1890. After the one-year Players' League experiment, the park became the part-time home of the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

in 1891 and then full-time during 1892–1897, between their stints at the two versions of Washington Park. Some sources erroneously say that it is here that the nickname "Trolley Dodgers", later shortened to "Dodgers", first arose, due to the need for fans to cross various trolley lines to reach the ballpark. Although the Dodgers played at Eastern Park in 1895 when the name "Trolley Dodgers" was first used, the name was based on the dangers of trolleys in Brooklyn, generally, and not trolley lines that needed to be crossed to get to the game. There were no trolley lines near Eastern Park at the time. Eastern Park was considered difficult to reach, and although the team survived there for seven seasons, the venture there was a failure. When

Charlie Ebbets Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. (October 29, 1859 – April 18, 1925) was an American sports executive who served as co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1897 to 1902 before becoming majority owner of the team, doing so until his death in 1925. He ...

acquired the Dodgers, he moved the team back, to the second version of Washington Park, which was both closer to the city center and offered a lower rent. The park also hosted numerous college and amateur football games during its heyday, notably the

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

–

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

game of 1890. There was also a track installed, and both bicycling and running races were held from time to time. It was also the home venue of the short-lived Brooklyn Bridegrooms Soccer Team in 1894. This was a spin-off of the Baseball Franchise that took part in an ill-fated attempt by six baseball franchises to fill their stadiums in the off season by running a soccer league. Brooklyn were top of the league when the uncompleted season was cancelled and play never resumed.

Site Today

The old ballpark site is now home to a mix of commercial and light industrial tenants including Gershow Recycling scrap yard.

References

External links

A website with history and diagrams of Eastern ParkEbbets-Field.com
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