Metropolitan Park is a former

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 ...

ground located in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York. The ground was the part-time home to the

New York Metropolitans The Metropolitan Club (New York Metropolitans or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887. (The ''New York Metropolitan Baseball Club'' was the name chosen in 1961 for the New York ...

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

in 1884. The wooden ballpark was built a few blocks east and south from their first home, the original

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

, on a piece of land bounded by 109th Street (north), the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...

(east), 107th Street (south), and First Avenue (west). It was built a block east and north of the site of the Red House hotel and grounds, which had hosted trotting, cricket and baseball from 1833 until its demise in about 1867. The park had been built on a former dumping ground, a fact which contributed to its quick demise. It also suffered from the various swamp-related unpleasantries, such as mosquitoes, which had led to the shutdown of the Red House grounds. The Mets played their first game at Metropolitan Park on May 13, 1884, amid a degree of publicity. However, the park proved unsatisfactory, and was soon labeled "The Dump" by players and other observers (especially sports reporters working for the ''

Brooklyn Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

''). The Mets returned to the Polo Grounds for games starting on July 17, 1884, except when the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

were playing at home. The final Mets game played at Metropolitan Park was on August 23, 1884. The Mets then returned to their original Polo Grounds venue, in time to win the American Association pennant. The park continued to be used for occasional amateur baseball and football for a year or two after the Mets abandoned it. The block is now occupied by a complex of residential, commercial and school buildings.

External links

SABR writeup on Polo Grounds, with info about Metropolitan ParkSABR writeup on Metropolitan Park, with a modern rough sketch of the layoutArticle about the Red House grounds and related topicsArticle about the Red House grounds and Metropolitan Park

References

Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct sports venues in Manhattan Former sports venues in New York City Demolished sports venues in New York (state) Baseball venues in New York City {{NYC-sport-stub