Brooklyn and Ballparks - Continued

Reflecting some more on Walter O'Malley's move of the Dodgers to Los Angeles makes me wonder if the Brooklyn owner may have been ahead of his time, ahead in an unhelpful way - looking for a new ballpark for a sitting team. What I mean by that is building a new ballpark for a team that was staying in the same city.

The first two decades of the twentieth century marked the beginning of the concrete and steel era of ballparks where club owners could replace the inadequate and dangerous wooden ballparks with new larger structures that were not at such great risk of fire. Of the 16 major league teams in existence between 1900-1920 all but a handful built new parks during that period or became tenants in one - the Yankees leasing of the Polo Grounds from the Giants is an example of the latter.

With the exception of Yankee Stadium (early 1920's) and possibly Cleveland, the only new ballparks built between 1920 and 1955 (let's say) were facilities for teams that had moved. Of the Dodgers direct competitors in the National League, the only club playing in a new ballpark were the Braves after their move to Milwaukee. That, of course, for O'Malley was the case in point, a team that hadn't offered much competition, moving and becoming an instant competitor with record setting attendance. Looking at the overall situation, however, it seems that little was being done in terms of building new ballparks for existing teams. Even after 1955, it is almost 15 years before the new stadiums are built in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - all of them unattractive and relatively short lived.

Given the difficulties building a new ballpark almost any place, consider the difficulties O'Malley had building Dodger Stadium as an example, makes me wonder if combining those challenges with an idea that was probably out of fashion was just too much to overcome. After reading "Forever Blue" and thinking about it, my feeling is that it is simplistic to accept the evil image of O'Malley, especially the one created in the media. It was his misfortune to offend a number of articulate and visible writers. Certainly there is enough blame to go around for what still must be considered the tragedy of the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. However, it is also, I think a mistake to conclude O'Malley had no choice, as mentioned in the earlier post the success of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field shows that it can be done even without much parking.

It is somewhat ironic to be thinking about all of this at the same time that two new stadiums have opened in New York City. I have been to Citi Field once and will be there again this week, I like it and the Mets certainly needed a new ballpark. It looks like I will be going to the new Yankee Stadium a few times this year, from what I can see of it on television, it looks like they tried to make it exactly like the old one, but much more fan friendly. If so that would make it the only one of the new generation of stadiums where the new stadium is so similar to its immediate predecessor.

That similarity may be part of the reason that a New York Times columnist, Harvey Araton or Ira Berkow - I think, wrote a column surveying fans at Fenway Park (above left) about how they felt about their 1912 vintage park. Almost to a person they liked things as they were and had no desire for a new ballpark leading the writer to question the wisdom of building the new Yankee stadium. It's a fair question when the new park is so much of a replica of the old one. I also have to say, however, that attending a game at Fenway Park has its challenges.

Because Paul and Sarah live in the Boston area, I have been there many times, probably 15-20 and once the novelty has worn off, it is certainly not the most fan friendly venue. I am not a big patron of concessions at ballparks, but I do need to get out of my seat once and while - in a lot of locations, to do that for any basic human need, means missing an inning even with how long it takes to play an inning today especially in the American League. I am going to stop here because if I don't, I will go on to all the other things I don't like about the modern game which even with its faults is still my favorite.