When shortstop Don Zimmer’s throw settled into first baseman Gil Hodges’s glove to seal a 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates 60 years ago this month, the Dodgers had played their final game in Brooklyn. With the Dodgers gone from Brooklyn, so was professional baseball at their longtime ballpark, Ebbets Field.
Before long, Ebbets Field was gone, too, one in a series of ballparks that nurtured major league baseball in New York City before succumbing to the wrecking ball.
Five New York ballparks built in baseball’s “modern” era, which began early in the 20th century — Hilltop Park (1903-12), the Polo Grounds (1911-63), Ebbets Field (1913-57), Yankee Stadium (1923-2008) and Shea Stadium (1964-2008) — seeded much of the game’s history before being torn down.