Meet the Mets

It’s 1884, you’re having a picnic in Central Park, and you realize the New York Mets are playing a home game that afternoon.. So you leave Central Park, walk up a few blocks on Fifth Avenue.and buy a ticket to the Polo Grounds for a great game of Base Ball.

Huh? Fifth Avenue? New York Mets? 1883? I thought they started in the Polo Grounds on 155th Street in 1962.

The Mets I am referring to are the New York Metropolitans and the Base Ball Stadium (baseball was two words in the 19th Century) is now known as Polo Grounds I, which was between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets.

The New York Metropolitans of the American Association and the New York Giants of the National League (who started out as the Gothams in 1883) both played there between 1880 and 1888. Unfortunately, the dual arrangement did not work out and the Metropolitans left in 1886 to play at the St. George Cricket Ground in Staten Island. They eventually disbanded in 1887. The Giants left in 1889 (after winning the championship in 1888) because the City of New York was expanding the city grid, needed to cut through the Park to make 111th Street and would not take no for an answer.

The Giants eventually found their way to the more recognizable location of the Polo Grounds near 155th Street, played there until 1956, and moved to San Francisco. The present day New York Mets played there in 1962 and 1963, moving into Shea Stadium in 1964. With no major league tenant for the old ballpark, it was demolished in 1964.

I unfortunately never got to see a game at the Polo Grounds, but I do remember being sad as I drove past the demolition on the Harlem River Drive.

Opening Day 1888 at Polo Grounds I from Wikimedia