Hilltop Park

Hilltop Park was the nickname of a baseball park that stood in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. It was the home of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball club from 1903-1912 when they were known as the "Highlanders". It was also the temporary home of the New York Giants during a two-month period in 1911 while the Polo Grounds was being rebuilt after a fire.

The ballpark's formal name (as painted on its exterior walls) was American League Park. Because the park was located on The Hilltop of Manhattan Island, it came to be known as Hilltop Park, and its team was often called the New York Highlanders as well as the Americans or the Yankees. (They were called the "Americans" because they were New York's American League team; analogously the National League New York Giants were quite often called the "New York Nationals.") The nickname "Yankees" was being used as early as 1904, but early on they were known mostly as "Highlanders". This "Highland" connection contrasted with their intra-city rivals, the Giants, whose Polo Grounds was just a few blocks away, in the bottomland under Coogan's Bluff.

Hilltop Park sat on the block bounded by Broadway, 165th Street, Fort Washington Avenue and 168th Street. The structure consisted of a covered grandstand stretching from first base to third base and uncovered bleacher sections down the right and left field lines. The bleachers were covered in 1911, and additional bleachers were built in 1912 in center field. Originally built in just six weeks, the park sat 16,000, with standing room for an additional 10,000 or so.

The field was initially huge by modern standards — 365 ft (111 m). to left field, 542 ft (165 m). to center field and 400 ft (120 m). to right field. An inner fence was soon constructed to create more realistic action (see Baseball Almanac link). Both the park and the nickname "Highlanders" were abandoned when the American Leaguers left, at the beginning of the 1913 season, to rent the Polo Grounds from the Giants. The Polo Grounds had a far larger seating capacity, and by that time was made of concrete due to the 1911 fire. Hilltop Park was demolished in 1914.