Polo Grounds - Polo Grounds IV

Polo Grounds IV

On Friday, April 14, 1911, a fire of unknown origin swept through the horseshoe of the grandstand portion of Polo Grounds III, consuming the wood and leaving only the steel uprights in place. The gaps between some sections of the stands saved a good portion of the outfield seating, as well as the clubhouse, from destruction. Giants owner John T. Brush decided to rent Hilltop Park from the Yankees while rebuilding the Polo Grounds with concrete and steel.

The stadium's reconstruction was sufficiently far along to allow the Polo Grounds to re-open on June 28, 1911, the date from which later baseball guides dated the structure, now sometimes retronamed as "Polo Grounds IV". The new structure was the ninth concrete-and-steel stadium in the majors, and fourth in the National League. The new seating areas were rebuilt during the season while the games went on. The new structure stretched in roughly the same semicircle as before from the left field corner around home plate to the right field corner, and was also extended into deep right-center field. The surviving bleachers were retained pretty much as they were, with gaps remaining between the bleachers and the new fireproof construction.

The Giants rose from the ashes along with their ballpark, winning the National League pennant in 1911 (as they also would in 1912 and 1913). As evidenced from the World Series programs, the team tried to rename the new structure Brush Stadium in honor of their then-owner John T. Brush, but the name did not stick, and it died with him. The remaining old bleachers were demolished during the 1923 season when the permanent double-deck was extended around most of the rest of the field and new bleachers and clubhouse were constructed across center field. This construction gave the stadium its familiar bathtub style shape.

This version of the ballpark had its share of quirks. The "unofficial" distances (never marked on the wall) down the left and right field lines were 279 and 258 feet respectively, but there was a 21 foot overhang in left field, which often intercepted fly balls which would otherwise have been catchable and turned them into home runs. Contrasting with the short distances down the lines were the 450-some foot distances in the gaps, with straightaway center field 483 feet distant from home plate; the corners of the bleachers on either side of the clubhouse runway were about 425 feet. The catch that Willie Mays made in the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians would have been a home run in many other ballparks of the time. The bullpens were actually in play, in the left and right center field gaps. The outfield sloped downward from the infield, and people in the dugouts often could only see the top half of the outfielders.

The New York Yankees sublet the Polo Grounds from the Giants during 1913–1922 after their lease on Hilltop Park expired. After the 1922 season, the Yankees built Yankee Stadium directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, a situation which spurred the Giants to expand their park to reach a seating capacity comparable to the Stadium, to stay competitive. However, since nearly all the new seating was in the outfield, the Stadium still had a lot more "good" seats than did the Polo Grounds, at least for baseball. At that point, the Polo Grounds most notably became better suited for football than it had been previously.

The Giants' first night game at the stadium was played on May 24, 1940.