Finding Ebbets Field

For a Dodger Blue fan who only knew them from their days at Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn is a legendary place where previous Dodger greats like Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Lou Campanella, Gil Hodges, Duke Snyder, and the World Champion 1955 Dodger team played. From 1913 until 1957 when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Ebbets Field was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Completing a life-long desire, today I set out on an adventure to find what remains of this legendary stadium.

Taking the subway to Prospect Park and the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, I knew would get me within a couple blocks of Mckeever and Sullivan streets, where the above historic picture of Ebbets Fields was taken. Exiting the subway station, it was easy to see the 22 story projects of the Ebbets Field Apartments which replaced the demolished stadium. I knew that the only reference to Ebbets Field was a small plaque that was placed into one of the walls of one of the project's buildings. So off I went to find the last reference of the legendary stadium.

Walking up McKeever Place, which was the third base side of the stadium, there was no sign of any plaque. Rounding on Montgomery Street, the left field wall of Ebbets, proved the same, no plaque to be found. Turning onto Bedford Avenue, the right field, again provided the same results. The last hope was that the plaque must be on Sullivan Place, somewhere along the first base side of Ebbets. But...no plaque, somehow I had missed the elusive plaque, so, turning around, I retraced my steps. Walking back around what would have been the right field wall on Bedford, hidden behind an overgrown bush on a corner of one of the project's buildings, was the small plaque stating "this is the former site of Ebbet's Field." The small plaque, overgrown with bushes, was not what I had hoped to find. The nondescript epitat on the plaque seems so inadequate, so lacking, for such a historical place as Ebbet's Field. For this was the sight of a black baseball player, Jackie Robinson, breaking the color-barrier of professional sports in 1947. This was the sight of the 1955 World Champion Dodgers, their only world championship in Brooklyn. Somehow, Ebbet's Field deserved better. Ebbet's represents to me the golden era of baseball, our national pasttime. Only Wrigley Field in Chicago, and Fenway Park in Boston have survived that era.

Walking away from McKeever and Sullivan streets left me with a sadness. My pilgrimage to Ebbet's Field, was now complete. My desire to walk on the legendary field had now been fulfilled. I could cross another item off my life's to-do-list. In my mind I could hear the cheers that filled the air in a bygone era, and I could envision the ghosts of the Brooklyn Bum's as the players of the Dodgers were affectionately known as. With one final look, I realized that sometimes nostalgia may best be left for the mind to envision, and not for the eyes to behold.