1.
Polo Grounds
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The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963. The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890 and renovated after a fire in 1911, is the one generally indicated when the Polo Grounds is referenced. It was located in Coogans Hollow and was noted for its distinctive shape, very short distances to the left and right field walls. As the name suggests, the original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876, in baseball, the original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 until 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 until 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third and fourth Polo Grounds from 1891 through 1957. The Polo Grounds was also the field of the New York Yankees from 1913 until 1922. It hosted the 1934 and 1942 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, in football, the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 to 1955. The New York Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the inaugural season of 1960 through 1963. Other sporting events held at the Polo Grounds included soccer, boxing, the last sporting event at the Polo Grounds was a football game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills on December 14,1963. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets, the Polo Grounds was demolished over a period of four months that year and a public housing complex, known as the Polo Grounds Towers, was built on the site. The original Polo Grounds stood at 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, directly across 110th Street from the northeast corner of Central Park. The venues original purpose was for the sport of polo, and its name was merely descriptive, not a formal name. For this purpose the ownership built a second diamond and grandstand at the park, dividing it into eastern and western fields for use by the Giants and Metropolitans respectively. Polo Grounds I thus hosted its first Major League Baseball games in 1883 as the stadium of two teams, the American Association Metropolitans and the National League Gothams. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island in 1886, the original Polo Grounds was used not only for Polo and professional baseball, but often for college baseball and football as well—even by teams outside New York. The earliest known surviving image of the field is an engraving of a game between Yale University and Princeton University on Decoration Day, May 30,1882. Yale and Harvard also played their traditional Thanksgiving Day game there on November 29,1883, New York City was in the process of extending its street grid into uptown Manhattan in 1889. Plans for an extended West 111th Street ran through the Polo Grounds, City workers are said to have shown up suddenly one day and begun cutting through the fence to lay out the new street
2.
Amos Rusie
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Amos Wilson Rusie, nicknamed The Hoosier Thunderbolt, was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball during the late 19th century. He is best known for the speed in which he pitched a baseball, the velocity of his fastball was unknown, but it has been estimated that he threw it in the mid- to upper 90s. He led the league in five times, and won 20 or more games eight times. Though he did throw hard, he did not have control of his pitches, leading the league in walks five times. In 1890 he walked 289, the all-time single-season record, in 1897 one of his fastballs struck future Hall of Fame Hughie Jennings in the head, rendering him comatose for four days before recovery. Rusies wildness had been a catalyst for officials to change the distance from the rubber to home plate from 50 feet to the current 60 feet,6 inches. This ruling was made effective for the 1893 season, at the peak of Amos Rusies pitching prowess, for his accomplishments, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 by the Veterans Committee. Rusie was born on May 30,1871 in Mooresville, Indiana, to mason and plasterer William Asbury Rusie, when he was still young, his family moved to nearby Indianapolis, Indiana, where he eventually quit school to work in a factory. In 1889, at the age of 18, Rusie signed with the Burlington Babies of the Central Interstate League, in 33 games pitched during the 1889 season, he posted a 12–10 win–loss record, he started 22, completed 19, and recorded one shutout. Although his fastball was difficult to hit, he did not have control of it, walking 116 batters in 225 innings pitched, although he struck out 109. Coming into the 1890 season, Rusie filled the position that was vacated by future Hall of Famer Tim Keefe. Instead of evenly splitting pitching duties with Mickey Welch, another future Hall of Fame player, as Keefe had done the preceding five seasons, he started 62 games to Welchs 37. On May 9, the Giants defeated the Boston Beaneaters by a score of 16–3, doing so by committing no errors, very rare for the era, and with Rusie allowing just 6 hits. Due to the lack of control of his pitches, however, he led the league with 289 walks, the all-time record for a season. The Giants finished in place among the eight NL teams. As a hitter, he had a season with.278 batting average in 284 at bats,13 doubles, six triples. Rusie married May Smith in Muncie, Indiana on November 8,1890, Rusies 337 strikeouts and 262 bases on balls led the league for the second consecutive year, and his six shutouts marked the first time he led the league in that category. His record improved to 33-20, and he followed that up in 1892 with a record of 32-31,304 strikeouts and 270 walks, with the pitching area being moved back in 1893, Rusies strikeout total dropped to 208, still he was the league leader
3.
Mickey Welch
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Michael Francis Welch, nicknamed Smiling Mickey, was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the pitcher to accumulate 300 career victories. Welch was born in Brooklyn, New York, and played 13 seasons in the major leagues and he was very successful with an effective curveball, a change of pace, and a version of the screwball. During his 13 major league seasons, he posted 20 or more wins nine times, Welch was born Michael Francis Walsh in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents John and Mary Walsh. He later adopted the last name Welch, the name change may have been spurred by a sportswriters mistaken recording of the name in a box score. The new last name may have distinguished him from the number of men in Brooklyn at the time named Michael Walsh. Off the baseball field, Welch used his name throughout his life. When he was growing up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Welch made his major league debut in 1880, winning 34 games for the Troy Trojans. On July 6,1880, he pitched a one-hitter against the Cleveland Blues, Welchs totals dipped during the following two seasons, when he began to split starts with Tim Keefe, who also went on to win more than 300 games. The duo would only enjoy moderate success over the course of three seasons with the Trojans, a team never finished higher than fourth in the National League during its four-season run. After the Trojans disbanded after the 1882 season, the New York Gothams replaced them, taking many of the Troy players and he resumed a heavy workload in 1883, throwing 426 innings in 54 games. This time he split pitching duties with John Montgomery Ward in what turned out to be Wards final season as a regular pitcher, in 1884, he went 39-21 with 345 strikeouts and a 2.50 ERA. Welch holds the record for most consecutive batters struck out to begin a game, with 9, the record was not recognized for many years because of confusion over a dropped third strike. In the third inning of game, a third strike was dropped by New York catcher Bill Loughran. As a result, that batter safely reached first base, though modern scorekeeping would credit a pitcher with a strikeout in this situation, such an event was not always recorded as a strikeout by sportswriters of that era. Baseball historian Harry Simmons helped Welch to receive recognition of the feat in the 1940s. Tom Seaver struck out ten batters in 1970, but no pitcher has done that at the beginning of a game. Joe Cowley of the 1986 Chicago White Sox has come the closest to Welchs record, in 1885, when he went 44-11 with 258 strikeouts and a 1.66 ERA
4.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games
5.
Jack Glasscock
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He won the 1890 batting title with a.336 average for the New York Giants and led the league in hits twice, in his final season he became the sixth major league player to make 2,000 hits. When he retired he ranked fifth in league history in games and at bats, seventh in total bases. After Allegheny folded, he finished the season with Cleveland and broke into the National League with that club in 1879, after playing second and third bases as a rookie, he switched to shortstop permanently in 1880 with Fred Dunlap taking over at second. In 1881 he led the NL in putouts, assists and fielding average for the first time, in 1883, batting third, Glasscock led the team in runs batted in, and paced the NL in fielding again with a.922 average. In mid-1884 he jumped to the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of the Union Association during that leagues only season of play and he returned to the NL with the St. Louis Maroons for the next two years, becoming team captain. In 1886 he hit.325 and was fifth in the league in doubles and sixth in hits, also breaking his own NL record with 43 double plays and again leading the NL in assists and fielding. The Maroons moved to Indianapolis and became the Indianapolis Hoosiers before the 1887 and he also set new major league records for assists and double plays, topping Fennellys totals of 485 and 54 with the previous years Red Stockings. Ollie Beard broke his major league mark with 537 for the 1889 Red Stockings. He was second in doubles and total bases, and was fifth in the league with a career-high 128 runs, furthermore, he led the league in every defensive category. His 246 putouts set a new NL record, breaking John Montgomery Wards 1887 major league record of 226, Glasscock hit for the cycle on August 8 of that year, he also managed the team for the last half of the season, posting a 34–32 record. Early in the year, he discovered 17-year-old future Hall of Famer Amos Rusie pitching for a local team. Glasscock had been intending to switch leagues as well, but was expelled from the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players after signing his 1890 contract with Indianapolis and his offensive totals dropped off in later seasons, partially as a result of an 1891 hand injury. In June 1893 he was traded to the Pittsburg Pirates, and he hit.341 over the remainder of the year, finishing with a.320 average and also with 100 RBI for the first time. The team finished five games out of first place, the closest he would come to a league title during his major league career. Glasscock left the major leagues with a.290 career batting average,2040 hits,27 home runs,1163 runs,825 runs batted in and 98 triples. He was one of the most difficult players of the 19th century to strike out, germany Smith broke his records for career assists and total chances in 1897, and his mark for games at shortstop in 1898. Herman Long broke his record for putouts in 1898, and his mark for double plays in 1900, tommy Corcoran bettered his career fielding percentage by the end of the 19th century.431 average. After his baseball career ended, he returned to carpentry and he died in Wheeling from a stroke at age 89
6.
History of the New York Giants (baseball)
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The San Francisco Giants existed in the New York metropolitan area from 1883–1957. Prior to the start of the 1958 season, the moved to San Francisco, California. During the clubs tenure in New York, it won five of the franchises eight World Series wins and 17 of its 24 National League pennants, for most of that time, the Giants played home games in the Polo Grounds in the Upper Manhattan region of New York City. The Giants had intense rivalries with their rivals, the New York Yankees. The New York-Brooklyn rivalry soon evolved into the Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry, numerous inductees of the Baseball Hall of Fame played for the New York Giants, including John McGraw, Mel Ott, Bill Terry, Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, and Travis Jackson. The Giants began as the baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie, the Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association. Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, louis Browns in an early incarnation of the World Series. They repeated as champions the year with a pennant and World Series victory over the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It is said that one particularly satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mutrie stormed into the dressing room and exclaimed. From then on, the club was known as the Giants, the Giants original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, also dates from this early era. It was originally located north of Central Park adjacent to Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, the Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 &1889. But nearly all of the Giants stars jumped to the upstart Players League, whose New York franchise was named the Giants. The new team built a stadium next door to the Polo Grounds. With a decimated roster, the NL Giants finished a distant sixth, attendance took a nosedive, and the financial strain affected Days tobacco business as well. The Players League dissolved after the season, and Day sold a minority interest in his NL Giants to the defunct PL Giants principal backer, as a condition of the sale, Day had to fire Mutrie as manager. Although the Giants rebounded to third in 1891, Day was forced to sell a controlling interest to Talcott at the end of the season. Four years later, Talcott sold the Giants to Andrew Freedman, when Freedman offered Rusie only $2,500 for 1896, the disgruntled hurler sat out the entire season
