Ebbets Field

Ebbets Field, located in Brooklyn, New York, was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers (under various names) from 1913 until their departure for Los Angeles after the 1957 season. It was named after Charlie Ebbets, who at various times had been an owner, club president and manager.

• Opened: April 9, 1913
• First night game: June 15, 1938
• Last game: September 24, 1957
• Demolished: February 23, 1960
• Capacity: 25,000 (1913); 32,000 (1932)

Ebbets Field welcome sign, 1957.

Ebbets Field was known for its extraordinarily short dimensions in its later years. Not a single dimension exceeded 390 feet. It was also known for its colorful, working-class fan base, including such legendary figures as Hilda Chester and the Dodgers Sym-Phony.

The park was also home of the Brooklyn Eagles of the Negro National League in 1935.

During the time that the Dodgers played there, they won the pennant nine times: in 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. They won the 1955 World Series and came close several other times, losing 4-3 in 1947, the 1952 and the 1956 - all of these against the New York Yankees.

Famous Dodgers who played many seasons in Ebbets Field include Pee Wee Reese (15 seasons), Zack Wheat (14 seasons), Dazzy Vance (12 seasons), Gil Hodges (12 seasons), Duke Snider (11 seasons), Roy Campanella (10 seasons) and Jackie Robinson (10 seasons).

Further Reading

• Rory Costello: "Twilight at Ebbets Field", in The National Pastime - A Review of Baseball History, Society for American Baseball Research, Cleveland, OH, number 26 (May, 2006), pp. 104-109.
• Robert A. James: "Field of Liens: Real-Property Development in Baseball", The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 39, Number 2 (Fall 2010), pp. 116-121.
• Joseph McCauley: Ebbets Field: Brooklyn's Baseball Shrine, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2004.
• Bob McGee: The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ, 2005.
• Gregory H. Wolf, ed.: Ebbets Field: Great, Historic, and Memorable Games from Brooklyn's Lost Ballpark, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2023. ISBN 978-1-960819-17-8
• John G. Zinn and Paul G. Zinn, ed.: Ebbets Field: Essays and Memories of Brooklyn’s Historic Ballpark, 1913-1960, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7864-4827-2
• John G. Zinn: Charles Ebbets: The Man Behind the Dodgers and Brooklyn’s Beloved Ballpark, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2019. ISBN 978-0-7864-9973-1

Related Sites

• Ebbets Field (Brooklyn, NY) at the SABR Bio Project
• Twilight at Ebbets Field at the SABR Bio Project