Roosevelt Stadium

**T-Mac** · 03-25-2005, 09:34 PM

Click on the pic of the stadium in this link for 88 photos and layout drawings. Many of the pics were taken after the stadium was out of use. Still some good ones there. The Dickinson vs Prep football game on Thanksgiving was always packed.

http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchisto...lt_Stadium.htm

**tonypug** · 03-26-2005, 06:23 AM

Thanks for the link. I know most of the pictures are from after the Stadium was used, but it's still hard to imagine that Major League baseball was played there.

**POLO GROUNDS 1957** · 03-26-2005, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by T-Mac

Click on the pic of the stadium in this link for 88 photos and layout drawings. Many of the pics were taken after the stadium was out of use. Still some good ones there. The Dickinson vs Prep football game on Thanksgiving was always packed.

http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchisto...lt_Stadium.htm

HELLO ALL. thanks T-MAC for the great site on roosevelt stadium.
this site is great. even has the blueprints of the stadium. i wish that they
could have done something like this with the POLO GROUNDS and EBBETS FIELD that would have been great to see. again thanks for the link. TO ALL you should check this site out. TAKE CARE DONALD DETROIT MI

**tonypug** · 07-09-2005, 11:57 AM

It's hard to believe that no photos of the Dodgers playing in Roosevelt Stadium have been found. Maybe if we relight the flame here something will come up.

**calhalo** · 07-09-2005, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by tonypug

It's hard to believe that no photos of the Dodgers playing in Roosevelt Stadium have been found. Maybe if we relight the flame here something will come up.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

(roughly 43.6677% of the time)

Dodgers vs Phils '56

**tonypug** · 07-09-2005, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by calhalo

Ask, and ye shall receive.

(roughly 43.6677% of the time)

Dodgers vs Phils '56

Thanks very much. Not to be greedy, are there anymore? Was this the first game taht the Dodgers played in Jersey?

**Gary Dunaier** · 10-02-2007, 12:45 PM

Here's a link to a Corbis photo showing Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, in uniform, at Roosevelt Stadium chatting with head groundkeeper Jim Esposito the day before the Dodgers' first game in Jersey City in 1956.

**sflnyc** · 10-03-2007, 02:27 PM

Here's my addition to the collection.

**tonypug** · 10-03-2007, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by sflnyc

Here's my addition to the collection.

Great photos , do you have a date on this one?

**Mario Mendoza...HOF Lock** · 10-03-2007, 05:59 PM

I was born a few miles from Roosevelt Stadium well after the Dodgers left for the west coast. Images are hard to find on the internet or anywhere else. The NJCU/Library of Congress pics are by far the most comprehensive. It's a shame there aren't more game pictures.

Below are some scale models that a enthusiast built and put on display a few years ago.

Here's a decent b/w photo from a book about JC I bought several years ago (click link to enlarge)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/135/3...33d41b4d_o.jpg

Here's an image from a remastered Yes simulcast CD. I doubt this is an "official" band release, but the cover is cool.
http://pageproducer.arczip.com/krist...dAgainBook.jpg

Some minor league (I presume) practice

This is a small image from the Dodgers first game at RS in 1956

The same pic enlarged, (but with poorer image quality)

A few others

**sflnyc** · 10-04-2007, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by tonypug

Great photos , do you have a date on this one?

Unfortunately I do not. The description of the picture that I scanned was that "the Dodgers played some games there in 1956 and 1957", so I don't know if maybe the picture was taken at that time as they were preparing the stadium for the arrival of the Dodgers.

**Gary Dunaier** · 10-04-2007, 07:20 AM

I'd guess this photo...

...is from 1956 because the pennant the woman is holding refers to the "World Champion" Dodgers.

**Mary Ellen** · 02-25-2009, 06:30 AM

I found a collection of plans and photos of Old Roosevelt Stadium in the Droyers Point section of Jersey City. Now a Hovnanian housing complex on the Hackensack River. I played a high school soft ball game there in the 1970's and it was in much better shape as I remember.

I belive Jackie Robinson played here and The Brooklyn Dodgers as well.

**Mary Ellen** · 02-25-2009, 06:36 AM

More photos

**parlo** · 02-25-2009, 06:40 AM

According to Digital Ballparks, the Dodgers played 14 games there in 1956-57.

http://www.digitalballparks.com/Inte...erseyCity.html

**Mary Ellen** · 02-25-2009, 06:49 AM

Thanks for that link. Those pictures are better than the Library of Congress photos. I did not realize that RS was a Works Progress Administration project.

**parlo** · 02-25-2009, 06:56 AM

Interesting find!!!
Just about everything built between 1933 and 1940 had the WPA or other agencies involved in it.

**met_dream** · 02-25-2009, 07:06 AM

The plan looked incredible the way it was symmetrically laid out. I wish there were better pics out there.

**met_dream** · 02-25-2009, 07:09 AM

Wow. It was art deco, as were many buildings during that time.

**alpineinc** · 02-25-2009, 07:20 AM

Great find! I do a lot of work in that area; it's hard to envision the ballpark there with just a sea of condos now. You inspired me to do a little digging, and found more:

Circa 1940 Hi-Res

Ticket booths

Third level plan zoomed in: Hi-Res

Baseball scoreboard plan: Hi-Res

Football scoreboard plan: Hi-Res

Aerial, 1975 (north at top): Hi-Res

**Mary Ellen** · 02-25-2009, 07:25 AM

I too did not realize how Art Deco RS was. My Dad grew up in Jersey City and said it was great in the summer to watch a game with the breeze off the river. It was covered in weeds around the stadium when I was there in the 70's. Those aerial shots are impressive. I am going to have to visit it on Historicaerials.com.

**ribant** · 02-25-2009, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Mary Ellen

I too did not realize how Art Deco RS was. My Dad grew up in Jersey City and said it was great in the summer to watch a game with the breeze off the river. It was covered in weeds around the stadium when I was there in the 70's. Those aerial shots are impressive. I am going to have to visit it on Historicaerials.com.

I went to some concerts there in the summer of '74. It must have closed soon after that.

**mandrake** · 02-25-2009, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by Mary Ellen

I too did not realize how Art Deco RS was. My Dad grew up in Jersey City and said it was great in the summer to watch a game with the breeze off the river. It was covered in weeds around the stadium when I was there in the 70's. Those aerial shots are impressive. I am going to have to visit it on Historicaerials.com.

And now to empty some useless trivia from my brain.......

It was a WPA stadium like Downing Stadium was . For many years it was the home of the JC Giants, the AAA of the NY Giants. The Yankees had the Newark Bears, and the Dodgers were up in Montreal. Jackie Robinson broke into AAA at RS in 1946. In later years, the place was home to the Jersey Indians and the Jersey Jays. My wife got autographs of Rickey Henderson and Mike Heath when they played there. The stadium was also used for wrestling events, and concerts into the late 1970's (i.e the Grateful Dead).

Sadly, it was allowed to decay until one of the light towers fell over. Locals claim that the stadium, and now the condos, sit on a chromium landfill.

BTW, when the Dodgers played there, the place drew a lot of Giants fans who rooted for the visiting teams. That did not sit well with O'Malley.

There is a lot of info on this stadium in the Brooklyn Dodgers forum on BF.

**Mary Ellen** · 02-25-2009, 08:01 AM

Thanks I will check that out. I searched for a forum on this before I posted but did not find that.

I read somewhere that a seat was saved and sent to the Smithsonian and another to the HOF. I wonder if RichieA13 has one. They were real nice.