Book Review: Ebbets Field - Brooklyn’s Baseball Shrine

Book Review: Ebbets Field - Brooklyn’s Baseball Shrine
By Joseph McCauley
Published by Authorhouse Press

I didn’t grow up in Brooklyn and the only Dodgers that I remember play in Los Angeles but I grew up in New York among fans that lamented the loss not just of the Brooklyn Dodgers but also the New York Giants. My mother gave up on National League baseball when Walter O’Malley moved the team west. Every fan of those two teams has their memories and their stories.

The Polo Grounds where the Giants played may have held many memories but no one really laments the of the field. Ebbets Field is another story - it wasn’t just a ballpark it was the heart of a neighborhood and perhaps even the heart of a borough that had once been a city into itself.

Brooklyn was the birthplace of the game that we know as baseball, and perhaps nowhere else were the fans more fervent and devoted to their team than in Brooklyn. It didn’t matter if that team was called the Superbas, the Robins, or eventually the Trolley Dodgers, which became just the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have existed in some incarnation since 1884 and they have played in other places but they never had a real home until they moved into a place of baseball called Ebbets Field in 1913. Named after Dodgers’ owner Charles Ebbets it was a marvel of concrete, marble and steel and provided both the Dodgers and fans from Brooklyn a home for 44 years.

While Ebbets field may have originally been built as a baseball field it turned out to be so much more; it was the heart of the community back in its heyday. This book provides a nostalgic look back at another era in the days when ballplayers were still working class men and a played an important role not just as heroes or role models but as parts of the local community rather than dwelling apart as untouchable icons.

Perhaps that was part of what made the Brooklyn Dodgers so special; they were part of a small tight knit community in a way that no other organization ever has been (my apologies to the faithful of Wrigley and Fenway). Brooklyn loved the Dodgers and the Dodgers loved Brooklyn in what was a much simpler time.

The Dodgers ran their business as a local business and fought for many years to remain in Brooklyn despite a number of attempts to move them elsewhere - and their fans appreciated that. Many of the Dodger greats including Charles Ebbets were buried in the area (Green-wood Cemetery).

What this book commemorates is not the concrete and steel structure where baseball was played but the players, the fans the local community all of who grew up and never outgrew their love for the team from Brooklyn and the structure in which they played.

The book tells the stories of the players, the games, the characters that roamed the stands, the kids that snuck in, and how the Dodgers focused and united an area that needed to keep its identity separate from the whole City of New York. It’s funny at times, filled with great trivia and details, and it’s heartwarming - bringing back the images and feelings of a bygone era in a way that will touch every fan, especially those that never experienced it.

Give this book 3 out of 4 balls for everyone, even the old New York Giants fan. Add more to it if you happen to be an old Brooklynite or a modern day Cyclones fan - you are living a minor re-creation of something that was truly great.

Our Rating System is based on a four ball system as follows:
One Ball: Average. It has something to say but is nothing special.
Two Balls: Something men usually have - also means its a cut above average, and worth reading/owning.
Three balls: Stands out from its peers and is highly recommended.
Four Balls: More than just what two men have when hanging out together, it means it is an exceptional book that truly earns a walk - straight to the local book store to get a copy.