NEW YORK COUNTY, NY – Among the many exciting sights and sounds of tourist-friendly Manhattan, with its towering skyscrapers, world-class dining, and attractions sure to fill all who visit with awe, can be found another, very different sort of curiosity that, to fans of the game of baseball, is the last remnant of a bygone era. It’s a rusting, dilapidated staircase, strewn with trash, that looks like a death trap for anyone foolish enough to attempt climbing it. It is also the last remaining evidence that in that spot once stood a massive stadium, which for three-quarters of a century, saw play out some of the most memorable moments in baseball history, eliciting both cheers and tears from the millions who came to witness. The stadium’s unique position, nestled up against a steep incline known as Coogan’s Bluff, allowed partial views of the playing field for those without tickets, who could simply look down from above.

The Polo Grounds, as it was known, was originally constructed in 1883 as a multipurpose stadium in the (as yet still suburban) neighborhood of Washington Heights in upper Manhattan. Fires and other calamities led to numerous renovations and outright reconstructions, with the final version opening in 1911, now singularly dedicated to the game of baseball. From then, until 1957, it served as home to the National League’s New York Giants (forerunner of todays San Francisco Giants). Over the years, it hosted many revered hall of famers from Christy Matthewson to Willie Mays. Even the great Babe Ruth called the stadium home for a time. The Polo Grounds was also the site of the famous Shot Heard ‘Round the World, widely considered the most famous homerun, and all-around moment, in baseball history.

By 1957 though, the Polo Grounds was badly outdated and in a severe state of disrepair. Rather than build the Giants a new home, which was deemed vastly too expensive, given the declining attendance figures (attributed to white flight toward the suburbs, away from inner cities), the team was permitted to relocate to San Francisco, California, breaking the hearts of countless New Yorkers. With the real estate far too valuable to house a crumbling, unused behemoth of a stadium, the Polo Grounds was eventually razed in 1964.

At least, for the most part. You see, back in 1913, the Giants’ ownership, frustrated with those fans who chose to simply watch the game from atop Coogan’s Bluff, without paying their way, decided to erect a staircase running from the top of the hill down to a ticket booth below, in hopes that some might be so moved to make their way down and buy tickets to enter the game properly. Upon completion, it was named the “John T. Brush Stairway” after the Giants’ owner, who had passed away the previous year.

And there it remains to this day. You see, although the Polo Grounds are no more, Coogan’s Bluff remains as a steep, treacherous incline, much more easily ascended with the aid of a flight of stairs. Although, as I implied above, in attempting to use these stairs for their intended purpose, one is certainly taking his life into his own hands. I, myself, gingerly climbed just far up enough to get a decent picture or two, then immediately scurried back down, thanking my creator all the way.

Fortunately for those of us routinely crippled by overwhelming bouts of nostalgia, the stairway has been granted status among the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and in 2011, $950,000 was set aside for its complete restoration. If and when that comes to pass, I will certainly be off to New York to have a look, so stay tuned.

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