66-412: Wertz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Vic Wertz , American baseball player Matt Wertz , American singer-songwriter Ricki Wertz , American television personality George M. Wertz , American politician, teacher, and publisher David Frederick Wertz , American bishop [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
132-505: A "home rule" pledge, vetoed it on the grounds that whatever he might think of the forced destruction of the park, the will of the city government was to be respected. The loss of their park forced the Giants to look quickly for alternative grounds. The Giants opened the 1889 season at Oakland Park in Jersey City, New Jersey , playing their first two games there. Four days later, they moved to
198-473: A baseball, the same one that had been used four years earlier on Ebbets Field . The wrecking crew wore Giants jerseys and tipped their hard hats to the historic stadium as they began dismantling it, with a crew of 60 workers taking 4½ months to level the stadium. Stephen McNair, a Dodger fan, grabbed a sledge hammer as easily as Johnny Mize picked up a bat, marked off the left field fence beneath Section 33, and vowed, “I'm going to take that place down myself.” It
264-501: A completely open outfield bounded by just the outer fence, but bleachers were gradually added. By the early 1900s, some bleacher sections encroached on the field from the foul lines about halfway along left and right field. Additionally, there were a pair of "cigar box" bleachers on either side of the " batter's eye " in center field. The expansive outfield was cut down somewhat by a rope fence behind which carriages (and early automobiles ) were allowed to park. By 1910, bleachers enclosed
330-648: A helluva game there last night." The site is now home to the Polo Grounds Towers , a public housing project opened in 1968, and managed by the New York City Housing Authority. The various incarnations of the Polo Grounds were well-suited for football , and hundreds of football games were played there over the years. The first professional football game played in New York City was played at
396-573: A home run or a triple, how many people would've remembered me? Not many. This way, everybody who meets me for the first time always identifies me with Willie's catch, and that makes me feel good." Vic Wertz Field at the Berks County Youth Recreation Facility in Pennsylvania is named in his honor. The field was dedicated on April 19, 2013. Wertz was a World War II veteran. During and after his baseball career, Wertz worked in
462-659: A poor venue that they moved back to the Polo Grounds within a few weeks. Despite that bit of drama, the Mets went on to win the American Association pennant. Their good fortune ran out when they faced the Providence Grays in the World Series , in which Providence pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn pitched three consecutive shutouts against them. All three games had been staged at the Polo Grounds. An early highlight of Giants' play at
528-498: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Vic Wertz Victor Woodrow Wertz (February 9, 1925 – July 7, 1983) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder . He had a 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career from 1947 to 1963. Wertz played for the Detroit Tigers , St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles , Cleveland Indians , Boston Red Sox , and Minnesota Twins ; all teams within
594-503: The 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians occurred immediately in front of the "batter's eye", a metal screen atop the grandstand wall directly to the right of the centerfield runway. It would have been a home run in several other ballparks of the time as well as in most of today's modern ballparks. The bullpens were actually in play, in the left and right center field gaps. The outfield sloped downward from
660-612: The American League . Wertz was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Tigers in 1942, then played in their minor league system until making his major league debut in 1947. He hit for the cycle on September 14, 1947, while in his rookie season with Detroit. Wertz finished in the Top 15 in MVP voting five times: 1949 (10th), 1950 (10th), 1956 (9th), 1957 (6th), and 1960 (14th). Wertz was among
726-519: The Milwaukee Braves ) despite winning the World Series . The football Giants left for Yankee Stadium across the Harlem River following the 1955 NFL season , and the baseball Giants' disastrous 1956 season – most of which they spent in last place before a late-season surge moved them up to sixth – caused a further decline on ticket sales. The Giants' 1956 attendance was less than half of that for
SECTION 10
#1732883487612792-521: The National Football League . In 1921 the NFL's New York Brickley Giants played the final game of their 1921 season against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds. The game ended in a 17–0 Giants loss. Shortly afterwards, the team folded. The Brickley Giants were originally formed with the intent of competing in 1919, and having all of their home games held at the Polo Grounds. However, after
858-581: The New York Mets to Shea Stadium in 1964 . The football Giants hosted the 1934 , 1938 , 1944 , and 1946 NFL Championship Games at the Polo Grounds, while the 1936 NFL Championship Game , originally scheduled for Fenway Park, was moved to the Polo Grounds by mutual agreement of Boston Redskins franchise owner George Preston Marshall, the Green Bay Packers, and the NFL due to low ticket sales in Boston;
924-576: The Polo Grounds in New York, and a sportswriter said, "It would have been a home run in any other park, including Yellowstone ." After he retired from playing, Wertz kept a photo of “The Catch” in his office at his beer distribution company and explained he had no negative feelings about being remembered for hitting a deep fly out. "I'm very proud that I'm associated with it," Wertz told UPI in 1979. "I look at it this way: If that ball Willie caught had been
990-407: The surname Wertz . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wertz&oldid=1009594689 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
1056-693: The 1882 season. At that time the Metropolitans' ownership had the opportunity to bring it into the National League , but elected instead to organize a new team, the New York Gothams — who soon came to be known as the Giants — mainly using players from the Metropolitans and the newly defunct Troy Trojans , and entered it in the National League, while bringing what remained of the Metropolitan club into
1122-515: The 1955 season when stricken with a nonparalytic form of polio , but returned in 1956. Wertz started 1954 as a member of the newly formed Baltimore Orioles , which had moved from St. Louis, where they had played as the Browns. The Orioles played in the then mammoth Memorial Stadium , which frustrated the power-hitting left-handed batter. On June 1, 1954, he was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to
1188-528: The Cleveland Indians for RHP Bob Chakales . When Wertz was traded, he was hitting only .202 with one home run after 29 games. He immediately became the starting first baseman for the Indians, replacing Bill Glynn , who held down the position the previous year. In the 1954 World Series , Wertz hit a long fly ball Willie Mays caught, known as " The Catch ". It went over 400 feet (120 m) to dead center of
1254-640: The Detroit area beer distribution business . When he retired to Mount Clemens, Michigan , he formed "Wertz Warriors", a group of sportsmen who raised funds for the Special Olympics Winter Games. He was the founder of an 800-mile snowmobile endurance ride, run annually in Michigan starting in 1982 to benefit the Special Olympics. Wertz died during heart surgery at Detroit's Harper Hospital on
1320-476: The Giants' World Series-winning 1954 season, and also ranked last in Major League Baseball. Along with the departure of the football Giants and the consequental loss of their rent, this collapse of the baseball Giants' gate financially devastated franchise owner Horace Stoneham , who was not nearly as wealthy as his fellow owners – the Giants were his sole source of income. To make matters worse, Stoneham
1386-571: The National League, managed by Roberto Clemente and behind the pitching of Juan Marichal and Al McBean , defeated Hector Lopez 's AL Stars, 5–2. The final sporting event played at the Polo Grounds was on December 14, 1963 when the now renamed AFL team New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills 19–10. In the 1992 book The Gospel According to Casey , by Ira Berkow and Jim Kaplan, it is reported (p. 62) that in 1963, Mets manager Casey Stengel , who had bittersweet memories of his playing days at
SECTION 20
#17328834876121452-476: The National League. The National League Giants then moved out of Polo Grounds II and into Brotherhood Park, which was larger. They took their stadium's name with them once again, turning Brotherhood Park into the new-new Polo Grounds. Between Polo Grounds II and III-IV, they would remain in Coogan's Hollow for 69 seasons. In the very early morning hours of Friday, April 14, 1911, a fire of uncertain origin swept through
1518-476: The Polo Grounds double decked right field stand. Manhattan Field continued to be an occasional site for amateur sports reported in local newspapers as late as spring of 1942. In June 1948, the Giants again leased the Manhattan Field property, and had it paved over to serve as a parking lot for the Polo Grounds. Polo Grounds III was the stadium that made the name nationally famous. Built in 1890, it initially had
1584-525: The Polo Grounds included soccer , boxing , and Gaelic football . Its final sporting event was a pro football game between the Jets and Buffalo Bills . Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets. The Polo Grounds was demolished and a public housing complex, Polo Grounds Towers , built on the site. The original Polo Grounds stood at 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, directly across 110th Street from
1650-817: The Polo Grounds on December 4, 1920. The game featured the Buffalo All-Americans against the Canton Bulldogs in the first year of the American Professional Football Association . The Buffalo All-Americans won the game, 7–3. Some argue that the Buffalo All-Americans are tied with the Akron Pros for the first championship of the American Professional Football Association, which soon came to be known as
1716-399: The Polo Grounds was Roger Connor 's home run over the right-field wall and into 112th Street; Connor eventually held the record for career home runs that Babe Ruth would break July 8, 1921. 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
1782-440: The Polo Grounds, had this to say during a rough outing to pitcher Tracy Stallard , whose greatest claim to fame had been giving up Roger Maris ' 61st homer in 1961: "At the end of this season, they're gonna tear this joint down. The way you're pitchin', the right field section will be gone already!" The final iteration of the Polo Grounds was demolished in 1964, beginning on April 10 with a wrecking ball bomb painted to look like
1848-474: 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. With the Giants having won the National League pennant the year before, as well as the World Series there was significant sentiment in the city against the move; a bill was even passed by the state legislature giving the Giants a variance which would allow the park to stand. Governor David B. Hill , who had campaigned for office on
1914-580: The St. George Cricket Grounds (where the Metropolitans had continued to play until their demise following the 1887 season). After closing out a homestand at the St. George Grounds on June 14, the Giants went on the road. Upon their return on July 8 they had relocated again, to a "New Polo Grounds" site within Manhattan at the far terminus of the then Ninth Avenue Elevated at 155th Street and 8th Avenue (now Frederick Douglass Boulevard ). Newspaper accounts indicate that
1980-606: The Top 10 in the American League in home runs in 1949 (20), 1950 (27), 1951 (27), 1952 (23), 1953 (19), 1956 (32), and 1957 (28). His 1956 total of 32 home runs was second best in the AL. For his career, Wertz hit 266 home runs and 1,178 RBIs with a .469 career slugging average and a .364 career on-base percentage. Wertz was elected to the American League All-Star team four times (1949, 1951, 1952 and 1957). He missed part of
2046-606: The World" walk-off home run on October 3, 1951 that decided the hard-fought National League pennant playoff series between the Giants and their cross-town rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers . On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by the Yankees' Carl Mays . At the time, batters did not wear helmets . Chapman died 12 hours after he was hit, at 4:30 a.m. on August 17. He remains
Wertz - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-643: The ballpark held at least one World Series . The final version also hosted the 1934 and 1942 All-Star Games . In American 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 Titans/Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the league's inaugural season of 1960 until 1963 . Other sporting events held at
2178-401: The baseball Giants owned the stadium , the Coogan heirs still owned the parcel of land on which it stood, while the neighborhood around the stadium had begun to go to seed in the late 1940s. These, along with other factors, combined to restrict ticket sales, even when the Giants played well. In 1954, for example, the baseball Giants only drew 1.1 million fans (compared to over two million for
2244-619: The competing American Association . 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 home stadium of two teams, the American Association Metropolitans and the National League Gothams. The dual-fields arrangement proved unworkable because of faulty surfacing of
2310-464: The end of the season, following their long-time rivals Dodgers to the West Coast. The Giants had won five World Series titles in the Polo Grounds. The ballpark then sat largely vacant for nearly three years, until the newly formed Titans of New York (present-day New York Jets ) began play in 1960 , followed by the newly formed Mets in 1962, using the Polo Grounds as an interim home while Shea Stadium
2376-438: The field is an engraving of a baseball game between Yale University and Princeton University on Decoration Day , May 30, 1882. Yale and Harvard also played their traditional Thanksgiving Day football game there on November 29, 1883 and November 24, 1887. (See Football below) 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
2442-523: The infield, and people in the dugouts often could only see the top half of the outfielders. The New York Yankees sublet the Polo Grounds from the Giants during 1913–1922 after their lease on Hilltop Park expired. After the 1922 season, the Yankees built Yankee Stadium directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, which spurred the Giants to expand their park to reach a comparable seating capacity to stay competitive. However, since nearly all
2508-642: The left and right field walls and an unusually deep center field. The original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 to 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 to 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 Polo Grounds from 1891 to 1957 . The Polo Grounds was also the home of the New York Yankees from 1913 to 1922 and New York Mets in their first two seasons ( 1962 , 1963 ). Each version of
2574-602: The morning of July 7, 1983. Surgeons were performing a coronary bypass and replacing a valve in his heart after he had suffered a heart attack the previous day. He is buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan . Polo Grounds 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 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889,
2640-719: The name, there is no relation between the Brickley Giants and the modern New York Giants franchise . Both the New York Giants of the National Football League and the New York Jets (then known as the New York Titans) of the American Football League used the Polo Grounds as their home field before moving on to other sites. The Giants moved initially to Yankee Stadium in 1956 while the Jets, founded in 1960 , followed
2706-422: The new seating was in the outfield, Yankee Stadium still had more desirable seats than did the Polo Grounds for watching baseball. However, the Polo Grounds became better suited for football due to the new seating placement. The Giants' first night game at the stadium was played on May 24, 1940. The Polo Grounds was the site of one of the most iconic moments in baseball history – the historic "Shot Heard 'Round
Wertz - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-447: The north and west by a steep promontory known as Coogan's Bluff . Because of its elevation, fans frequently watched games from the Bluff without buying tickets. The ballpark itself was in bottomland known as Coogan's Hollow. The grandstand had a conventional curve around the infield, but the shape of the property made the center field area actually closer than left center or right center. This
2838-474: The northeast corner of Central Park . The venue's original purpose was for the sport of polo . Its name was initially merely descriptive, not a formal name, often rendered as "the polo grounds" in newspapers. The Metropolitans , an independent team of roughly major-league caliber, was the first professional baseball team to play there, beginning in September 1880, and remained the sole professional occupant through
2904-476: The only player to die from an injury sustained in a Major League Baseball game. On July 4, 1950, Bernard Doyle, a resident of Fairview, New Jersey , in his 50s, originally from Dublin , Ireland, was struck and killed by a stray bullet while in his seat at the Polo Grounds. Doyle had brought a neighbor's son with him to see a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Giants. Doyle was killed about an hour prior to
2970-449: The outfield, and the carriage ropes were gone. The hodge-podge approach to the bleacher construction formed a multi-faceted outfield area. There were a couple of gaps between some of the sections, and that would prove significant in 1911. Known as Brotherhood Park when it opened in 1890, Polo Grounds III was the home of a second New York Giants franchise in the Players' League . The latter
3036-458: The right field corner as prior but was extended into deep right-center field. The surviving wooden bleachers were retained basically as is, with gaps remaining on each side between the new fireproof construction. The Giants rose from the ashes along with their ballpark, winning the National League pennant in 1911 (as they also would in 1912 and 1913). As evidenced from the World Series programs,
3102-530: The same day the National League's Giants played their first home game of the season. For the full 1890 season the two editions of the Giants were neighbors. When the teams played on the same day, fans in the upper decks could watch each other's games, and home run balls hit in one park might land on the other team's playing field. After the one season the Players' League folded, and the Brotherhood's members went back to
3168-413: The seats from the original Polo Grounds were moved to the new Polo Grounds stands. Despite their vagabond existence during the first half of the 1889 season, the Giants began their stay at the new ballpark just 4 games behind the league-leading Boston club. They rallied to win the pennant for the second consecutive year, as well as that year's World Series against Brooklyn. The new site was overlooked to
3234-405: The short distances down the foul lines were the 450-foot distances to deepest left and right center (the gaps); the base of the straightaway centerfield clubhouse stood 483 feet from home plate , up a 58-foot runway from the grandstand corners on either side of the clubhouse (these corners were themselves 425 feet (130 m) from home plate). The famous photo of The catch made by Willie Mays in
3300-410: The site still existed as a field for 20 more years. Babe Ruth's first home run as a Yankee , on May 1, 1920, was characterized by The New York Times reporter as a "sockdolager" (i.e. a decisive blow), and was described as traveling "over the right field grand stand into Manhattan Field". Bill Jenkinson's modern research indicates the ball traveled about 500 feet (150 m) in total, after clearing
3366-486: The stadium its familiar horseshoe or bathtub style shape, as well as a new nickname, "The Bathtub". This version of the ballpark had its share of quirks. The "unofficial" distances (never marked on the wall) down the left and right field lines were 279 and 258 feet (85 and 79 m) respectively, but there was a 21-foot (6.4 m) overhang in left field, which often intercepted fly balls that would otherwise have been catchable and turned them into home runs. Contrasting with
SECTION 50
#17328834876123432-453: The stadium to reopen just 2½ months later, June 28, 1911, the date some baseball guides date the structure. As configured, it was the ninth concrete-and-steel stadium in the Majors and fourth in the National League. Unfinished seating areas were rebuilt during the season while the games went on. The new structure stretched in roughly the same semicircle from the left field corner around home plate to
3498-471: The stadium's horseshoe-shaped grandstand, consuming wood and leaving only steel uprights in place. The gaps between some sections of the stands saved a good portion of the outfield seating and the clubhouse from destruction. Giants owner John T. Brush decided to rebuild the Polo Grounds with concrete and steel, renting Hilltop Park from the Highlanders during reconstruction. Progress was sufficient to allow
3564-424: The start of the first game. A 14-year-old boy later confessed to having shot a .45 caliber pistol into the air from his rooftop at 515 Edgecombe Avenue, located 1,120 feet (340 m) from where Doyle was seated. The Polo Grounds' end was somewhat anticlimactic, especially compared to other " Jewel Box " parks. Part of the problem was that the stadium was not well maintained from the late 1940s onward: while
3630-399: The team renamed the new structure Brush Stadium in honor of their then-owner John T. Brush, but the name did not stick, and by the late 1910s it was passé. The remaining old bleachers were demolished during the 1923 season when the permanent double-deck was extended around most of the rest of the field and new bleachers and clubhouse were constructed across center field. This construction gave
3696-478: The team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against the Massillon Tigers , was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws. In 1919, the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded until 1921. Other than
3762-492: The western field, and after various other arrangements were tried, the Metropolitans and Giants alternated play on the eastern field in later years until the Metropolitans moved to the St. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island in 1886. Although the Giants would soon become the team of choice in the city, the "Mets" had a good year in 1884. They had started the season in a new facility called Metropolitan Park , which proved to be such
3828-441: Was a creation of Major League Baseball's first union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players. After failing to win concessions from National League owners, the Brotherhood founded its own league in 1890. The Players' League Giants built Brotherhood Park in the northern half of Coogan's Hollow, next door to Polo Grounds II, otherwise bounded by rail yards and the bluff. Brotherhood Park hosted its first game on April 19, 1890,
3894-572: Was anywhere near capacity. Frustrated with the Polo Grounds being obsolete and dilapidated, and with no maintenance staff or prospect of the stadium being renovated, Stoneham seriously considered having the Giants become tenants of the Yankees in the Bronx, or moving to a proposed stadium that would have been owned by the city. After both of those plans fizzled, the Giants announced on August 19, 1957 that after 74 years of professional baseball in New York, they would relocate to San Francisco, California at
3960-403: Was being built. As a 1962 baseball magazine noted, "The Mets will have to play in the Polo Grounds, hardly the last word in 20th Century stadia." In 1961, the city of New York decided to claim the land under eminent domain , for the purpose of condemning the stadium and building a high-rise housing project on the site. The Coogan family, which still owned the property, fought this effort until it
4026-577: Was built for the sport of polo . Bound on the south and north by 110th and 112th streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) avenues, just north of Central Park , it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880. The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890, and renovated after a fire in 1911 , was in Coogan's Hollow and was noted for its distinctive bathtub shape, with very short distances to
SECTION 60
#17328834876124092-545: Was finally settled in the city's favor in 1967. On September 18, 1963, 1,752 fans went to see the New York Mets play their last game at the Polo Grounds against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5–1 Philadelphia win. The game's highlights were later shown on Universal's Universal International Newsreel . On October 12, the Polo Grounds played host to one last exhibition contest, as Latin American All-Stars of
4158-467: Was left with no money for stadium upkeep, and he was forced to lay off the stadium's maintenance staff in order to stay afloat. The stadium also had very little parking; its final form had opened two years after the Model T was introduced. Due to the manner in which the stadium was designed, fans had to pour onto the field to exit via the center field gates, making for a problematic situation whenever attendance
4224-460: Was not much of an issue in the " dead ball era " of baseball. The land remained in the Coogan estate, and the Giants were renters for their entire time at Polo Grounds II, III and IV. The Brooklyn Dodgers played a pair of home series at this ballpark in late July and early August 1890. After the National League version of the New York Giants moved into Polo Grounds III in 1891, Polo Grounds II
4290-546: Was sub-leased to the Manhattan Athletic Club and was referred to ever after as Manhattan Field . It was converted for other sports such as football and track-and-field. The New York Giants leased Manhattan Field to the Columbia University football team for $ 14,000 in 1899 and $ 15,000 in 1900. The superstructure of Manhattan Field was demolished in 1911 following the fire that destroyed Polo Grounds III, but
4356-478: Was the fence over which Bobby Thomson hit the home run that kept the Dodgers out of the World Series in 1951 and put the Giants in. The foreman on the job, Abe Gach, shouted, “No, you don't. Be gentle over there. History was made there.” The Indians' bus passed the site in the midst of demolition while Cleveland was playing the Yankees: Dick Donovan , eyeing the rubble, remarked, "Boy, they must have had
#611388