HAVE A QUESTION? SEND AN EMAIL TO FEEDBACK1@EBBETS-FIELD.COM

• Where is Ebbets Field located?

  • In the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the official address was 55 Sullivan Place which is located on the corner of Sullivan Place & McKeever Place. This was better known as the famous rotunda entrance. The first base/right field line was located along Sullivan Place. The third base/left field line was located on McKeever Place. Beyond left field is Montgomery Street. Beyond right field/scoreboard is Bedford Avenue.  McKeever Place was named in honor of the "Old Judge" Steve McKeever. After McKeever's death, (March 7, 1938) a ceremony was held at Ebbets Field  at which the street, formerly known as Cedar Place, became McKeever Place. What largely gets ignored among historians is that prior to the construction of Ebbets Field another street existed on the site located between Cedar (McKeever) Place and Bedford Avenue. Pine Street, prior to 1913, was indeed on the map. After construction of the ballpark the street was abolished.

• Who is Ebbets Field named after?

  • Charles Hercules Ebbets is the man which bares the ballpark's name. Ebbets had been with the baseball club since the birth of the Dodgers in 1883. He worked his way up to Dodger President and majority stockholder, when he decided it was time to construct a new ballpark. He began secretly purchasing parcels of land in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn known as Pigtown. Ebbets eventually acquired all the deeds and on January 2, 1912, the announcement was made that a new steel and concrete ballpark would be constructed on the site. On March 4, 1912 the groundbreaking ceremony took place and it was here that the question was posed to Ebbets, "What is the name of the new ballpark?" Ebbets, after giving some thought replied, "Washington Park", the name of the Dodgers old ballpark. New York Times reporter/friend Len Wooster suggested Ebbets Field, reasoning with Ebbets, "It was your idea and nobody else's, and you've put yourself  in hock to build it. It's going to be your monument, whether you like to think about it that way or not". Ebbets replied, "All right, that's what we'll call it, Ebbets Field."

• How come the Dodgers had so many nicknames?

  • Contrary to popular belief, the Dodgers, in fact, had only  one official nickname; the "Dodgers." Prior to Ebbets Field, the team simply referred to itself as the "The Brooklyn Base Ball Club." Reporters found this to be lengthy not to mention boring to it's readers. Since the team's birth, local baseball writers began using catchy phrases in referring to the "The Brooklyn Base Ball Club." When the team debuted in the Major Leagues' American Association in 1883, reporters referred to the team as the "Grays." The logic was simple, it was the team's uniform color. Many nicknames were coined by reporters over the years, by far the Dodgers hold one distinct record that will probably never be broken, the most nicknames!!

BRIDEGROOMS - THE NICKNAME CAME ABOUT AFTER FOUR PLAYERS  ALL GOT MARRIED WITHIN WEEKS OF ONE ANOTHER BEFORE THE START OF THE 1888 SEASON.

GROOMS - AGAIN NAMED AFTER THE ABOVE-MENTIONED, BUT SIMPLY SHORTENED.

WARD'S WONDERS - NAMED AFTER THE TEAM'S MANAGER, JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD, THE NICKNAME LASTED THE LENGTH OF WARD'S MANAGERIAL TENURE, TWO SEASONS (1891-92)

TROLLEY DODGERS - DURING THE YEARS OF 1891-97, THE CLUB PLAYED AT EASTERN PARK. THE PARK'S LEGACY WAS ANYTHING BUT GOOD. FANS FOUND IT DIFFICULT COMMUTING TO, AND WHEN THEY ARRIVED, THE BALLPARK WAS LOCATED ALONG A JUNCTION OF TROLLEY TRACKS MAKING IT LIFE OR DEATH FOR MANY CROSSING IT. HENCE THE NAME TROLLEY DODGERS. FOR MANY SPECTATORS COMING AND GOING, DODGING TROLLEY CARS WAS MORE HEART WRENCHING THEN WATCHING THE TEAM PLAY. DURING THE TEAM'S STAY AT EASTERN PARK, THEY FINISHED NO HIGHER THEN FIFTH PLACE.

DODGERS - DURING THE DAYS AT EASTERN PARK THE "DODGERS" NICKNAME WAS NOT OFFICIAL, JUST A SHORTER, MORE FLASHY HEADLINE IN THE NEWSPAPERS.

SUPERBAS - NAMED AFTER THE TEAM'S MANAGER, NED HANLON IN 1899. THE NICKNAME CAME FROM A POPULAR VAUDEVILLE ACT CALLED HANLON'S SUPERBAS.

ROBINS - WILBERT ROBINSON, UPON HIS ARRIVAL TO BROOKLYN IN 1914 AS THE TEAM MANAGER, BECAME EASILY THE MOST POPULAR FIGURE IN BROOKLYN, SO MUCH SO THAT PEOPLE CALLED HIM "UNCLE ROBBIE", AND THE TEAM, THE ROBINS.

BUMS - THE MOST FAMOUS UNOFFICIAL NICKNAME OF THEM ALL WAS DERIVED WHEN A NEWSPAPER CARTOONIST, WILLARD MULLIN, CAME UP WITH THE IDEA AFTER HE HOPPED INTO A   CAB AND THE DRIVER ASKED HIM "WHAT DID OUR BUMS DO TODAY?" AND SO, THE TRAMP, WITH THE UNSHAVEN FACE, THE PATCHED CLOTHING, THE DANGLING CIGAR AND THE BROKEN ENGLISH WAS BORN.  HE APPEARED IN ROUGHLY 2,000 DRAWINGS.

• I have a baseball memorabilia item and would like to know how much is it worth, can you help me?

  • On this particular issue, no. Ebbets-field.com is not a sports memorabilia appraiser. There are many appraisers in the sports memorabilia business that can help you. However, if you wish to do some personal research the best place to start is with Ebay.com an online auction house. Here you can simply search for similar items and see what they are fetching for in the online market.

• Aren't the Brooklyn Dodgers a defunct team?

• Many Brooklyn purist believe till this day that the Brooklyn Dodger franchise died when they left for Los Angeles after the 1957 season. The only thing that did die was the Dodgers calling Brooklyn their home. The fact of the matter is the team lives on in Los Angeles. Many players who played in Brooklyn continued to do so in Los Angeles, such as, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Gil Hodges and so on. Webster's dictionary defines "defunct" as, "no longer living, existing, or functioning", again this may be true in Brooklyn but the team name and likeness are still trademarked with the Los Angeles Dodgers and most importantly the Brooklyn years are still recognized by the Los Angeles club. The same is true for both  Washington Senator ball clubs, the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics, the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, the St. Louis Browns, the Seattle Pilots, and finally the Montreal Expos. While the Expos were searching for a new nickname to go along with their new home in Washington the first natural choice was the old Senators name, which would have required them to obtain permission from the Texas Rangers who own the rights to the last Washington Senators name. In today's baseball climate all license merchandising  from Major League Baseball is handled by MLB's subsidiary the Cooperstown Collection. Under this umbrella all merchandise sold from teams of yesteryear are split up equally among all current Major League clubs, and yes, when you buy a Brooklyn Dodger hat through the Cooperstown Collection licensing you're putting money in the Los Angeles Dodgers bank account!!!!