The Shot Heard Around The World... Well At Least By US Servicemen Whereever They Were

12th June, 2011 (Montreal)--After the overwhelming reaction to our recent Ebbets Field Stadium of the Day feature it makes sense to bring back to life the story of the Polo Grounds, home of that other New York City ball club that sailed away out west in 1957--The NY Giants. The stadium was used for several more years by the New York Titans who then became the NFL's New York Jets, and was finally demolished in 1963.

Like Ebbets Field and Tiger Stadium it had two decks of seating and the usual confusion of trusses and girders propping up the stands to form what some New Yorkers would refer to as 'The Bathtub.' It sat just across the river from the Old Yankee Stadium and was famous for the 'Shot Heard Around the World'--a home run made more amazing by the shape of the outfield scored by Bobby Thompson in the 1951 World Series for the Giants against the Dodgers of Brooklyn. As you look at the gauzy photos from yesteryear you could be forgiven for thinking you' ve been transported into some kind of Dan de Lillo novel, because you have--he uses the first chapter of Underworld to pay homage to this glorious treasure that has been lost to the sands of time. Even it's replacement for the Metropolitans that succeeded the Giants--Shea Stadium--has gone, such is the disposable nature of modern stadium architecture.