The History of Baseball in New York

Yankee Stadium 1927

By Allan Aracena

It was a chilly Saturday in Norwood. A sign reading “free lecture” was posted on the front door of a small house across from Williamsbridge Oval playground. Inside, 10 people sat around a table listening to Tony Morante, the director of stadium tours for the New York Yankees, share his history of baseball in New York.

Morante began by explaining that baseball was originally conceived as means to cure social ills. Eventually, baseball leisure clubs turned into athletic clubs.  The New York Knickerbockers introduced townball in 1845 and played the first baseball game the year after, losing to the New York Nine, 23-1.

The sport quickly attracted fans. It was so popular that Union soldiers carried baseball equipment with them to the South during the Civil War. Baseball also attracted gambling and that drew even more fans. It’d be almost 70 years before a certain commissioner stepped in and stamped out the wagering.

Yankee Stadium aerial view

The New York Knickerbockers were one of the first organized teams that played under the same rules regulating baseball today. Team members also wore the first known uniforms. They regularly played a team from Brooklyn and established what would become a rivalry.

Due to its popularity, baseball was called “America’s national pastime” by 1856. Paid admission to games started in 1858 and players were paid for the first time.

In 1865, players joined in the gambling, with three players from the New York Mutual Nine throwing a game.  It wouldn’t be the last time this would happen.

There were three teams in New York. The Brooklyn Dodgers got their name because  people had to dodge trolleys when coming to games. The New York Giants were called the Gothams, but gained the nickname “the Giants” because the coach was in awe of how tall some of the players were. Then there were the New York Highlanders. They eventually became the Yankees.

One common myth about baseball is that Abner Doubleday invented it in Cooperstown in 1839. In fact, Doubleday wasn’t even there when that happened.

Tony Morante has been working for the Yankees since 1958, first as an usher, then in ticket sales and eventually, as the director of stadium tours. When asked to name his favorite moment in the history of Yankee Stadium, Morante said, “I have a lot, but that Chris Chambliss home run in 1976 was special. It put the Yankees back in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.” Morante said a turning point in his life was a 1949 trip to Yankee Stadium with his father. “It was breathtaking when we went to sit at the upper deck. The smell of beer, the smell of hot dogs, the green grass,” said Morante. “It was the place I wanted to be.”