Roosevelt Stadium was a baseball stadium at Droyer's Point in Jersey City, New Jersey. It opened on April 23, 1937, and was the home of the Jersey City Giants of the International League (IL), the Triple-A farm team of the New York Giants, from 1937 to 1950 and later hosted other high-minor league baseball teams.
Main stadium entrance, ca. 1940
It also hosted 15 Major League Baseball (MLB) home games for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1956 to 1957, plus championship boxing matches, top-name musical acts, an annual championship drum and bugle corps competition known as "The Dream" (1946-1983), professional wrestling matches, important regional high school football games, college and minor league football games, soccer matches and even NASCAR races.
The Genesis of a Stadium
On June 5, 1929, Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague announced his plans to construct a 50,000-seat municipal stadium in Jersey City to surround a field 500 feet (150 m) long by 400 feet (120 m) wide, that would be dedicated to the memory of the city's war dead. It was expected to cost $500,000 and be built by Spring 1930.
Mayor Hague planned for the stadium to have 35,000 permanent seats with ground space for an additional 15,000. The stadium was envisioned as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project on the grounds of what was the Jersey City Airport at Droyer's Point. The airport was built and first operated by noted aviator Clarence D. Chamberlin in 1928 and then later operated by aviator Eddie August Schneider starting in 1935.
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By 1935, Jersey City was suffering from the effects of the Great Depression and Mayor Hague was looking to create construction jobs for Hudson County's working class. He applied for federal funds through the Civil Works Administration and the WPA of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program. Under the terms of the grant program, the money received could not be used to purchase land so the city had to contribute land for the project.
According to the Mayor, Droyers Point was the only available city-owned property and better suited for a municipal sports stadium than a municipal airport which would have eventually been a financial liability to the city. On December 10, 1935, Mayor Hague, with nearly 2,000 people in attendance, turned the first shovel of earth to officially break ground on the stadium.
At the ceremony, Mayor Hague said, “We owe to President Roosevelt’s efforts the realization of our dream. He has been considerate of Jersey City in giving us this beautiful stadium. Besides the stadium, I am happy that its construction will provide work for nearly 1,000 men and through them hundreds of our citizens will benefit. Architect Christian H. Ziegler designed the stadium in the Art Deco style, a style he used in designing the former Jersey City Medical Center, to emphasize Jersey City's strength and influence.
Considered the best minor league baseball park of the time, the 24,000-seat stadium was constructed of steel and concrete and featured marble sourced from Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The stadium was horse shoe and bowl shaped surrounded by a concrete wall with a terra-cotta façade. Terrazzo flooring was featured on the first floor and concourse, in bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and corridors. The grandstand was 60 feet (18 m) high and consisted of terraced seating of 35 rows and bleachers.
Baseball at Roosevelt Stadium
The ballpark's home opener was scheduled for April 22, 1937, with the opening of the 1937 International League season. Mayor Hague declared a half-holiday for the city's schools and employees. New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham was expected at the opener along with Senator Harry Moore. Rain washed out the planned events and the opening game was moved back to April 23 with Mayor Hague throwing out the first pitch and Sen.
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Roosevelt Stadium was constructed to serve as the home field of the Jersey City Giants, the Triple-A International League (IL) farm team of the New York Giants, from 1937 to 1950. The Giants won the International League regular-season pennant in 1939 and 1947 and were runners-up to the Syracuse Chiefs (formerly the Jersey City Skeeters) in the Governors' Cup playoffs in 1942, but no Giants team would ever win a pennant in postseason play.
Hague routinely hawked opening day tickets for "Little Giants" games, selling 40,000 seats in a stadium that held only 24,000. On April 18, 1946, Roosevelt Stadium hosted the historic Jersey City Giants' season opener against the Montreal Royals, the Triple-A IL farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers, marking the professional debut of the Royals' Jackie Robinson and the breaking of professional baseball's color barrier. Mayor Hague declared the day a half-day school holiday and threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
A sold-out over capacity crowd of 51,872 witnessed Robinson's debut. In five trips to the plate he got four hits, including a three-run homer, scored four runs and drove in three; he also stole two bases in the Royals' 14-1 victory over the Giants. After the game, Robinson was mobbed by fans and well-wishers, Black and white, who wanted to congratulate him. Some people even followed him through the dugout tunnel and into the locker room.
Robinson recalled his debut in his autobiography, My Own Story, saying "Although I was wearing the colors of the enemy, the Jersey City fans gave me a fine ovation. And my teammates were shouting, 'Come on, Jackie, start it off. This guy can't pitch.
Between 1949 and 1950, future Hall of Famer Monte Irvin played several games with the Jersey City Giants in between being called up to the New York Giants. With Jersey City, he batted .373 in 1949 and .510 with ten home runs in eighteen games in 1950. In an interview with the Jersey Journal, Irvin reflected on his time playing at Roosevelt Stadium and said "What a wonderful stadium," "It was the class of the International League and better than many [Major League] stadiums.
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Following the 1950 season, the New York Giants decided to move the club to Ottawa due to recent drops in attendance. On July 8, 1960, it was announced high-minor league baseball would return to Roosevelt Stadium with the Jersey City Jerseys of the IL for the 1960 and 1961 season. The Jerseys, the Triple-A team for the Cincinnati Reds, had moved from Havana, Cuba where they were known as the Havana Sugar Kings and had just won the 1959 International League title.
From 1956 to 1957, the stadium hosted 15 "home" games by the Brooklyn Dodgers during their last two seasons in Brooklyn - seven in 1956 and eight in 1957. These games were played partly as a negotiating tactic with the City of New York and the Borough of Brooklyn, in pursuit of a new stadium to replace Ebbets Field. While it had just 24,000 seats as opposed to Ebbets Field's 31,497, Roosevelt Stadium had 10,000 parking spaces compared to Ebbets Field's 700.
The agreement between Jersey City and the Dodgers stipulated that the club would rent Roosevelt Stadium from the city for an annual fee of $10,000. The Dodgers also agreed to absorb the cost of making the stadium ready for major league baseball. In return, the Dodgers received all parking and ticket revenue.
On April 19, 1956, the Dodgers played the Philadelphia Phillies in their first game at Roosevelt Stadium. A pregame ceremony was held with the club raising their 1955 World Series Championship banner which was displayed at both Roosevelt Stadium and Ebbets Field. The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Jersey City mayor Bernard Berry, and Eddie Fisher sang the National Anthem. Jersey City's St. Patrick's Drum and Bugle Corps also took part in the festivities. The game went to extra innings tied 3-3.
On July 25, 1956, Carl Furillo hit the Dodgers' first home run at the stadium off of Brooks Lawrence. On August 15, 1956, the Dodgers hosted their rival, the New York Giants, at the stadium. The Giants had built a large following in Jersey City after being the home of their Triple-A affiliate, the Jersey City Giants, for 13 years. Jackie Robinson went 0-4 and was booed by the sold-out pro Giants crowd of 26,385. The most memorable moment of the game occurred in fourth inning when future Hall of Famer Willie Mays hit the only home run ever hit completely out of Roosevelt Stadium off of Don Newcombe.
Beyond Baseball: A Multifaceted Venue
Boxing matches were also a big draw at the stadium. In 1940, former heavyweight champion Max Baer beat "Two Ton Tony" Galento at Roosevelt Stadium. A few months later, Baer stopped Pat Comiskey in the first round at the Stadium. On September 21, 1948, European champion Marcel Cerdan of France defeated Tony Zale for the world middleweight championship title in one of the Tournament of Champions bouts held at the stadium.
Although, initially constructed as a home field for the Jersey City Giants, the stadium later saw its most common use for high school football, as Jersey City's William L. Dickinson, James J. Ferris, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Snyder high schools and the city's major parochial schools, Hudson Catholic and St. Peter's Prep, all used the stadium, particularly on Thanksgiving Day, when Dickinson and St. Peter's would play before soldout crowds. On September 28, 1974, it was the site of the game that set the New Jersey state record for consecutive losses by a high school football team at 42, when Dickinson High School lost to Hudson Catholic, 22-0. The Hawks offense was led by quarterback Steven Neri and halfback Tony Cavallo and Dickinson was held to -2 yards rushing and 18 passing by a Hudson defense led by Steve Cuccinelli, Ray Parente and Bruce Bock.
From 1938 to 1950, the stadium hosted the Jersey City Giants of the American Football Association (AA), a farm team of the New York Football Giants. Tim Mara purchased the team and moved them to Jersey City in 1938 making the Jersey City Giants the first minor league team in professional football. In 1960, the stadium hosted a pre-season NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Football Giants to celebrate the city’s 300th anniversary.
The stadium hosted college football with Jersey City State College (now New Jersey City University) playing their home games on Friday nights at the stadium from 1966 to 1976 prior to the opening of the Thomas M. During the 1973 NFL season, the New York Football Giants practiced at the stadium while they were playing their home games in New Haven, Connecticut at the Yale Bowl.
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson Makes Major League Debut
On June 19, 1960, the stadium hosted a double header for the first section title of the ISL. The first match featured Burnley F.C. against OGC Nice with Burnley winning 4-0. The second match saw Kilmarnock F.C. defeat the New York Americans 3-1 in front of 11,704 fans.
On June 20, 1971, the stadium hosted a North American Soccer League (NASL) and international soccer double-header. The New York Cosmos played the Dallas Tornado in the opener where the Cosmos rallied to beat the Tornado 3-1. A week later on June 27, 1971, Santos FC, led by the legendary Pelé, played Bologna in an exhibition match in front of raucous crowd of 21,414 fans.
When Pelé stepped on to the field, hundreds of fans stormed the field to get close to him for pictures and autographs. The Jersey City Police Department's mounted police gained control of the crowd but not before kickoff was delayed for thirty-five minutes. On May 25, 1973, Santos FC and Pelé returned to Roosevelt Stadium to take on Lazio in front of passionate sold-out crowd of 26,145 fans. Pelé was swarmed by fans on his way into the stadium looking for autographs and pictures. The game was repeatedly stopped by fans, who threw beer cans, bottles and even chairs onto the field. In the ninth minute, Pelé scored on a free kick through a wall of seven players.
In 1975, the stadium hosted three professional wrestling matches held by the International Wrestling Association (IWA).
From 1972 to 1976, Roosevelt Stadium saw a second life as a premier outdoor concert venue for national touring acts. The stadium hosted multiple concerts by notable performers such as Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, The J. On August 8, 1974, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young played their first New York area concert in four years to a crowd of about 50,000 people at the stadium. During the band's intermission former president Richard Nixon announced he was resigning from office due to his role in the Watergate scandal. Graham Nash took to the stage and announced the news to the capacity crowd. The crowd cheered and set off a few fireworks in celebration.
Concert at Roosevelt Stadium
Roosevelt Stadium was a popular venue for drum and bugle corps contests throughout its history. Beginning in the 1970s, the stadium began holding religious conventions for the Jehovah's Witnesses. On July 4, 1971, 16,000 people gathered at the stadium to listen via closed-circuit radio to Nathan H. Knorr speak from an assembly at Yankee Stadium. From July 18-21, 1974, over 10,000 people filled the stadium over four days for a district assembly.
Decline and Demolition
By the 1970s, the stadium had fallen into disrepair. In 1970, Jersey City made attempts to keep the stadium viable with several renovations such as re-sodding the playing field and overhauling the drainage, roofing and steam heating systems. However, further renovations of the structure were impeded by asbestos and overall decay. In 1972, the city lost $68,000 operating the stadium.
In 1978, a 30 foot (9.1 m) light tower fell off the roof of the grandstand which weakened the stadium's exterior walls and other light towers. That year, the city's Division of Urban Research and Design estimated that repairs to the stadium would cost about $4 million and recommended, instead, to demolish the stadium and build new housing. From 1970 to 1980, Jersey City's population dropped 14.1%, a loss of 37,000 people.
Roosevelt Stadium survived longer but ultimately met a similar fate as two other historic New York area ballparks of its time. Ebbets Field in Brooklyn was demolished in 1960 and replaced with a middle-income housing development known as the Ebbets Field Apartments in 1962.
In 1985 prior to demolition, one of Roosevelt Stadium's seats was donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York and another seat was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
On February 25, 1998, the Statue of Jackie Robinson was erected in ...