The Giants Come Home to Coogan's Hollow

The New York Giants opened the 1889 season without a ballpark. The city had extended its street grid through the outfield of their Polo Grounds at 110th Street, pushing the team out before the first pitch. They played in Jersey City, then Staten Island, before owner John B. Day signed a lease on June 22 for a hollow of land below Coogan's Bluff at 155th Street and 8th Avenue. Workers had three weeks and salvaged timber from the old grounds. On July 8, more than 10,000 fans crammed in anyway, with thousands more watching from the bluff, the elevated train stairs, and a nearby beer garden. Pitcher Cannonball Crane outworked Pittsburgh's Pud Galvin in a 7-5 win, and the grounds that had barely existed a month earlier would remain the Giants' home for seven decades.