Hilltop Park

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Lore & Background

The ballpark's formal name, as painted on its exterior walls, was American League Park. Because the park was located on top of a ridge of Manhattan Island, it was nicknamed Hilltop Park, and its team was most often called the New York Highlanders (as well as the Americans and the Yankees). This "Highland" connection contrasted with their intra-city rivals, the Giants, whose Polo Grounds was just a few blocks away, in the bottomland under Coogan's Bluff. Hilltop Park sat on the block bounded by Broadway, 165th Street, Fort Washington Avenue, and 168th Street. The structure consisted of a covered grandstand stretching from first base to third base and uncovered bleacher sections down the right and left field lines. Originally built in just six weeks, the park sat approximately 15,000 to 16,000 total, with standing room often cited as around 5,000 to 6,000. The bleachers were covered in 1911, and also bleachers to seat an additional 3,000 to 4,000 fans were built in 1911 (partially to accommodate Giants fans, who were temporary tenants after the Polo Grounds fire) in center field. The field was initially huge by modern standards — 365 ft (111 m) to left field, 542 ft (165 m) to center field and 400 ft (120 m) to right field. An inner fence was soon constructed to create more realistic action. Both the park and the nickname "Highlanders" were abandoned when the American Leaguers left, at the beginning of the 1913 season, to rent the Polo Grounds from the Giants. The Polo Grounds had a far larger seating capacity, and by that time was made of concrete due to the 1911 fire. Hilltop Park was demolished in 1914.

In Their Own Story

The Highlanders / Yankees were not particularly successful during their stay at the Hilltop. Their best season was 1904, when they were in a tight race with Boston all summer. The season ended on October 10, with the Hilltop hosting a doubleheader against Boston, who led by 1 1/2 games. A sweep by the home team would have won the league championship for New York. However, Boston won the first game by scoring a tie-breaking run in the top of the ninth inning. With a Boston runner on third, New York pitcher Jack Chesbro threw a spitball that got away and sailed over the catcher's head. The runner on third easily came across the plate with what proved to be the pennant-clinching run. The Boston Globe called the game "The greatest victory ever won in outdoor sport." Two Hall of Fame pitchers had good outings at Hilltop Park in 1908. On June 30, 1908, Cy Young pitched a no-hitter against New York, winning 8-0. On September 4, 1908, 20-year-old Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators shut out the Highlanders 3-0 with a five-hitter. The next day, Johnson again blanked the Yankees, 6-0, on a three-hitter.

Reader's Guide

American League baseball came to New York City in 1903 when gambler Frank J. Farrell and former New York City Police Chief William S. Devery bought the Baltimore Orioles franchise for $18,000. They established the team at Hilltop Park, a hastily constructed wooden park seating about 16,000 fans, on the west side of Broadway between 165th and 168th streets. The land was acquired via a ten-year lease, arranged by the New York Institution for the Blind. The block was effectively parkland, with many trees to be cut down and an artificial lake to be drained and filled in. In mid-April, the owners announced that the new ballpark was to be officially known as American League Park. Between that fact and the club president Joseph Gordon being fancifully linked by sportswriters to the Gordon Highlanders, the team nickname "Highlanders" followed logically. Opening Day came on April 30, 1903, when the New York Highlanders played the Washington Senators. The ballpark site was quite large for its time (9.6 acres (3.9 ha) or nearly double the size of many ballpark sites of that era), and the south portion of the land plot was used for the parking of first carriages and later automobiles. The shape of the land plot was a large trapezoid with right angles at the site's northeast and southeast corners. The left field foul line ran mostly North to South and was parallel to Fort Washington Road (the western boundary of the park). The left field foul line would, if extended about 20 additional feet, have intersected 168th Street at less than 90°. The right field foul line would, if extended, have intersected Broadway (the eastern boundary of the park) at more than 90°. The ballpark site was thus trapezoidal in shape and large for the Deadball Era. The seating capacity of 16,000 was also rather large for this time period. Capacity in the dead-ball Era was a flexible concept. In accordance with the practices of the day, overflow crowds were allowed to stand in the perimeter of the outfield. In addition, for "big" games, additional standees were allowed down the foul lines and between home plate and the backstop. Thus the effective overall capacity of the park was closer to 25,000, although even when stuffed to the gills, it fell well short of the normal capacity of the Polo Grounds. The original 1903 construction of Hilltop Park cost about $200,000, more than two-thirds of which w

Did You Know?

• The Highlanders' best season was 1904, when they were in a tight race with Boston all summer. On October 10, Boston won the first game of a doubleheader when New York pitcher Jack Chesbro threw a wild pitch, allowing the
• The Giants' refusal to play a post-season World Series in 1904, after the Highlanders' unexpected pennant race, spurred public outcry that led to the establishment of rules for future World Series.