The Rotunda at Ebbets Field

[Anthony]

I went to the St. John's - Georgetown game at CitiField today. As we passed through the rotunda, I told my wife it was based on the rotunda at Ebbets Field and noted that apparently no picture from inside the rotunds there exists.

I have read that, but wonder if it is really true.

Also, those of you who have been there, do you have any memory of what it was like inside the Ebbets Field Rotunda?

[penncentralpete]

I went to the St. John's - Georgetown game at CitiField today. As we passed through the rotunda, I told my wife it was based on the rotunda at Ebbets Field and noted that apparently no picture from inside the rotunds there exists.

I have read that, but wonder if it is really true.

Also, those of you who have been there, do you have any memory of what it was like inside the Ebbets Field Rotunda?

Ebbets Field rotunda....................

[Anthony]

Thanks Pete -- I knew someone here would have it.

[Let's Go Mets!]

Pete,

What went on in there?

[penncentralpete]

Pete,

What went on in there?

Many things besides the selling of tickets. It was a great meeting place.

[dodger dynamo]

Boisterous crowds, milling around. Always a guy with a greasy paper sack. Old friends, good natured ribbing. the anticipation of a great day of baseball.
bb the dd

[penncentralpete]

Boisterous crowds, milling around. Always a guy with a greasy paper sack. Old friends, good natured ribbing. the anticipation of a great day of baseball.
bb the dd

Yeah, I probably bumped into you there John. lol

[dodger dynamo]

Yeah, I probably bumped into you there John. lol
Betcha' so. How many times did you get in on elsie tickets? If you got there early you could see some interesting stuff. I remember an old guy on line outside cooking fish with a beat up ww1 sterno stove. I say old, but I'd guess he was a ww1 veteran and I'm probably older now, than he was then.
What a smell!. He was tailgating without a tail gate and in line no less, sheesh!, but you know nobody cared much. I guess that was brooklyn. He probably got in and sat behind a pole and ate it.
battlin bake, the dodger dynamo.

[jnakamura]

:highfive::atthepc:applaud:Betcha' so. How many times did you get in on elsie tickets? If you got there early you could see some interesting stuff. I remember an old guy on line outside cooking fish with a beat up ww1 sterno stove. I say old, but I'd guess he was a ww1 veteran and I'm probably older now, than he was then.
What a smell!. He was tailgating without a tail gate and in line no less, sheesh!, but you know nobody cared much. I guess that was brooklyn. He probably got in and sat behind a pole and ate it.
battlin bake, the dodger dynamo.

Stories like that are the main reason I lurk here.

[penncentralpete]

John: We never got "Elsie" tix. My dad used to get tickets through the mail. We often sat down the left field line, passed 3rd base, but before the foul pole. My uncles said we'd get the most opportunities for a foul ball there (alas, we never got one). Mom would pack our liverwurst on rye sandwiches and plenty of napkins. I remember my Ebbets Field Cokes were more times warm and flat, but that didn't matter much. Seeing our boys in those gorgeous white flannels was the ultimate. I remember almost every grown man were smoking cigars and wearing hats. All the kids (like me) had crewcuts and dungarees (no, we never called them jeans). The grass was the greenest I ever saw and the mens' rooms smelled pretty bad. Counting the games I attended at Roosevelt Stadium in '56 and '57 (my first game was at EF against the Braves in 1954), we went often, about a dozen games a year. I think your old friend cooked his fish in the ladies' room down the leftfield line!

[Anthony]

John: We never got "Elsie" tix. My dad used to get tickets through the mail. We often sat down the left field line, passed 3rd base, but before the foul pole. My uncles said we'd get the most opportunities for a foul ball there (alas, we never got one). Mom would pack our liverwurst on rye sandwiches and plenty of napkins. I remember my Ebbets Field Cokes were more times warm and flat, but that didn't matter much. Seeing our boys in those gorgeous white flannels was the ultimate. I remember almost every grown man were smoking cigars and wearing hats. All the kids (like me) had crewcuts and dungarees (no, we never called them jeans). The grass was the greenest I ever saw and the mens' rooms smelled pretty bad. Counting the games I attended at Roosevelt Stadium in '56 and '57 (my first game was at EF against the Braves in 1954), we went often, about a dozen games a year. I think your old friend cooked his fish in the ladies' room down the leftfield line!


If I remember my father's stories right, he used to get to a game in 1941 for less than a dollar. His uncle was a boss painter over in New Jersey and when he came to visit Brooklyn he would give my dad some money. IIRC, this was the cost:

Trolley to Ebbet's Field $.05
Entrance to the bleachers $.10
Hotdog $.10
Soda $.05
Popcorn $.10
Scorecard $.05
Trolley home $.05

Grand total $.50

Does that sound right to folks? Unfortunately, my father passed away 5 years ago, so I may be misremembering. And this assumes that an 8 year old would take the trolley by himself (then again, in 1941 Brooklyn, he was probably very safe on the trolley).

[DukeBX]

that's an amazing picture of the rotunda. never seen it before. thanks.:clapping

[penncentralpete]

that's an amazing picture of the rotunda. never seen it before. thanks.:clapping

You are very welcome..................

[Michael Green]

Tex Ricketts, the legendary PA man ("A little boy has been found lost"), used to call it the marble rotunda, didn't he?

[penncentralpete]

Tex Ricketts, the legendary PA man ("A little boy has been found lost"), used to call it the marble rotunda, didn't he?

Yes he did. His name was Tex Ricard. He sat next to the Dodger dugout on a folding chair.

[dodger dynamo]

John: We never got "Elsie" tix. My dad used to get tickets through the mail. We often sat down the left field line, passed 3rd base, but before the foul pole. My uncles said we'd get the most opportunities for a foul ball there (alas, we never got one). Mom would pack our liverwurst on rye sandwiches and plenty of napkins. I remember my Ebbets Field Cokes were more times warm and flat, but that didn't matter much. Seeing our boys in those gorgeous white flannels was the ultimate. I remember almost every grown man were smoking cigars and wearing hats. All the kids (like me) had crewcuts and dungarees (no, we never called them jeans). The grass was the greenest I ever saw and the mens' rooms smelled pretty bad. Counting the games I attended at Roosevelt Stadium in '56 and '57 (my first game was at EF against the Braves in 1954), we went often, about a dozen games a year. I think your old friend cooked his fish in the ladies' room down the leftfield line! I chuckled on that one, come to think of it though your probably right. the bathrooms were bad and supposedly mcphail fixed them up in the 40's. the grass was green, to green to be green if you know what I mean.

[dodger dynamo]

If I remember my father's stories right, he used to get to a game in 1941 for less than a dollar. His uncle was a boss painter over in New Jersey and when he came to visit Brooklyn he would give my dad some money. IIRC, this was the cost:

Trolley to Ebbet's Field $.05
Entrance to the bleachers $.10
Hotdog $.10
Soda $.05
Popcorn $.10
Scorecard $.05
Trolley home $.05

Grand total $.50

Does that sound right to folks? Unfortunately, my father passed away 5 years ago, so I may be misremembering. And this assumes that an 8 year old would take the trolley by himself (then again, in 1941 Brooklyn, he was probably very safe on the trolley). People watched out for each other back then, if any body had said anything to kid that was "behaving" on the trolley, they would have been mobbed, people wanted to get involved, well they already were, bus drivers, taxi drivers, those coming and those going, from the nosey ladies in the neighbor hood to the beat cop. They all watched. Although I wasn't allowed to go to ebbets field by myself, until 51 that summer I was 11 1/2 not that I ever went alone, there were always a few of us.

[VIBaseball]

From a site devoted to the friendly old park, an array of photos of and related to the rotunda:

http://www.ebbets-field.com/EbbetsField/Rotunda/index.htm

The blueprint one is intriguing.

[disgrig]

Has anybody ever heard stories about what happened to the chandelier and other pieces of the rotunda when the ballpark was demolished?

[ChineseDemocracy]

The O'Malley's still have the chandelier.

[mandrake]

I am taking my parents to Citi, each of them separately since they each have health issues and it will be easier on me to take them one at a time.
My dad is 82 and mom is 81, so I want to hear what they think of Citi vs Ebbets Field. My mom had a ticket "connection" at EF, and she got to sit in the press box near Red Barber (and further away was a newbie named Vin Scully). When I asked her about the connection, it turned out her best friend's dad was OMalley's chaueffer (not exactly a connection I would brag about). My dad did not have any such "in's" but he did tell me there was a place in EF where one could climb up and look into the visitor's clubhouse. One of his friends did this to St Louis and while he was shouting at them, a bucket of water was thrown into his face. I wonder if there really was a place in EF this could happen.

[disgrig]

The O'Malley's still have the chadelier.
So, how did the O'Malleys acquire the chandelier if they were already in Los Angeles? Did they still own the ballpark in Brooklyn at the time it was torn down?

[EdTarbusz]

So, how did the O'Malleys acquire the chandelier if they were already in Los Angeles? Did they still own the ballpark in Brooklyn at the time it was torn down?

O'Malley sold Ebbets Field while the Dodgers were still playing in Brooklyn.

[VIBaseball]

From the NY Times, the question of what the rotunda floor's pattern was.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/sports/baseball/16metsnotes.html?ref=sports

Thanks, Ralph Branca.

[SteveJRogers]

The O'Malley's still have the chandelier.

If they do, I'm sure there is a guy with an office in Flushing would LOVE to have it for his office building's front lobby!

[dodger dynamo]

supposedly they removed it before demolition, as it wasn't one of the items auctioned. the O'malley's have it or the team does. The family of the then Mayor of La has the home plate, or city does or some other official by now, yea right!, no wonder we're still ticked off. battlin bake, the dodger dynamo

[ChineseDemocracy]

Dynamo, the home plate from Ebbets is in the Dugout Club at Dodger Stadium.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n17/GarryCarlson/Tour121.jpg

[aqib]

For a guy who was so quick to leave town he sure was sentimental. Didn't he also ask for some of the seats from Ebbets Field to be saved so he could put them in Dodgertown in Florida?

[dodger dynamo]

Dynamo, the home plate from Ebbets is in the Dugout Club at Dodger Stadium.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n17/GarryCarlson/Tour121.jpg

Did they retrieve it and get it bronzed or did he pull a fast one on poulson?