BROOKLYN BASEBALL
Baseball has been in Brooklyn since the 19th century. Before the Brooklyn Dodgers started their tenure in 1890, there was the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur team who actually beat a professional team (the Cincinnati Red Stockings) in 1870. The Dodgers were originally called the Superbas and the Bridegrooms before settling on the name Dodgers in 1913, in time for their move to Ebbets Field. However, when Wilbert Robinson becomes their manager, they change their name to the Robins in his honor in 1914. They would be the Dodgers again in 1932. The Dodgers hosted the first televised baseball game in 1939, and in 1941 started the first of the many Subway Series with the Yankees. The Dodgers really changed baseball and the US in 1947 when baseball great Jackie Robinson made his debut on April 15. Despite a tough time in the beginning, Jackie shined and helped the Dodgers wins several pennants. The Dodgers won their first World Series, against the Yankees, in 1955. All of this would end on September 24, 1957 when the Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field. There would be no more professional baseball until 2001 when the New York Penn League's Brooklyn Cyclones began to play at KeySpan Park in Coney Island.
Besides the Dodgers and the Cyclones, Brooklyn was also represented in the short lived third major league, the Federal League, from 1914-1915. They played in Washington Park, which was located on 4th Avenue and 3rd Street.
Other teams called Brooklyn home. Before Jackie's historic debut, there were the Negro Leagues and Brooklyn was represented by the Brooklyn Royal Giants from 1910 through 1942 (who actually played at Dexter Park in Queens) and then the Brooklyn Eagles (who eventually moved to Newark) from 1936 through 1948.
A semi-professional team, called the Brooklyn Bushwicks, played from 1936 through 1951 at Dexter Park.
Another semi-pro team, the Brooklyn Stars, were managed by the great Roy Campanella in 1959. They called Ebbets Field home after the Dodgers headed west and played the Kansas City Monarchs in several barnstorming games.
On the high school level, my high school, St. Francis Prep, played baseball in Brooklyn until 1974, when they moved to Queens. St. Francis was located on North 6th Street in the Northside section of Williamsburg (hence my user name here, North 6th).
Please check out Richard Goldstein's book, Superstars and Screwballs - 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball. It covers the 1850's to 9-24-57. Since it was written in 1991, there are no Cyclones pages.
