Ridgewood Queens Sports History

A baseball park inside of a larger picnic park that hosted professional baseball for only one season. The Brooklyn Grays of the American Association (later known as the Brooklyn Dodgers) played their Sunday home games here in 1886.

A picnic grounds turned horse racing track and baseball park that was home to the professional Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn of the Eastern League, another team called the Atlantic Club, and the semi-pro Acmes.

A baseball field that was the site of games involving many different professional teams, including the New York Giants of the National League, the New York Metropolitans and Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association, the Long Island Base Ball Club of the Eastern League, and the Cuban Giants and New York Gorhams of the Negro leagues.

A picnic grounds turned baseball park that was used by the professional Brooklyn Grays/Bridegrooms of the American Association (later known as the Brooklyn Dodgers) for their Sunday home games from 1887 to 1889 and the professional Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association in 1890. The park was later the home of the semi-pro Ridgewoods, the Brooklyn Royal Giants of the Negro leagues, and the semi-pro Bushwicks. The New York Highlanders of the American League (later known as the New York Yankees) played exhibition games here against the Ridgewoods.

The original location of a longtime boxing and wrestling venue that later became the Ridgewood Grove Arena.

A short-lived baseball park that was home to the semi-pro Ridgewoods, the Brooklyn Royal Giants of the Negro leagues, and the outlaw Brooklyn Bandits/Invaders of the Atlantic League and Union League.

A baseball park that was home to the semi-pro Suydam Lorials. This spot was later used for trolley car storage, and it now serves as the athletic fields for Grover Cleveland Athletic High School.

A baseball park that was home to semi-pro teams, most notably the Empire City Athletic Association team and the Arctic Polar Bears.

A baseball field that was home to the semi-pro Glendale Farmers Base Ball Club. Multiple Baseball Hall of Famers played here, including Grover Cleveland Alexander, Leo Durocher, Lou Gehrig, and Jud Wilson.

The childhood home of Hall of Fame New York Yankees shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto.

Considered the oldest continuously used soccer field in the country, the Met Oval has hosted exhibition games involving professional teams from abroad, including Club Nacional de Football from Uruguay and Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart from Germany.

The second location of a longtime boxing and wrestling venue that was the site of the first televised indoor boxing match in 1939 on NBC. It hosted matches involving champion boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, and Rocky Marciano (who suffered his only loss here as an amateur). It reopened in the 1980s, hosting WWF events with wrestling stars like Andre the Giant, the Iron Sheik, and Sgt. Slaughter.

Longtime New York Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard began his career here as a high school speech teacher.

A baseball park that was home to the Glendale Tigers, a former farm team of the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers.

After retiring from the Barnum & Bailey Circus, the world's strongest woman Kati Sandwina opened a restaurant and tavern here.

Many notable professional athletes attended high school here, including Jose Alvarado, Speedy Claxton, and Lamar Odom of the NBA, Sue Bird, Tina Charles, and Chamique Holdsclaw of the WNBA (who were all #1 overall picks in the WNBA draft), and former New York Yankees pitchers Allen Watson and Steve Karsay.

A sporting goods store featured in Season 1, Episode 5 of the HBO docuseries How to With John Wilson.