My virtual hat is truly off in salute over this! (I don't wear actual hats except when snow-blowing in the winter and even then reluctantly, as in my ears are about to freeze and fall off.)
I'm playing fictional MLB in 1917 and I went to check on my 3D stadium setup, forgetting that I already chose to use 1928 Yankees Stadium awhile back (I did say "
fictional MLB") and therefore was all set.
But was I? What the heck is that name?
Brush Stadium? Not Hilltop Park or the Polo Grounds?
I thought maybe one of the really fictional ballpark names had snuck in there, like "Aardvarks Arena," you know?
But not! I searched for a reference to Brush Stadium (brushing aside all the references to Busch Stadium) and found exactly one.
Wikipedia, of course.
Brush Stadium turns out to be the name for the Polo Grounds after a renovation was commissioned by New York Giants owner
John T. Brush in 1911 "but the name did not stick, and it died with him." A glance at his mug in the photo below may explain why he may not have been too popular in life and quite forgettable in death.
I searched the era-ballparks.txt file and sure enough, it has the name "Brush Stadium" appearing for the Giants in 1911, joined by the Yankees in 1913 after they vacated Hilltop Park. They share "Brush Stadium" until 1920 when the name reverts back to the Polo Grounds. In 1923, the Yankees depart for Yankee Stadium, of course.
Now, I have been a Yankees fan for all of my adult life. I knew about their 1913-1922 stay in the Polo Grounds but I had never heard of "Brush Stadium" before.
My virtual hat is off to whomever uncovered this obscure fact!
