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asrivkin · 01-05-2026, 09:28 AM

Good morning, and Happy New Year!

Today I'm posting the St. George Grounds, home to the AA's New York Metropolitans in 1886 and 1887, and occasional home to the NL's Giants in 1889. Despite often being referred to as the "St. George Cricket Grounds", including by the Wikipedia page, the park was apparently just the "St. George Grounds"--cricket was played before the baseball field was built, but apparently not afterward. The colorful history of the site is recounted in this SABR article, and includes multiple stagings of big-budget, epic shows, sometimes during the baseball season. For what it's worth, I think this now gives us ballparks in all five boroughs of New York City, though it's possible that the present-day ballpark at nearly the same site has been modeled?

Google Drive link to St. George Grounds 1887

A few notes about the model, etc. There are suggestions in some of the period artwork and histories that fans could watch the Statue of Liberty being constructed, but using Google Earth suggests that the viewing angle wouldn't have been right (at least for the grandstand), plus the size of the statue is small enough that it wouldn't have realistically shown up at anything impressive at model scales. On top of that, it was finished early in the 1886 season. So, I decided not to make a special effort for it. I tried to be reasonably historical in general for this model, but perfect was definitely going to be the enemy of good enough for it, at least for me right now.

Relatedly, I took the background from a spot close to the historical site, but not quite at it--the real site is in the parking lot of the current, modern ballpark, and so a panorama would include that ballpark. So I shifted over a little bit to basically be atop the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The panorama also includes the modern-day NYC skylines, and I suppose the ships that are visible are probably _very_ anachronistic to folks who know about ships. Creating an 1880s-appropriate panorama from that site is beyond my skills and available time investment right now, but I'm happy to incorporate one if someone comes up with one.

What I _did_ put in the model is a nod to "The Fall of Babylon", which was the epic that was staged in the summer of 1887 on the field, wreaking havoc with baseball play as a result. So, that's where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon come in, thanks to 3D Workshop. There are no dimensions for St. George Grounds that I ran across, so the listed model dimensions are based on the entire lot. However, I made the grid go around the Hanging Gardens so players wouldn't disappear into it. I also have the park factors all set to 1, so it shouldn't affect game outcomes but just act as an Easter egg.

As I'm posting this, I also realize I should have put a couple of tents on the field to serve as the dugouts, but in the interest of getting this out those will need to wait for any version 2 that's needed...

As usual, comments/questions are welcome!

***HAD LINK TO WRONG FILE AT FIRST, FIXED AT 9:37 PM EASTERN TIME ON 5 JANUARY 2026***
if you downloaded before then, please try again. It'll be obvious if you've got the wrong zip file. :\

01-05-2026, 09:28 AM	#312
asrivkin Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Maryland Posts: 341	St. George Grounds Good morning, and Happy New Year! Today I'm posting the St. George Grounds, home to the AA's New York Metropolitans in 1886 and 1887, and occasional home to the NL's Giants in 1889. Despite often being referred to as the "St. George Cricket Grounds", including by the Wikipedia page, the park was apparently just the "St. George Grounds"--cricket was played before the baseball field was built, but apparently not afterward. The colorful history of the site is recounted in this SABR article, and includes multiple stagings of big-budget, epic shows, sometimes during the baseball season. For what it's worth, I think this now gives us ballparks in all five boroughs of New York City, though it's possible that the present-day ballpark at nearly the same site has been modeled? Google Drive link to St. George Grounds 1887 A few notes about the model, etc. There are suggestions in some of the period artwork and histories that fans could watch the Statue of Liberty being constructed, but using Google Earth suggests that the viewing angle wouldn't have been right (at least for the grandstand), plus the size of the statue is small enough that it wouldn't have realistically shown up at anything impressive at model scales. On top of that, it was finished early in the 1886 season. So, I decided not to make a special effort for it. I tried to be reasonably historical in general for this model, but perfect was definitely going to be the enemy of good enough for it, at least for me right now. Relatedly, I took the background from a spot close to the historical site, but not quite at it--the real site is in the parking lot of the current, modern ballpark, and so a panorama would include that ballpark. So I shifted over a little bit to basically be atop the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The panorama also includes the modern-day NYC skylines, and I suppose the ships that are visible are probably _very_ anachronistic to folks who know about ships. Creating an 1880s-appropriate panorama from that site is beyond my skills and available time investment right now, but I'm happy to incorporate one if someone comes up with one. What I _did_ put in the model is a nod to "The Fall of Babylon", which was the epic that was staged in the summer of 1887 on the field, wreaking havoc with baseball play as a result. So, that's where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon come in, thanks to 3D Workshop. There are no dimensions for St. George Grounds that I ran across, so the listed model dimensions are based on the entire lot. However, I made the grid go around the Hanging Gardens so players wouldn't disappear into it. I also have the park factors all set to 1, so it shouldn't affect game outcomes but just act as an Easter egg. As I'm posting this, I also realize I should have put a couple of tents on the field to serve as the dugouts, but in the interest of getting this out those will need to wait for any version 2 that's needed... As usual, comments/questions are welcome! *HAD LINK TO WRONG FILE AT FIRST, FIXED AT 9:37 PM EASTERN TIME ON 5 JANUARY 2026* if you downloaded before then, please try again. It'll be obvious if you've got the wrong zip file. :\ Attached Images Last edited by asrivkin; 01-05-2026 at 10:38 PM. Reason: fixed link!