Oakland Park was a

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

for their first two home games in 1889. The park was opened in the spring of 1888, as the new home of the Jersey City minor league club Jersey City Skeeters. The Jersey City club disbanded in July 1890, but the park continued to be used by other local teams for several years. It was located on a block bounded by Oakland Avenue (northwest); Hoboken Avenue (southwest); Bonner (now Baldwin) Avenue (southeast); and Fleet Street (northeast). Newspaper accounts in 1888 reported that the grandstand was to be built along Hoboken to shade the fans from the sun. Given the orientation of the block, that suggests home plate to center field pointing roughly northeast. The papers also reported that the old stands from the unused west half of the first Polo Grounds were to be ferried across the river and reassembled at the new Oakland Park. After the city had evicted the Giants from the original Polo Grounds at 110th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, the Giants were compelled to find temporary home fields until they could secure a more permanent location. They played their first two games on April 24 and April 25 against

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, each team winning one at Oakland Park. Their next home game came on April 29, at the St. George Cricket Grounds in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

. Their last game at St. George was on June 14. Their record at St. George was 17-6. After a lengthy road trip, on July 8 they finally debuted their new home field at 8th Avenue and 155th Street in Manhattan. They dubbed this field the new

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

. That general vicinity would be the Giants' home through the 1957 season. Despite the nomadic nature of their 1889 season, the Giants would win the National League championship, edging out Boston by one game, and then go on to defeat Brooklyn in the NL-AA World Series.

Site Today

The ball park has since disappeared and the area is now residential area and home to General Pencil Company.

References

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External links

Retrosheet 1889 game log for the Giants
Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct Major League Baseball venues Defunct sports venues in New Jersey Baseball venues in New Jersey