The evening world., 1889-05-31
LIKE A DESERTED VILLAGE.
THE POLO GROUNDS IN THEIR STATE OF
RUIN AND DESOLATION.

-StOrehreptTe Ihbh u SsVba"e ANNh
shops from Lack Of Trade Little Won-
der that Harlem Complained.
The handsome Harlem turn outs which
used 70 stand at the One Hundred and Sixth
street station of the Third Avenue Elevated
Railway. aud convey the luxurious admirer
| of baseball to the Polo Grounds for 10 cents,
have been out of q job thus far this season.
As an EVENING WORLD reporter wandered
that way on a recent afternoon. q
venerable white horse. which had once
exercised daily between the station and the
Polo Grounds. supported by the shafts OF the
hack. stood hitched to M ash-cart. without
even the passing compliment Of a red;haired
girl. HI was a faded relic of the hack line,
No merry iingling of glasses came from the
saloon which used to do business on the
corner.
The only people in One Hundred and Sixth
street-which was a great thoroughfare when
all roads led to the Polo Grounds-were Q
| paralytic who was out for an afternoon stroll
in an armchair on wheels, and q blind man
who was being piloted by a whimsical and
eccentric dog.
The reporter walked through the once busy
street, somewhat awed by its loneliness. The
gross was %springing up through the cracks In
the pavement.
Except for the somewhat stony character of
the cobblestone pavement, the street itself
might be usefully put to raising
Travel has little further use for it. .
A genial saloon-keeper sat asleep in frontof
stones throw Of the Polo Grounds. The
spiders were weaving a web over his bottles:
The ants were playing baseball on the card
tables with crumbs Of pumpernickel. The
slate over the counter looked like o faded
score card.
There were no ticket SPECTATORS in front
of the Polo Grounds. No clusters OF specta-
tors hung breathlessly to the telegraph poles.
Interest in the game had spurred no one to
ascend where he might take the score, as 1t
were, from the wires. No keen-eyed urchin
was trying TO look through the double-board
fence.
,h 4 6asSS,l, sp I'll, i: %sV Psro wnfP' the the
grounds from east to west, said
See what a rent the envious Street Com
missioner made" .
The fence had been torn down on the east
and west sides of the grounds. The rest OF
the fence, the bleaching boards and the grand
stand were left standing.
Tramps were quietly asleep on the bleach
ing boards and Harlem goats were gambol-
ling aboutthe ball grounds.
There was a tin can on second base. and a
the boy where smiling Mickey WeiOh used
to send the ball ourving and kissing over the
home plate. Two or three goats were mean
derlng about the field. and one of them was
fielding a tramp in far left field.
Three tramps were working the growler''
in the grand stand. A tramp was sitting in
Gov. Hills box.
score of urchins were playing ball and
holding q congress of profanity in one part
Of the grounds. About fifty tramps sleep in
the grand stand every night,
A resident of the neighborhood said to the
reporter, " When the New York Club played
on the ground it was a scene Of healthful
sport and popular enthusiasm for two or three
hours q day. Now it is q place Of quarrslling,
profanity and vagabondage from morning tu
grounds after dark. The place has become q
public nuisance"
Where the ragged urchins were playing ball
once played the great Ewing, the incompara,
BILE Roger Common the subtle Keefe, the
learned Judge Ward. the astute Counsellor
O'Rourke, the great masters of baseball.
Where the tramps were snoring on the
bleaching-boards thousands of voices used ia
cheer O three base hit or welcome d home
run.
Where oil was comparative silence and des.
olation ten thousand willing hands used to be
ready to mob the umpire or do anything that
was cheerful and useful.
Where 10, 1000 New Workers used to sit. hot
and happy, on the bleaching boards and en-.
joy life watching the New Yorks win, were
then to be seen only the empty boards,
sprinkled here and there with a omatoc car
and q tramp.
- The abandonment of the Polo Grounds had
almost destroyed business from One Hun
dred md Sixth to One Hundred and Six.
tenth street and from Third to Eighth ave
nue..
Saloon-keepers and shopkeepers, paying
high rents under leases made when baseball
was played III Harlem, found their bushes,
almost destroyed. Some would soon 90 Out
of business and there would be empty stores
and falling rents in Harlem.
The abandonment of the Polo Grounds
injured more real estate owners than it helped
and it greatly injured hundreds Of business
men.
1t established a congress OF tramps in the
very neighborhood that it was expected tc
benefit. 1t was an mcalculable injury tc
baseball and TO the popular enthusiasm fol
athletic outdoor sports.
In short. 1t was a most mistaken act. di
rectly opposed to public interest. aud the
immediate prospect that the grounds viii
soon be booming again should be sufficient
IN All eVarv Harlan heart with INV