Ridgewood Queens - Lost Baseball Stadium Farmers Oval

Описание: Today I visit the old Farmers Oval lost Baseball stadium in Ridgewood, Queens where Lou Gehrig and Babe Herman once played. The ballpark no longer remains, but that doesn't mean that we can't visit the site where Hall of Famers such as Jud 'Boojum' Wilson and Leo Durocher once played.

We get to hear about the park itself, all of the local teams that played there, the Hall of Famers and Major Leaguer's who once graced the field, as well as stories of pre Negro league teams and women's teams playing there as well.

The stadium was taken down in 1947, however as you will be able to see on our trip today, the field where the stadium once existed is still very much in use.

There is a story that says that the Glendale Farmers began playing on an empty lot on this site as far back as 1900, however I wasn't able to confirm that. What I do know though is that the Farmers began playing here in 1907 and continued playing until 1945.

The park of course was used for multiple other sporting events such as athletics and soccer, and though the name of the park has changed over the years, the same sporting events have taken place here for the last 115 years.

So sit back and enjoy the story of the Glendale Farmers Oval.

Mafera Park (officially Joseph F. Mafera Park) is a park in Queens, New York City, United States. It is approximately 5.4 acres (0.022 km2) in size, located adjacent to the New York City Subway's Fresh Pond Yard and close to the Fresh Pond Junction between the Long Island Rail Road's Bay Ridge and Lower Montauk branches. It has facilities for baseball, basketball, roller hockey, and handball.

The park is named after Ridgewood resident Joseph F. Mafera; when Mafera died in 1967, the park was renamed by law in his honor. The City of New York purchased the land in 1948, and on June 28, 1949, a groundbreaking ceremony was held, featuring New York City mayor William O'Dwyer, Queens Borough President James A. Burke, and Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Robert Moses.

Mafera Park was also known as Farmers' Oval due to the park's history hosting the semi-professional Glendale Farmers Base Ball Club for almost 50 years, from the 1900s until the 1950s. In the late 1940s and early 1950s it was also briefly called Ridgewood Park and Glen Ridge Park, as the park is between Glendale and Ridgewood.

It was renovated in the early 1990s, and a ribbon cutting ceremony was hosted by mayor Rudy Giuliani, Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, and New York City parks commissioner Henry Stern on March 18, 1995.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafera_...