This is a cool one.

Polo Grounds is in my list of Top Five Places that No Longer Exist that I'd Totally Visit if I Had a Time Machine.

Polo Grounds is in my list of Top Five Places that No Longer Exist that I'd Totally Visit if I Had a Time Machine.

It's so high up on my Top Five that it's in a whole higher list.

My top 5 (baseball)

Polo Grounds
Ebbets Field
Forbes Field
Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)
Shibe Park

Baseball places I'd visit with my time machine:

Elysian Fields, 1846
Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field), 1915
Ebbets Field, 1955
Tiger Stadium, 1976 (to watch my 11-yr-old self watching The Bird)
Martian Ballpark, 2237

#3 -- The first place which popped into my head was Wrigley Field in L.A. I love its external architecture. Seal Stadium was not as good-looking, but it would be great to see what the people of San Francisco looked like in it, say in 1950.

Ebbets Field, 1947, Jackie's debut
Polo Grounds, 1908, the Merkle game or the playoff, either one
Sportsman's Park, 1934, any Sunday game with Dean pitching
Yankee Stadium, Opening Day 1923
Wrigley Field, 1938, Homer in the Gloaming game

Honorable mentions:

Sulpher Dell (Nashville)***, almost anytime
Wrigley Field (Los Angeles), 1961
Seals Stadium (San Francisco), 1958
Forbes Field
Crosley Field

*** You can have your shopping mall boutique ballparks. Give me something like this:

Sulphur Dell was best known for having one of the most significant "terraces" or sloping outfields in baseball history, a steep incline that ran along the entire outfield wall, most dramatically in right and center fields. The right field fence was only 262 feet from the plate. Whenever games attracted very large crowds, fans sat on the shelf of the right field slope, cutting right field down to 235 feet from the plate. Most right fielders stood about halfway up the slope and were known as "mountain goats." The area was subject to flooding when the Cumberland River exceeded its banks.

The park was located near the city dump, which lent a unique fragrance to the surroundings. It was also known for being extremely friendly to hitters, which led pitchers to call it "Suffer Hell." Casey Stengel once joked that he could bunt a home run down the first base line, which was only 42 feet from the stands. The third base line was even closer, at 26 feet.

For those who might want to know more (and check out some photos):

http://www.sulphurdell.com/

Good post, JOSN(nwSNh).

DB

Great picture - nice solid background for an autograph.

Great picture - nice solid background for an autograph.

Yeah, but since it's Mays, unless you buy it from a broker it'll still come back to you signed upside down. Willie hasn't been too fond of autograph seekers for the past 20 or 30 years.

No contest: Polo Grounds, Game 3 '51 NL playoff, the fourth seat with Sinatra, Gleason, and Toots Shor.

Non-baseball division:

(1) 100 meter Olympic final, Berlin, 1936
(2) Press Row, Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston, Miami Beach, 1964

Yankee Stadium, Opening Day 1923

You mean you missed that one the first time around? ;-)

Yankee Stadium, Opening Day 1923

You mean you missed that one the first time around? ;-)

Nah, it was sold out before I got there and then the truant officer nabbed me trying to sneak through the knothole. Those Clancys didn't miss a trick.

These daily photo threads are great

Non-baseball division:

(1) 100 meter Olympic final, Berlin, 1936
(2) Press Row, Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston, Miami Beach, 1964

Red Grange's 5 TD game against Michigan, 1924

Griffith Stadium, December 8, 1940

Tiger Stadium, Thanksgiving Day, 1962

Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, March 23, 1957

Boston Garden, April 13, 1957

If I had the time traveling machine (including those in my lifetime) and assuming there was no way of changing the outcome (so I couldn't go and stop Jeffrey Maier or pull poor Steve Bartman back):
Miracle on Ice
Cal breaking the Streak
Wilt in Hershey PA
Ali-Wepner (AKA the "Real Rocky" fight)
Game 3, NL Playoffs, 1951
The Comeback

GB, that Comeback link doesn't work.

GB, that Comeback link doesn't work.

Ah, well, it's the Frank Reich comeback.

Gamingboy, I was at the first game of Cal's streak. I think that's way cooler than 2131. I value the stuff I had no clue would happen when I walked up that day more than the stuff I had reason to believe would happen.

2) German Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring on July 28, 1935.
1) October 16, 1969, Shea Stadium, New York.

Gamingboy, I was at the first game of Cal's streak. I think that's way cooler than 2131. I value the stuff I had no clue would happen when I walked up that day more than the stuff I had reason to believe would happen.

This brings up a interesting point about the use of "what game would you attend if you had a time machine"? That's why all the things I picked are either one where the crowd or experience would be awesome, or, in the case of Wilt having 100, don't exist ANYWHERE (we literally have more footage of the Called Shot game than the Wilt 100 game).

No contest: Polo Grounds, Game 3 '51 NL playoff, the fourth seat with Sinatra, Gleason, and Toots Shor.

Just make sure you're not sitting right next to Gleason.

in the case of Wilt having 100, don't exist ANYWHERE (we literally have more footage of the Called Shot game than the Wilt 100 game)

A few years ago I happened upon some late-night radio show where they played a nearly-complete tape of a radio play-by-play of that game ... terrible sound quality, and of course terrible production values in the original broadcast itself (the NBA in 1962 was still quite rinky-dink) ... it was stupendous.

Gamingboy, I was at the first game of Cal's streak. I think that's way cooler than 2131

I got to attend what was very likely Lance Niekro's final major league appearance. Not quite the same.

The most historic MLB Ballgame I've ever been to was Jesse Orosco breaking the all-time Games in Relief record.
Woo-hoo.

Although I did see Pedro strike out like 13 or 14 batters in my "second most historic" game. That was cool.

KNBR has/had a copy, didn't it Steve? I recall them playing it once.

Anyway, as nice as Wilt's 100 was, I'd much rather have the original TV broadcast of the Thomson game. I don't think there is anything I would want to see more than the TV broadcast of that game.

The most historic thing I've ever seen live was the last start of Roger Clemens's career.

GB, that Comeback link doesn't work.

Ah, well, it's the Frank Reich comeback.

Well, since Reich was the QB for the greatest major college and pro comebacks of all time, I have to ask: Which one? Maryland-Miami or Buffalo-Houston?

I don't think there is anything I would want to see more than the TV broadcast of that game.

Ditto.

Can you imagine how it would be covered if today's FOX crew were there to provide that 'service'.

Joe Buck: "Thomson wins the National League Pennant for the Giants. And now to our sideline reporter, who is interviewing Pee Wee Reese."

Reporter: "Pee Wee, what do you think of the rumors that you will be dealt to the Phillies this offseason?"...

"Coming up after the postgame show, the premeire broadcast of The Truman Show".

Oh hell Andy I wouldn't mind that, I would just be happy not to see the guy with the long curly hair stand up and grab his head and the old woman with the bingo wings do the Indian cry anymore.

Bills comeback.

This brings up a interesting point about the use of "what game would you attend if you had a time machine"?]

Or ... what team would you most like to have had season tickets, best seats in the house, to see?

My first draft:

(1) 1977-78 Portland Trail Blazers
(2) 1972-73 New York Knickerbockers (**)
(3) 1951 New York Baseball Giants
(4) 1957 Detroit Lions
(5) 1970 San Francisco 49ers (Kezar Stadium)

(**) Whose red eye flight from LAX to LGA after winning the championship (immortalized here: http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/81802602.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1934B869679A269F9CC3E056E9F0C1B5ED526FD13ED7B73D4BC) finishes a very close second to Apollo 11 on my "What flight would I most like to have been on if I'd had a time machine" list)

Oh hell Andy I wouldn't mind that, I would just be happy not to see the guy with the long curly hair stand up and grab his head and the old woman with the bingo wings do the Indian cry anymore.

????????????

(1) 1977-78 Portland Trail Blazers

You must mean 1976-77, since Walton was crippled for the last part of 1977-78 and the Blazers got knocked out of the playoffs early.

(4) 1957 Detroit Lions

I saw (on TV, of course) the comeback against the Colts (down 27-3), the comeback against the 49ers in the Western Conference playoff (down 27-7), and the 59-14 annihilation of the Browns in the title game, with a backup quarterback (Tobin Rote) leading them in the postseason. That still remains my favorite pro team of all time.

KNBR has/had a copy, didn't it Steve? I recall them playing it once.

That must have been it.

You must mean 1976-77, since Walton was crippled for the last part of 1977-78 and the Blazers got knocked out of the playoffs early.

The '77 team didn't know it was good until the very end of the year. The '78 team knew it was good -- real good -- and hummed like a Ferrari 056 from October to March. The 70-odd games before Walton's feet blew up were basketball at its apex of aesthetic appeal. I'll take the 35 home games and deal with the sour ending. Peak vs. career, but yeah, it's a feisty choice.

I saw (on TV, of course) the comeback against the Colts (down 27-3), the comeback against the 49ers in the Western Conference playoff (down 27-7), and the 59-14 annihilation of the Browns in the title game, with a backup quarterback (Tobin Rote) leading them in the postseason. That still remains my favorite pro team of all time.

Cementing the Lions -- yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Detroit Lions as the Team of the Decade for the 1950s. They've played a grand total of two home playoff games since their dismantling of the Browns -- a sublime and unmatched (bordering on unimaginable) record of futility.

I think most of mine would be concerts.

Jimi Hendrix in London covering Sgt Pepper's days after the album was released, with the Beatles in attendance. The Clash playing the first show as an opener for the Sex Pistols. And such.

Cementing the Lions -- yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Detroit Lions as the Team of the Decade for the 1950s. They've played a grand total of two home playoff games since their dismantling of the Browns -- a sublime and unmatched (bordering on unimaginable) record of futility.

For the team of the 50's it'd be a tough call between the Lions (3 titles in 4 tries) and the Browns (3 titles in 7 tries), but what tips it to the Lions is that in head to head they absolutely owned Cleveland in that decade. That one title game loss in 1954 was balanced by 3 title game wins, 4 regular season wins, and several exhibition game wins, without a single other loss. And this was when the Browns were winning everything else in sight.

You know, you might say that times have changed.

????????????

Know what I'm sayin'?

I'd love to have had a season ticket to the San Francisco 49ers in 1970. The first ever division title by the 49ers and it would be incredible to see how the hell an NFL team managed to play there.

I got to attend what was very likely Lance Niekro's final major league appearance. Not quite the same

I loved being in the crowd for Alex Sanchez' last appearance. I'm pretty sure Alex was whisked away under police custody and taken directly to the lions at the SF Zoo.

Conspiracy Theory version:

1. The Moon, July 20, 1969
2. grassy knoll, Dallas, TX, November 22, 1963
3. Roswell, NM, July, 1947

Sulphur Dell was demolished in 1969.

:-(


Off the top of my head:

1.) Mahler 8th Symphony premiere - Munich, September 12, 1910
2.) Stravinsky Rite of Spring premiere and riot - Paris, May 29, 1913
3.) Lenny's fill-in debut for Walter at the NY Phil - November 14, 1943
4.) Every week in the court of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria from 1563 to 1594, where Orlande de Lassus was maestro di capella.

My five baseball time machine games:

1. Game 7 of the 1924 World Series -- Washington's greatest baseball moment and one of the most thrilling games ever played
2. Game 3, NL playoff, 1951
3. Phillies at Dodgers, Oct. 1, 1950
4. Game 4 of the 1929 World Series, Athletics score 10 in 7th inning, rally from 8-0 deficit to beat Cubs (I believe veteran Philly sportscaster Bill Campbell has said that was the first MLB game he ever attended)
5. The 1928 doubleheader between the Yanks and A's at the Stadium, which I believe was on Labor Day and drew about 80,000...Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Cobb, Speaker, Foxx, Cochrane

If I can add a minor league game, I'd love to watch a Los Angeles Angels-Hollywood Stars game, say from about 1939 or so when Gilmore Field had just opened, or at Wrigley Field. And after that, I might take a side trip ahead 20 years or so to watch the Dodgers at the Coliseum.

But I love the Polo Grounds, and still wish the Marlins would have designed their Orange Bowl-site stadium in that general shape.

Baseball:

1.) 2036, Queens, Nieporent's daughter throws first Mets' no-hitter.

3. Phillies at Dodgers, Oct. 1, 1950

Roberts and Newcombe, each going for their 20th win, in the second of three consecutive season-ending Phillies-Dodgers games, each with the pennant on the line. One of the forgotten bits of trivia about that game was the way that the Dodgers scored their only run: Pee Wee Reese hit a fly ball that hit the top of the right field scoreboard, and just got stuck there, not bouncing over and not bouncing back, for a ground rule home run. Imagine how many times that flukish home run would have been recounted over the years, had it been the game's only run, and if the Dodgers had gone on to win the resulting playoff.

5. The 1928 doubleheader between the Yanks and A's at the Stadium, which I believe was on Labor Day and drew about 80,000...Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Cobb, Speaker, Foxx, Cochrane

That was one of the greatest afternoons in Yankees' history. The A's had come from 13 1/2 games back on July 4th to take a 1/2 game lead the day before, but the Yanks swept this doubleheader and won again the next day, to go back up by 2 1/2, which is exactly where they finished at season's end. There's also a good chance that this was the biggest crowd in Yankee Stadium history, although IIRC the record books say it was a 1938 DH against the Red Sox.

My baseball time machine games would be:

1. Game 7, 1924 World Series
2. Last game of the 1908 NL season
3. Last game of the 1951 season
4. Game 7, 1975 World Series
5. Game 8, 1912 World Series

Others that haven't been mentioned yet:

Spahn vs. Marichal
The Rick Camp marathon
Game 7, 1926 World Series
Bill Bevens, a journeyman in the final start of his career, pitches the game of his life, but loses on his last pitch.
In a similar spirit, Game 1, 1929 World Series. The faded Howard Ehmke is brilliant one last time, setting a Series strikeout record.

The Rick Camp marathon

Absolutely, and then there's June 24, 1962, a 7 hour, 22 inning marathon in Tiger Stadium that may have been Jim Bouton's finest hour, a game that saw the winning home run hit by an ex-Ole Miss football player who never had another home run in his entire career.

No desire by anyone to be present on Disco Demolition Night?

I haven't seen anyone mention Johnny Vander Meer pitching no-hitters in two consecutive starts: June 11, 1938 and June 15, 1938.

My grandfather took my grandmother to Ebbets Field to see her first baseball game ever on June 15, 1938. It was the first night game played at Ebbets Field. I was told she couldn't understand why the Brooklyn fans were so excited when the Reds' Vander Meer no-hit the Dodgers.

May 10th, 1979, Cannes Film Festival. Apocalypse Now. Oooooh, baby.

New Years Eve 1969/New Years Day 1970, Fillmore East, the concerts that made up the material from Hendrix's Band of Gypsys. Likewise, March 12th-13th 1971, Fillmore East, the concerts that made up the material for the Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East.

Sporting events? 1983 NCAA Men's National Championship (NC State 54, Houston 52). Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. Along the lines of Disco Demolition Night - November 19th, 2004, Pacers-Pistons, the "basketbrawl."

I haven't seen anyone mention Johnny Vander Meer pitching no-hitters in two consecutive starts: June 11, 1938 and June 15, 1938.

Along the same lines, May 26, 1959, County Stadium, Milwaukee

EDIT: Just looking at that box score, I had never realized: Lew Burdette pitched a 13-inning complete game that day for the Braves and had TWO strikeouts (and no walks). He faced 47 batters and 45 of them put the ball in play. You sure don't see something like that any more.

One game I'd love to go back to see was the Yankees-Cubs game in 1932 at Wrigley -- The Called Shot (or the Point at Charlie Root) game. My dad, who was 13, was at the game with his two older brothers. My dad died when I was 7 and I don't remember him ever taking me to a ballgame of any sort. (We went to some pro wrestling matches, though, at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento.) It would be a trip to see what he and my uncles looked and sounded like at that game.

My list:

1. V-J Day, Manhattan, 1945
2. Polo Grounds, the Shot Heard 'Round the World, 1951
3. The beheading of King Charles I of England, 1649
4. Robespierre's Reign of Terror, 1793-'94, provided I could leave any old time I felt like it
5. Springsteen at the Bottom Line, New York, 1975

Just baseball:

1. See 2 above
2. Sandy Koufax's perfect game, Los Angeles, 1965
3. Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, New York -- no Mantle, but Snider, Reese, Campanella, Berra, Elston Howard playing the outfield, and a train ride back to Brooklyn
4. The Fisk homer, 1975, Boston
5. Even though I saw it on television, even though there were many games left to play, game 5 of the 2004 ALCS, Boston, all blood and guts and passed balls. I blacked out for a good portion of this game the first time I watched it.

1. The Beatles at the Cavern Club, early 1963.
2. The Merkle Game, Polo Grounds, NY, September 23, 1908.
3. Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.
4. The Great Exhibition of 1851, The Crystal Palace, London.
5. The Filipino army's final advance on Reykjavik, 51st Century.

Non-sports (macabre division):

1. The day the music died for the dinosaurs, T minus 65 million years
2. Roman Senate, Assassination of Caesar, 44 BC
3. Emptying of Phnom Penh and other major cities, Cambodia, April 1975

Most of my non-sports trips would be to explain unsolved murders (Julia Wallace, the Lake Bodom Murders,, the Gatton Murders) or unexplained deaths (Tim Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, Ambrose Bierce, Michael Rockefeller), but excluding things like that:

1. 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago
2. The first performance of Beethoven's 9th symphony.
3. The opening night of Welles and Houseman's Cradle Will Rock
4. A performance of King Lear at the Globe
5. The Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium

I'd like to go back and see Koufax, Feller, Johnson, etc. for one great home game each. I got to see Pedro c. 1999 at Fenway a few times, and I'd like to compare.

5. Springsteen at the Bottom Line, New York, 1975

I booed.

2. The first performance of Beethoven's 9th symphony.

In all honesty, you wouldn't have wanted to be there.

Beethoven was eager to have his work played in Berlin as soon as possible after finishing it, since he thought that musical taste in Vienna was dominated by Italian composers such as Rossini. When his friends and financiers heard this, they urged him to premiere the symphony in Vienna.

The Ninth Symphony was premiered on May 7, 1824 in the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna, along with the Consecration of the House Overture and the first three parts of the Missa Solemnis. This was the composer's first on-stage appearance in twelve years; the hall was packed. The soprano and alto parts were interpreted by two famous young singers: Henriette Sontag and Caroline Unger.

Although the performance was officially directed by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him. However, two years earlier, Umlauf had watched as the composer's attempt to conduct a dress rehearsal of his opera Fidelio ended in disaster. So this time, he instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the totally deaf Beethoven. At the beginning of every part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the tempos. He was turning the pages of his score and beating time for an orchestra he could not hear.

There are a number of anecdotes about the premiere of the Ninth. Based on the testimony of the participants, there are suggestions that it was under-rehearsed (there were only two full rehearsals) and rather scrappy in execution. On the other hand, the premiere was a great success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, as violist Josef Bohm recalled: "Beethoven directed the piece himself; that is, he stood before the lectern and gesticulated furiously. At times he raised, at other times he shrunk to the ground, he moved as if he wanted to play all the instruments himself and sing for the whole chorus. All the musicians minded his rhythm alone while playing".

When the audience applauded...Beethoven was several measures off and still conducting. Because of that, the contralto Caroline Unger walked over and turned Beethoven around to accept the audience's cheers and applause."

I can see why that part gets left out of all the stories (I'd never heard that before). Depressing. I'd probably want to be one of those applauding anyway. If I had to bump that from my list, I'd replace it with seeing the Peter Brook staging of Marat/Sade.

I had forgotten this one, but it's most certainly on my list:

The Fifth Symphony was premiered on December 22, 1808 at a mammoth concert at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres, and directed by Beethoven himself. The performance took more than four hours. The two symphonies appeared on the program in the reverse order of what we know them today: the Sixth was first, and the Fifth appeared in the second half. The program was as follows:

1. The Sixth Symphony
2. Aria: "Ah, perfido", Op. 65
3. The Gloria movement of the Mass in C Major
4. The Fourth Piano Concerto (played by Beethoven himself)
5. (Intermission)
6. The Fifth Symphony
7. The Sanctus and Benedictus movements of the C Major Mass
8. A solo piano improvisation played by Beethoven
9. The Choral Fantasy

In terms of classical music, I'd settle for being at the 1943 war bonds concert when Toscanini and Horowitz combined on Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto. I used to have the live recording of that concert, and whatever you may think of the concerto itself, it was an inspired performance.

My five musical time machine moments:

1. Louis Armstrong at the New Sebastian Cotton Club in Culver City, Calif., 1930. This was a fascinating era for Satch, as he was branching out beyond jazz and was beginning to perform pop hits of the day, emphasizing his wonderful vocal style as much as his brilliant playing.
2. 1935 LA, the Palomar Ballroom -- Benny Goodman's "Let's Dance" broadcasts help popularize swing
3. Frank Sinatra at the Times Square Paramount in 1944, not only to witness the bobby-soxer frenzy but hear him as a young balladeer
4. Elvis Presley in 1955 while he was a Sun Records artist, before pop stardom changed him
5. The Beatles at the Cavern Club in Liverpool

5. Springsteen at the Bottom Line, New York, 1975

I booed.

Naw, you Bruuuuuced.

Unexplained deaths (Tim Treadwell and Amie Huguenar)

They were eaten by a bear. Not a lot of mystery there I'd think.