Site of Hilltop Park (New York City, New York) | place with historical importance, baseball park / stadium

 place with historical importance, baseball park / stadium, historical layer / disappeared object

Originally built as American League Park, Hilltop Park was home to the New York Highlanders/New York Yankees 1903-1912.

New York obtained its American League team belatedly when Frank Farrell and Bill Devery bought the Baltimore Orioles and moved them to Manhattan. The team was known as the Highlanders for the first few years at Hilltop. Then, of course, they became known as the Yankees. Hilltop Park, constructed in only six weeks, had a roofed single-decked grandstand that wrapped around home plate and extended a few feet past 1st base and 3rd base. Open bleachers, which were covered in 1911, extended down the foul lines to the outfield fences. In 1912, bleachers were erected in center field.

The Giants originally greeted their American League counterparts with animosity. However, a healthy rivalry developed as the years passed. The teams staged exhibition series and when the Polo Grounds burned down near the start of the 1911 season, the Giants shared Hilltop Park with the Yankees for over two months. The Giants returned the favor by letting the Yankees share the Polo Grounds beginning in 1912, an arrangement that lasted until Yankee Stadium was built in 1923.

Hilltop Park was torn down in 1914. The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center has occupied the site since the 1920s.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Highlanders#Move_to_New_...