On Dec. 31, 1897, Charles Ebbets became the controlling owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, then known as the Grooms.
Ebbets gained an 80% interest in the team after spending most of the decade as a bookkeeper and minority owner. The Grooms went on to win the National League pennant in each of Ebbets’ first two seasons as controlling owner.
Ebbets’ biggest accomplishment was finding a long-term home for the team. By the early 1910s, he began purchasing land to build a new stadium. Ebbets went as far as selling half of his holdings in the franchise to raise the necessary money.
Up to that point, the Dodgers were playing their home games at Washington Park. They additionally played at four other fields, including Eastern Park, from 1862-1897.
The construction for what would be known as Ebbets Field began on March 14, 1912, and took just more than one year to complete.
Ebbets Field hosted its first game on April 5, 1913, when Brooklyn played against the New York Yankees with an overcapacity of 30,000 fans in attendance. An estimated 5,000 more fans arrived to see the Dodgers’ new ballpark, but could not get in.
The stadium hosted other sporting events, such as NFL, AFL, AAFC and NCAA games. It remained the home of the Dodgers until 1957, their final season in Brooklyn before moving to Los Angeles the following year.
After the Dodgers left for the West Coast, Ebbets Field continued hosting other sporting events until it was demolished on Feb. 23, 1960. It was replaced by an apparent structure named the Ebbets Fields Apartments, which opened in 1962 and still stands today under the same name.
Charles Ebbets’ career with Dodgers
Ebbets served as controlling owner and Dodgers president from 1898 until his death in 1925. The Dodgers won two more NL pennants under his control in 1916 and 1920.
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