Brooklyn Athletic Field
Avenue L and East 17th Street.
Also known as General Wingate Athletic Field, Wingate Field, P.S.A.L. Field, and now Midwood Field (II). In August, 1909, the Brooklyn Eagle was fulsome in its praise of one year old Brooklyn Athletic Field, created by the Education Department for the use of local juniors:
In this Brooklyn field, which contains 160,000 square feet, are accommodations for all sorts of outdoor games. There are five tennis courts; an oval, upon which two games of baseball can be played simultaneously; a straightaway cinder path, on which a dash of 220 yards can be run; a 440-yard track, with but one turn, and a quarter-mile track around the oval. There are only three other tracks in Greater New York which have a straightaway course of 220 yards.
On the grounds are several buildings, one of which is a locker room, with 186 lockers, and a shower bath adjoining it. Another building is a sort of barn used as a storage house. But these buildings are only temporary. When funds are procured a cement grandstand, with adequate locker rooms and shower baths and other appurtenances, is to be erected. Plans are being prepared, and mistakes which are found in other grandstands on other fields will be eliminated. The Manhattan Beach branch of the Long Island Railroad runs alongside of the field, and the company is going to deed the city a part of its land for the erection of the grandstand, so that it wil encroach very little on the space devoted to the track.
Vacation Playground Field Day in 1913 - 2,000 kids at Brooklyn Athletic Field
For the most part, Brooklyn Athletic Field saw track, soccer, and later football games, and still does, being present day home to Midwood High School's football and track teams. On June 9, 1923, Frank Hussey of Stuyvesant High incredibly tied the world record for the 100 yard dash of 9.6 seconds, winning by 10 yards while 5,000 spectators looked on.
Baseball games here were hampered somewhat by the narrow field dimensions, but continued all the same. On April 9, 1921, Jerry Robinson of Brooklyn Prep pitched his team to a 6-3 win over Manual, striking out 8 and taking advantage of the short left field to swat a 3 run homer. On May 7, 1931, Eddie Jasper of Montauk Junior High pitched a perfect game in defeating Seth Low Junior High, 3 to 0. This was Jasper's second perfect game in three weeks.
The grandstand, modeled after the one used in Athens at the 1906 Olympic Games, was built in 1911 at a cost of $65,300. A roof was fitted some time after 1913. The grandstand remains, as the oldest part of any ballfield in Brooklyn, and the railroad alongside is now the Q train.
As featured on Covehurst.net