Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Grotte de Glace
Sinquerim Beach Bastion
Port Tobacco Schoolhouse
Barracks / munitions storage.
Vloethemveld
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Names on the bartop.
The Dive
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è Pasta... E Pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The 2,653-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail spans the entire West Coast from Canada to Mexico.
Meet the Volunteers Who Keep Thru-Hikers Moving
about 7 hours ago
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House building on the U.S.-Canadian border.
Could New Border Restrictions Literally Tear the Haskell Free Library Apart?
about 13 hours ago
A woman peering into the cave of Sarah Bishop c. 1900.
The Curious History of New England’s Hermit Tourism
about 18 hours ago
The Big Well
This Kansas Town Advertised the World’s Largest Well. It Wasn’t.
1 day ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States New York State New York City Brooklyn Ebbets Field Apartments

Ebbets Field Apartments

The ballpark in "Pigtown" where the Brooklyn Dodgers made their name was replaced with a huge apartment complex.

Brooklyn, New York

Added By
Isaac Blasenstein
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
Ebbets Field Apartments in April 2017.   iblasens / Atlas Obscura User
Ebbets Field Apartments in April 2017.   iblasens / Atlas Obscura User
Ebbets Field Apartments.   Jim.henderson
Postcard depicting Ebbets Field, approximately 1930.   Boston Public Library
Ebbets Field Apartments.   wallyg
Ebbets Field Apartments on a snowy day.   Rich Mitchell
Ebbets Field on opening day in 1913.   UCinternational
This mural was on the drug store across the street from apartments   jennifercoodey / Atlas Obscura User
Plaque by the entrance to the apartment building   jennifercoodey / Atlas Obscura User
Home plate marker on the Sullivan Pl side of the building.   davisjessann / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Before it was a gigantic apartment complex, this unassuming site tucked between Brooklyn's Crown Heights and Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhoods was the ballpark where Jackie Robinson made his major league debut, the proud home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. And before that, it was home to generations of families—and thousands of pigs.

From the late 19th century through the early 20th century, this part of the borough was known as Pigtown, a poor neighborhood of Irish and Italian immigrants on the outskirts of what was then the city of Brooklyn. The neighborhood was characterized by shanties, ash dumps, garbage piles, and, of course, pig farms with their associated stench.

In 1912, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets bought a plot of land in Pigtown for a new field to be bounded by Bedford Avenue on the East and Sullivan Place on the South. After years of financing troubles, the first exhibition game was played in Ebbets Field on April 5, 1913 against the New York Yankees. At this point the baseball field was still surrounded by stables and manure fields, but it marked the beginning of Flatbush as a developed, urban neighborhood.

Constrained from expanding by Bedford Avenue and the surrounding city streets, Ebbets Field developed into a right-handed hitter’s paradise as newly added seats moved the outfield wall closer to home plate. The Dodgers saw numerous successes here, winning 12 national league pennants. It was here at Ebbets Field that on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted as Major League Baseball’s first black player. And it was here that "dem Bums" (as the Dodgers were affectionately known) won four of five pennants in 1952, 1953, 1954, and in 1955, when they finally beat the Yankees in the World Series.

Yet the end of the 1956 season, Ebbets Field was sold to a local real estate developer for more than $1 million ($9 million in today's dollars). The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season and never looked back, widely considered the greatest hometown betrayal in American sports history.

In February, 1960, the baseball park was demolished. Two years later, the Ebbets Field Apartment complex was completed. At the time it was the largest state-subsidized housing complex in the five boroughs, home to 1,317 families. A small plaque read, "This is the former site of Ebbets Field," but as time went on, many residents had no idea of their home's historic significance. 

Now the Ebbets Field property seems poised to enter Brooklyn’s latest phase. It had fallen into disrepair, but a new owner renovated the property in an attempt to take advantage of Brooklyn’s soaring rents. Studios will go for $1200 a month, a far cry from Pigtown and the "Bums."

Related Tags

Houses History Pigs Baseball Sports Homes

Know Before You Go

Accessible off the Franklin Ave 2/3/4/5/S or the Prospect Park Subway Station B/Q/S or a short walk from Prospect Park. Be sure to also check out the murals across adorning the nearby Ebbets Field Middle School and the Jackie Robinson Playground.

Community Contributors

Added By

iblasens

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, davisjessann, jennifercoodey

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • davisjessann
  • jennifercoodey

Published

May 9, 2017

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=980CEED9173CE53BBC4A53DFBF668389679EDE
  • http://brooklynology.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/post/2009/03/05/Pigtown.aspx
  • http://nypost.com/2016/01/12/ebbets-field-apartments-are-getting-a-makeover/
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/nyregion/06ebbetts.html
  • http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/bill-de-blasio-nyc-mayor-says-rundown-ebbetts-field-apartments-worth-saving-1.9917201
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebbets_Field
Ebbets Field Apartments
1720 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, New York
United States
40.664591, -73.957783
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Brooklyn-Flatbush Border Line

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

The Carousel in Prospect Park

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Honey Badger

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

New York

Places 241
Stories 45

Nearby Places

Brooklyn-Flatbush Border Line

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

The Carousel in Prospect Park

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Honey Badger

Brooklyn, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

New York

Places 241
Stories 45

Related Stories and Lists

25 Places to Catch a Bit of Baseball History

List

By Jonathan Carey

For Sale: A Relic From Babe Ruth’s Ill-Fated Year in Brooklyn

sports

By Isaac Schultz

Related Places

  • Mickey Mantle’s childhood home.

    Commerce, Oklahoma

    Home of Mickey Mantle

    The modest childhood home where the baseball legend and Yankees star learned to hit from both sides of the plate.

  • Chastleton House across the croquet lawn.

    Chastleton, England

    Chastleton House Croquet Lawn

    Where the rules of that most quintessentially English game were first devised by an eccentric inventor.

  • View from Above; a more recent concrete construction can be seen nearby

    Green Island, Taiwan

    Youzihu

    The ruins of a prehistoric village hide on a remote Taiwanese island.

  • Home Run Baker Park

    Trappe, Maryland

    Home Run Baker Park

    A small ballpark on Maryland's eastern shore pays homage to its favorite son, the most fearsome home run hitter of the dead ball era.

  • Emmot Field, home of the first organized night baseball game.

    Independence, Kansas

    Emmot Field

    This stadium was the home of the first organized night baseball game.

  • Infield at the Zoo

    Omaha, Nebraska

    Infield at the Zoo

    A miniature baseball stadium honoring Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series from 1950-2010.

  • Jennie Wade House

    Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

    Jennie Wade House

    Home of the only civilian casualty at the Battle of Gettysburg.

  • The Lindens view from the front.

    Washington, D.C.

    The Lindens

    The oldest house in Washington, D.C. wasn't originally constructed in the nation's capital.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.