Page:America's National Game (1911).djvu/529

 When the huge, wooden stadium burned at the Polo Grounds, in the spring of 1911, Base Ball men sat aghast, because it meant much to the national pastime to lose the home of the most important National League club in the largest city of the United States.

There was some doubt as to whether Base Ball would be continued on the historic field, because of the possibility of a short lease, but Mrs. Harriet G. Coogan, owner of the Polo Grounds, through her husband. Col. J. J. Coogan, assured Mr. Brush that the lease would be extended as long as the life of the National League.

In effect, this means a permanent home for Base Ball in the city of New York. The moment that the lease was effected Mr. Brush announced that he would rebuild on the Polo Grounds and would erect a concrete and steel stadium, modeled after the style of the stand which was burned, but which would accommodate 50,000 spectators and would not have a stick of timber in it.

The estimated cost of this structure will be $100,000, but it is quite well assured that before the new stadium is completed it will cost more than that sum. However, it will be a lasting monument to Base Ball in the City of New York and something of which the city will be proud. Shaped like a horseshoe, supplied with hundreds of comfortable boxes and seats, with no stairways, but easy ascents from all parts of the structure to another, it will be more like the fitting of an outdoor opera house than a ball park, showing that Base Ball promoters have progressed as well as the game.

Philadelphia has two fine plants, one of them fireproof