BASEBALL STREETS, Commack

by Kevin Walsh

It surprises me somewhat that New York City doesn’t have more streets named for baseball players, as there have been four MLB teams playing in NYC since the start of the modern baseball era: the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and New York Mets in the National League, and the New York Yankees, who have won 27 World Series victories to the Giants’ five, the Mets’ two and the Dodgers’ one. To be sure, there’s Ruth and Gehrig Plazas near Yankee Stadium, and the recently renamed (from 126th Street) Seaver Way near Citifield. And, there’s Edward L. Grant Highway in the Bronx, named for Edward Leslie “Harvard Eddie” Grant who played in the major leagues between 1905 and 1915 for the Phils, Reds and New York Giants, hardly a superstar but a workaday infielder. He was killed at Argonnes, France in October 1918, 3 years after his baseball career ended. That’s about it in the five boroughs.

If we cast our glance east to Commack in mid-Suffolk County, there’s a section just north of Jericho Turnpike and west of the Sunken Meadow Parkway that has plenty of baseball names; whoever laid out that section was a true baseball fanatic, with superstars from the early 20th Century represented on the map: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Bill Dickey, Tris Speaker, Dizzy Dean, Dazzy Vance, Carl Hubbell, Bill Terry, either Paul or Lloyd Waner, Mel Ott, Johnny Evers and Jimmie Foxx, whose name here is misspelled with just one x.

Update: I have been reminded of the Jackie Robinson Parkway, DiMaggio Highway (which nobody calls West Street) and the Gil Hodges Marine Parkway Bridge. Stay tuned, I may do a separate page.

As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.

3/31/22

26 comments

Tama Harbor March 31, 2022 - 6:31 pm

My favorite, more recent baseball names: Pujols, Bastardo, Yoanis, Asdrubal, Gyorko, Coonrod, Labya, and Butto. /s

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Coz March 31, 2022 - 11:55 pm

Don’t forget Erskine Street

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Rich April 1, 2022 - 8:22 am

There is also Willie Mays Place, at the three-way intersection of St. Nicholas Pl., 155th St. and Edgecombe Ave. in Sugar Hill, right near the site of the old Polo Grounds (which is now home to NYCHA’s Polo Grounds Towers). I believe there is also a Willie Mays Drive somewhere nearby as well.

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Andy April 1, 2022 - 10:47 am

Good point! When Willie Mays first played for the Giants the team arranged for him to stay in a rooming house at this very location. He was known to play stickball with neighborhood children when he wasn’t patrolling center field at the Polo Grounds.

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Brad April 1, 2022 - 9:27 am

You didn’t mention the Marine Parkway Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

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chris April 1, 2022 - 10:45 am

Jackie Robinson section of the Belt Pkwy.(How many names
does the Belt Pkwy have anyhow?)

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Brad April 3, 2022 - 8:44 am

The Jackie Robinson Pkwy is not part of the Belt. It was formerly known as the Interboro Parkway. The Belt has 4 names- Shore, Southern, Laurelton, and Cross Island. The current day Whitestone and Gowanus Expressways were formerly parkways and could have been considered part of the Belt.

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Sunnysider April 3, 2022 - 10:16 am

I call it Deathtrap Alley myself.

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Anonymous April 1, 2022 - 12:38 pm

I suppose you were omitting limited access highways, like the Jackie Robinson (Interborough) Parkway and the Joe DiMaggio Highway, which is the West Side Highway between 59th Street and 12th Avenue and 72nd Street and Henry Hudson Parkway.

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Kevin Walsh April 1, 2022 - 10:45 pm

All these ideas are good. I may do page update or a new page.

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mp775 April 1, 2022 - 1:23 pm

Bergen Cove, a dead end off Royce Street between Ave N and Ave T in Bergen Beach, was originally proposed to be named Gil Hodges Way by the developer. The Hodges family didn’t approve and it was changed.

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Kevin Walsh April 1, 2022 - 10:44 pm

It’s so far off nobody would see it.

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Anthony April 1, 2022 - 6:53 pm

There is a Lou Gehrig Way in New Rochelle off Shore Road. I think he lived on that block or nearby.

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therealguyfaux April 2, 2022 - 5:51 pm

A house bought for his parents, where he also lived till he was married. The house got foreclosed on in 1937. No idea where Herr und Frau Gehrig moved thereafter, but Lou and his wife Eleanor lived in The Bronx at 252nd and Delafield in Riverdale.

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Chester April 7, 2022 - 11:48 am

The house, in my ‘hood, was recently renovated and looks great.

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Anonymous April 1, 2022 - 7:58 pm

There is also the Joe DiMaggio (West Side) Highway, Rivera (River) Avenue, Jackie Robinson (Interboro) Parkway, and Roberto Clemente State Park.

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Tal Barzilai April 2, 2022 - 8:26 pm

Forgot to put my name there

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David Tonrey April 1, 2022 - 8:11 pm

Did NY Giants win 5?!??

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Anthony+Marcano April 2, 2022 - 12:41 pm

Wasn’t a portion of River Avenue renamed Rivera Way for Mariano Rivera?

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Anthony+Marcano April 2, 2022 - 4:00 pm

Never mind. Someone addressed this two comments ago…

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Gary Fonville April 2, 2022 - 10:02 pm

Also don’t forget about Grote Street in the Bronx, near the Bronx Zoo, and Jerry Grote, a player for the Mets in the mid 1960s.

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Kevin Walsh April 3, 2022 - 5:50 pm

Grote Street was named for someone else.

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Tal Barzilai April 3, 2022 - 8:05 pm

Although these aren’t really streets, not far from where I live in Pleasantville is the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla that has the gravesites of both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

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Sunnysider April 4, 2022 - 11:38 am

I seem to recall Billy Martin is buried in the vicinity of Babe Ruth’s grave. Gehrig is buried in the neighboring cemetery. Jimmy Cagney is nearby as well. It’s a great place to walk around on a nice day. Very scenic.

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Tom+M April 9, 2022 - 7:53 am

Babe Ruth is in Gate of Heaven Cemetry. Don’t know about any of the others.

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Tal Barzilai April 10, 2022 - 12:58 am

Since I brought up cemeteries, one of them by the very parkway that is nicknamed for Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn does have his gravesite there, though I forget its name.

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