Editing Ebbets Field (section)

===Construction===
[[File:Ray Caldwell pitching in the first game at Ebbets Field, April 5, 1913 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ray Caldwell pitching in the first exhibition game at Ebbets Field, April 5, 1913. The dirt walkway visible between the mound and the plate disappeared after the 1910s.<ref name="Lowry"/>]]

After locating the prospective new site to build a permanent stadium to replace the old wooden [[Washington Park (baseball)|Washington Park]], Dodgers' owner [[Charles Ebbets]] acquired the property over several years, starting in 1908, by buying lots until he owned the entire block. Ebbets Field was bounded by [[Bedford Avenue (Brooklyn)|Bedford Avenue]] to the east, Sullivan Place to the South, Cedar Street (renamed McKeever Place in 1932<ref>{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Sam|title=Honorific Streets, Now Cataloged|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/nyregion/honorific-streets-now-cataloged.html|access-date=26 September 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 26, 2014|page=A23}}</ref>) to the west, and Montgomery Street to the north.

The land included the site of a garbage dump called [[Pigtown, Brooklyn|Pigtown]], so named because of the pigs that once ate their fill there and the stench that filled the air. At the groundbreaking, the site was described as containing several old houses, shanties, goats, and tomato cans, and although the streets bordering the field were mapped, two of them had not been built yet.

Construction began on March 4, 1912.<ref name="NYTdirt">{{cite news|title=Dirt Flies in New Brooklyn Ball Park – President Ebbets Turns the First Spadeful and Borough President Speers Makes Speech|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/03/05/100523394.html?pageNumber=8|access-date=25 September 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=March 5, 1912|page=4}}</ref> The cornerstone, a piece of Connecticut granite that held newspapers, pictures of baseball players, cards, telegrams, and almanacs, was laid on July 6, 1912. At the laying ceremony, Ebbets said that the ballpark was going to be ready for play on September 1, and that Brooklyn was going to win the National League pennant in 1913.<ref>{{cite news|title=Cornerstone Laid at Ebbets Field – New Baseball Park for the Brooklyns, in Flatbush, to be Ready on Sept. 1|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/07/07/100373345.html?pageNumber=27|access-date=26 September 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=July 6, 1912|page=S1}}</ref>

Neither of Ebbets' predictions was correct: on August 29, 1912, as the deadline drew near and it was obvious that due to an ironworker's strike the ballpark was not even close to being finished, it was announced that Ebbets had sold a 50% interest in the team to brothers [[Stephen McKeever|Stephen W.]] and [[Ed McKeever (baseball owner)|Edward J. McKeever]], who had built their fortune in contracting and were able to speed along the construction.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ebbets Takes In Partners – McKeever Brothers Buy Shares in Brooklyn Baseball Club|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/08/30/104906480.html?pageNumber=7|access-date=26 September 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=August 30, 1912|page=7}}</ref> Though the sale led to management troubles years later, by early 1913 Ebbets Field was ready, and would become the home of some of baseball's greatest dramas.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|last2=Burns|first2=Ken|title=Baseball: An Illustrated History|year=1996|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=0-679-76541-7}}</ref>

Newspaper coverage in the spring of 1913 was filled with glowing praise about the new park, calling it "A Monument to the National Game" and predicting it could last 200 years:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/543869492/|title=Field Rivals Ancient Arenas in Grandeur|work=Brooklyn Standard Union|date=April 9, 1913|page=11|access-date=July 4, 2019|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> in the end it only lasted 47 years, failing to survive the exit of the Dodgers for Los Angeles in 1957.