In the 1920s, New York teams signed players who would appeal to a growing Jewish fan base, including second baseman Andy Cohen, signed by the Giants in 1926, and catcher Moe Berg, who played for the Brooklyn Robins (later Dodgers). Cohen achieved legendary status and had a Polo Grounds treat named for him: ice cream Cohens. Berg, known as “the brainiest guy in baseball,” later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II

Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, honorary chairman of their tour, greeted 1936's champion "Maccabee" soccer team visiting from British mandate Palestine, here to play against the city's own All-Star team and American Soccer League team, as a fundraiser providing relief for Polish Jews, recently under siege by anti-Semitic riots.

Polo Grounds ca. 1896 Known as the "Gothams" until 1885, the team that became the New York Giants, played their first game on May 1, 1883, at the Polo Grounds at 110th Between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. They would close out the 1880s with pennant wins in 1888 and 1889. In the early 1890s, the team moved further uptown to the new Polo Grounds at 157th Street on the Harlem River, depicted here. The Polo Grounds was also home to the New York Cuban Giants, which became the first salaried professional black baseball team in 1885.

Throwing around the pig-skin is an all-American pastime. See what the early history of football looked like in New York City.

In 1926 Europe's famed "Hakoah" (meaning: the strength, in Hebrew) team arrived here from their hometown of Vienna to play local soccer superstars "The Brooklyn Wanderers" well, it was front page news in the Forward..

Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world. It is hidden under the surface of the city: forming the foundations of skyscrapers, snaking underground as tunnels, retaining tons of earth laterally to clear space for inhabitation, or anchoring the steel structure of the elevated train lines. New York is, after all, the concrete jungle.

The Polo Grounds from atop Coogan’s Bluff, ca. 1910. Home to the New York Giants baseball team, the stadium pictured is the third to use the name Polo Grounds: the first was located at the northeast corner of Central Park, and the second at an adjacent site in Coogan’s Hollow. A 1911 fire caused extensive damage, leading to the reconstruction of a concrete-and-steel stadium, the “fourth” Polo Grounds. In the background, the Macombs Dam Bridge (right), Putnam Bridge (left), Harlem River and the western edge of the Bronx are visible.

From the House that Ruth built to the Shot Heard ‘Round the World, New York has been home to baseball history for more than 170 years. Here are the places, some long-gone, where it happened.

From its beginning, the Forward covered sports – the sports of chess and fishing, that is. In fact, its early highbrow sports coverage was a bit of a joke around town. But by the 1920s, the Forward’s sports pages began to give its readers the baseball news they wanted.

As New York battles the Coronavirus pandemic this summer, city businesses and public spaces are re-opening in phases. While we await the call to reopen museums and other indoor cultural activities, Phase 4 will bring New Yorkers back into the zoos, botanical gardens, and key tourist attractions throughout the city like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. Plus, professional sports will resume, though without fans in the stands.