Temperature boost Caption: "Temperature boost--Thomas O'Neill, 2, of Stratford Road, offers manly assistance to Lourie Young, also 2, of 15 Stratford Road, at \[Prospect Park] parade grounds fountain as mercury climbed to record-breaking figures."

Prospect Park Parade Grounds, ca. 1895. Parade Grounds at the southernmost tip of Prospect Park, named for its use as a drill field for Union Soldiers during the Civil War, once had 13 baseball fields. The Parade Grounds sent more players to Major League Baseball than any other New York ballpark. According to Bob McGee, author of “The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers,” the Parade Grounds was not just a neighborhood park. "It was a boroughwide showcase for young teenage talent in the city’s most populous borough, which, coincidentally, had far and away traditionally the greatest number of amateur teams.” Among the future major leaguers who played there were: Koufax; Hoyt; Joe and Frank Torre; Bob and Ken Aspromonte; Cy Block; Chuck Connors, aka “The Rifleman”; Harry Eisenstat; Sid Gordon; Buddy Hassett; Billy Jurges; Bill Lohrman; Sam Mele; Saul Rogovin; and Marius Russo.