On Jackie Robinson Day, Sean Kirst speaks with some old-timers who grew up around Offermann Stadium in Buffalo, long time home of the minor league Bisons. Robinson stole home there as a member of the Montreal Royals.

The story these men tell is about how the destruction of a ballpark led to the downfall of a neighborhood. One aspect of the story hit home for me.

Looking back on his youth, Duncan recalled walking to play pickup games at Delaware Park, before the Scajaquada Expressway became a treacherous barrier and the Kensington Expressway flattened another layer of their childhood terrain.

BuffaloNews.com

I remember this happening in Bridgeport, CT where I grew up. A highway was going in at the end of the street where I lived, cutting off direct access to a major east-west thoroughfare. It would destroy the school I would have attended. It would become an eyesore overlooking our beautiful Olmstead park taking out the beach many in the northern part of town used for swimming. My parents moved to another part of the city so I would have a stable school.

New York City might have been the worst at this, building highways to destroy neighborhoods, all in the name of progress.

The video that accompanies the article is must see. The men point a vivid picture of a fall Saturday in the neighborhood where seventy thousand people lined the streets to enough baseball at Offermann and football at War Memorial Stadium. The whole article and video are well worth the read and the watch.