Why did 1930 Brooklyn Dodgers draw million fans - the only year before 1941? Dodgers v Yankees this weekend in Yankee Stadium.

New York Team Attendance: 1903-2010  Saturday, September 28, 2013

New York 3 team attendance 1920-1957 ... and comparison to California.  Friday, June 20, 2014

Could New York support a third team? New York attendance v. others 1903-2013.  Sunday, June 22, 2014

Dodgers and Giants in California 58 years.  Friday, January 29, 2016

Mickey Mantle: what if he'd played for the Dodgers? They might still be in Brooklyn.  Monday, August 17, 2015

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The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series the last two seasons:

2024 4-1 over New York Yankees

2025 4-3 over Toronto Blue Jays

This weekend the Dodgers are in New York playing 3 games against the Yankees. After their final 1957 season in Brooklyn, the Dodgers have drawn much better than any MLB team that relocated.

The 1920 Yankees were the first team to draw a million fans at home.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1920-misc.shtml

Tm	Stadium	Attendance ▼	Attend/G	BatAge	PAge	BPF	PPF	#HOF	#A-S	#a-tA-S	Est. Payroll	Managers
New York Yankees	Polo Grounds V	1,289,422	16,746	27.7	29.0	104	101	1	0	2	$134,025	Huggins
Cleveland Indians	League Park	912,832	11,703	29.3	28.6	104	101	3	0	0	$86,100	Speaker
Chicago White Sox	Comiskey Park I	833,492	10,825	29.5	29.6	100	99	3	0	0	$111,650	Gleason
Detroit Tigers	Navin Field	579,650	7,431	29.0	27.2	97	98	2	0	0	$72,900	Jennings
St. Louis Browns	Sportsman's Park III	419,311	5,376	28.5	27.1	103	103	1	0	0	$66,590	Burke
Boston Red Sox	Fenway Park	402,445	5,295	28.1	25.7	96	96	3	0	0	$86,000	Barrow
Washington Nationals	Griffith Stadium	359,260	4,727	27.1	25.7	97	98	3	0	0	$77,000	Griffith
Philadelphia Athletics	Shibe Park	287,888	3,739	24.7	25.1	100	106	0	0	1	$57,800	Mack

All single-admission doubleheaders are counted only once in the attendance total and a zero is used for the other game of the doubleheader. The attendance is based on reported seasonal totals.

Cleveland won the pennant. The Yankees were third, three games behind. Cleveland beat Brooklyn in the 1920 WS 5-2 (best of 9).

National League 1930:

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	GBsum	R	RA	Rdiff	pythWL	Luck	Home	Road
1	St. Louis Cardinals	92	62	.597	--		6.5	5.1	1.4	94-60	-2	53-24	39-38
2	Chicago Cubs	90	64	.584	2.0	2.0	6.4	5.6	0.8	87-67	3	51-26	39-38
3	New York Giants	87	67	.565	5.0	8.0	6.2	5.3	0.9	88-66	-1	46-31	41-36
4	Brooklyn Robins	86	68	.558	6.0	11.0	5.7	4.8	0.9	89-65	-3	49-28	37-40
5	Pittsburgh Pirates	80	74	.519	12.0	35.0	5.8	6.0	-0.2	74-80	6	42-35	38-39
6	Boston Braves	70	84	.455	22.0	85.0	4.5	5.4	-0.9	64-90	6	39-38	31-46
7	Cincinnati Reds	59	95	.383	33.0	151.0	4.3	5.6	-1.2	59-95	0	37-40	22-55
8	Philadelphia Phillies	52	102	.338	40.0	200.0	6.1	7.7	-1.6	60-94	-8	35-42	17-60
	Average	77	77	.500			5.7	5.7		76-77		44-33	33-44

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/18/2026.

Brooklyn won 11 consecutive and was in first place through game 144 of 154. Then lost 7 consecutive and fell 5.5 back. Hence, 4th place. But look at Brooklyn home attendance in 1930:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/1930-misc.shtml

Tm	Stadium	Attendance ▼	Attend/G	BatAge	PAge	BPF	PPF	#HOF	#A-S	#a-tA-S	Est. Payroll	Managers
Chicago Cubs	Wrigley Field	1,463,624	18,527	29.4	28.5	101	98	5	0	4	$284,850	McCarthy and Hornsby
Brooklyn Robins	Ebbets Field	1,097,329	14,251	28.9	31.4	100	99	2	0	2	$260,600	Robinson
New York Giants	Polo Grounds V	868,714	11,282	27.2	28.8	98	95	6	0	6	$189,150	McGraw
St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park III	508,501	6,604	29.6	30.9	105	102	6	0	7	$225,730	Street
Boston Braves	Braves Field	464,835	6,037	29.6	30.9	97	99	3	0	2	$134,346	McKechnie
Cincinnati Reds	Redland Field	386,727	5,022	29.6	30.4	94	97	4	0	2	$155,650	Howley
Pittsburgh Pirates	Forbes Field	357,795	4,647	26.6	28.3	100	100	3	0	7	$178,550	Ens
Philadelphia Phillies	Baker Bowl	299,007	3,883	27.1	29.1	107	110	2	0	3	$134,350	Shotton

All single-admission doubleheaders are counted only once in the attendance total and a zero is used for the other game of the doubleheader. The attendance is based on reported seasonal totals.

Dodgers outdrew the New York Giants by a lot even though the Giants won one more game. Why? Giants had Mel Ott and the last NL .400 hitter: Bill Terry: .401. And Carl Hubbell pitching. All three are in the Hall of Fame.

But the real point of this post is that this was the first and only Dodgers million home attendance before 1941 when Brooklyn won its first pennant since losing to Cleveland in 1920 ... but lost the 1941 WS to the Yankees 4-1.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/

Notice the URL ends with LA. 1941 NL attendance:

Tm	Stadium	Attendance ▼	Attend/G	BatAge	PAge	BPF	PPF	#HOF	#A-S	#a-tA-S	Est. Payroll	Managers
Brooklyn Dodgers	Ebbets Field	1,214,910	15,379	28.3	31.4	105	102	5	7	23		Durocher
New York Giants	Polo Grounds V	763,098	9,783	29.5	29.6	102	102	3	3	14		Terry
Cincinnati Reds	Crosley Field	643,513	8,146	28.8	29.8	100	99	2	4	15		McKechnie
St. Louis Cardinals	Sportsman's Park III	633,645	8,021	27.4	27.7	107	104	3	4	15		Southworth
Chicago Cubs	Wrigley Field	545,159	7,080	26.6	30.1	96	96	2	4	15		Wilson
Pittsburgh Pirates	Forbes Field	482,241	6,183	27.4	29.6	100	100	3	3	11		Frisch
Boston Braves	Braves Field	263,680	3,469	27.7	26.2	94	97	3	1	12		Stengel
Philadelphia Phillies	Shibe Park	231,401	3,045	26.5	27.5	95	101	1	1	5		Prothro

All single-admission doubleheaders are counted only once in the attendance total and a zero is used for the other game of the doubleheader. The attendance is based on reported seasonal totals.

Brooklyn outdrew the Yankees in 1941:

Tm	Stadium	Attendance ▼	Attend/G	BatAge	PAge	BPF	PPF	#HOF	#A-S	#a-tA-S	Est. Payroll	Managers
New York Yankees	Yankee Stadium I	964,722	12,368	27.4	29.7	99	95	6	6	16	$340,800	McCarthy
Cleveland Indians	Cleveland Stadium, League Park II	745,948	9,688	27.0	27.5	95	95	3	4	16	$171,400	Peckinpaugh
Boston Red Sox	Fenway Park	718,497	9,331	28.2	29.2	102	100	5	5	13	$216,500	Cronin
Detroit Tigers	Briggs Stadium	684,915	8,895	29.2	28.6	110	109	3	3	17	$223,700	Baker
Chicago White Sox	Comiskey Park I	677,077	8,571	30.0	30.2	99	99	2	3	9	$165,850	Dykes
Philadelphia Athletics	Shibe Park	528,894	6,869	27.0	28.6	97	101	1	1	7	$165,782	Mack
Washington Nationals	Griffith Stadium	415,663	5,329	27.1	28.3	95	97	2	2	15	$105,200	Harris
St. Louis Browns	Sportsman's Park III	176,240	2,231	28.1	29.7	103	104	1	1	11	$179,150	Haney and Sewell

All single-admission doubleheaders are counted only once in the attendance total and a zero is used for the other game of the doubleheader. The attendance is based on reported seasonal totals.

Note: The Dodgers had lights and could play night games starting in 1938. The Yankees did not add lights until 1946. For some reason teams were limited to 7 of 77 (10%) home games that could be played at night. Dodger attendance at its night games was about double per game of its day game attendance.

Take a long look at Dodger annual attendance into 2026, especially 1946-1957:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/

1959	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	156	88	68	0	.564	.523	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-2)	2,071,045	D.Drysdale (6.3)
1958	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	154	71	83	0	.461	.441	7th of 8	21.0		1,845,556	D.Drysdale (3.8)
1957	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	154	84	70	0	.545	.570	3rd of 8	11.0		1,028,258	D.Drysdale (5.8)
1956	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	154	93	61	0	.604	.582	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,213,562	D.Snider (7.6)
1955	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	154	98	55	1	.641	.624	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-3)	1,033,589	D.Snider (8.6)
1954	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	154	92	62	0	.597	.523	2nd of 8	5.0		1,020,531	D.Snider (8.1)
1953	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	105	49	1	.682	.645	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-2)	1,163,419	D.Snider (9.1)
1952	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	96	57	2	.627	.613	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,088,704	J.Robinson (8.4)
1951	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	158	97	60	1	.618	.608	2nd of 8	1.0		1,282,628	J.Robinson (9.7)
1950	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	89	65	1	.578	.571	2nd of 8	2.0		1,185,896	J.Robinson (7.4)
1949	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	156	97	57	2	.630	.634	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-1)	1,633,747	J.Robinson (9.3)
1948	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	84	70	1	.545	.548	3rd of 8	7.5		1,398,967	J.Robinson (5.3)
1947	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	94	60	1	.610	.568	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,807,526	R.Branca (6.4)
Year	Tm	Lg	G	W	L	Ties	W-L%	pythW-L%	Finish	GB	Playoffs	Attendance	Top Player
1946	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	157	96	60	1	.615	.594	2nd of 8	2.0		1,796,824	E.Stanky (6.7)
1945	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	155	87	67	1	.565	.543	3rd of 8	11.0		1,059,220	A.Galan (5.9)

Since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, the Dodgers have drawn more home fans than any team, including  the Yankees. The Mets started in 1962. Look at Yankee attendance, especially 1958-1961, when they had New York City all to themselves (and Maris & Mantle challenged the season Home Run record in 1961):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/

Year	Tm	Lg	G	W	L	Ties	W-L%	pythW-L%	Finish	GB	Playoffs	Attendance	Top Player
1966	New York Yankees	AL	160	70	89	1	.440	.499	10th of 10	26.5		1,124,648	T.Tresh (5.4)
1965	New York Yankees	AL	162	77	85	0	.475	.505	6th of 10	25.0		1,213,552	M.Stottlemyre (6.9)
1964	New York Yankees	AL	164	99	63	2	.611	.606	1st of 10	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,305,638	W.Ford (6.8)
1963	New York Yankees	AL	161	104	57	0	.646	.620	1st of 10	--	Lost WS (4-0)	1,308,920	E.Howard (5.2)
1962	New York Yankees	AL	162	96	66	0	.593	.583	1st of 10	--	Won WS (4-3)	1,493,574	M.Mantle (6.0)
1961	New York Yankees	AL	163	109	53	1	.673	.634	1st of 10	--	Won WS (4-1)	1,747,725	M.Mantle (10.5)
1960	New York Yankees	AL	155	97	57	1	.630	.579	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,627,349	R.Maris (7.5)
1959	New York Yankees	AL	155	79	75	1	.513	.527	3rd of 8	15.0		1,552,030	M.Mantle (6.6)
1958	New York Yankees	AL	155	92	62	1	.597	.623	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-3)	1,428,438	M.Mantle (8.7)
1957	New York Yankees	AL	154	98	56	0	.636	.635	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,497,134	M.Mantle (11.3)
1956	New York Yankees	AL	154	97	57	0	.630	.637	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-3)	1,491,784	M.Mantle (11.3)
1955	New York Yankees	AL	154	96	58	0	.623	.631	1st of 8	--	Lost WS (4-3)	1,490,138	M.Mantle (9.5)
1954	New York Yankees	AL	155	103	51	1	.669	.658	2nd of 8	8.0		1,475,171	M.Mantle (6.9)
1953	New York Yankees	AL	151	99	52	0	.656	.668	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-2)	1,537,811	M.Mantle (5.8)
1952	New York Yankees	AL	154	95	59	0	.617	.620	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-3)	1,629,665	M.Mantle (6.3)
1951	New York Yankees	AL	154	98	56	0	.636	.613	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-2)	1,950,107	Y.Berra (5.3)
1950	New York Yankees	AL	155	98	56	1	.636	.625	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-0)	2,081,380	P.Rizzuto (6.8)
1949	New York Yankees	AL	155	97	57	1	.630	.618	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-1)	2,283,676	J.DiMaggio (4.3)
1948	New York Yankees	AL	154	94	60	0	.610	.635	3rd of 8	2.5		2,373,901	J.DiMaggio (6.9)
1947	New York Yankees	AL	155	97	57	1	.630	.649	1st of 8	--	Won WS (4-3)	2,178,937	T.Henrich (5.2)
Year	Tm	Lg	G	W	L	Ties	W-L%	pythW-L%	Finish	GB	Playoffs	Attendance	Top Player

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