Jackie Robinson Memorial Field

Lamenting to the Grim Cheaper that I have nothing to blog about holds about as much weight as claiming I have nothing to wear – yet sometimes I feel that way despite my huge stalking backlog.  One spot I have been back-burnering for a while now (due to the sheer detail the post required) is Pasadena’s Jackie Robinson Memorial Field, where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe posed for a photo shoot with Chicago White Soxers Joe Dobson, Gus Zernial and Hank Majeski in 1951.  I originally wrote about the locale in early 2013, but, as you may remember, it was fenced in and undergoing some sort of maintenance at the time.  Despite that, I was elated to still be able to pinpoint the various spots where the shoot had taken place and vowed to return when construction was complete to re-create some of the images.  I then somehow forgot all about it until fellow stalker Phil Grishayev posted this picture of himself at the field posing à la Marilyn in March 2018.  I was thrilled to see that the site was accessible at last and headed there shortly thereafter, only to find it closed for construction again!  I kid you not!  I finally ventured back this past September (after first making sure the field was actually open) and was so ecstatic to be standing in MM’s famous footsteps that, though I snapped images of the rock wall surrounding the stadium where most of the shoot took place, I forgot to capture the ancillary buildings which were also featured.  So I had to go back!  Yes, again!  For those counting, that puts the total number of stalks of this particular locale at four!

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Jackie Robinson Memorial Field sits just south of the Rose Bowl in the north part of Brookside Park, which was established in 1912.  Originally known simply as “Brookside Baseball Diamond No. 1,” the stadium was renamed in honor of the MLB great, who grew up in Pasadena, in 1988.

The field underwent a significant upgrade in 1933 through Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration so that it could be used by the Chicago White Sox for Spring Training.  Several improvements were made during the revamp, including the addition of a large multi-tiered rock wall surrounding the bleacher area.  The team began holding training on the premises that same year and, excluding 1943 to 1945 (at which time Brookside Park was being utilized as housing for World War II soldiers), continued to do so through 1950.  Though the South Siders actually trained in Palm Springs the following year, when Twentieth Century Fox organized a photo shoot with the organization that March for their new starlet, who was coming off small but memorable roles in Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, it was set up at the Chicago White Sox Spring Training Camp at Brookside Park.

With photographer Phil Burchman at the helm, Marilyn, Joe, Gus and Hank were captured in various baseball-themed stances, largely staged in front of the rock wall installed by the WPA.

Two of the most famous images from the series are pictured above and below.

Peering through the chain-link fencing surrounding the field during my 2012 visit was particularly heartbreaking.  Though I could see the rock wall that figured so prominently in the shoot, I could not sit on it and pose as Marilyn did.  To finally be able to do so six years later was incredible!

I also re-created the starlet’s batting practice pic, but large white boards were, unfortunately, being stored in the exact spot where it was taken, barring much of the rock wall from view.

It took everything I had not to move them out of the way!  Maddeningly, when I returned for my fourth stalk of Jackie Robinson Memorial Field several months later, the boards were still in place!

Despite the pesky boards, I was able to scour the visible rocks and compare them to the ones pictured behind Marilyn to figure out exactly where she posed and was shocked at how many are still in place!  Obviously some have been swapped out over the years for repair and what-not, but the vast majority remain!  I’ve mapped out a few of the intact rocks using corresponding numbers in the collage below.

Here’s an unmarked version of that same collage in which the rocks are more clearly visible.

And, in the interest of being thorough, here are full-sized versions of the two images from the collage in which you can see the rocks even more clearly.

How exhilarating that a spot where the World’s Most Famous Blonde posed almost seven full decades ago is so preserved!

I was so excited about the consistencies that I got a little collage-happy with this post and spent more time than I care to admit editing and lining up photos.

But, oh, what fun I had!  (The image below comes from a Frolic Galerie & Memorabilia listing, hence the imprinted logo.)

The photos of Marilyn sitting were taken just a few feet west of where the batting practice pics were captured.

The shot below gives us a better glimpse of that area of the wall.  As you can see, an additional, higher-tiered rock wall runs perpendicular to the one MM is sitting on.  Today though, foliage blocks it from view.

You can just see the edge of it below.  The perpendicular wall makes a hard turn to the north just before the tree and then continues along the back side of the stadium’s bleachers.

The ancillary buildings that sit just west of and behind Jackie Robinson Memorial Field were also featured in the shoot.

Unbelievably, they, too, remain largely unchanged from when they were captured in 1951!

I was practically giddy running around comparing things.

The structures do appear to be undergoing some sort of maintenance, though.

Here’s hoping the powers that be recognize the site’s pop culture prominence and don’t alter the exteriors in any way.

While putting together this post, I came across images from the shoot of Marilyn doing some batting practice at home plate (you can check out another one here).  Unfortunately, because I did not know about the images prior to any of my four stalks of Jackie Robinson Memorial Field, I did not venture over to that area to snap photos.  Looks like this locale is going to require a fifth visit!

Excluding the above, all of the pics from the shoot were taken on the west side of the field, mainly against the rock wall pictured below and the buildings located just west of it.

The specific areas used are noted below.  The buildings where the walking photos were taken are situated just off frame.

And, once again for thoroughness, an aerial view of the stadium with the spots used denoted is below.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: Jackie Robinson Memorial Field, where Marilyn Monroe’s 1951 photo shoot with the Chicago White Sox took place, is located in the northern section of Brookside Park at 678 North Arroyo Boulevard in Pasadena.