“I said anything could be done in New York, including rodeo. And I proved it.”—Tex Austin, regarding the rodeo he organized at Yankee Stadium

Tex Austin Rodeo Yankee Stadium
Frank McCarroll steer wrestling at Tex Austin’s rodeo, Yankee Stadium, 1923. From the Collection of P. Gavan

Every time I sit in the nosebleed seats at Yankee Stadium, I laugh at the placards on the back of every seat that say “Be alert for bats and/or balls.” Ha, like a bat or foul ball is going to make its way all the way up to the grandstand seating!

I laugh now, but for 10 days in August 1923, just four months after the brand-new Yankee Stadium opened at 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx, the spectators did need to be alert – but not for bats and balls. It was stray bulls they had to worry about.

Bryan Roach of Fort Worth, Texas, came in third place in the Great Harlem River Swimming Contest.
Bryan Roach of Fort Worth, Texas, came in third place in the Great Harlem River Swimming Contest. The other contestants were Charles Aldrich, “Red” McDonald, Tony Pagano, Joe Bell, Bill Hurley, Jack Rogers, Roy Kivett, John McDonald, Tim Carmine, Bill Getz, Ed McCarthy and Verne Elliot.


Tex Austin Brings His Rodeo to the Bronx

In 1922, American rodeo promoter John Van “Tex” Austin brought his popular western-style rodeo to Madison Square Garden. The inaugural event was such a big success, he needed a bigger venue. So in August 1923, while the New York Yankees were playing out west, Tex Austin brought the west to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Tony Pagano won $300 in the Great Harlem River Swimming Contest
Tony Pagano won $300 in the Great Harlem River Swimming Contest. To ensure safety at the event, Commander Edward F. Otto of the Orchard Beach Life Saving Station was on hand with 27 men equipped with life rings and Pulmotor artificial respiration devices.

To generate publicity and excitement for the 10-day event, Tex organized a benefit event for Catholic Big Brothers that featured about a dozen cowboys in western garb “riding” cow ponies across the Harlem River. Called the Great Harlem River Swimming Contest, the event attracted 10,000 spectators who loudly cheered on the ponies and cowboys.

The rodeo officially opened at 3 p.m. on August 15. Almost overnight, Yankee Stadium had been transformed into the Wild West. About 900 hands of livestock were corralled under the stadium grandstands. And a huge, 100,000 square foot mat made of cocoa and weighing 58 tons was pegged down with iron spikes over the infield and part of the outfield in order to protect the ground from the cloven hooves.

The running track was widened to accommodate relay races on horseback, and 30 enormous flood lights were perched on the roof for night events (lights and night games didn’t come to Yankee Stadium until May 28, 1946!).

The rodeo featured almost 200 contests, including bronco riding, steer wrestling, cow roping, cowgirl trick and fancy riding, relay races, bareback bronco riding, and more. Just over 100 cowboys and cowgirls competed for $50,000 in prize money, and thousands of spectators paid $2 or $3 to watch all the action.

Ruth Roach cowgirl Yankee Stadium
Ruth Roach, the wife of Bryan Roach pictured above, was one of many cowgirls to compete for prize money in the rodeo at Yankee Stadium. “Western girls are at home in the saddle as New York girls are in a subway seat.” —Evening Telegram, August 12, 1923

Be Alert for Foul Bulls

As Time magazine noted on August 20, 1923, “At bronk riding and steer bull-dogging [events], contestants are frequently seriously injured, occasionally killed. Tex Austin imports from the West and Southwest steers and broncos selected especially for their lack of amiability.” In other words, foul bulls.

Speaking to the New York press before the rodeo began, Tex Austin explained that the contestants could ride whatever they pleased at the event — including the subway if they found the horses and steers too tame.

I think some of the cowboys and cowgirls should have stuck to the subway.

Tex Austin Rodeo, Yankee Stadium
Eddie Steidler is thrown from his horse during Tex Austin’s rodeo at Yankee Stadium in 1923.

Each day of the event, the New York newspapers reported on the numerous mishaps at the stadium. Ruth Wheat was thrown and trampled by her horse; Frank Studenick broke his arm when he was thrown from his horse (they both came back to compete the next day).

Buford B. Polk was thrown during the steer riding competition and was taken, unconscious, to Fordham Hospital with a fractured skull. Earl Thode was kicked in the spine by a steer and taken to Harlem Hospital; Floyd Schilling was thrown from a bucking bronco and went to Lincoln Hospital with two broken arms. You get the idea.

Tex Austin Rodeo Yankee Stadium
Wooden promotional poster for the rodeo.

Numerous spectators were also injured — or, at least, almost frightened to death — when several bulls decided to make their way into the stands. One steer went on a rampage and headed into the lower left-field seats, causing people to run for their lives (some cowboys had to jump over seats to catch the animal). And two steers took off into the right-field bleacher seats — it took 12 men to capture them.

A Brahma Steer Goes Wild

A few days after the rodeo ended, a convoy of motor trucks began transporting the livestock from the stadium to the railroad yards at 152nd Street. One particularly brazen Brahma steer who apparently did not want to leave the big city jumped from the vehicle and made a mad dash through Macomb’s Dam Park.

Pursued by rodeo cowboys on horseback and several policemen in commandeered taxi cabs, the steer ran north on Sedgwick Avenue to Jerome Avenue. There, it struck Mrs. Mary Merrill of 407 East 136th Street. Mrs. Merrill was not injured, but the steer quickly met his demise when Patrolman Powers of the Highbridge Station shot him in the head from a moving taxi cab. (And we thought the 1970s were dangerous times!)

Yankee Stadium 1923
This circa 1923 photo provides a rare aerial view of Yankee Stadium, Macomb’s Dam Park, and the Polo Grounds across the Harlem River. It was along these dusty dirt streets that the Tex Austin rodeo steer led cowboys and police on a wild chase.

Yankee Stadium: From Swampland to Cathedral

Although it would be astounding to see a bull running down Jerome Avenue today, in 1923 the Highbridge (formerly Highbridgeville) neighborhood of the Bronx was still quite rural and mostly farmland. Here’s a quick visual history of the 10 acres of hollowed ground that the American Baseball League delegates chose for Yankee Stadium – the Cathedral of Baseball – in February 1921:

Keskeskeck Bronx
On August 3, 1639, the West India Company received from native tribes a tract of land between the Kil and Great Kil (Harlem and Hudson rivers), which they called Keskeskeck. From this tract, Daniel Turneur was granted 81 acres bounded by the Harlem River and Cromwell’s Creek, and comprising the high lands of Devoe’s Point near today’s Macombs Dam Bridge (Frederick Devoe was a descendent of Turneur’s daughter.) About 1,900 acres of land to the east of Cromwell’s Creek was granted to Colonel Lewis Morris in 1676.
Morrisania map 1879
The site of the original Yankee Stadium was once swampland along Cromwell’s Creek, a popular spot for fishing, swimming, and ice skating in the 1800s. Cromwell’s Creek, shown in this 1879 map, was named for the descendants of John Cromwell, a nephew of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. In the late 1700s, James Cromwell used the waters of the creek to propel his mill.
Macombs Dam, 1814
In 1813, Robert Macomb constructed a dam across the Harlem River for his mill on Devoe’s Point (his toll bridge opened in 1816). Although the state required Macomb to operate a lock to keep navigation open, only small boats could pass through the 7 x7 foot lock. In 1838, Lewis G. Morris and irate residents along the riverbank paid a coal barge crew to break through the dam with axes. Charges were filed, but the court declared Macomb’s dam a “public nuisance” (Renwick v. Morris). The Central Bridge opened in 1861 and was replaced by the current Macombs Dam Bridge in 1895.
Cedar Jack's Last Stand Clam Bar, on the site of the future Yankee Stadium
In the 1800s, Highbridge was a popular destination for tourists and sporting men who traveled to the area by Harlem River steamers. The town had numerous wood-frame road houses and eateries, like George H.. Huber’s Roadhouse and Casino (formerly Gabe Case’s roadhouse tavern) at Jerome and 162nd Street and Cedar Jack’s Last Stand Clam Bar along Cromwell’s Creek at 161st Street (shown here), which was run by John Burns. There was also Schumacher’s Saloon at 161st and River Avenue, which was the exact spot of the 1923 Yankee Stadium.
162nd Street Bronx 1880s
On April 21, 1880, William H. Morris and his wife conveyed about 500 lots to John Jacob Astor for $437,983. The lots comprised about 140 acres plus water rights, and were bounded by Mott Avenue, Cromwell’s Creek, Central Avenue (Jerome Avenue), 155th and 167th Street. The Astor’s had many tenants, including coal dealers John M. Tierney, William F. Porter, and Carrie T. Porter (Tierney & Porter), who opened shop at 161st Street and Jerome Avenue along Cromwell’s Creek in 1888, and Clifford L. Miller & Co., a brick and cement manufacturer, who began operating on this site in 1891. New York Public Library Digital Collection
Morrisania Map 1900
By the late 1800s, the city had begun allowing contractors to dump dirt, boulders, and other excavated materials from building sites into Cromwell’s Creek in order to cover it over. For example, in 1902, when the rapid transit tunnel at Morris Avenue and 149th Street was excavated, all the stones and dirt was dumped into the creek. By about 1905, much of it was covered over; Macombs Dam Park (green) was in use by local ball clubs like the Unions of Morrisania and the empty lot to its west was awaiting something big.
Lumberyard, pre Yankee Stadium, 1921
In 1903, American Baseball League delegates began looking at a swampy piece of land owned by the Astor estate. It wasn’t until February 1921 that the owners of the New York American League Baseball Club, Jacob Rupert and Tillinghast l’Hommedieu Huston, announced that they had selected a location for the future home of the Yankees — a garbage-strewn 10-acre plot between 161st Street and 157th Street at River Avenue that was currently being used as a lumberyard. The owner paid $675,000 for the lot and the lumberyard was demolished. The rest, they say, is history. Brooklyn County Historical Society
Yankee Stadium 1923
Taxis line up in front of Yankee Stadium during its inaugural season in 1923.
  1. Howell Wright says:

    Do your records show a J. C. Remington as the rodeo promoter for the Yankee Stadium rodeo in 2024? I am writing a book on the Rooftop Rodeo in Estes Park, Colorado and I have a reference that says “This rodeo (1924) bids fair to rival the Cheyenne Round-Up both in point of attendance and interest. A significant aspect of this rodeo is that it was produced by Mr. J.C. Remington who had just previously produced this rodeo in Yankee Stadium in New York and in Detroit.” Appreciate any help you can provide. Howell

    • The Hatching Cat says:

      Howell,

      The rodeo at Yankee Stadium took place in 1923 under the management and promotion of Tex Austin. In 1924, the Long Island Knights of Columbus sponsored at rodeo that took place in Brooklyn on Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues. Perhaps this rodeo was promoted by Red Remington, but I can’t find any mention of his name in connection with the Brooklyn rodeo. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you any more on this. Good luck with your book!

      • Howell Wright says:

        Thank you sir. Sometimes a lead like I had works out and sometimes it simply does not. Really appreciate your help.