title: Switchblade

text: From 1923 to 1951, the "Union Cutlery Co." of Olean, New York produced a series of lever-operated switchblades designed for the mid and upper end of the market, featuring celluloid, stag, or jigged bone handles, a bolster-mounted push-button, all featuring the company's "KA-BAR" trademark on the blade tang. The line included the "KA-BAR Grizzly", "KA-BAR Baby Grizzly", and "KA-BAR Model 6110 Lever Release" knives. The largest model was "KA-BAR Grizzly", a folding hunter pattern with a broad bowie-type clip point blade.


title: Switchblade

text: Upon returning to the United States, Schrade made a final improvement to his "Presto" series of switchblades, filing his patent application on June 6, 1916. The next year, Schrade licensed a new flylock switchblade design to the "Challenge Cutlery Company", which he then joined. Under the trademark of "Flylock Knife Co.", Challenge made several patterns of the flylock switchblade, including a large 5-inch folding hunter model with hinged floating guard and a small pen knife model designed to appeal to women buyers. A Challenge Cutlery advertisement of the day depicted a female hand operating a fly-lock automatic pen knife, accompanied by a caption urging women to buy one for their sewing kit so as not to break a nail while attempting to open a normal pen knife. Schrade pursued his knifemaking interests at both Challenge and at Schrade, where his brother George now managed one of the company's factories.


title: Switchblade

text: With a few ex-Challenge employees Schrade formed a second company, the "Geo. Schrade Knife Company", primarily to manufacture his "Presto" series of switchblade knives. In 1937, Schrade came out with two more low-cost switchblade knives designed to appeal to youth, the "Flying Jack" and the "Pull-Ball Knife". The "Flying Jack" had a sliding operating latch and could be produced with one or more automatically opening blades. The "Pull-Ball" opened by pulling a ball located on the butt end of the handle. Schrade would later manufacture alternative configurations to the ball operating handle, including dice, rings, eight balls, or different colors. Unfortunately, the "Pull-Ball" required two hands to open, removing much of the switchblade's utility as a one-handed knife. As the blade catch mechanism required a good deal of space within the handle, the knife's blade length was short relative to its handle length. Schrade manufactured many pull-ball knives for sale under other brands, including Remington, Case, and the "J.C.N. Co." ("Jewelry Cutlery Novelty Company" of North Attleboro, Massachusetts) Always looking for a new way to appeal to customers, Schrade continued to experiment with new forms of switchblade designs up to the time of his death in 1940.


title: Switchblade

text: In the late 1930s the German Luftwaffe began training a "Fallschirmjäger" or paratroop force, and as part of this effort developed specialized equipment for the airborne soldier, including the "Fallschirmjäger-Messer" (paratrooper's knife), which used a gravity-operated mechanism to deploy its sliding spearpoint blade from the handle. The German paratrooper knife, which featured a marlinspike in addition to the cutting blade, was used to cut rigging and unknot lines, though it could be employed as a weapon in an emergency. The U.S. Army in 1940 tasked the "Geo. Schrade Knife Co." to produce a small single-edge switchblade for U.S. airborne troops, to be used similarly to the "Fallschirmjäger-Messer". The knife was not intended primarily as a fighting knife, but rather as a utility tool, to enable a paratrooper to rapidly cut himself out of his lines and harness in the event he could not escape them after landing.


title: Switchblade

text: The company's submission was approved by the U.S. Army Materiel Command in December 1940 as the "Knife, Pocket, M2". The M2 had a 3.125-inch clip-point blade and featured a carrying bail. Except for the bail, the M2 was for all intents and purposes a copy of George Schrade's popular "Presto" safety-button civilian model. The M-2 was issued primarily to U.S. Army paratroopers during the war, though some knives appear to have been distributed to crews and members of the Office of Strategic Services. When issued to paratroopers, the M2 was normally carried in the dual-zippered knife pocket on the upper chest of the M42 jump uniform jacket. After the war, the M2 was manufactured by Schrade (now "Schrade-Walden, Inc.") as the "Parachutist's Snap Blade Knife" (MIL-K-10043) under a postwar military contract. In addition, other companies such as the "Colonial Knife Co." made civilian versions of the M2 after the war.


title: Switchblade

text: From the end of World War II until 1958, most U.S.-manufactured switchblades were manufactured by Schrade (now "Schrade-Walden, Inc.", a division of "Imperial Knife Co."), and the Colonial Knife Co.


title: Switchblade

text: Schrade-Walden Inc. made knives under the "Schrade-Walden" trademark, while Colonial made a number of mass-produced switchblade patterns during the 1950s under the trademark "Shur Snap". Designed to a price point, "Shur Snap" switchblades feature stamped plated sheet-metal bolsters and plastic scales.


title: Switchblade

text: In 1956, the U.S. Air Force requested development for a new aircrew knife with several requirements, including the ability to be opened with one hand. The final result was the "MC-1 Aircrew Survival Knife". A development of the WW2-era M2 Parachutist Snap Blade knife, the MC-1 featured twin blades, The main blade was a blunt line-cutting blade with a protected sharpened inside edge for severing parachute lines, while the secondary blade opened automatically with a push button in the event the crew member could use only one hand. First issued in 1958, the MC-1 was restricted to U.S. military sales only, and was produced by the Camillus Cutlery Co., Logan/Smyth of Venice Florida, and Schrade-Walden Inc.. The last production contract for the MC-1 was cancelled in 1993.


title: Switchblade

text: After 1945, American soldiers returning home from Europe brought along individually purchased examples of the Italian style of stiletto pattern switchblade produced in Maniago and other cutlery towns. Though undeniably limited in practical usefulness, the style and beauty of the so-called stiletto switchblade was a revelation to US buyers accustomed to the utilitarian nature of most U.S.-made automatic knives such as the Schrade "Presto" pocketknife. Consumer demand for more of these knives resulted in the importation of large numbers of side-opening and telescoping blade switchblades, primarily from Italy. In the case of the switchblade, the name stiletto derives from the blade design, since most Italian designs incorporated a long, slender blade tapering to a needle-like point, together with a slim-profile handle and vestigial cross-guard reminiscent of the medieval weapon. The majority of these stiletto pattern switchblade knives used a now-iconic slender bayonet-style blade with a single sabre-ground edge and an opposing false edge. Other blade styles included the double-edged dagger and the curved-edge kris. Some were flimsy souvenirs made for tourists or novelty purchasers, while others were made with solid materials and workmanship. Eventually, many thousands of Italian switchblades were exported to the US. Around this time, the traditional Italian switchblade 'picklock' method of blade release was largely replaced by the tilt bolster mechanism, ending the "Golden Age" of hand-crafted Italian switchblades.


title: Switchblade

text: As with the medieval stiletto upon which it was based, the so-called stiletto switchblade was intended to be a concealable weapon optimized for thrusting rather than cutting or slashing (many imported stiletto switchblades had no sharpened cutting edge at all). These knives ranged in blade length from two to eighteen inches (50mm - 460mm);. As a weapon, the stiletto switchblade was much less effective than most fixed-blade hunting and military knives commonly available in the US, including the Bowie knife and dagger, which could inflict deep slashing cuts as well as stab wounds. However, its peculiar properties of easy concealment and rapid blade deployment appealed to some, and as with any other knife, the stiletto switchblade could inflict a severe wound, given sufficient blade length.


title: Switchblade

text: In 1950, an article titled "The Toy That Kills" appeared in the "Women's Home Companion", a widely read U.S. periodical of the day. The article sparked a storm of controversy and a nationwide campaign that would eventually result in state and federal laws criminalizing the importation, sale, and possession of automatic-opening knives. In the article, author Jack Harrison Pollack assured the reader that the growing switchblade "menace" could have deadly consequence "as any crook can tell you". Pollack, a former aide to Democratic Senator Harley M. Kilgore and a ghostwriter for then-Senator Harry S Truman, had authored a series of melodramatic magazine articles calling for new laws to address a variety of social ills. In "The Toy That Kills", Pollack wrote that the switchblade was "Designed for violence, deadly as a revolver - that’s the switchblade, the 'toy' youngsters all over the country are taking up as a fad. Press the button on this new version of the pocketknife and the blade darts out like a snake’s tongue. Action against this killer should be taken now". To back up his charges, Pollack quoted an unnamed juvenile court judge as saying: "It’s only a short step from carrying a switchblade to gang warfare".


title: Switchblade

text: During the 1950s, established U.S. newspapers as well as the sensationalist tabloid press joined forces in promoting the image of a young delinquent with a stiletto switchblade or flick knife. While the press focused on the switchblade as a symbol of youthful evil intent, the American public's attention was attracted by lurid stories of urban youth gang warfare and the fact that many gangs were composed of lower class youth and/or racial minorities. The purported offensive nature of the stiletto switchblade combined with reports of knife fights, robberies, and stabbings by youth gangs and other criminal elements in urban areas of the United States generated continuing demands from newspaper editorial rooms and the public for new laws restricting the lawful possession and/or use of switchblade knives - with particular emphasis on racial minorities, especially African-American and Hispanic teens. In 1954, the state of New York passed the first law banning the sale or distribution of switchblade knives in hopes of reducing gang violence. That same year, Democratic Rep. James J. Delaney of New York authored the first bill submitted to the U.S. Congress banning the manufacture and sale of switchblades.


title: Switchblade

text: Some U.S. congressmen saw the switchblade controversy as a political opportunity to capitalize on constant negative accounts of the switchblade knife and its connection to violence and youth gangs. This coverage included not only magazine articles but also highly popular films of the late 1950s including "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), "Crime in the Streets" (1956), "12 Angry Men" (1957), "The Delinquents" (1957), "High School Confidential" (1958), and the 1957 Broadway musical "West Side Story". Hollywood's fixation on the switchblade as the symbol of youth violence, sex, and delinquency resulted in renewed demands from the public and Congress to control the sale and possession of such knives. State laws restricting or criminalizing switchblade possession and use were adopted by an increasing number of state legislatures.


title: Switchblade

text: In 1957, Senator Estes Kefauver (D) of Tennessee attempted unsuccessfully to pass a law restricting the importation and possession of switchblade knives. Opposition to the bill from the U.S. knife making industry was muted, with the exception of the "Colonial Knife Co." and "Schrade-Walden Inc.", which were still manufacturing small quantities of pocket switchblades for the U.S. market. Some in the industry even supported the legislation, hoping to gain market share at the expense of Colonial and Schrade. However, the legislation failed to receive expected support from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Justice, which considered the legislation unenforceable and an unwarranted intrusion into lawful sales in interstate commerce.


title: Switchblade

text: While Kefauver's bill failed, a new U.S. Senate bill prohibiting the importation or possession of switchblade knives in interstate commerce was introduced the following year by Democratic Senator Peter F. Mack Jr. of Illinois in an attempt to reduce gang violence in Chicago and other urban centers in the state. With youth violence and delinquency aggravated by the severe economic recession, Mack's bill was enacted by Congress and signed into law as the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958.


title: Switchblade

text: The melodrama created by US media towards the stiletto switchblade had its effect in Canada and the United Kingdom. The US Switchblade Knife Act was closely followed by the UK Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act of 1959. In Canada, Parliament amended the Criminal Code in 1959 to include all new-production automatic knives as prohibited weapons - banned from importation, sale or possession within that country.


title: Switchblade

text: The new laws treated all automatic-opening knives as a prohibited class, even knives with utility or general-purpose blades not generally used by criminals. Curiously, the sale and possession of stilettos and other 'offensive' knives with fixed or lockback blades were not prohibited. In other U.S. states, the sale and possession of switchblade knives remained legal, particularly in rural states where a significant proportion of the population possessed firearms. As late as 1968, Jack Pollack was still writing lurid articles demanding further federal legislation prohibiting the purchase or possession of switchblade knives. That same year, New York congressman Lester L. Wolff (D) even read one of Pollack's articles into the U.S. Congressional Record while introducing legislation to further restrict the sale and transportation of switchblades, arguing that 'switchblade knives have no redeeming social value and are restricted almost solely to violence'.


title: Switchblade

text: As an anti-violence measure, legislation against switchblade sales or use clearly failed in the United States, as youth street gangs increasingly turned from bats and knives to handguns, MAC-10s, and AK-47s to settle their disputes over territory as well as income from prostitution, extortion, and illicit drug sales. In fact, the U.S. murder rate using cutting or stabbing instruments of all types declined from 23% of all murders in 1965 to just 12% in 2012.


title: Switchblade

text: By the late 1960s, new production of switchblades in the United States was largely limited to military contract automatic knives such as the MC-1.


title: Switchblade

text: In Italy, switchblades known among collectors as "Transitionals" were made with a mix of modern parts and leftover old style parts.


title: Switchblade

text: Switchblade knives continued to be sold and collected in those states in which possession remained legal. In the 1980s, automatic knife imports to the U.S. resumed with the concept of kit knives, allowing the user to assemble a working switchblade from a parts kit with the addition of a mainspring or other key part (often sold separately). Since no law prohibited importation of switchblade parts or unassembled kits, all risk of prosecution was assumed by the assembling purchaser, not the importer. This loophole was eventually closed by new federal regulations.


title: Switchblade

text: The ability to purchase or carry switchblades or automatic knives continues to be heavily restricted or prohibited throughout much of Europe, with some notable exceptions. In Britain, the folding type of switchblade is commonly referred to as a flick knife. In the UK, knives with an automated opening system are nearly impossible to acquire or carry legally; although they can legally be owned, it is illegal to manufacture, sell, hire, give, lend, or import such knives. This definition would nominally restrict lawful ownership to 'grandfathered' automatic knives already in possession by their owner prior to the enactment of the applicable law in 1959. Even when such a knife is legally owned, carrying it in public without good reason or lawful authority is also illegal under current UK laws.


title: Switchblade

text: Under US federal laws, switchblades remain illegal to import from abroad or to purchase through interstate commerce since 1958 under the old Switchblade Knife Act (15 U.S.C. §§1241-1245). In recent years, many U.S. states have repealed laws prohibiting the purchase or possession of automatic or switchblade knives in their entirety.


title: Switchblade

text: Despite federal law, there are still a number of U.S. knife companies and custom makers who build automatic knives, primarily for use by the military and emergency personnel. Some well known present-day automatic knife manufacturers include "Buck Knives", "Colonial Knife Co.", "Microtech Knives", "Benchmade", "Severtech", "Gerber Legendary Blades", "Mikov", "Pro-Tech Knives", "Dalton", "Böker", "Spyderco", "Kershaw Knives", and "Piranha". Colonial currently manufactures the M724 Automatic Rescue Knife, which is currently being issued for use in all U.S. military aircraft ejection seat survival kits.


title: Switchblade

text: The classic Italian-style stiletto switchblade continues to be produced in Italy, Taiwan, and China. Automatic knife manufacture in Italy consists predominantly as a cottage industry of family-oriented businesses. These include "Frank Beltrame" and "AGA Campolin", who have been making automatic knives using hand assembly techniques for more than half a century. Since the late 1990s, the nations of Taiwan and China have emerged as large-scale producers of automatic knives.


title: Switchblade

text: Automatic or switchblade knives have been produced in the following countries: Argentina, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and U.S.A..


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Colt Canada C7 is a Canadian family of military rifles, manufactured by Colt Canada (formerly Diemaco prior to 2005), having similar design and function to the Colt M16A3.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C7 and its variants have been adopted as the standard issue rifle by the militaries of Canada, Norway (special forces only), Denmark and the Netherlands. Following trials, C8 variants are general issue firearms for the United Kingdom's Special Forces. It is also the standard firearm of the Dutch air force (C8A1) and other specialist users within the Dutch and British militaries. It has been utilized in various combat deployments by Canadian, British, Norwegian, Dutch, and Danish forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mali.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The development of the C7 assault rifle paralleled that of the M16A2 by Colt. A Canadian Forces liaison officer worked with the United States Marine Corps in the M16A1 Product Improvement Program and relayed information to Canada's Rifle Replacement Program Office. The C7 is much like earlier M16A1E1s, rather than final product M16A2s. The earliest C7s were manufactured by Colt for Canadian Forces as the Colt Model 715. The C7 series of firearms is driven by the same Stoner bolt and carrier gas system as the M16 series. Like the M16A1 and M16A3, the C7 has both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire modes. The C7 also features the structural strengthening, spent case deflector, improved handguards, and longer stock developed for the M16A2. Diemaco changed the trapdoor in the buttstock to make for easier access to a small storage compartment inside the stock, and a spacer is available to adjust stock length and hence length of pull to user preference. For the furniture Diemaco chose "Fiberlite" nylon reinforced polymer and detailed the furniture suitable for CRBN decontamination and cold weather use at . The carrying handle and rear sight assembly on top of the Diemaco C7 receiver features the most noticeable external difference between American M16A2s and C7s.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Diemaco C7s use a modified pre-M16A2 style two aperture L-type flip rear and front post iron sight line featuring two combat settings. An approximately diameter aperture rear sight is used for normal firing situations for target distances up to . A second larger approximately diameter aperture battle sight is used as a ghost ring for short range quick target engagement and during limited visibility. The wing guards protected front sight was changed to a slimmer tapered round post of approximately diameter. C7 iron sights are normally zeroed with the normal use rear aperture sight at with SS109/M855/C77 ammunition. The rear sight can be zeroed for windage in 2.8 cm or 0.28 mrad increments at 100 m, when used with a rifle length sight radius. Elevation adjusting can be zeroed in 3.5 cm or 0.35 mrad increments at 100 m.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Not so apparent is Diemaco's use of 1 in rifling twist hammer-forged chrome-lined barrel and chamber units with a slightly reducing bore diameter over the length of the rifling to increase longevity and accuracy. These features were introduced as the Canadians originally wished to use a heavy barrel profile instead of the M16A2 profile. Also, Diemaco has developed a different mounting system from Colt for the Canadian M203 grenade launcher variant for the C7 rifle family and the bolt and bolt carrier were produced from stronger materials. Further Diemaco optimized the rifle for using 5.56×45mm NATO C77 cartridge L109 ball and the C78 cartridge longer L110 tracer projectiles by using a redesigned buffer assembly, thus making the M4-style extended feed ramps later introduced in the Colt M4 carbine unnecessary. The Canadian military initially ordered polymer STANAG compliant magazines for their C7s. As the prototypes failed the Canadian military trials, the C7 was introduced with aluminum STANAG compliant magazines. The C7 has a cyclic rate of fire of around 700–900 rounds per minute (RPM).


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C7A1 (Diemaco C7FT) replaces the iron sight/carrying handle assembly used on the C7 with a modified Weaver rail for mounting optics. Canadian development of rails preceded U.S. standardization of the MIL-STD-1913 "Picatinny rail", so the "Canadian Rail" or "Diemaco Rail" differs slightly. There are 14 slots instead of 13, and each slot is narrower. The height of the rail is also higher, allowing the use of normal-height front sight post whereas a Picatinny rail requires the use of a higher F-marked front sight post. During development, the original rails were vacuum-bonded to the top of a bare receiver. For production, the rail and receiver were made out of a single forging. The mount can use traditional iron sights or the ELCAN C79 Optical Sight 3.4×28 optical sight, both of which can be adjusted for individual eye relief. The optical sight was designed for the C9 light machine gun and includes horizontal and vertical mil-bars used for range determination and deflection, and a tritium glow-in-the-dark aiming post rather than the traditional crosshairs. The 3.4× is powerful enough to properly see targets at the maximum accurate range of , though like most magnified optical sights it is prone to criticism for creating tunnel vision in close quarters situations. While the wide aperture helps to speed target acquisition, Canadian soldiers generally forgo the C79 sight in favour of non-magnified optical sights or a rear back up iron sight (BUIS) when engaged or training in close quarters battle. A detachable carrying handle and rear sight assembly can also be installed on top of the receiver. The BUIS and detachable carrying handle and rear sight assembly feature L-type rear sight apertures that are the same as used in the preceding fixed carrying handle and rear sight assembly. In the later years, upon request, Diemaco/Colt Canada would manufacture MIL-STD-1913 "Picatinny rail" upper receivers.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: With Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, Diemaco and the Canadian Forces developed improvements to the C7A1 to better suit the operational situations at hand. The result, the C7A2, has a four-point telescoping stock unit similar to that of the C8 carbine and a three-rail TRIAD that is clamped on the front sight base to allow accessories to be attached. The selector lever, magazine release, and charging handle latch became ambidextrous. Also, the C7A2 is issued with green colour furniture as standard. These weapons are often seen with a similar plethora of accessories as their American counterparts given the overall commonalities of the system and the rail mounts. The C7A2 is also issued with the C79A2 ELCAN optical gunsight with 3.4× magnification but with a uniform green rubber armored coating, but some soldiers who are issued it have either been issued or have purchased sights like the EOTech holographic weapons sight and the Trijicon ACOG. Within an eight-man section, six soldiers will normally carry a C7A2: the section commander and second in command, two grenadiers and two riflemen, with only the machine gunners carrying a C9A2 LMG. The C7A2 is considered a "mid-life" upgrade for the C7 family. The addition of the TRIAD rail mount has made it easier for soldiers to attach accessories such as laser designator and tactical lights. Many A2's are also seen with folding grips from Cadex Inc. under the handguards which can store 2 CR123 batteries.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Canadian Forces is looking to upgrade and modernize their stockpile of C7A2 assault rifles, although nothing is yet official or certain as of 2022. One of the biggest upgrades that might be implemented is the replacement of the standard flat-top upper receiver with standard handguards, handguard end cap and front sight base with a monolithic upper receiver with integrated aluminium quad-rail handguard for increased modularity with accessories and free-floating the barrel for augmented precision. This would put the fleet of service rifles of the Canadian Armed Forces on par with Colt Canada's latest offerings and upgrades of the Danish and Dutch militaries who have adopted rifles with monolithic upper receivers. This version will require the use of the Colt Canada M203A1 with a different mounting system due to the new aluminium quad-rail handguard. Since Colt Canada developed and released the MRR (Modular Rail Rifle) that uses a monolithic upper receiver with the Magpul M-LOK attachment system, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) might be heading in that direction instead, along with a shorter, barrel, instead of the standard barrel, and straight gas tube with a low-profile gas block The possibility of using integrated suppressors is also something that is being looked into. A shorter charging-handle latch will also be used as opposed to the very long C7A2 latch, which gets caught on equipment and vests, which causes the latch to bend and break the charging-handle.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Colt Canada C8 carbine range are carbine variants of the C7 family, and are mechanically and aesthetically very similar to the Colt Model 723 M16A2 carbine. Colt made the initial C8s for Canadian Forces as the Colt Model 725. The C8 has a A1 profile barrel like the Colt Model 653 M16A1 carbine, but with a 1 in rifling twist appropriate for adequately stabilizing the 5.56×45mm NATO C77 cartridge L109 ball and the C78 cartridge longer L110 tracer projectiles and the design improvements featured on C7 assault rifles. The C8 has a cyclic rate of fire of around 750–950 rounds per minute (RPM).


title: Colt Canada C7

text: C8 iron sights are normally zeroed with the normal use rear aperture sight at with SS109/M855/C77 ammunition. The rear sight can be zeroed for windage in 3.8 cm or 0.38 mrad increments at 100 m, when used with a carbine length sight radius. Elevation can be zeroed in 4.7 cm or 0.47 mrad increments at 100 m. Once the iron sight line is zeroed, the front sight post and rear sight should not be moved.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C8A1 (Diemaco C8FT) is essentially a C8 carbine with a C7A1 flat-top upper receiver; the carbine having a barrel versus the barrel typically seen on the C7. The overall layout of the weapon remains essentially unchanged except for the upper receiver and the general inclusion of the C79 sight. C8A1s have also been more commonly seen with the detachable carry handle with A1 sights developed by Diemaco for both the C7FT and the C8FT. The C8A1 was never officially adopted by the Canadian Forces and was only used in Afghanistan for the ability to use the C79 optical sights.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C8A2 carbine is very similar to the C8, but having a cold-hammer forged heavy barrel (as opposed to the pencil-profile barrel previously used) and a flat-top upper receiver.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Special Forces Weapon (SFW) features a longer, barrel of a significant heavier profile than the C8A1 and a Rail Adapter System (RAS) handguard. The SFW operating system is more copiously gassed when compared to the standard C8A1 to enhance reliability in the presence of heavy fouling or icing at the expense of moving the bolt and bolt carrier faster and harder against the accordingly adapted buffer assembly, resulting in a free recoil increase. It is designed to provide a fire support capability in carbine form. A sleeve, called the Simon Sleeve, is slipped over the end of the barrel and is retained by the compensator and its crush washer. It is used to mount standard issued C7 Nella bayonet, CAN Bayonet 2000/2005 and M203A1s. The front sight base is strengthened for mounting of the Heckler & Koch AG-C/EGLM grenade launcher.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C8SFW is in service with the Norwegian Special Operations Forces as their standard rifle, as the more recently introduced HK416 does not feature a "heavy profile barrel" as the C8SFW.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) adopted a C8SFW variant, under the designation "L119A1." In 2014, the UKSF upgraded to the "L119A2", which features a custom Integrated Upper Receiver (IUR).


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Concerns that Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry had with the C8 led to the creation of the C8FTHB. The C8FTHB (Flat Top Heavy Barrel) features numerous improvements over the C8, including a heavy profile cold hammer-forged M4 profile barrel featuring a grenade launcher cut out for mounting of the Canadian Forces M203A1 and bayonet and Elcan C79 Optical Sight.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Some of the earlier C8FTHB carbines used old refurbished C8 receivers. "FTHB" was stamped next to the C8 markings on the lower receivers. Colt Canada later manufactured new lower receivers with C8FTHB markings. Later, C8FTHB carbines that were upgraded to the C8A3 had "A3" stamped next to the markings, giving "C8FTHBA3" markings. Only 400 C8FTHBs were upgraded to C8FTHBA3s before Colt Canada started simply marking new receivers "C8A3".


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C8FTHB was quickly replaced by the C8A3, which features the same cold-hammer forged barrel and flat-top upper receiver as the C8FTHB as well as all the mid-life upgrades that appeared on the C7A2 such as the green furniture, ambidextrous charging-handle latch, magazine release and selector lever. It also includes the TRIAD I rail for C8, which has one slot less than the C7 TRIAD I, to accommodate the M203A1 sight.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Two additional C8 variants exist. The C8CQB is similar to the Mark 18 Mod 0 CQBR, having a or heavy barrel and a Vortex Flash Hider made by Smith Enterprise Inc. The smaller Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) variant has an overall length of with its stock fully retracted. It has a barrel and the receiver extension has been shortened by .


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Colt and Diemaco also paired up to develop a squad automatic weapon variant of the series. The Diemaco Light Support Weapon (LSW) features an enlarged straight gas tube and an almost 1 inch thick heavy barrel to make the barrel less susceptible for overheating and hence increase the sustained or effective rate of fire capability. The LSW can only fire automatically. The LSW has a boxy square handguard with a carrying handle and a vertical foregrip that can be used as a monopod. The LSW was made with no bayonet lug until recently because of the original bipod. A new bipod attaches to the same barrel yoke as the carrying handle and front grip, so current LSWs are made with a bayonet lug. Unlike many M16 variants, it fires from an open bolt, necessitating the removal of the forward assist for operating safety. It was the only weapon in the Diemaco product line to feature an M16A2-type fully adjustable rear sight, allowing the rear sight to be dialed in for specific range settings between 300 and 800 meters and to allow windage adjustments without the need of a tool or cartridge. The LSW is used by the Royal Danish Army and the Netherlands Marine Corps (LOAW / LOAWNLD) These arms fire from a closed bolt and also have a semi-automatic firing mode and forward assist. The Diemaco LSW was originally a license produced variant of the Colt 750, but both Colt and Diemaco have upgraded their respective weapons to include features like a detachable carry handle and other features separately.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Diemaco's C7/C8 family is completed with two designated marksman variants, the C7CT and C8CT, with CT meaning Custom Tactical. These accurized C7/C8 variants are designed to provide accurate engagement up to , while providing system commonality to other fielded weapons. They have two-stage match triggers and weighted stocks to counterbalance the heavy or free-floating barrel surrounded by a tubular forestock. A removable bipod, rails for designators, sling, etc. attach to that forestock. A special, distinctive pistol grip is fitted and the C7-style buttstock can be adjusted with shims. Sound suppressors are usually fitted. The rifle is designed as a sniper spotter weapon or a police containment weapon. The CT series weapons meet or exceed all applicable military standards including: reliability in all environmental and operational conditions, accuracy, lethality, maintainability in field conditions and safety.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Diemaco makes a training version of the C7 named the C10. It fires .22 Long Rifle ammunition, but is only capable of semi-automatic fire. The polymer stock and lower receiver are one piece.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C 10 was proposed but never implemented, and no .22 caliber sub-cal system was/is used in the CAF after the withdrawal of the C1A1 rifle. The Army Cadet Corps had moved away from .22 caliber rifles to .177 pellet rifles some years ago.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In 2008 or 2009, Colt Canada introduced a completely new designed upper receiver with integrated rail attachment system. The front handguard is in this system permanently attached to the upper receiver. The whole system is forged from one piece, and is sometimes called a monolithic rail. This system allows for a completely free floating barrel. Another unique feature is that the system can be adapted for different barrel lengths by screwing on an extension.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In 2010, the C8 IUR (Integrated Upper Receiver) was introduced as an upgrade by all four branches of the Danish military and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service's SWAT teams, as the "Gevær M/10",


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In 2011, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police adopted a semi-automatic only version of the C8 IUR with ancillary components as their patrol carbine.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Colt Canada introduced the MRR, or Modular Rail Rifle, in 2015 and released it for sale to the market in 2016. It is essentially a monolithic upper receiver with Magpul's M-LOK attachment system for accessories. The rifles are offered with barrels. The version features a shorter handguard. As of late 2016, the variant is offered only to law enforcement and the military.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Denmark bought the first batch of C7A1 in 1995 and C8A1 in 1996, designating them the "M/95" and "M/96 carbine". In 2004 the LSW, named "LSV M/04" was added to the arsenal. These are to replace the German made M/75 (H&K G3), which has been the main infantry weapon since 1975.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C7A1 is issued to standard infantry units of the Royal Danish Army. The C8A1 is issued to units where the physically longer C7A1 can be obstructive to that unit's primary work, such as logisticians, tankers and special units. Jægerkorpset and Frømandskorpset (Special forces) use the C8SFW with a barrel and extra front rails. The now defunct SSR, a draftee LRRP-unit, also used the C8SFW.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The LSW used to be issued to "support gunners" in infantry squads. However, it is planned that the Royal Danish Army will only use 7.62mm belt-fed machine guns for the support role. Most of the LSWs are intended to be transferred to the Danish Home Guard.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Army almost exclusively use the C7A1 and C8A1 with the Elcan C79 optical sight, while the Danish Home Guard use the C8A2 with the Swedish produced Aimpoint. The main feature of the Aimpoint is the "both eyes open" sighting. This is the preferred sighting method at shorter ranges.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The C7A1 was first issued to field units of Logcoy/Danbn/Dancon of the Danish International Brigade, in October–November 1995 shortly before the transition from UNPROFOR to IFOR in Bosnia.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: On 4 January 2009 the Danish army lost a number of small arms including M/95 and M/96 rifles to armed robbers who overpowered the guards at Antvorskov Kaserne. The robbery was solely made possible because of inside knowledge and help. The police recovered the last of the stolen weapons on 22 November 2011.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In 2010 the Danish Defence Materiel Service ordered an improved version of the M/96 and M/95 from Colt Canada under the Danish designation M/10, which Colt Canada designated the "C8 IUR". It features a free floating barrel, fully ambidextrous controls, flip up iron sights, a collapsible buttstock with more positions, and the Integrated Upper Receiver (IUR).


title: Colt Canada C7

text: During the 2015 Copenhagen shootings one victim was killed with an M/95 issued to the Danish Home Guard that was stolen in a home invasion robbery.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: After a selection process and trials program starting in 1991, the Netherlands purchased over 53,000 C7(A1), C8(A1) and LOAW weapons the C7 with polymer Thermold STANAG compliant magazines in March 1994. The most commonly used version in the Netherlands Armed Forces was the C7 with iron sights. The Koninklijke Marine ordered only weapons fitted with magnifying sighting systems to fulfil its effective range requirement. The (Airmobile Brigade), consisting of 11 Infantry Battalion Garderegiment Grenadiers en Jagers, 12 Infantry Battalion Regiment Van Heutsz and 13 Infantry Battalion Regiment Stoottroepen Prins Bernhard uses the C7A1, and the C8A1 (Diemaco C8FT) was mainly used by the Korps Commandotroepen later replaced with the HK416, the paratroopers of the Luchtmobiele Brigade (one company per battalion), the Korps Mariniers and most of the recon units of the various combat units, including the Forward Air Controllers and the reconnaissance units of the cavalry and the artillery. The Korps Mariniers also uses the LSW, which is locally known as LOAW.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: From 2009 onwards many of the Dutch C7s, C8s and LOAW have had an overhaul: the black furniture has now been replaced by dark earth furniture. New parts include a new retracting stock, ambidextrous controls, the Diemaco Integrated Upper Receiver (IUR) with a free-floating barrel, RIS rails for mounting flashlights and laser systems, a vertical forward grip with built-in bipod also known as a "Grip Pod" and other accessories; the polymer STANAG compliant magazines became not exclusively black in color as translucent smoke colored Lancer L5AWM 30-round magazines (NSN: 1005-01-657-7839L5) were also introduced along the Thermold magazines. The ELCAN 3.4× optical sight has also disappeared in favour of the Swedish made non-magnifying Aimpoint CompM4 red dot sight and if desired an accompanying Aimpoint red dot magnifier. These upgraded versions are now known as C7NLD, C8NLD, and LOAWNLD.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The United Kingdom first selected the Diemaco C8 in the mid-1990s as the Special Forces Individual Weapon (SFW). This selection was later reconfirmed in the mid-2000s, by which time Diemaco had become Colt Canada. During the SFW trials, the C8 out-performed both the Heckler & Koch G36 and the SIG SG551. The C8SFW was subsequently adopted in 2000 under the designation, L119A1. The L119A1 was so well-received, its planned 2014 replacement program was deferred in favour of continued use. Use of the C8 has expanded to include, among others, the original SAS and SBS, the Special Forces Support Group, the Pathfinder Platoon of 16 Air Assault Brigade, 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group, Royal Military Police Close Protection teams, and MoD Police. There are about 2,500 in service. A number of barrel lengths are available for different users and most weapons are now fitted with Knights Armaments Rail Adapter System handguards (that hold zero on the top and the bottom rails) and Picatinny rail flat-top upper receivers. The muzzle velocity and effective range are stated as and with a 400 mm (15.7") barrel and and with a 277 mm (10.5") CQB barrel.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: Most users fit Trijicon ACOG 4×32 sights with CQB reflex attachment, but other sights are used. Various lasers, lights, foregrips and other attachments are used. Surefire 4-prong flash hiders are generally fitted, and suppressors are available. The standard Canadian bayonet is issued but rarely used. Coloured furniture is becoming commonplace. The United Kingdom very much prefers polymer magazines to metal ones on grounds of weight and reliability and has now standardised on these for all C8 and operational SA80 users, with well over a million magazines purchased. Many weapons are fitted with the L17A1 underslung 40 mm grenade launcher (UGL), the UK designation for the Heckler & Koch AG-C. Detachable shoulder stocks are available for stand-alone use of the UGL. 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group replaced their L85A2 rifles with the C8 in 2016, with other Royal Marine units following suit beginning in 2019.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In July 2013, the British Ministry of Defence contracted Colt Canada for a £2.8 million mid-life upgrade of the L119A1 carbines used by the United Kingdom Special Forces. Subsequently from 2014 the L119A1 was upgraded to the L119A2. There are two L119A2 variants: The standard Carbine with a barrel and CQB (Close Quarter Battle) with a barrel. The CQB variant has seen the most widespread use. Both L119A2 variants feature a custom integrated upper receiver (IUR) with rails that hold zero all around, a lighter profile barrel, straight gas tube, Geissele trigger, SureFire 4-prong flash hider, a tan coloured Magpul buttstock, Ergo pistol grip, and ambidextrous controls.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: The Botswana Defence Force uses the MRR15.7M and MRR11.6S Modular Rail Rifle as patrol and Close Quarter Battle carbines. These feature an integrated upper receiver, ambidextrous controls, ambidextrous charging handle, custom folding front & rear sights, tan coloured moe pistol grip and ctr buttstock. They are deployed for national defence, foreign peace-keeping and anti-poaching tasks.


title: Colt Canada C7

text: In 2007 and 2008, Canada donated 2,500 surplus C7 assault rifles to the Afghan National Army. In 2011, the ANA gave back the C7s since the Afghan security forces chose the American M16 instead. Canadian Forces officials said the Canadian rifles would be shipped to Canada for disposal.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the sport of polo. Bound on the south and north by 110th and 112th streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) avenues, just north of Central Park, it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890, was renovated after a fire in 1911 and became Polo Grounds IV, the one generally indicated when the "Polo Grounds" is referenced. It was located in Coogan's Hollow and was noted for its distinctive bathtub shape, with very short distances to the left and right field walls and an unusually deep center field.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In baseball, the original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 through 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 through 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third and fourth Polo Grounds from 1891 through 1957. The Polo Grounds was also the home field of the New York Yankees from 1913 through 1922 and the expansion New York Mets in their first two seasons (1962, 1963). Each of the four versions of the ballpark held at least one World Series. The fourth version also hosted the 1934 and 1942 All-Star Games.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In American football, the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 through 1955. The New York Titans/Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the league's inaugural season of 1960 through 1963.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Other sporting events held at the Polo Grounds included soccer, boxing, and Gaelic football. Its final sporting event was a pro football game between the Jets and Buffalo Bills on December 14, 1963. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets. The Polo Grounds was demolished over a period of four months that year and a public housing complex, known as the Polo Grounds Towers, was built on the site.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The original Polo Grounds stood at 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, directly across 110th Street from the northeast corner of Central Park. The venue's original purpose was for the sport of polo, and its name was initially merely descriptive, not a formal name, often rendered as "the polo grounds" in newspapers. The Metropolitans, an independent team of roughly major-league caliber, was the first professional baseball team to play there, beginning in September 1880, and remained the sole professional occupant through the 1882 season. At that time the Metropolitans' ownership had the opportunity to bring it into the National League, but elected instead to organize a new team, the New York Gothams — who soon came to be known as the Giants — mainly using players from the Metropolitans and the newly defunct Troy Trojans, and entered it in the National League, while bringing what remained of the Metropolitan club into the competing American Association. For this purpose the ownership built a second diamond and grandstand at the park, dividing it into eastern and western fields for use by the Giants and Metropolitans respectively. Polo Grounds I thus hosted its first Major League Baseball games in 1883 as the home stadium of two teams, the American Association Metropolitans and the National League Gothams. The dual-fields arrangement proved unworkable because of faulty surfacing of the western field, and after various other arrangements were tried, the Metropolitans and Giants alternated play on the eastern field in later years until the Metropolitans moved to the St. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island in 1886.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Although the Giants would soon become the team of choice in the city, the "Mets" had a good year in 1884. They had started the season in a new facility called Metropolitan Park, which proved to be such a poor venue that they moved back to the Polo Grounds within a few weeks. Despite that bit of drama, the Mets went on to win the American Association pennant. Their good fortune ran out when they faced the Providence Grays in the World Series, in which Providence pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn pitched three consecutive shutouts against them. All three games had been staged at the Polo Grounds.


title: Polo Grounds

text: An early highlight of Giants' play at the Polo Grounds was Roger Connor's home run over the right-field wall and into 112th Street; Connor eventually held the record for career home runs that Babe Ruth would break July 8, 1921.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The original Polo Grounds was used not only for Polo and professional baseball, but often for college baseball and football as well – even by teams outside New York. The earliest known surviving image of the field is an engraving of a baseball game between Yale University and Princeton University on Decoration Day, May 30, 1882. Yale and Harvard also played their traditional Thanksgiving Day football game there on November 29, 1883 and November 24, 1887. (See Football below)


title: Polo Grounds

text: New York City was in the process of extending its street grid into uptown Manhattan in 1889. Plans for an extended West 111th Street ran through the Polo Grounds. City workers are said to have shown up suddenly one day and begun cutting through the fence to lay out the new street. With the Giants having won the National League pennant the year before, as well as the World Series there was significant sentiment in the city against the move; a bill was even passed by the state legislature giving the Giants a variance which would allow the park to stand. Governor David B. Hill, who had campaigned for office on a "home rule" pledge, vetoed it on the grounds that whatever he might think of the forced destruction of the park, the will of the city government was to be respected. The loss of their park forced the Giants to look quickly for alternative grounds.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Giants opened the 1889 season at Oakland Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, playing their first two games there. Four days later, they moved to the St. George Cricket Grounds (where the Metropolitans had continued to play until their demise following the 1887 season).


title: Polo Grounds

text: After closing out a homestand at the St. George Grounds on June 14, the Giants went on the road. Upon their return on July 8 they had relocated again, to a "New Polo Grounds" site within Manhattan at the far terminus of the then Ninth Avenue Elevated at 155th Street and 8th Avenue (now Frederick Douglass Boulevard). Newspaper accounts indicate that the seats from the original Polo Grounds were moved to the new Polo Grounds stands. Despite their vagabond existence during the first half of the 1889 season, the Giants began their stay at the new ballpark just 4 games behind the league-leading Boston club. They rallied to win the pennant for the second consecutive year, as well as that year's World Series against Brooklyn.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The new site was overlooked to the north and west by a steep promontory known as Coogan's Bluff. Because of its elevation, fans frequently watched games from the Bluff without buying tickets. The ballpark itself was in bottomland known as Coogan's Hollow. The grandstand had a conventional curve around the infield, but the shape of the property made the center field area actually closer than left center or right center. This was not much of an issue in the "dead ball era" of baseball. The land remained in the Coogan estate, and the Giants were renters for their entire time at Polo Grounds II, III and IV. The Brooklyn Dodgers played a pair of home series at this ballpark in late July and early August 1890.


title: Polo Grounds

text: After the National League version of the New York Giants moved into Polo Grounds III in 1891, Polo Grounds II was sub-leased to the Manhattan Athletic Club and was referred to ever after as Manhattan Field. It was converted for other sports such as football and track-and-field.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The New York Giants leased Manhattan Field to the Columbia University football team for $14,000 in 1899 and 15,000 in 1900.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The superstructure of Manhattan Field was demolished in 1911 following the fire that destroyed Polo Grounds III, but the site still existed as a field for 20 more years. Babe Ruth's first home run as a Yankee, on May 1, 1920, was characterized by "The New York Times" reporter as a "sockdolager" (i.e. a decisive blow), and was described as traveling "over the right field grand stand into Manhattan Field". Bill Jenkinson's modern research indicates the ball traveled about in total, after clearing the Polo Grounds double decked right field stand. Manhattan Field continued to be an occasional site for amateur sports reported in local newspapers as late as spring of 1942. In June 1948, the Giants again leased the Manhattan Field property, and had it paved over to serve as a parking lot for the Polo Grounds.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Polo Grounds III was the stadium that made the name nationally famous. Built in 1890, it initially had a completely open outfield bounded by just the outer fence, but bleachers were gradually added. By the early 1900s, some bleacher sections encroached on the field from the foul lines about halfway along left and right field. Additionally, there was a pair of "cigar box" bleachers on either side of the "batter's eye" in center field. The expansive outfield was cut down somewhat by a rope fence behind which carriages (and early automobiles) were allowed to park. By 1910, bleachers enclosed the outfield, and the carriage ropes were gone. The hodge-podge approach to the bleacher construction formed a multi-faceted outfield area. There were a couple of gaps between some of the sections, and that would prove significant in 1911.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Known as Brotherhood Park when it opened in 1890, Polo Grounds III was the home of a second New York Giants franchise in the Players' League. The latter was a creation of Major League Baseball's first union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players. After failing to win concessions from National League owners, the Brotherhood founded its own league in 1890. The Players' League Giants built Brotherhood Park in the northern half of Coogan's Hollow, next door to Polo Grounds II, otherwise bounded by rail yards and the bluff. Brotherhood Park hosted its first game on April 19, 1890, the same day the National League's Giants played their first home game of the season. For the full 1890 season the two editions of the Giants were neighbors. When the teams played on the same day, fans in the upper decks could watch each other's games, and home run balls hit in one park might land on the other team's playing field. After the one season the Players' League folded, and the Brotherhood's members went back to the National League. The National League Giants then moved out of Polo Grounds II and into Brotherhood Park, which was larger. They took their stadium's name with them once again, turning Brotherhood Park into the new-new Polo Grounds. Between Polo Grounds II and III-IV, they would remain in Coogan's Hollow for 69 seasons.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In the very early morning hours of Friday, April 14, 1911, a fire of uncertain origin swept through the stadium's horseshoe-shaped grandstand, consuming wood and leaving only steel uprights in place. The gaps between some sections of the stands saved a good portion of the outfield seating and the clubhouse from destruction. Giants owner John T. Brush decided to rebuild the Polo Grounds with concrete and steel, renting Hilltop Park from the Highlanders during reconstruction.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Progress was sufficient to allow the stadium to reopen just three months later, June 28, 1911, the date some baseball guides date the structure. As configured, it was the ninth concrete-and-steel stadium in the Majors and fourth in the National League. Unfinished seating areas were rebuilt during the season while the games went on. The new structure stretched in roughly the same semicircle from the left field corner around home plate to the right field corner as prior but was extended into deep right-center field. The surviving wooden bleachers were retained basically as is, with gaps remaining on each side between the new fireproof construction.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Giants rose from the ashes along with their ballpark, winning the National League pennant in 1911 (as they also would in 1912 and 1913). As evidenced from the World Series programs, the team renamed the new structure Brush Stadium in honor of their then-owner John T. Brush, but the name did not stick, and by the late 1910s it was passé. The remaining old bleachers were demolished during the 1923 season when the permanent double-deck was extended around most of the rest of the field and new bleachers and clubhouse were constructed across center field. This construction gave the stadium its familiar horseshoe or bathtub style shape, as well as a new nickname, "The Bathtub".


title: Polo Grounds

text: This version of the ballpark had its share of quirks. The "unofficial" distances (never marked on the wall) down the left and right field lines were respectively, but there was a overhang in left field, which often intercepted fly balls which would otherwise have been catchable and turned them into home runs. Contrasting with the short distances down the lines were the 450 distances in deepest left and right center (the gaps), with the base of the straightaway centerfield clubhouse standing 483 feet distant from home plate, up a 58-foot runway from the grandstand corners on either side of the clubhouse, which were themselves from home plate. The famous photo of The catch made by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians occurred immediately in front of the "batter's eye", a metal screen atop the grandstand wall directly to the right of the centerfield runway. It would have been a home run in several other ballparks of the time as well as in most of today's modern ballparks. The bullpens were actually in play, in the left and right center field gaps. The outfield sloped downward from the infield, and people in the dugouts often could only see the top half of the outfielders.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The New York Yankees sublet the Polo Grounds from the Giants during 1913–1922 after their lease on Hilltop Park expired. After the 1922 season, the Yankees built Yankee Stadium directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, which spurred the Giants to expand their park to reach a comparable seating capacity to stay competitive. However, since nearly all the new seating was in the outfield, Yankee Stadium still had more desirable seats than did the Polo Grounds for watching baseball. However, the Polo Grounds became better suited for football due to the new seating placement.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Polo Grounds was the site of one of the most iconic moments in baseball history - the historic "Shot Heard 'Round the World" walk-off home run on October 3, 1951 that decided the hard-fought National League pennant playoff series between the Giants and their cross-town rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by the Yankees' Carl Mays. At the time, batters did not wear helmets. Chapman died 12 hours after he was hit, at 4:30 a.m. on August 17. He remains the only player to die from an injury sustained in a Major League Baseball game.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On July 4, 1950, Bernard Doyle, a resident of Fairview, New Jersey, in his 50s, originally from Dublin, Ireland, was struck and killed by a stray bullet while in his seat at the Polo Grounds. Doyle had brought a neighbor's son with him to see a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Giants. Doyle was killed about an hour prior to the start of the first game. A 14-year-old boy later confessed to having shot a .45 caliber pistol into the air from his rooftop at 515 Edgecombe Avenue, located from where Doyle was seated.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Part of the problem was that the stadium was not well maintained from the late 1940s onward: while the baseball Giants owned "the stadium", the Coogan heirs still owned "the parcel of land" on which it stood, while the neighborhood around the stadium had begun to go to seed in the late 1940s. These, along with other factors, combined to restrict ticket sales, even when the Giants played well.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In 1954, for example, the baseball Giants only drew 1.1 million fans (compared to over two million for the Milwaukee Braves) despite winning the World Series.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The football Giants left for Yankee Stadium across the Harlem River following the 1955 NFL season, and the baseball Giants' disastrous 1956 season - most of which they spent in last place before a late-season surge moved them up to sixth - caused a further decline on ticket sales. The Giants' 1956 attendance was less than half of that for the Giants' World Series-winning 1954 season, and also ranked last in Major League Baseball.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Along with the departure of the football Giants and the consequental loss of their rent, this collapse of the baseball Giants' gate financially devastated franchise owner Horace Stoneham, who was not nearly as wealthy as his fellow owners – the Giants were his sole source of income. To make matters worse, Stoneham was left with no money for stadium upkeep, and he was forced to lay off the stadium's maintenance staff in order to stay afloat.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The stadium also had very little parking; its final form had opened two years after the Model T was introduced. Due to the manner in which the stadium was designed, fans had to actually pour onto the field to exit via the center field gates, making for a problematic situation whenever attendance was anywhere near capacity.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Frustrated with the Polo Grounds being obsolete and dilapidated, and with no maintenance staff or prospect of the stadium being renovated, Stoneham seriously considered having the Giants become tenants of the Yankees in the Bronx, or moving to a proposed stadium that would have been owned by the city.


title: Polo Grounds

text: After both of those plans fizzled, the Giants announced on August 19, 1957 that after 74 years of professional baseball in New York, they would relocate to San Francisco, California at the end of the season, following their long-time rivals Dodgers to the West Coast. The Giants had won five World Series titles in the Polo Grounds.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The ballpark then sat largely vacant for nearly three years, until the newly formed Titans of New York (present-day New York Jets) began play in 1960, followed by the newly formed Mets in 1962, using the Polo Grounds as an interim home while Shea Stadium was being built. As a 1962 baseball magazine noted, "The Mets will have to play in the Polo Grounds, hardly the last word in 20th Century stadia."


title: Polo Grounds

text: In 1961, the city of New York decided to claim the land under eminent domain, for the purpose of condemning the stadium and building a high-rise housing project on the site. The Coogan family, which still owned the property, fought this effort until it was finally settled in the city's favor in 1967.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On September 18, 1963, 1,752 fans went to see the New York Mets play their last game at the Polo Grounds against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5–1 Philadelphia win. The game's highlights were later shown on Universal's Universal International Newsreel. On October 12, the Polo Grounds played host to one last exhibition contest, as Latin American All-Stars of the National League, managed by Roberto Clemente and behind the pitching of Juan Marichal and Al McBean, defeated Hector Lopez's AL Stars, 5–2.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The final sporting event played at the Polo Grounds was on Dec 14, 1963 when the now renamed AFL team New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills 19-10.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In the 1992 book "The Gospel According to Casey", by Ira Berkow and Jim Kaplan, it is reported (p. 62) that in 1963, Mets manager Casey Stengel, who had bittersweet memories of his playing days at the Polo Grounds, had this to say during a rough outing to pitcher Tracy Stallard, whose greatest claim to fame had been giving up Roger Maris' 61st homer in 1961: "At the end of this season, they're gonna tear this joint down. The way you're pitchin', the right field section will be gone already!"


title: Polo Grounds

text: The final iteration of the Polo Grounds was demolished in 1964, beginning on April 10 with a wrecking ball bomb painted to look like a baseball, the same one that had been used four years earlier on Ebbets Field.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The wrecking crew wore Giants jerseys and tipped their hard hats to the historic stadium as they began dismantling it, with a crew of 60 workers taking 4½ months to level the stadium. The Indians' bus passed the site in the midst of demolition while Cleveland was playing the Yankees: Dick Donovan, eyeing the rubble, remarked, "Boy, they must have had a helluva game there last night."


title: Polo Grounds

text: The site is now home to the Polo Grounds Towers, a public housing project opened in 1968, and managed by the New York City Housing Authority.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The various incarnations of the Polo Grounds were well-suited for football, and hundreds of football games were played there over the years.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The first professional football game played in New York City was played at the Polo Grounds on December 4, 1920. The game featured the Buffalo All-Americans against the Canton Bulldogs in the first year of the American Professional Football Association. The Buffalo All-Americans won the game, 7-3. Some argue that the Buffalo All-Americans are tied with the Akron Pros for the first championship of the American Professional Football Association, which soon came to be known as the National Football League. In 1921 the NFL's New York Brickley Giants played the final game of their 1921 season against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds. The game ended in a 17–0 Giants loss. Shortly afterwards, the team folded. The Brickley Giants were originally formed with the intent of competing in 1919, and having all of their home games held at the Polo Grounds. However, after the team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against the Massillon Tigers, was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws. In 1919, the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded until 1921.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Other than the name, there is no relation between the Brickley Giants and the modern New York Giants franchise.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Both the New York Giants of the National Football League and the New York Jets (then known as the New York Titans) of the American Football League used the Polo Grounds as their home field before moving on to other sites. The Giants moved initially to Yankee Stadium in 1956 while the Jets, founded in 1960, followed the New York Mets to Shea Stadium in 1964.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The football Giants hosted the 1934, 1938, 1944, and 1946 NFL Championship Games at the Polo Grounds, while the 1936 NFL Championship Game, originally scheduled for Fenway Park, was moved to the Polo Grounds by mutual agreement of Boston Redskins franchise owner George Preston Marshall, the Green Bay Packers, and the NFL due to low ticket sales in Boston; the Redskins would relocate to Washington in 1937.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Columbia University and Yale University, two of American football's oldest teams, played football in the original 110th Street Polo Grounds in the 19th century, for some games which were expected to draw large crowds, including the Thanksgiving contests in 1883 and 1887. (See also "List of Harvard-Yale football games").


title: Polo Grounds

text: The grounds were also used for many games by New York-area college football teams such as Fordham and Army. An upset victory by the visiting University of Notre Dame over Army in 1924 led to Grantland Rice's famous article about the Irish backfield, which he called "The Four Horsemen". The field was also the site of several Army–Navy Games in the 1910s and 1920s.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Polo Grounds held its fair share of international soccer matches as well over the years. In 1926, Hakoah, an all-Jewish side from Vienna, Austria, "drew the largest crowds ever to watch soccer in America up to that time: three successive games drew 25,000, 30,000, and 36,000 spectators. The highlight of the tour was a May 1, 1926 exhibition game between Hakoah and an American Soccer League all-New York team which drew 46,000 fans to the Polo Grounds in New York." (The ASL team won 3–0.)


title: Polo Grounds

text: The first soccer played at the Polo Grounds was as far back as 1894 when the owners of the various major baseball clubs thought it would be a great way to fill their stadiums in the off-season. Six famous baseball franchises of the era formed Association Football sections and fans were told that many would be fielding their baseball stars on the football field in the opening season. The New York Giants soccer team took the field in all-white uniforms with black socks and played six games before the threat of a rival baseball league being formed diverted the owner's attention away from their new venture and caused it to be suspended mid-season. The Giants lay third in the league after six games with two victories, having played their matches in midweek in front of attendances in the high hundreds paying 25 cents a game. Although the owners remained positive about the venture and wanted to run it again the following season this never happened and the Giants' soccer team was no more.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On May 19, 1935, the Scotland national team toured the United States, and in their first game played against an ASL All-Star squad which was unofficially representing the United States. Scotland won 5–1 in front of 25,000 people at the Polo Grounds. In 1939, the Scots returned to America for another tour, and played at the Polo Grounds twice. In their first game at the Polo Grounds on May 21, 1939, Scotland tied the Eastern USA All-Stars 1–1 in front of 25,072 fans. In their second game at the Polo Grounds on June 18, 1939, Scotland beat the American League Stars 4–2.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Following World War II, on September 26, 1948, the USA beat Israel 3–1 in their first ever game since independence before 25,000 fans at the Polo Grounds. On June 9, 1950, a crowd of 21,000 fans came to the Polo Grounds to watch an 'International Dream Double Header'. Beşiktaş J.K. of Turkey defeated the American Soccer League All-Stars 3–1, and then Manchester United defeated Jönköping (the top amateur team in Sweden) 4–0. On May 17, 1960, Birmingham City of England played Third Lanark of Scotland and lost 4–1 at the Polo Grounds in New York City. On August 6 of the same year, 25,440 patrons showed up at the Polo Grounds to watch the inaugural International Soccer League Final which saw Bangu of Brazil edge out Kilmarnock FC of Scotland 2–0. Bangu's six games on Polo Ground had a total attendance of 104,274. The following year, 1961, may have been the last year documented that soccer was played at the Polo Grounds. The second edition of the International Soccer League held most of its game at the Polo Grounds, with a few games held in Montreal. On July 16, 1961 Shamrock Rovers beat Red Star Belgrade 5–1, on August 9, Dukla Prague beat Everton 7–0, and four days later on August 13, Dukla Prague beat Everton again 2–0, thus winning the Dwight D. Eisenhower Trophy. The combined attendance for both games at the Polo Grounds was 31,627. In domestic league soccer, the Polo Grounds was the home to the New York Nationals of the American Soccer League in 1928.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On September 14, 1947, the Polo Grounds hosted the final of the All-Ireland Senior Gaelic Football championship between Cavan and Kerry. It was decided that New York would host this match as a commemoration of the 1847 Irish famine which forced a large number of Irish people to emigrate to North America. This novel location for the game was chosen for the benefit of New York's large Irish immigrant population. It was the only time that the final has been played outside Ireland. Cavan emerged victorious in the game itself, fondly remembered for RTE commentator Michael O'Hehir's successful pleas to his station for the broadcast to be extended as the game had run late.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Polo Grounds was the site of many famous boxing matches. These included the legendary 1923 heavyweight championship bout between Jack Dempsey and Luis Ángel Firpo, Harry Greb's defense of the middleweight championship title against reigning World Welterweight Champion Mickey Walker in July 1925, and Billy Conn's near-upset over heavyweight champion Joe Louis in June 1941. It was also the venue for the rematch between World Heavyweight Champion Ingemar Johansson and former champion Floyd Patterson on June 20, 1960. In what turned out to be the last major boxing match at the Polo Grounds, Patterson became the first heavyweight boxer to regain the championship over the Swedish-born Johansson, who almost one year to the day took the crown from Patterson at Yankee Stadium.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The Polo Grounds were the site of three different oval tracks. The first track, a ¼ mile dirt oval, was used for midget racing in 1940 and 1941. The second, a 1/5 mile board track, was used briefly in 1948. The final track, a ¼ mile paved oval, was used for stock car racing in 1958 and 1959, after the Giants moved to San Francisco.


title: Polo Grounds

text: A performance of Verdi's Requiem took place at the Polo Grounds on June 4, 1916, presented by the National Open Air Festival Society. It was given by a chorus of 1,200 singers (chorus master, Arnaldo Conti), selected from among the leading choral societies of New York; and an augmented New York Philharmonic Orchestra of 120 players. The soloists were Maria Gay, (under the assumed name of 'Lucile Lawrence'), Giovanni Zenatello (Gay's partner) and Leon Rothier, and the performance was conducted by Louis Koemmenich.


title: Polo Grounds

text: One of the oddest features at the Polo Grounds were the deep dimensions in straight away center field. The wall was so far away from home plate, at , that few players ever hit home runs over it. Before its 1923 reconstruction, only Babe Ruth ever reached the centerfield stands; after 1923 only five players would reach the distant centerfield bleachers. The entire wall in dead center field was considered "in play", as were the clubhouse windows on the in-play side of the wall. The ground rules of the Polo Grounds were set up so that if a ball went through an open window in the clubhouse, it was a ground rule double, rather than a home run. Since no ball ever reached that area in the life of the stadium, that rule was never tested.


title: Polo Grounds

text: In Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Giants outfielder Willie Mays made a sensational catch of a fly ball hit by the Cleveland Indians' Vic Wertz into deep center field, a catch which, in the words of NBC television sports announcer Jack Brickhouse, "must have looked like an optical illusion to a lot of people", and which turned the tide of that Series in the Giants' favor.


title: Polo Grounds

text: On October 2, 1936, in Game 2 of the 1936 World Series, Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio made a similar, though far less crucial, catch (his team being ahead 18–4) for the final out of the game. The Giants' Hank Leiber hit a long fly ball to deep center field that DiMaggio caught in the runway, perhaps 430–440 from the plate, and his momentum carried him partway up the clubhouse steps. He then stopped and turned around, as the crowd stood and acknowledged the departure of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was in attendance that day.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Babe Ruth hit many of his early signature blasts at the Polo Grounds, reaching the center field seats on several occasions. His longest blast at the grounds, over the right-center upper deck in 1921, was estimated at over 550 feet. He also hit several centerfield home runs at other ballparks which exceeded 500 feet. Had Ruth played regularly in the remodeled Polo Grounds, theoretically he would have been capable of hitting the clubhouse if conditions were right. Neither he nor anyone else ever did, but a few came close.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The deep center field was complemented by the short right-field fence. Its foul pole was from home, one of the shortest ever used in the major leagues. Since the early 20th century, home runs that just cleared a field's shortest fence had been known as "Chinese home runs", from a stereotype of Chinese immigrant workers as doing the bare minimum required for the low wages they received for menial labor. Within baseball, by the 1940s those home runs were largely associated with the short right-field fence at the Polo Grounds. The 511 career homers hit by Giants outfielder Mel Ott, whose physique and batting technique were not those associated with power hitting, have often been downplayed because a significant number were hit to right at home, a criticism he often responded to by asking why few other hitters in the league were making that hit if it were so easy.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" that won the 1951 National League pennant for the Giants was hit over the left field fence. But arguably the best-remembered home run hit to the right side was the walk-off three-run shot by Dusty Rhodes, batting for Monte Irvin in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the 1954 Series, after Mays' catch had kept the Giants tied. It just barely cleared the fence, above the outstretched glove of the leaping outfielder Dave Pope, leading Al López, manager of the heavily favored Indians, to attribute the Giants' stunning victory in the Series opener to the ballpark's unusual dimensions.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Both the home and visitors' bullpens resided on the outfield warning track, situated, respectively, in the right-center and left-center power alleys, each roughly 450 feet from home plate. Anyone seated on the bench was offered some measure of protection from the elements by what has been variously described as an awning, a canopy, or simply the top of the bullpen, as Pittsburgh sportswriter Les Biederman put it when, two years after the ballpark's demolition, he reminded readers that this had been the landing spot for Roberto Clemente's first major league home run.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The only part of the Polo Grounds that still remains is the "John T. Brush Stairway", which runs down Coogan's Bluff from Edgecombe Avenue to Harlem River Driveway at about 158th Street. The stairway, named for John T. Brush—the then-recently deceased owner of the Giants—opened in 1913 and led to a ticket booth overlooking the stadium. The stairway reportedly offered a clear view of the stadium for fans who did not purchase tickets to a game. A marker on the stairway reads: "The John T. Brush Stairway Presented By The New York Giants."


title: Polo Grounds

text: In November 2011, it was reported that the stairway would undergo a $950,000 restoration, thanks to donations from the New York Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets, San Francisco Giants, and Major League Baseball. The restoration was scheduled to be completed in September 2012, but in February 2013 it was announced that a "soft opening" would take place in spring 2013. After numerous delays, the restored steps opened finally in early August 2014. The restored stairway is considered a city historic landmark.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The light poles from the Polo Grounds remain in use at Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Arizona State University's baseball field in Phoenix, Arizona, built in 1964. When the stadium was built, Horace Stoneham, owner of the San Francisco Giants, had the original Polo Grounds light poles shipped there. The Giants held spring training at the stadium's predecessor since 1947 and played at the new ballpark during spring training in 1964. The poles were installed in the stadium where they currently remain standing.


title: Polo Grounds

text: Compiled from various photos, baseball annuals, "The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball" (Turkin & Thompson, 1951) and "Green Cathedrals" by Phil Lowry.


title: Polo Grounds

text: The disparities in some of the posted distances, notably straightaway center, have not been fully reconciled by researchers. The closest object in straight center field was the Grant Memorial, followed by the post supporting the overhang of the clubhouse (above which the 483 or 475 signs were posted), and a roll-up door several feet behind the overhang at ground level. The roof of the protruding part of the clubhouse sloped back and met the vertical wall of the larger part of the clubhouse. The exact objects referred to by the numbers 475, 483, and 505 can be speculated but remain unconfirmed.


title: Frank Gore

text: Franklin Gore Sr. (born May 14, 1983) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. A member of the San Francisco 49ers during most of his career, he ranks third in NFL career rushing yards. His career was also noted for longevity, a rare trait with his position, and he holds the league record for games played by a running back.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore played college football at Miami and was selected by the 49ers in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. During his 10 seasons with the 49ers, he became the franchise's rushing yards leader and received five Pro Bowl selections. He also led the National Football Conference (NFC) in rushing yards during the 2006 season and made one Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. After leaving San Francisco in 2014, Gore played for the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and New York Jets. He was named to the NFL's 2010s All-Decade Team in 2020.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore was born in Miami and grew up in Coconut Grove, Florida. He attended Coral Gables Senior High School in Coral Gables, Florida, where he excelled as a running back on the football team. He had two notable record-breaking games. Against Miami Northwestern High School, he had a then-career high 293 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. In the next game, he broke that record with 319 yards and six touchdowns on 13 carries against the third-ranked defense in the nation. During his senior year in 2000, Gore broke several Dade County single-season records, including rushing yards (2,997) and touchdowns (39). Heavily recruited, he was named the third-ranked prospect in Dade County by "The Miami Herald", fourth in the state of Florida, and 18th nationally.


title: Frank Gore

text: While emerging as a talented football prospect, Gore also focused his attention on improving his academics and assisting his mother, who was battling kidney disease and had started dialysis treatments. To remain close to home, Gore eventually chose to attend the University of Miami.


title: Frank Gore

text: In his first year, Gore shared the backfield with Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee, with Portis receiving a majority of the carries. Gore made his collegiate debut against the Penn State Nittany Lions on September 1. He had six carries for 15 yards in the 33–7 victory over the Nittany Lions. In the next game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, he had six carries for 78 yards and his first collegiate rushing touchdown in the 61–0 victory. On October 25, Gore had a breakout game against the West Virginia Mountaineers with six carries for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the 45–3 victory. On November 17, he churned 11 carries for 157 rushing yards against Syracuse.


title: Frank Gore

text: As a true freshman for the Miami Hurricanes football in 2001, Gore totaled 562 yards with five touchdowns on 62 carries, for a 9.1-yard avg, as a backup to Clinton Portis on Miami's 2001 National championship winning team. Gore has the third-best season total in school history by a freshman and was named "Sporting News"' Big East Freshman of the Year.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee during spring practice in 2002 and spent the following season recovering from knee surgery. Before his injury that year, Gore beat out future NFL running back Willis McGahee in the spring of 2002 for the role as the Hurricanes' starter.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore returned from his injury in the 2003 season. He shared the backfield with Jarrett Payton and Tyrone Moss. Gore started the season strong with three games going over 100 rushing yards and scoring three touchdowns in that span. However, on October 2, Gore played in his final game of the 2003 season against the West Virginia Mountaineers and had four carries for 15 yards before tearing his ACL again, which ended his season.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore finished the 2003 season with 89 carries for 468 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to go along with 12 receptions for 105 receiving yards.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore returned from his ACL injury to lead the Miami backfield in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. In the regular season opener against Florida State, he recorded the game-winning 18-yard touchdown run in overtime. He recorded three games with over 100 rushing yards, including a 195-yard performance against Virginia on October 13. He finished the season with 197 carries for 945 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.


title: Frank Gore

text: In 28 total games with the Hurricanes, Gore rushed 380 times for 1,975 yards (a 5.7 rushing average) and seventeen touchdowns. When his college career was finished, Gore's 1,975 yards ranked seventh on the school's career-record list and his seventeen touchdowns were tied for tenth. He also caught 25 passes for 225 yards (9.8 avg), returned two kickoffs for 48 yards and recorded five tackles on special teams.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore was selected in the third round with the 65th overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He was the sixth running back to be selected in the 2005 NFL Draft. In addition, he was the third of five Miami Hurricanes to be selected that year.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore signed a three-year contract with the team on July 28, 2005. He played in 14 games, starting one, in the 2005 season. Gore was inactive for two contests with a groin injury. He finished the season seventh among all NFL rookie running backs in rushing average with 4.8 average per run. He led the team in rushing with 608 yards on 127 carries and three rushing touchdowns. Gore also caught 15 passes for 131 yards. His season was the first time a rookie led the 49ers in rushing since 1990, when Dexter Carter paced the team with 460 yards. Gore's 608 rushing yards was the highest for a 49ers rookie since Roger Craig had 725 yards rushing in 1983.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore rushed for 17 yards on four carries and caught two passes for 21 yards in his NFL debut, a 28–25 victory over the St. Louis Rams. Two weeks later, he rushed for 42 yards on seven carries with a 5.4-yard average in a 34–31 loss against the Dallas Cowboys. Gore led the team with 89 yards on nine carries and recorded a then career-long 72-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of a 52–17 road loss to the Washington Redskins. The touchdown was the longest run from scrimmage by a 49ers player since running back Kevan Barlow had a 78-yard rush against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2003. The touchdown run was fifth-longest run from scrimmage by a 49ers rookie. Gore led the team in rushing for the third straight week with 55 yards on 14 carries (3.9-yard avg.) at the Chicago Bears, with a 19-yard long. He made his first NFL start in a 10–9 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, amassing over 100 combined yards with 79 yards rushing on 19 attempts for a 4.2 yard average with three receptions for 57 yards. Gore had his first two-touchdown game in a 24–20 victory over the Rams, with a 10-yard scoring run in the second quarter and a 30-yard score in the fourth quarter. In the regular-season finale against the Houston Texans, he registered his first 100-yard game with 108 yards on 25 carries as the 49ers won by a score of 20-17. Following the season, he had major surgery on both shoulders.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore was elevated to the top of the 49ers' depth chart following the August 19, 2006, trade that shipped incumbent starter Kevan Barlow to the New York Jets in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore emerged as one of the top running backs in the NFL in his first full season as the starter. He carried the ball 312 times for a franchise-record 1,695 yards, eclipsing Garrison Hearst’s 1998 record of 1,570 yards. Gore became the first player in franchise history to lead the NFC in rushing yards. He also set a franchise record with 2,180 combined yards (1,695 yards rushing and 485 yards receiving), breaking Hearst’s single-season record of 2,105 total yards (1,570 rushing and 535 receiving) set in 1998. Gore's total placed him second in the NFC to Steven Jackson (1,528 rushing and 806 receiving, 2,334 total) and fourth overall in the entire NFL. In the 49ers’ first meeting against the Seattle Seahawks, Gore set the 49ers’ single-game rushing record by totaling a career-high 212 yards on 24 carries, besting the 201 yards by Charlie Garner on September 24, 2000, against the Dallas Cowboys. Gore had nine 100-yard rushing games in 2006, giving him ten for his career. His nine 100-yard games in 2006 shattered the franchise record for most 100-yard games in a season. Garrison Hearst (1998) and Roger Craig (1988) each had six 100-yard games in a season. Gore was the first 49ers running back to have three-straight 100 yard games since Garrison Hearst had a 49ers-record four straight 100-yard games during Weeks 13-16 of the 1998 season. In those three weeks, Gore set the team record for most rushing yards in a three-game span.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore's breakaway ability helped him finish the season with 5.4 yards per carry, placing him third in the entire NFL, behind only Michael Vick (8.4 YPC on 123 carries) and Maurice Jones-Drew (5.7 YPC on 166 carries). The 5.4 yards per carry are tied for the second-best in 49ers history. Among players with over 300 carries, however, Gore's season puts him in elite company. Very few times has a player averaged as many yards per carry as Gore did while carrying the ball over 300 times. The players ahead of him contain Hall of Famers and feature five 2,000-yard rushing seasons.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore finished the season with eight rushing touchdowns, tied for the third-most in a season by a 49er. He finished the season with a team-leading 61 receptions. Only two other teams had a running back as their leading receiver: New Orleans (Reggie Bush) and Philadelphia (Brian Westbrook). Of those, only Gore and Westbrook also led their team in rushing. Gore also caught his first receiving touchdown of his career on the road against the Seahawks when quarterback Alex Smith avoided a sack and found Gore along the left sideline for a 20-yard score. Gore led the NFL with 16 rushes for 20 or more yards. Gore earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors twice during the 2006 season. He earned the honor in Week 5 after rushing for 134 yards on 27 carries and catching three passes for 38 yards against the Oakland Raiders. In addition, he won in Week 11 after his franchise-record 212 rushing yards, and 26 yards on four receptions, against the Seahawks. After Gore's tremendous season, he was named the starting running back to the NFC Pro Bowl team in his first Pro Bowl nomination.


title: Frank Gore

text: At some point during his breakout season, Gore was given the nickname "The Inconvenient Truth", which stuck with him for the rest of his career. The nickname was inspired by the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" written by former United States Vice President Al Gore, which was released in May of the same year.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore had benefited that season from the tutelage of then-offensive coordinator Norv Turner, whose offensive scheme places a heavy emphasis on running the football.


title: Frank Gore

text: Though Gore had fumbling problems at the beginning of the season, losing the ball once in each of the first four games, he improved his carrying and only fumbled three more times the rest of the year.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore signed a contract extension through 2011 estimated to be worth $28 million over four years on March 28, 2007. He also stated that it was his goal to surpass Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record in 2007. He said that he would gain 2,200 yards.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore broke a bone in his hand in the non-contact Training Camp drill on July 30 and missed the entire preseason. He was able to return in time for the regular-season opener against the Arizona Cardinals on September 10. On September 13, Gore's mother died of a kidney disease. He missed a practice, but returned to the team and scored two touchdowns the following Sunday in a narrow 17–16 road victory over the St. Louis Rams. Gore's best game came against the Cardinals in their divisional rematch in Week 12, where he recorded 116 rushing yards and two touchdown to go along with 11 receptions for 98 yards. For his efforts, Gore earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Three weeks later against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had a season-high 138 rushing yards in the 20–13 victory.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore finished the season with 260 carries for 1,102 yards and five touchdowns to go along with 53 receptions for 436 yards and a touchdown as the 49ers finished with a 5–11 record.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore began the 2008 season against the Arizona Cardinals with 96 rushing yards on only 14 carries. Despite his impressive performance, which also included a 41-yard touchdown run, the 49ers lost by a score of 23–13.


title: Frank Gore

text: During Week 3, Gore dominated the Detroit Lions, rushing for over 120 yards and a touchdown in a 31–13 victory. Three weeks later, Gore had his second 100-yard game of the season, as he rushed for 101 yards on 19 carries in a 40–26 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles. In the regular-season finale against the Washington Redskins, Gore became the first running back in 49ers history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in three straight seasons as the 49ers won by a score of 27-24.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore finished the season with 240 carries for 1,036 yards and six touchdowns to go along with 43 receptions for 373 yards and two touchdowns.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore entered the 2009 season under the guidance of new running back coach Tom Rathman. He was also complemented by a new second-string back, 49ers' third-round draft pick Glen Coffee.


title: Frank Gore

text: After being nearly shut down in the season-opener against the Arizona Cardinals, Gore had a career day the following week in the home opener against the Seattle Seahawks. Gore rushed for 206 yards for a 12.8-yard average, including a 79-yard and an 80-yard touchdown run in the 23-10 victory, becoming the second player in NFL history to rush for two touchdowns for 75 yards or more in a single game, with the other being Hall-of-Fame running back Barry Sanders. He earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career.


title: Frank Gore

text: After missing two games against the St. Louis Rams and Atlanta Falcons due to an ankle injury, Gore returned in Week 7 against the Houston Texans. While he had a successful game against the Chicago Bears in Week 10, gaining 104 yards with a touchdown, he was used less in the 49ers' offensive game plan in the following three weeks, after the team adopted more of a spread offense. In the 49ers' second divisional game against the Cardinals in Week 14, Gore had one of his most successful games of the season, rushing for 167 yards on 25 carries and a touchdown. He earned his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week award for the 2009 season. Against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16, Gore had 16 carries for 107 yards against an Eagles team that had not given up a 100-yard game in 22 consecutive games. Gore was named a first alternate for the 2009 Pro Bowl. On January 20, 2010, Steven Jackson announced he would not be playing in the Pro Bowl because of injury, so Gore was named to the 2010 Pro Bowl in his spot, the second of his career. For the season, Gore amassed 10 rushing touchdowns and 13 total touchdowns from scrimmage, both career bests.


title: Frank Gore

text: After a slow start to the season with 17 carries for 38 yards against the Seattle Seahawks, Gore had 168 scrimmage yards (112 rushing, 56 receiving) against the New Orleans Saints in Week 2. During Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs, he had nine receptions for 102 yards, his only career game with over 100 receiving yards. Gore had rushed for four 100-yard games before fracturing his right hip in a Week 12 win over the Arizona Cardinals, prematurely ending his season after the 49ers put him on IR.


title: Frank Gore

text: Gore finished the 2010 season with 203 carries for 853 yards and three touchdowns to go along with 46 receptions for 452 yards and two touchdowns. He was ranked 94th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2011.