“The game has been called” for Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant. It was the top baseball bar in New York. It was widely regarded as one of the best sports bars in the country. Foley Field was also the home of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sadly Foley Field is no more. Foley’s closed permanently in May 2020. It was due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The shutdown lingered. There were no sports, no office workers, and limits on indoor dining. Shaun made the difficult decision to close Foley’s on 33rd street permanently.
Foley’s walls were adorned with 3500 autographed balls. It also featured hundreds of bobbleheads. There were game-worn jerseys and stadium seats. Other artifacts added to its charm. It was named among the best restaurants for kids by Time Out New York. It was famously known as “The Bar that Banned Danny Boy”.
The food was more than just “pub grub”. It was a great place to grab a bite when you were watching a game. Like the legendary Toots Shor’s Saloon, Foley’s was a favorite stop. Visiting athletes and celebrities came. Sports executives, umpires, media, and fans all loved it. You never knew who you might meet at Foley’s.
Foley’s was named after legendary sportswriter Arthur “Red” Foley. He was a longtime official scorer for the Mets and Yankees. He may have witnessed more baseball games than anyone else in New York history.
Shaun Clancy grew up in the hospitality industry. The Clancy family ran an award-winning restaurant in County Cavan, Ireland. His dad, John, worked at the legendary Toots Shor’s. It attracted celebrities, politicians, and law officials. Mobsters and average folks all felt at home there. That’s the atmosphere we strived to build here, Shaun said.
Shaun never watched a baseball game until he began working as a bartender in New York in the 1990s. He quickly fell in love with the sport. He found it to be a topic he could discuss with visitors from all across the US. When he opened Foley’s in 2004, Shaun created an “Irish Bar with a Baseball Attitude”.
Foley’s combined old-fashioned Irish hospitality with 15 big-screen TVs. It had the best public collection of sports memorabilia in New York. Foley’s was a place that baseball players called home. Executives, umpires, and sportswriters enjoyed the bar. It featured more than 4000 autographed baseballs. These included balls signed by over 100 Hall of Famers. There were also hundreds of bobbleheads. Game-worn jerseys, championship rings, and stadium seats were displayed.
Foley’s had perhaps the most eclectic public displays of sports memorabilia in America. The autographed baseballs at Foley’s were signed by players from Hank Aaron to Ryan Zimmerman. There were game-used balls from no-hitters and perfect games. Signatures of over 100 Hall of Famers were present. Among the many celebrity signees were Bono, Meryl Streep, and Katy Perry.
Among the more unusual items were a brick from Wrigley Field. There was the Tiffany bag that covered the 2013 World Series Trophy. Gloves used to carry the NASCAR Sprint Cup into Foley’s in 2008 also featured. A copy of the Mitchell Report was displayed. Baseballs signed by Dr. Frank Jobe were present. He pioneered Tommy John surgery. There was a diagram of A-Rod’s hip surgery drawn by his surgeon there at Foley’s.
Foley’s was about more than just baseball. It featured pucks signed by hockey legends. These included Mark Messier and Mario LeMieux. Martin Brodeur, Bobby Orr, and Sidney Crosby also signed pucks. The boxing section featured gloves signed by Joe Frazier and Jake LaMotta. Foley’s also housed a Gaelic football used by the Cavan team. They won the All Ireland championship in New York at the Polo Grounds in 1947.
Founded in 2008, the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame recognizes people of Irish descent. Players, managers, executives, journalists, and entertainers were honored. They had significantly and positively impacted the game.