Obituary for Yankee Stadium

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I wrote this on September 24. I just never got around to posting this.

Obituary for Yankee Stadium

By Tedd Heide

This Sunday marked the last game at historic Yankee Stadium. Next year, the Yankees will be moving into the $1.3 billion new Yankee stadium, located directly across the street.

Yankee Stadium was built in 1923, after the New York Yankees were kicked out of the Polo Grounds by their rivals, the New York Giants. Built by the Cleveland firm of Osborn Engineering Co., it was the first sports venue to call itself a ?stadium?. During the 1970?s the ballpark went under major renovations. These included shortening the distances, reconfiguring the seating, and making general repairs to the structure. During its 85 year existence, ?The House that Ruth Built? hosted 36 World Series, 4 All-Star games, and 3 papal visits.

In many ways, you could say that the end of Yankee Stadium marks the end of an era. Not just the era of Yankee Stadium, but of this modern era of baseball too. With the new retro ballpark craze, it seemed like baseball was finally going back to being a fans? game. But with the Yankees vacating the most historic place in all of sports, it appears that, in the Bronx at least, baseball is becoming a business again. Although I applaud the Yankees for making the exterior of New Yankee look like the original exterior of Old Yankee, I have seen the renderings of the new ballpark and I must say, there is nothing retro about it whatsoever. I?ve also seen what the Mets? new park looks like and I must say that it?s a sign of the impending apocalypse, along with this year?s Rays, that the Mets will have the better park in New York.

Not only that, but I also don?t think the Yankees will have as many people come to the new stadium. I mean, Old Yankee was ridiculously expensive and wasn?t all that great of a place to see a game. But the reason every true baseball fan had to go there was the same reason why people go to Gettysburg: because of the things that happened there. When you get down to it, Gettysburg is not much more than a field and Yankee Stadium is not much more than a ballpark. But it?s the ability to point and say, that?s the place where Pickett?s Charge occurred and that?s the place where Don Larsen pitched a perfect game. Or there?s where Lincoln gave The Gettysburg Address and there?s where Lou Gehrig said ?Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth?. Or to able to say that this is the place where the greatest battle on American soil happened and that this is the place where the most World Series have been played. But New Yankee Stadium won?t have that. It will probably take years for New Yankee to have any great event happen there.

I never thought I?d say this, but I sort of feel sorry for the Yanks. I mean it?s a shame that the old Stadium won?t get to have one last World Series. But then again I never thought I?d be rooting for the Red Sox to lose (Go Rays!).

Years from now, people will ask ?What was wrong with old Yankee Stadium?? Some people, mostly those in charge, will say it?s because it was old. No. Wrigley Field is old. Fenway Park is old. Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, built in 1910, is old. Yankee Stadium may have been built in the 20?s, but it pretty much got rebuilt in the 70?s. No, the real reason the Yankees are leaving such hallowed grounds is luxury boxes, and the low numbers thereof. This is the same reason the Brewers left perfectly good County Stadium. There is and was nothing wrong with these parks, in fact County was said to be one of the best, but management got the idea that it would be better to court businesses with more luxury boxes, rather than the actual fans.

This is not just a problem at the Majors, as many minor league teams are riding the new ballpark craze and leaving such perfectly good old parks in favor of newer ones with, you guessed it, more luxury boxes. The aforementioned Rickwood is an example. Chattanooga and Arkansas, as well as next year Columbus, have all left there old ball parks for newer ones.

In many ways the new ballpark trend is a good thing, but if left in the wrong hands, it may lead to ballparks being built for business, and not for the fans.

[Gothamite]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing it.

I do have to take some issue with your thesis, though - the modern ballpark craze wasn't about returning the game to the fans, but about maximizing team revenues.

Also, Yankee Stadium's renovation in the 1970s didn't make it more worth keeping than Femway or Wrigley - that's what killed it. Had they not done that, Yankee fans and New Yorkers might have thought it worth saving. But the real Yankee Stadium was torn down decades ago.

Also, what is it about Citi Field that makes you think it will be a superior park to Yankee Stadium?

[NJTank]

Jackie Robinson Rotunda

[jkrdevil]

The irony of Citi Field is it's made to look like Ebbets Field yet it's on the site the Dodgers refused to take and instead moved to LA.

I don't know which stadium will be better but it is sad to see Yankee Stadium to go. Lots of good memories at that place (even in the post-70's version).

[no97]

A cuple comments - First, this obit is 33 years too late. Yankee stadium died in 1975:

Also, your comment about Yankee Stadium being the first ballpark to be called a "Stadium" is a myth. From the National Baseball Hall of Fame:

I'd say Brush has Yankee by at least 12 years...

To your points - It may be sad, but I don't feel bad at all for the Yanks. Sure, less people may come, but think of it this way: They've got 250 seats in that place that sell for $2500 a game! If they sell out a whole season of those, that's $50 mil a year. Add in tickets in the $500-2000 a game rate (approx 2000 seats), and the Yanks can reasonable expect upwards of $150 mil in ticket revenue, and still have 50,000 seats that cost less than $100 a game - not to mention suite revenue! Yeah, I feel bad for the Yanks. New Yankee Stadium is literaly a license to print money. Why wouldn't they build a new ballpark? Oh, and just try to outspend them now...

Moose

[DEAD!]

A cuple comments - First, this obit is 33 years too late. Yankee stadium died in 1975:

It didn't die... it went under a coma and had plastic surgery in process

[Gothamite]

What he has told you was true... from a certain point of view.

Yankee Stadium is more machine than man now. When that happened, the good stadium which was their home was

destroyed.

[The_Admiral]

I can't wait for New York to debut New Statue of Liberty. It will be bigger than the original, restore the statue to its original sans-patina copper exterior, and feature 35% more luxury boxes.

[goalieboy82]

what they should have done is play at Shea Stadium for sometime while they built a new Yankee Stadium where the old one is now (like they have done overtime with the MCG and the new Wembley Stadium). they can still have played on the spot where all the greats have played and still have a new stadium.

[no97]

what they should have done is play at Shea Stadium for sometime while they built a new Yankee Stadium where the old one is now (like they have done overtime with the MCG and the new Wembley Stadium). they can still have played on the spot where all the greats have played and still have a new stadium.

Again, they haven't done that since '75. Reggie, Jeter, et. all aren't playing on the same ground where Ruth, Gherig and Mantle played since they lowered the playing surface at Yankee Stadium 8 feet in the mid '70's renovation. When will you people realize that the "House that Ruth Built" was given the worst face-lift in history, and ceased to exist as most would recognize it 33 years ago?

Moose

[JayJaxon]

I agree. It's not the same as the old one. I would have been much more excited to go to Chicago or Boston to see an old stadium.

[NJTank]

I remember in the 80s they never linked New Yankee Stadium to the pre renovation days, it was considered a whole new stadium. It was "rebuilt"

Then around 1998 all of a sudden its 75th Anniversary and this is old Yankee Stadium.

[nyk]

My thoughts on Yankee Stadium:

When they first introduced the new stadium, I was excited, finally NYC is not only getting one new stadium but two. I was like it out with the old and in with the new, until I attend my a game this season and was like, "Damn, I really dont want it to go". Then the closing ceremony I was really sad to see it go. Finally, I see it like this as much as im gonna miss the old Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden has moved 3 times and is still the World's Most Famous Arena, The Mecca, and has not lost any of its luster or history in the process. I believe the new Yankee Stadium will continue and add to the history of the Yankees with out losing or forgetting its past.

[NJTank]

Heres a virtual tour of New Yankee Stadium from Yankees.com

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/video...11&c_id=nyy

The first six minutes are about the old stadium.

[Gothamite]

My Madison Square Garden has moved 3 times and is still the World's Most Famous Arena, The Mecca, and has not lost any of its luster or history in the process.

MECCA? You're thinking of another arena.

MSG might not have lost its luster, but every incarnation has been uglier than the one before.

[DEAD!]

My Madison Square Garden has moved 3 times and is still the World's Most Famous Arena, The Mecca, and has not lost any of its luster or history in the process.

MECCA? You're thinking of another arena.

MSG might not have lost its luster, but every incarnation has been uglier than the one before.

... and I would have thought after 9-11, they would stop calling MSG "The Mecca"