Yankee Stadium [I] Renovation (1974 - 1975)

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Mr. Laser Beam,

No doubt it was because the exterior of the Stadium changed so much due to the new entryways. At least the folks in Fenway still have Fenway Park. Yes, it's been remodeled, but it's still Fenway Park. Just like people renovate houses. It's different, but much of it is still the same, and it's located at the same address.

-Mike

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Just like people renovate houses. It's different, but much of it is still the same, and it's located at the same address.

So was OYS/RYS.

[Mygirljess]

A great idea, and great details about it from Paul W (as always). And pre-information-highway days, if I were a Yankee fan, I'd probably trade an earful of mustard to listen to my old heroes say a few words, lol.

By the way, the Babe Ruth one was absolutely unintelligible. It was his final speech at Yankee Stadium when his voice was all croaky due to the cancer. With the old technology there was static on the line too, and people talking all around you. You couldn't understand a word he was saying. It wasn't until years later I heard that speech again that I understood a word of it!

[Paul W]

I don't understand why people hate the renovations so much. It's not like there was much of a choice - OYS was literally falling apart, they had to do something...

as someone with first-hand experience of oys - it wasn't "falling apart", it suffered from comparisons to shea (clear sight lines, more convenient parking and it was new) and oys wasn't. on top of all that, with the aging of the player stock and the advent of the player draft the franchise suffered.
one of the main problems was that the city was involved, unlike fenway which is in private hands and the changes there were done with a less heavy hand.
many (including me) were put-off by the "brutalist" style of architecture used for the changes, it was heavy-handed compared to what it replaced.
it was john lindsey who approached mike burke about the reno, the nyy (cbs inc.) never threatened to move unlike king george's threats later.
if oys had stayed in private hands, changes made would have been less drastic.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

I'm writing to give you and update and request.

I've decided to self-publish "Babe's Place," my book about the history of Yankee Stadium and the New York Yankees, with a big focus on the 1970s renovation. Things didn't work out as planned with the publisher. I plan to have the book out in September or October.

I was going to follow that with another book about the attempt to Save Gate 2 and the demolition of Yankee Stadium. I've decided to change course. What I'll do is add the attempt to Save Gate 2 and the demolition of Yankee Stadium to the end of this book. I will also have information about the new Yankee Stadium. These three items seem to be the logical way to end the book

I will have photos from a friend of the new three items listed above. Some other friends will send me Gate 2 information, as they have first hand knowledge of the event.

Does anyone have an accounting or record of the demolition of Yankee Stadium? It would not have to be a daily record. Among the items I'd like to see are, for example:

What date did the demolition start?
What companies were involved.
What was the cost?
Where did the cement and metal and other scrap go?
What was the date of significant demolition of certain parts of the Stadium
When did the demolition end?

If you have this information and would like to send it to me, I would write something like:
"This information was generously supplied by: your name" Or, something else that you would like to be done.


With respect to the new Yankee Stadium,

What date was the groundbreaking?
What date did the actual construction begin and on what?
Progressive dates on significant construction events.
What contractors were used.
Costs.
Completion date


If you have this information and would like to send it to me, I would write something like:
"This information was generously supplied by: your name" Or, something else that you would like to be done.


If nobody has anything, then I'll research it myself.

If you are interested in this, please send me an e-mail at yankeeswinws@yahoo.com


I'm currently transcribing letters from former baseball players and umpires about their feelings about the demolition of Yankee Stadium. I'll have about 150 or so when I'm done. Here are some samples:

Casey Cox I did not know about saving Gate 2, but I believe some part of July 14, 2010 Yankee Stadium should be saved.
Casey Cox[27]

Bud Daley The first time I went to old Yankee Stadium I was with the
July 6, 2010 Cleveland ball club. I walk in and what a thrill. Too bad people
won't have that thrill I had.[28]

Cot Deal. Sent signed demolition photo.[29]
July 6, 2010

Billy DeMars Mike, It's pretty hard to look back 62 yrs to the time I played at July 9,2010 Yankee Stadium. I also was born & raised in the Bay Ridge
section of Brooklyn, so as a kid it was Dodgers & Yankees, not
so much Giants. When I stepped on the field in 1948 it was
thrilling just knowing that this is where all the great Yankees
played. In fact that day in '48 they still had DiMaggio, Rizzuto,
Keller, Henrich, Stirnweiss, Dickey, Reynolds, Raschi, Lopat
etc. Pretty famous players.


That was no worse when the Dodgers packed up & moved to
Cal, it was devastating. Time goes on & things change. We see
it everyday.
Take care. Billy DeMars (Billy also sent a signed baseball card
of himself.)[30]

Don Demeter I can remember while hitting in the Stadium - I'm standing where
September 9, 2012 Ruth stood - I too, am sad something was not preserved for the
fans in N.Y. - D.D.[31]

Bobby Doerr Dear Michael, On Memorial Day 1938 we played to 83,500
July1, 2010 fans. They say it was 85,000 because of some free passes.

That day our pitchers threw at Jake Powell and they got into a fight. Cronin was thrown out of the game and when he went
through the Yankee dugout they started fighting again. Think
that is where the rivalry started to take place.

Thought the Yankee Stadium was a hard place to hit. Tall stands
and dark shadows between home & the pitcher and white shirts
in center field was hard to pick up the pitches. Left center &
center field was a lot of field. DiMaggio played it so good. Hope
your book goes good. Best Wishes, Bobby Doerr[32]

Al Downing Dear Michael, I'm writing a book myself of my career and I'd July 3, 2010 answer some of the questions you've asked.[33]

Carl Erskine Hello Michael. Thanks for writing. Yes I pitched several
July 5, 2010 innings at Yankee Stadium. In 1952, 5th game, on the 5th Oct,
and it was my 5th Wedding Anniversary - Leading 4-0 until - yes
the 5th. I gave up 5 runs- The game went 11 innings and then the Dodgers won 6-5. I got the complete game victory. Also I
pitched 9 no-hit innings. Vince Scully and Red Barber were the
Dodgers broadcasters.

Vince Scully said he was watching for any other 5's. He swears
that when I struck Berra out to end the game in the bottom of the
11th inning he looked at the Stadium clock - it was 5 past 5
o'clock. My e-mail is…[34]

(I don't know what happened, but the 2010 & 2012 dates are when the player responded to me. Just delete the date and the message will read correctly. I apologize for the strange way the message transmitted).


Thank you, everyone.

Sincerely,
Mike

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

Publisher's loss!

idiots...

Go Wags!

[Mike Wagner]

Dear NYFan1stYankFan2nd,

Thank you for your support. I look forward to publishing this book with all the parts I originally intended to have in it, plus the three items mentioned above, with many unusual photos. It's been quite a journey!

-Mike

[Gary Dunaier]

There's a whole thread here at Baseball Fever devoted to the demolition of Yankee Stadium - "Yankee Stadium [I] Demolition" (link). That should be a good place for you to start - many, many photos and accounts and stuff.

Posts in the thread date from 06/10/08 to 09/08/11.

If you're looking for photos, you can check out my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gary_du...7622435196475/. I've also got some others from '09, peeking into the stadium from the top row of the present facility, that for whatever reason I left with the photosets from the games I attended, so you might want to look there as well.

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

Dear NYFan1stYankFan2nd,

Thank you for your support. I look forward to publishing this book with all the parts I originally intended to have in it, plus the three items mentioned above, with many unusual photos. It's been quite a journey!

-Mike

Ever think of having a video CD of the book made for the on-the-go/laptop set? I'll still buy the hard version, but having a mobile format could attract a lot of attention.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Gary,

Thank you for the information. Yes, I was looking at these sites when the demolition was occurring and the new Yankee Stadium was being built. I looked at part of your photostream - magnificent pictures as always!!!

With my plan of publishing my book in September or October, I will be able to give some depth to the chapters on the demolition, the demolition of Gate 2, and the building of the new Yankee Stadium. But, I won't be able to give nearly as much as I would like to, as it would take an incredible amount of time to sift through each page of these topics on Baseball Fever, not to mention other sources. Since I have a job, that takes a lot of precious research time away from research. Still, I will get a nice bit of research done.

-Mike

[Mike Wagner]

Dear NYFan1stYankFan2nd,

Yes,I have. That and Kindle. I fully admit to being ignorant about how such things work. I've heard the terms IPOD, Smartphone and such. I've never had one, so I don't even know which is which. I still haven't learned how to download photos onto Baseball Fever, even though I've tried a few times in the past. Some BF friends were kind enough to download them for me in the past. I figure once "Babe's Place," is done, I can try taking a shot of some of these technological things that I'm so far behind on.

Yes, I'd be interested in a video CD of the book. Also, hopefully I can get a mainstream publisher to pick it up after it's out.

-Mike

[Lpeters199]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1974-YA...item519fff59d1

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

Soon I'll be working on chapters for 1. The Demolition of Gate 2.
2. The Demolition of Yankee Stadium
3. The construction of the new Yankee Stadium


If anyone has worked on any of these demolition/construction jobs, or knows of anyone that has, and would like to send me their stories for inclusion in "Babe's Place," I'd be very grateful. I think it would be great to have behind the scenes stories about these subjects for the readers.

My e-mail is yankeeswinws@yahoo.com

Thank you.

-Mike Wagner

[DN4L]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1974-YA...item519fff59d1

OMG!!!!!!!
Seeing this photo makes me want to PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I curse everyone responsible for the DISASTROUS renovations from the early 1970's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mario Mendoza...HOF Lock]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1974-YA...item519fff59d1

I'd like to jump into the photo and yell "STOP....can't you see that you will be cursed for this for generations!"

The '60's and 70's was a great era for music, but an equally dismal one for architecture.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

I'm currently going through each page of the Yankee Stadium Demolition page. There are a good number of posts that I'd like to include in my book about the demolition of Yankee Stadium, your feelings about the original Yankee Stadium, the renovated Yankee Stadium, and the new Yankee Stadium - pros and cons. Also, your feelings (and mine) about the effort to Save Gate 2. Right now I'm on page 211 out of 363 pages.

I'd be very grateful if anyone would please e-mail me here on Baseball Fever or yankeeswinws@yahoo.com and let me know whether I have your permission to use your Baseball Fever name or real name and what you posted. On the other hand, I'd also be grateful if you would let me know that I do not have your permission to add your post to my book.

If you have a specific post you would want me to use or not use, I will certainly respect that.

Thank you.

-Mike

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

In looking at the demolition photos of Yankee Stadium, it seems very amazing to me that the exterior cement walls of old Yankee Stadium looks to be only about 3 inches thick. I would have thought they'd be much more. Does anyone know for sure how thick the walls were?

Thank you.

-Mike

[Paul W]

"That was no worse when the Dodgers packed up & moved to Cal, it was devastating.
Time goes on & things change. We see it everyday... Billy DeMars"

he had it right...

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

I'm going through the "Yankee Stadium II Construction" thread. From what I've read, the first frieze section was mounted in the right field corner on December 29, 2007. Is that correct? Also, does anyone know when the last frieze section was put in place? I have not been able to pinpoint it. Also, were there 39 frieze sections mounted in the new Stadium?

I'm not able to go through each page, as I haven't got enough time to thoroughly do so. But I am getting a lot of great specific information. One thing I like to do is list the equipment used, such as specific Caterpillar bulldozers, excavators, etc. Also companies that worked on the project. I know I won't get all of them, but I know I'll be able to list many of them.

Thank you,
Mike

[The Monument]

Mike, I'm not 100% sure about the date, but I have photos of that first frieze section after installation. Even then I could tell that something was wrong. It didn't have enough 'arch', and looked kind of square. Anyway, I'll contact you about using some of my demo and construction photos.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear The Monument,

Thank you. Like I said before, I'm skimming through the "New Yankee Stadium Construction" thread due to time constraints.

Here's a question for you and anyone else that is interested. From what all of you have heard, what is the general consensus of the frieze in the new Yankee Stadium? It's now 2012 and people have had a few years to let it sink in.
Do most people like it or dislike it? Why?

-Mike

[The Monument]

I dislike it because of the obvious lack of detail, the lack of returns at the ends of the upper deck, the too-short section at the end of LF, the proliferation of long sections, the two short sections along the 3B line which look out of place, the square holes near the top,the general spindly look when seen up close...Give me time, I'll think of more. It is the one thing that I dislike most about NYS, and the one thing that they HAD to have gotten right, but didn't.

[Gary Dunaier]

I had wondered what it must have been like to have to "deal" with the frieze at the original YS, in terms of getting photos from the very last row. Based on my few experiences at the new place in '09, I didn't like it - from behind home plate it got in the way of my view of the South Bronx skyline, and I had to move down to the next-to-last row for a clean view (no big deal to most, but it mattered to me). Also, there are places where the bottom tip can block a bit of the scoreboard or videoboard - again, "so what?" to most, but important to me.

[The Monument]

Another good point Gary--it's set too far back. The roof should extend out more, closer to the front of the Terrace level.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear The Monument and Gary,

Thank you for your input. Everyone who has been on Baseball Fever knows that both of you have great baseball knowledge, as do so many other people on this wonderful, addicting site.

I've only been to the new Yankee Stadium once, in 2010, so I don't know it well like both of you and so many other fans. I'm just very thankful that when I did go I felt like I was in Yankee Stadium and that I felt like I was at home. That's the same way I felt at the old Yankee Stadium before and after the renovation - like I was at home.

-Mike