Yankee Stadium [I] Demolition

[JCCC]

I was thinking the same thing. Just think of the people with high anxiety issues. Anyone have any eye level view of the original catwalks.

[cgcoyne2]

Man alive, those were catwalks indeed! After a few beers I wonder how many patrons came thisclose to tettering over the edge. Can you imagine something like that being constructed today?

Nowadays you'd have fully-enclosed cages with railings, yellow paint at the edges, grip surfaces and warning signs posted every 50 feet.

Meow!

And a nasty Yankee security guard to smack you if you even look like you might think about falling. LOL

[cgcoyne2]

I was thinking the same thing. Just think of the people with high anxiety issues. Anyone have any eye level view of the original catwalks.

Look at the mock up of the 3D Autocad !960's Yankee Stadium. It looks very cool. It's Rick Kaplansky's thread.

[RfkFedEx]

Man alive, those were catwalks indeed! After a few beers I wonder how many patrons came thisclose to tettering over the edge. Can you imagine something like that being constructed today?

Not to mention all of the general crap that would be unintentially kicked down to the lower level. Junk like food litter, peanut shells, spilled drinks. Stuff that might not hurt anyone, but still unpleasant to have rained upon you. I surprised to learn that they used to sell SRO tix for the catwalks in Ebbetts.

[JCCC]

Thanks cgcoyne2, great stuff and cool as hell!

[cgcoyne2]

Thanks cgcoyne2, great stuff and cool as hell!

No thank Rick Kaplansky. I just posted there. (3D Model of Yankee Stadium (Late 1960's) )

The thread is listed as number one or two right now. Check it out. YOU WILL BE AMAZED!!!!

[CHiller]

Not to mention all of the general crap that would be unintentially kicked down to the lower level. Junk like food litter, peanut shells, spilled drinks. Stuff that might not hurt anyone, but still unpleasant to have rained upon you. I surprised to learn that they used to sell SRO tix for the catwalks in Ebbetts.

Did the original stadium have concession stands back in the concourses? I have a feeling that there was a lot less getting up and down and going to get stuff to eat and drink back in the day. You came to the ballgame, sat in your seat and watched the game. If a vendor came by, you bought a dog and a brew. A lot less opportunity for junk to fall on the folks below.

[YankeeStadium1923]

Hey All,

I was lucky enough to be on a Gerard Avenue roof when the below photo was taken last Thursday. This photo was posted a few pages ago and is credited to History of the Yankees.com. It was great being on the rooftop and seeing the old catwalks for the first time. I plan on going to the Bronx early next week for another view once the weather clears up.

Anyway, I outlined in RED an interesting observation that can be seen in both photos. You can see the original railings that lined the Pre-Renovated Upper Deck concourse still intact and never touched during the Yankee Stadium Modernization. I'm not sure if these railings can be seen from the Subway Platform. I never noticed them from the rooftop.

Anyway, It looks like the original catwalks are still in place, however the concrete bed that laid across the steel trusses were removed during the renovation. Probably because of safety reasons. In fact, I have seen renovation photos that show the trusses without the concrete bed. I also have photos of the Tiger Stadium catwalks from my visit to Tiger Stadium in 1999.
Both ballparks were built and designed by Osborn and had many similarities. If I have a chance I will post what the catwalks look liked from Tiger Stadium as a comparison. Not at all scary to walk along.

[JCCC]

Interesting video of the demolition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs8KaF7n3gI

[soup]

Hey All,

I was lucky enough to be on a Gerard Avenue roof when the below photo was taken last Thursday. This photo was posted a few pages ago and is credited to History of the Yankees.com. It was great being on the rooftop and seeing the old catwalks for the first time. I plan on going to the Bronx early next week for another view once the weather clears up.

Anyway, I outlined in RED an interesting observation that can be seen in both photos. You can see the original railings that lined the Pre-Renovated Upper Deck concourse still intact and never touched during the Yankee Stadium Modernization. I'm not sure if these railings can be seen from the Subway Platform. I never noticed them from the rooftop.

Anyway, It looks like the original catwalks are still in place, however the concrete bed that laid across the steel trusses were removed during the renovation. Probably because of safety reasons. In fact, I have seen renovation photos that show the trusses without the concrete bed. I also have photos of the Tiger Stadium catwalks from my visit to Tiger Stadium in 1999.
Both ballparks were built and designed by Osborn and had many similarities. If I have a chance I will post what the catwalks look liked from Tiger Stadium as a comparison. Not at all scary to walk along.

outstanding detective work sir!

[MarcianoNY]

Hey All,

I was lucky enough to be on a Gerard Avenue roof when the below photo was taken last Thursday. This photo was posted a few pages ago and is credited to History of the Yankees.com. It was great being on the rooftop and seeing the old catwalks for the first time. I plan on going to the Bronx early next week for another view once the weather clears up.

Anyway, I outlined in RED an interesting observation that can be seen in both photos. You can see the original railings that lined the Pre-Renovated Upper Deck concourse still intact and never touched during the Yankee Stadium Modernization. I'm not sure if these railings can be seen from the Subway Platform. I never noticed them from the rooftop.

Anyway, It looks like the original catwalks are still in place, however the concrete bed that laid across the steel trusses were removed during the renovation. Probably because of safety reasons. In fact, I have seen renovation photos that show the trusses without the concrete bed. I also have photos of the Tiger Stadium catwalks from my visit to Tiger Stadium in 1999.
Both ballparks were built and designed by Osborn and had many similarities. If I have a chance I will post what the catwalks look liked from Tiger Stadium as a comparison. Not at all scary to walk along.

Found a couple good shots on flickr, credit goes to statlerhotel.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statler...7600287761163/

[JCCC]

Absolutely awesome images, thanks for posting!

[David Atkatz]

Except the photo with the folding chair is not Yankee Stadium.

[MarcianoNY]

Except the photo with the folding chair is not Yankee Stadium.

They're all of Tiger Stadium.

[Strawman]

They're all of Tiger Stadium.

And of course, the Wrigley catwalks are famed...

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

Found a couple good shots on flickr, credit goes to statlerhotel.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statler...7600287761163/

Y'know somethin', there really "wasn't much" to these ballparks, in a manner of speaking. They were HUGE - to be sure - but. . . . They all had minimal concourses and their live-load bearing strength came not from particularly massive girders and columns, but rather, from the diagonal trussing of relatively light members. No wonder the machines have eaten so easily into the LF turn of the upper deck in OYS-RYS. And their greatness came from what took place on the fields they surrounded, not from the glorified grandstands that these parks themselves were.

[chip]

I just took some photos of my T.V. showing the catwalks at Cleveland Stadium.
These are from a home movie I shot in 1992.





Almost to the top!


Ahhhhhh made it!

[chip]

Here are a few more with the upper deck concourse behind.







and a nice shot of the roof.

[Gehrig27]

Yankeestadium1923, please tell me this is part of a much larger picture that you are in possession of.

[cringey]

Not to continue the jack, but what other parks have had catwallks? I seem to remember RFK having them, and I remember being at some other park when I was younger in the 80s/90s having them.

[RfkFedEx]

Not to continue the jack, but what other parks have had catwallks? I seem to remember RFK having them.

Indeed it does. They're in the upper deck, 1st and 3rd base sides only. The only cookie cutter I know to have had them.

OYS looked even higher.

I used to get scared as a small kid and I could never resist looking down to the lower level as I grasped my dad's hand.

[Rob R]

I agree. Even on TV, the New Stadium didn't sound anything like the old one. The Phillies' players and manager commented how quiet each of the games were in the Bronx. You NEVER heard any criticisms of the Old Stadium, and the noise level. In fact it was always the opposite, and how proud the visiting teams were of playing at Yankee Stadium. It wasn't the same, and never will be the same again.

I HATE watching clips of Yankee Classics from the RYS now. The sea of people and the overhang of the upper deck is something that the New Stadium can never replicate. It is really hard watching those games and enjoying it, knowing now that a cheap piece of crap will eventually replace it. I feel really sorry for CC and Tex who never got to experience a TRUE Yankee Stadium World Series win.

Actually, the announcers and loudmouth Rollins said something after the first game, a game that the Yanks were never in from the start and for which the crowd didn't seem to be into either.

Funny, but the broadcasters who criticized NYS that game were the very same broadcasters who criticized the fans at RYS during the World Series against the Mets in 2000. Yes, the same McCarver and Buck couldn't believe how quiet RYS was, especially for a Subway Series game and commented on this throughout the series, not one game as they did regarding NYS.

This whole RYS rocked every game is a fallacy. I've been to tens of games in the post season where the crowd was silent in anticipation and only roared when something positive happened for the Yanks. I think some of us want to romanticize RYS to the point of embellishing about it, which is certainly OK, because Yankee Stadium was a classic. We also have to remember that the post season crowd- either at RYS or NYS - usually isn't your typical Yankee Stadium crowd.

What nobody is mentioning is sportswriters like Lupica (who hates the Yanks), Vaccaro, as well as Angels, Minny and Philly reporters, writing about how NYS, during the post season, was as loud as and rocked and shook like the old stadium. Even Charlie Manuel said in in many interviews. I've even been to many regular season games where the noise level was off the charts, especially those last at bat wins that started against Minny. That's when the crowd started coming alive and was more settled into the new stadium, and not as distracted with the newness and with what the new stadium was offering. I'm far from alone in saying this as you can see in the NYS thread. It seems that only those (not you) who despise NYS and/or the Yanks, keep singing the same BS about how quite the crowd is; some who admittedly never even been to games there.

Of course, RYS held 5,000 or so more, so naturally it should have been louder, though at times I couldn't tell; it felt and sounded similar to me and I'm far from alone in witnessing this first hand.

[Aviator_Frank]

Y'know somethin', there really "wasn't much" to these ballparks, in a manner of speaking. They were HUGE - to be sure - but. . . . They all had minimal concourses and their live-load bearing strength came not from particularly massive girders and columns, but rather, from the diagonal trussing of relatively light members. No wonder the machines have eaten so easily into the LF turn of the upper deck in OYS-RYS. And their greatness came from what took place on the fields they surrounded, not from the glorified grandstands that these parks themselves were.

IOW people actually attended games for the sake of watching games . . . not being entertained by the ballpark itself. What a novel idea.

[410 FT]

Anything about the center field speakers? Did they come down with that second to last bleacher wall? Or were they lifted off? Any debris photos of them?

[Yankeefan3783]

Great pictures everyone, especially Gary.