Yankee Stadium

[Bill Burgess]

Today, the New York Yankees play at their new stadium, since 2009.
I thought it would be a fitting tribute to look back on their traditional Yankee Stadium and discuss it.

It was one of the greatest, most prestigious baseball ballparks ever constructed and deserves its own thread.

Part of the Yankees' mystique was that they had the best stadium, in the best city, with the most fans, with some of the very best players and teams.

I ask the Moderators' forbearance in allowing this tribute thread to remain in History Forum, and not be transferred to Stadiums Forum. Please?

[Bill Burgess]

Vacant lot site on which construction of Yankee Stadium would soon commence.
1921.


Architectural Drawing of Yankee Stadium
Original caption: February 7, 1921. How the purposed grounds of the New York American League Baseball Club will look when completed in 1923 is shown here. The Yankee stadium is planned
to seat 75,000 fans and will be the first ball park in the country. The site is just across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, and is convenient to subway, including elevated subways, and
street cars. The site embraces more than 10 acres and was purchased from the Estate of William Waldorf Astor. Since 1913, the Yankees have alternated with the Giants in the use of the Polo
Grounds. The lease on the Polo Grounds will expire in 1923, and the owners of the Yankees plan to have their new house in shape for the opening that season.


Construction of Yankee Stadium
Original caption: August 23, 1922. Yankee Stadium on East 161st Street nearing completion. The new stadium which will be the home grounds of the New York Yankees, is almost one-sixth finished.
One-sixth of the skeleton work on the grandstand is completed. The entire structure will be finished in February 1923. It is located on East 161st Street.


Yankee Stadium, Construction almost complete....1923.---Wikipedia
The area Huston and Ruppert settled on was a 10-acre lumberyard within walking distance from, and in sight of, Coogan's Bluff. The Yankees
announced the purchase of 12 1/4 acres located at 161st and River on February 6th 1921 for $620,000. Osborn Engineering was aleadry on site reviewing
the property for grading and drainage issues. This site often had to deal with tider issues do to its proximity to the Harlem River.
The river also fed Cromwells Creek which ran north along the west side of the stadiums property extending well beyond 167th street.

The Polo Grounds was located on the Manhattan side of the Harlem River, at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue. Huston and Ruppert purchased the site from William Waldorf Astor for $600,000.
Construction began May 5, 1922, and Yankee Stadium opened to the public April 18, 1923.

[Bill Burgess]

Yankee Stadium:
Home of the New York Yankees
Original Stadium: April 18, 1923 - September 30, 1973; 52 years.
Renovated Stadium: April 15, 1976 - September 21, 2008; 34 years.
Rebuilt: 1975
Original 1923 seating capacity: 58,000
Maximum 1928 seating capacity: 82,000
2006 seating capacity: 57,485
Night Lights installed: 1946

Wikipedia: Yankee Stadium

-----------1946-75



----1928 World Series.


-----------------1946-75-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1967


----1946-75

[Bill Burgess]

Here are quotes from former member hswan. He wrote a book called, "Ruthless Baseball: Yankees Purified by Fire, Stadium Construction', by Harry Swanson, 2004. His words are instructive and incisive.

---Ruthless Baseball

If your not troubled by the demolition of Yankee Stadium (in full or in part), then at minimum, try to understand its troubled birth. You might just change your mind. The Yankee owners paid a heavy price building that stadium and under very unfair and difficult circumstances.

After many years of research on the 1919 – 1923 Yankees, I wrote a book entitled "Ruthless Baseball Yankees Purified by Fire, Stadium Construction".

See: ruthlessbaseball.com, if interested. Tony Morante gave it some very kind words.

Read on, see if you can capture the NYC / baseball climate during the design / construction time-frame of the big park.

At the same time that the Yankee club was trying to build their own baseball plant, they were also at war with A.L. President Ban Johnson and five A. L. clubs (Phil., Det., Clev., St.L., Wash.) that fell in line under his direction. They were also fighting off corruption that engulfed baseball and NYC during this time. They also had to overcome the actions of the corrupt political downtown group called Tammany Hall as well as a guy named Arnold Rothstein who managed to have his hand in everything that moved.

The two Yankee owners, Colonels Ruppert and Huston were not only fighting to build a stadium but to survive as a club and gain an upper hand. They felt it necessary to own their own ballpark to accomplish this very essential task.

They had to contend with: Ban Johnson leaking inside info on potential ballpark sites that in turn destroyed buying opportunities, continuous construction approval delays by NYC which lead to numerous postponements in construction start dates, endless legal issues, everlasting road closing issues, actions by Charles Stoneham and John McGraw of the NL Giants such as charging excessive rents and lease termination threats at the Polo Grounds, labor strikes, adverse winter conditions, prohibition effects on Ruppert's brewery, reoccurring Yankee cash flow problems, lasting effects of World War I on the economy, convincing bankers to finance the biggest outdoor sporting structure ever built at a time when fan impact from the 1919 Black Sox scandal was at its worst, convincing the bonding companies that White Construction could handle a project bigger than anything they had ever done, serious cash flow problems for White Construction, trades ready to walk unless paid, the bank suspending all cash advances pending review of job status and the financial strength of the Yankees and White Construction to complete the job, legal issues with suppliers, growing tension between Ruppert and Huston, and the negative effects of the A.L. old boys' network working against them on all fronts. Did I mention the nation wide railroad strike which delayed the steel deliveries for well over a month which badly impacted on everything. The Giants also did everything possible to counter Yankee bookings for boxing, football, etc. to weaken their financial position. The two clubs were at war.

Then there’s the finger pointing and bickering between Osborn Engineering, White Construction and the Yankees over change orders, design changes, scheduling, cost over-runs, etc., etc..

There’s actually much, much more but I think you should get the point.

Without the unnecessary road blocks and opposition, I think the Yankees would have actually played the 1921 World Series in their own park as promised by Ruppert to the press, early that year. 1922 also came and went. Finally, after causing the 1923 A.L. baseball season to open one week later than planned, the stadium finally opened its doors in 1923.

Babe Ruth was bigger than all those problems. His economic clout pushed the construction process to its conclusion in spite of all the unnecessary opposition, trials and tribulations. The history at 161st and River is just incredible. I'm talking about before the first pitch was ever thrown. NYC life in the 1920's. This stadium has too much history. If this isn't an "historical site", what is?

It's [renovated Yankee Stadium] at least 75% original. Most of the seating areas are as they were in 1923. The upper deck had additional rows added up top. If you look at the front of the mezzanine level you still see the old upright steel beams that were cut. The lower deck is the same but pushed forward. The outer facade remained largely untouched but did receive some kind of skim coating. You can still see the original tiles that encircled the stadium. The grandstand footprint also remained untouched.

The Yankees announced the purchase of 12 1/4 acres located at 161st and River on February 6th 1921. Osborn Engineering was aleadry on site reviewing the property for grading and drainage issues. This site often had to deal with tider issues do to its proximity to the Harlem River.
The river also fed Cromwells Creek which ran north along the west side of the stadiums property extending well beyond 167th street.

Stadiums Secret Buried Vault

During the construction of Yankee Stadium in the spring of 1922, the two Yankee owners, Col. Huston and Ruppert had a large hole dug and vault installed in the infield located directly under 2nd base.

The vault was built and designed to store a “boxing ring” that would be raised and lowered as needed. This was intended to be one of the many state of the art additions to the first park called “Stadium”.

White Construction, who built the stadium had it included in their contract. It was brick lined and waterproofed. You needed a ladder to access the flooring. They fed electric, telephone and telegraph cables from the third base side for easy access. It had cables, pulleys and a motor installed by Otis Elevator to aid in raising / lowering the boxing ring.

The owner of the demolition company that handled the 1974 renovation of Yankee Stadium told me that he remembered the bricks coming up when they dropped the playing field elevation by 5 feet.

I know that the vault was built and paid for. I should also be able to detail all the vendors and suppliers involved in its construction.

But, I don’t think it was used as intended to store a boxing ring. Does anyone have boxing knowledge or photos that might reveal the vault
during set-up or take down? Burt Sugar (boxing historian) has no knowledge of the vault ever being used for boxing matches according the Yankees.

Vaults hidden Treasure?
I’m guessing that the bottom half of the vault should still be under second base. It’s buried contents, if any, should still be protected by bricks and covered with dirt. Each time someone slides into second base we get a little closer to the truth.

How about that.

The vault is something I came across while doing research for a book. See: www.ruthlessbaseball.com if interested.
Harry Swanson

Your right, the Babe Ruth sale [by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee] is tough to defend. The $125,000 sale and $300,000 loan that Frazee negotiated, was big money but not nearly enough for this type star. Especially to the Yankees. Ban Johnson, the Giants, Tammany Hall and the effects of prohibition (Ruppert's Brewery) all combined had the Yankees against the ropes financially. The Stadium construction was also having very serious cash flow problems. I believe that Ruth saved the Yankee franchise as well as pushed the construction to its completion. The Yankees have never actually acknowledge his true worth.

I would blame Ban Johnson for creating such a poor climate within the AL. He worked very hard to get Frazee and Col. Huston out of the game.

He succeeded but with unexpected consquences.

Your right on the purchase date. The Yankees bought 12 1/4 acres on Feb 6th 1921 for $620,000. This happened to be the very first property they looked at for a stadium in 1915.

Ruppert announced to the press that the stadium would be completed in time for the 1921 World Series should the Yankees do their part. It got very ugly for the Colonels after this. The Giants would constantly threaten the Yankees lease, etc., at the Polo Grounds.

Ruppert spread word that he could arrange to have the Yankees play in Fenway, if needed. Ruppert held a $300k loan on Fenway and Col.Huston was the best of friends with Frazee. I don't believe for a second he would have ever done this but he did float the idea.

Ban Johson actually worked with the Giants and conspired with them to force Ruppert and Huston into selling the club. If successful, Johnson promised the Giants that they could select the new owners for the club.

I cover this in the book, if interested. www.ruthlessbaseball.com

[BSmile]

Original 1923 brochure from White Construction Co.

[yanks0714]

Thank you, Bill, for this thread. On of my life's greatest disappointments was never seeing the old Yankee Stadium, much less taking in a game there. For some unfathomed reason I never got there.

I've never before seen pictures of the old Yankee Stadium as it was being built. I appreciate your posting them.

[jnakamura]

http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=71363

[Bill Burgess]

Thank you, Bill, for this thread. On of my life's greatest disappointments was never seeing the old Yankee Stadium, much less taking in a game there. For some unfathomed reason I never got there.

I've never before seen pictures of the old Yankee Stadium as it was being built. I appreciate your posting them.

It's always my pleasure, my old friend. Your enjoyment is my reward.

[Bill Burgess]

Farewell To Yankee Stadium---Enjoy the slideshow!

[Bill Burgess]

Opening Day A Wonderful Life Monument Park
First Game at Yankee Stadium
Yanks open new park by beating Red Sox, 4-1
Greatest crowd ever applauds "Babe's" Homer
April 18, 1923

By JAMES CRUSENBERRY
National Baseball hall of fame

---------------------------------Opening Day, April 18, 1923---------------------------------------------------------------After August 16, 1948; flags lowered at Babe Ruth's passing.


Sometime before Yankee Stadium officially opened to the public on Opening Day, April 18, 1923.

Opening Day, 1923

From the April 19, 1923 edition of the New York Daily News

Up on the banks of the Harlem River yesterday afternoon "Babe" Ruth opened a new baseball park known as the Yankee Stadium. With something like 65,000 fans - the greatest crowd that ever saw a big league game of ball - looking on, "Babe" in the third inning dedicated the new Yankee home with a four-base drive into the right field bleachers with two mates on.

That decisive blow settled the first ball game of the year beyond a doubt. The Yanks won from the Boston Red Sox, 4 to 1.

If the game had been rehearsed it couldn't have been staged better. It was first of all, the grand opening of the stadium. The biggest crowd of all time was there. The "Babe" came up in the third inning with two men on, and regardless of apparent batting slump in the spring series, he lammed one into the distant right field bleachers.

"Babe" has hit some resounding home runs during his career, but never did he drive a ball into the bleachers with more power behind it than the one he swatted on the epochal occasion of the opening of his new home. He showed that it could be done and there were about 65,000 fans who let loose with an old-time cheer when the blow was struck.

That Big Third Inning
That third inning was the one big round of the combat. Aaron Ward started the fussing with a mild single. Everett Scott sacrificed. Bob Shawkey bounced one to the pitcher and Ward was nailed between second and third, after which "Whitey" Witt drew a base on balls. Joe Dugan followed with a safe rap to right field that sent Shawkey home. A couple of minutes later the ball game was clinched beyond a doubt when the "Babe" smacked his homer.

It was one of the very best. It was a terrific drive to right field. It never was over thirty feet from the earth, and yet it cleared the screen in front of the right field bleachers and went crashing into a throng of fans. It drove Witt and Dugan home ahead of the "Babe." It set 65,000 fans as mad as Bedlam. It made the opening of the biggest baseball park in the world a tremendous success.

And above all it probably restored the old-time confidence of the "Babe." He hadn't been going so good on the spring training trip. He was in great condition, but he wasn't smacking them. The season opened and on the first day - his second time at bat - he smacked one as he never smacked before. It was great!

Old Bob Shawkey was a swell pitcher. During the whole ball game he gave the Red Sox exactly three hits. One of the three was a corking triple to right center in the seventh by McMillan, a former Yankee player. A man was on first at the time. That blow sent home the only run. George Burns got a single in the second and Ehmke punched a single in the sixth.

No other member of the invading party was able to connect with the veteran Yankee slab artist. In five of the nine innings, he set the boys down three in a row. Old Bob seemed to have something on the ball. He had control, too. Only two men walked. He also had clean cut support from his mates. The only error made was charged to "Babe" Ruth himself when he muffed a fly ball in the start of the fifth inning. It proved to be harmless.

Ehmke Good, Too
Howard Ehmke, the clever and tall right hander of the Red Sox, former Detroit artist, was in good form. If he had managed some way to escape the "Babe" in the third he might have caused a lot of trouble to old Bob Shawkey. The Yanks made seven hits, however, off Ehmke and they bunched three of them in the one big inning which resulted in the cluster of four runs. After that, Ehmke held the big champs down. In the eighth he gave his place at bat to a pinch hitter and Young Mr. Fullerton finished the slabbing job.

Frank Chance, old time boss of the famous Chicago Cubs, was on the coaching lines all afternoon urging his Boston crew on. It was his first big league contest since the time he was manager of the Yankees in 1913 when they performed at the old Hill Top grounds. The one time peerless leader seems to have those Boston boys all pepped up to top speed, but he can't win ball games when the "Babe" connects.

Opening Day, By The Numbers
Cost of Yankee Stadium construction (it was built in 284 days): $2.5 million
The price of everything on April 18, 1923
First-class stamp: 2 cents
The Daily News: 2 cents
Yankee Stadium Opening Day program: 15 cents
Yankee Stadium grandstand ticket: $1.10
Grandstand tickets two scalpers tried selling but were arrested and had to spend the night in jail: $1.25 and $1.50
Average U.S. salary : $1,393 per year
Loaf of bread (New York average): 9.6 cents
Dozen eggs (New York average): 57.1 cents
Quart of milk (New York average): 14.8 cents
Best seat in the house for George White’s
"Scandals" follies: $2.50
Night at Hotel Monticello (35-37 West 64th St.): $3.00
Baseball glove (1922 Sears Roebuck catalog): $4.20
Colonial Line steamship ticket, New York to Boston: $5.19

[Bill Burgess]

Some beautiful shots.



Yankee Stadium: Last call in the city that never sleepsComment Email Print Share, By Doug Ward, Special to ESPN SportsTravel

Under ordinary circumstances, baseball is a game played without any regard to hours, minutes and seconds. But there is a timepiece the size of Big Ben looming over the final season at Yankee Stadium, and the House That Ruth Built is officially on the clock.

So when the subway car rattles its way to the metal platform that rises above East 161st Street in the Bronx, just beyond the right-field bleachers, the crush of baseball fans on board has no time to waste. The doors slide open, and the car's riders spill out, racing for one, final, firsthand look at a place known simply as The Stadium.

This is no ceremonial home run trot, either. We're at the stately ancestral home of such regal sluggers as Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. But these fans are channeling their inner Chris Chambliss, charging their way to the stadium with the urgency of the stocky first baseman barreling his way through the on-field mob scene after his pennant-winning homer in the 1976 American League Championship Series.

For many, including me, this will be a final visit to the historic yard, and that last glance at Yankee Stadium certainly is worth fighting for.

The place looks precisely the way it does in all those old black-and-white movies and photographs, complete with "Yankee Stadium" etched in gold leaf on an exterior of limestone and granite. Trouble is, I'm actually staring at the old-looking "new" Yankee Stadium, which is still nearly a year from opening.

The original Yankee Stadium – the one that opened in 1923 – sits directly across East 161st Street, and, at 85, the place looks as if it has had a lot of work.

The mid-1970s face-lift, which literally blew the roof off the joint, left the stadium with an underwhelming profile that is neither historic nor progressive. With its modernistic, Guggenheim-inspired spiral ramp, set behind an iconic smokestack disguised as a Paul Bunyan-size Louisville Slugger, Yankee Stadium has the awkward look of an old guy trying to look young.

This isn't a gracefully aging Paul Newman; it's Sylvester Stallone.

All those establishing shots from "Seinfeld" took a toll, too. The exterior doesn't resemble the location for "The Pride of the Yankees" nearly as much as it looks like The Place Where George Costanza Worked.

But Yankee Stadium has seen a rally or two in its day, and anyone who thinks this first impression will be a lasting one probably thought Pedro Martinez had enough in the tank to close out the Yanks in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, too.

Get through the underwhelming underbelly and pass through one of the stadium's portals, and this fixer-upper suddenly becomes a cathedral, grabbing hold of you with the intensity of Billy Martin and the passion of Billy Crystal.

All eyes are inevitably drawn to that indelible white frieze – known to Yankees fans as "the facade" – that runs along the top of the scoreboard in the outfield. The facade has a timeless elegance that changes everything, dressing up the place like a string of pearls on a dowager.

The facade, which used to hang from the roof and was copper before being painted white in the 1960s, is the stadium's one constant visual feature.

The original was torn down when the renovation began after the 1973 season (the Yanks played the 1974 and 1975 seasons at Shea Stadium) and replaced by a replica that was moved to its current location when the Yankees moved back in for the 1976 season.

The facade has been a through-line connecting Gehrig's heartbreaking retirement speech to DiMaggio's incomparable 56-game hitting streak to Reggie Jackson's three consecutive World Series home runs.

Mickey Mantle once hit a tape-measure home run off the facade when it was located atop the third deck.

But the facade isn't the only thing here that stirs remembrances.

Marathon of memories

You don't stroll down memory lane at Yankee Stadium as much as you run a marathon through it. The place is packed with so much history that every game is a de facto doubleheader that starts with a visit to Monument Park.

At 6 p.m., in the right-field corner of the stadium's bunkerlike concourse, an usher announces last call for the shrine behind the left-field fence that honors the organization's legends.

A visit to the Yankees' baseball heaven is not only obligatory but also so awe-inspiring that it all but renders the game to be played later by mere mortals the undercard.

Like parishioners marching for Communion, a steady procession makes its way through the left-field aisle and descends the 10 steps from Section 36 of the left-field box seats to set foot on baseball's most hallowed ground. There, beneath that glorious facade, 16 former Yankees are immortalized with retired numbers.

There are 23 plaques on display in Monument Park dedicated to players and managers, owner/execs, announcers, the team insignia and papal visits.

And five former Yankees (Miller Huggins, Babe Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle) are honored with full-fledged monuments. There is also a shrine to the heroes of Sept. 11.

Up until the mid-'70s renovation, the monuments were located in the field of play, standing just inside the center-field fence (which at one time stood 490 feet from home plate) in Death Valley, so named because so many long balls died prematurely there.

Today, Death Valley is long gone. Its ethereal successor is the nearby Monument Park, a place where Yankees live on forever.

The parade of fans is so reverent that Monument Park could be a state funeral. And the monuments are so glorious, they could be headstones of world leaders. To Yankees fans, they are just that.

"Are those guys buried there?" one visitor asks while standing in wonder. They are not, but so much Americana and pop culture collides at Monument Park that it feels a lot like Graceland for baseball fans.

And like Elvis, the Bronx Bombers not only live forever but seem larger than life. Gehrig's monument proclaims that his "amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time."

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that would be named after him, took Gehrig's life at the age of 37 in 1941. And Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed his consecutive games record in 1995. But nothing can touch the "Iron Horse's" monument (save for the movers who will handle it with care when they transport it to the new stadium next season).

They say there are ghosts in Yankee Stadium and almost all of them are friendly, unless, of course, you're a Red Sox fan.

• A walk through the left-field box seats summons Aaron Boone's presence.
• The right-field seats don't look quite the way they did when Mantle and Roger Maris were bombing homers to the pennant porch out there, but that part of the ballpark still conjures memories of the M&M Boys.
• The batter's eye in center field, where Jackson's third homer in the 1977 World Series landed, evokes Mr. October.
• Don Larsen and Yogi Berra forever waltz on the grass between home plate and the mound.

Others made their marks here, too

Ex-Yankees, however, aren't the only ones who left their spirits here.

Knute Rockne gave his famous "Win one for the Gipper" speech here at halftime of the 1928 Notre Dame-Army game. U2, Muhammad Ali and Pope John Paul II also worked their magic on the premises.
The old place was honored in its final year by hosting the All-Star Game. Forty Hall of Famers, including Berra and fellow Yank Whitey Ford, were set to join the 2008 All-Stars in what was billed as the largest gathering of baseball stars ever.

Earlier in the season, on my last night in the stands here, I was joined by 52,199 fans; and Yankee Stadium seems to hold enough memories for everyone. Of course it's not quite done making memories.

The Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, but I keep feeling the presence of a former player who never wore pinstripes. The aura of George Brett, who had a sublet on this place in the 1970s and '80s, is everywhere.

Brett hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning of the fifth and final game of the aforementioned 1976 American League Championship Series to tie the score at 6-6 before Chambliss won it in the ninth. He also hit three bombs off Catfish Hunter here in a 1978 ALCS game. And he blasted a three-run homer into the stadium's third deck off Goose Gossage in Game 3 of the 1980 ALCS to send the Royals to the World Series. Coincidentally, Brett's most famous home run here was another off Gossage that he had taken away in 1983 because of what was ruled excessive pine tar.

Others remember these grounds as the site of "the greatest game ever played," when Alan Ameche scored from a yard out in overtime to propel the Colts to a 23-17 victory over the Giants in the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

When the Yankees move across the street next season, Monument Park will be relocated to the new Yankee Stadium. Whether the ghosts also will make the move remains to be seen.

Can't take it with you

But other aspects of the Yankee Stadium experience will be gone forever after this farewell season. Accordingly, everywhere you venture inside the venerable facility, an inescapable air of finality goes with you.

Quaffing a cold one in the basementlike Pinstripe Pub feels like attending a wake.

A brace of Stella Artois beers at the alehouse will set you back $12, but the cocktail napkin, adorned with the Yankees' classic interlocking NY logo, makes it seem like a deal. So do the locals – many of whom appear to be off-duty cops and firemen – and the despondent bartender, who must be from central casting and is desperate for a happy ending.

"Three straight losses," he grumbles. "We gotta turn this thing around and get a win tonight. This is no way to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium."

In case you've forgotten where you are and who these people are, the bartender curtly offers a reminder to a patron who makes the mistake of ordering a Perrier.

"This," the bartender says, "is the Bronx, not Paris."

Given that the team is leaving the stadium but not the neighborhood, Yankees fans will always have the Bronx.

You get the sense arriving for a game here this season that it might be a little like rewatching "The Godfather" before moving on to "The Godfather: Part II"; Yankee Stadium is a one-of-a-kind original, but the sequel might be even better.

The Yankees have long been baseball's headliners, even if they haven't always been a hit. If you came of age as a baseball fan in, say, 1965, you saw the Yankees go 11 seasons without making a single postseason appearance. And there was an even longer playoffless streak from 1982 to 1994.

But even when the Yanks weren't such a hot ticket, their theater was always Carnegie Hall.

When George Steinbrenner took over in 1973, he saw to it that the Yanks had stars big enough to do the venue justice. Four years later, Chambliss' walk-off home run against Kansas City sent the Yankees back to the World Series for the first time in 12 years. Among the players honored in Monument Park, Jackson, Don Mattingly and Ron Guidry were hired by The Boss.

It certainly has been well used

All that drama and history packed into Yankee Stadium comes at a price. The corridors are cramped and dingy, and the team store feels a little like a truck stop merchandise mart … a nice truck stop, mind you, but a truck stop nonetheless. When the late Robert Merrill's canned national anthem blares through tinny speakers, it sounds as if it were emanating from a Little League game.

As game time draws closer, the regal voice of public-address announcer Bob Sheppard reminds you that you are, in fact, at a baseball palace.

When Sheppard, who has been the voice of Yankee Stadium since 1951 and has a plaque honoring him in Monument Park, announces Derek Jeter's name, the stadium shakes. So does your heart. As Jeter steps to the plate for the first time, the dirt walkway between the on-deck circle and home plate becomes a red carpet as fans pop flashbulbs as if they were members of the paparazzi.

Sheppard finishes the crowd off, accenting the moment like John Williams dropping his score on a Steven Spielberg flick. "No. 2," Sheppard intones, "Derek Jeter. Shortstop. No. 2."

The same voice – Jackson calls it "the voice of god" – introduced DiMaggio and Mantle and Berra and on and on. It's chilling.

There aren't enough innings in a game to recognize all the great Yankees in history, but the bleacher creatures conduct their role call, and everyone in tonight's lineup is present and accounted for.

Chien-Ming Wang starts mowing down the Mariners, and the Yankees get out to an early lead. There's a stiff wind blowing in, but forecasts of rain have not materialized. After five innings, we have an official game.

Before you know it, Mariano Rivera makes a grand entrance, and soon everyone else is forced to make a quick exit. After Rivera nails down a 5-1 Yankees win, the same crowd that rushed the place four hours earlier meanders out into a cold night fans are in no hurry to face.

Yankee Stadium has been the most enduring character in the franchise's storied history, and, like a lot of characters, it looks a lot better on the outside once you get to know what's on the inside. No one here wants to say good night, let alone goodbye.

"New York, New York" echoes through the Bronx, and Sinatra lives on. Yankee Stadium will live on, too.

Tours of Yankee Stadium run through Sept. 19; click here for details.

Doug Ward is a southern California-based freelance writer.

[Paul Wendt]

Architectural Drawing of Yankee Stadium
Original caption: February 7, 1921.
How the purposed grounds of the New York American League Baseball Club will look when completed in 1923 is shown here.
The Yankee stadium is planned to seat 75,000 fans and will be the first ball park in the country.

Was the Stadium fully enclosed for a time, as planned in 1921?
If so, during what seasons?
If not, capacity must have been much less than 76000.

[Bill Burgess]

Was the Stadium fully enclosed for a time, as planned in 1921?
If so, during what seasons?
If not, capacity must have been much less than 76000.

No, the Stadium was never completed according to the architect's original designs. It remained uncovered from 3rd base to 1st base.

Its original 1923 seating capacity was 58,000 and its largest crowd was a maximum 1928 seating capacity of 82,000.

[Gary Dunaier]

Reason it was never enclosed as originally designed - the field would have been too dark.

This was back when all games were played in the daytime.

[Bill Burgess]

Some nice shots of the Stadium in its early days. All courtesy of the Library of Congress, and my enhancing.

Queuing up in 1923.


Opening Day, 1923.


April 3, 1923.


Opening Day, 1925.


Opening Day, 1925.

[Paul Wendt]

Reason it was never enclosed as originally designed - the field would have been too dark.

This was back when all games were played in the daytime.

Thanks.

Looking closely but without expertise at the 1923-46 overhead view (#3) and the "cross-section" in the 1923 brochure (#5), I think that the latter may show the rightfield grandstand as completed. The outer facade is in place, I think, and visible in the extreme southwest corner of the "cross-section" (photo maybe taken from the end of the facade). It looks so open compared with the overhead view, maybe only because it is much earlier in the day.

[locke40]

Some nice shots of the Stadium in its early days. All courtesy of the Library of Congress, and my enhancing.

April 3, 1924.

This photograph is actually from April 3, 1923. You can see the date written in the lower left hand corner, albeit, reversed. Also, this is before Opening Day, as you can see they haven't put the advertisements up in the outfield yet.

[RichardLillard1]

A couple of quick notes, Bill.

In post #3, the second picture is from the 1928 World Series, the third picture is from sometime after the 1967 whitewash done by CBS.

Also the second picture in post #10 is just after Babe passed and flags were lowered. The remaining first one is from opening day, 1923 and the second is from sometime just before then.

It's great to see a thread like this in the history section!

Lastly, if I may be permitted a shameless plug, a couple of small graphics by Rick Kaplan of a proposed Gate 2 monument for the new Heritage Field.

Richard
www.savetheyankeegate2.com

[Bill Burgess]

A couple of quick notes, Bill.

In post #3, the second picture is from the 1928 World Series, the third picture is from sometime after the 1967 whitewash done by CBS.

Also the second picture in post #10 is just after Babe passed and flags were lowered. The remaining first one is from opening day, 1923 and the second is from sometime just before then.

It's great to see a thread like this in the history section!

Lastly, if I may be permitted a shameless plug, a couple of small graphics by Rick Kaplan of a proposed Gate 2 monument for the new Heritage Field.

Richard

Thank you so very much, Richard!! It's great having someone help me out on my dating and captioning. Fantastic even! Did I get the captioning right now?

[RichardLillard1]

Perfect!

If I get a chance later in the week, I'll see what dates I can come up with for your other ones.

I love the Yankee Stadium Pre-Renovation thread and it's been one of my favorites on this forum, but I've always felt that the dates needed to be more clear cut and hammered out, much like the fine threads you've set up here in the History section.


Richard
www.savetheyankeegate2.com

[ol' aches and pains]

Great thread, thanks Bill. I made it to Yankee Stadium for the first and only time last year. I still can't believe it's gone. We have no appreciation for historical landmarks in this country. They're trying to put up a Walmart in Virginia at the site of the Wilderness Civil War Battlefield. Nothing is sacred except the almighty $$$.

[Bill Burgess]

Perfect!

If I get a chance later in the week, I'll see what dates I can come up with for your other ones.

I love the Yankee Stadium Pre-Renovation thread and it's been one of my favorites on this forum, but I've always felt that the dates needed to be more clear cut and hammered out, much like the fine threads you've set up here in the History section.

Richard
www.savetheyankeegate2.com

Thank you for your generous words of support, Richard. Your enjoyment is my reward.

I would be ecstatic if you can find a way to date any of my photos! Many of my dates are only rough approximations.

[Bill Burgess]

Great thread, thanks Bill. I made it to Yankee Stadium for the first and only time last year. I still can't believe it's gone. We have no appreciation for historical landmarks in this country. They're trying to put up a Walmart in Virginia at the site of the Wilderness Civil War Battlefield. Nothing is sacred except the almighty $$$.

Truer words were seldom spoken, my friend.

Over in Ballparks Forum, I found this painful post.

The same mindset that replaced this.............................................. ......................................with this.......






While the 60's & '70's saw music, television & the arts at it's creative peak (Gilligan's Island & My Mother The Car notwithstanding) it also saw architecture and fashion in the crapper.

We destroy art and replace it with convenience. How clever we are.

[Bill Burgess]

I would like, if it's possible, to make this a documentation thread.

Can anyone find the information of what other events Yankee Stadium hosted over the decades?

Besides all the regular season and spring exibition games and numerous World Series games and post-season games, Yankee Stadium hosted a variety of other events.

Some boxing matches, and even a Beatles Concert, if memory serves.

[Captain Cold Nose]

I would like, if it's possible, to make this a documentation thread.

Can anyone find the information of what other events Yankee Stadium hosted over the decades?

Besides all the regular season and spring exibition games and numerous World Series games and post-season games, Yankee Stadium hosted a variety of other events.

Some boxing matches, and even a Beatles Concert, if memory serves.

I believe a lot of that is covered in one thread or another in the Stadiums forum.

The famous Beatles NYC concert was at Shea. Both Louis-Schmeling fights, including the more famous one where Louis won by first-round knockout, were at Yankee Stadium.