Yankee Stadium [I] Renovation (1974 - 1975)

[Matt The Hammer]

I think there are demolition pictures of the upper deck that you can see the differences in the concrete from the renovation and the original. The walk throughs are called portals. Yes, they were relocated further up the seating. In the original upper deck, the portals connected you to a catwalk that led you back to the concourse. In the renovation, a new concourse was added on top and it flowed to the under side of the upper deck. So no more catwalks.

I recall others posting that the catwalks remained for access to the structure. Most had their concrete removed from their walkway. The steel remained along with the added steel from the renovation. Pretty great engineering work.

[71lark]

Thank you! So they moved the walk thru higher it looked like they added seats down low too but they didn't that makes sense.All the years after mantle did it i only saw 2 balls hit by the new walk thru.Bonds and McGriff.Imagine how much further mantle shots would have gone with the juiced ball and new bats wow

[dstoffa]

UPPER DECK When the stadium was rebuilt how was the upper deck changed it used to have about 4 seats then the walk thru to get to your seats after 1976 the walk thru was much higher and more seats in front of it.Did they make the upper deck come out more to add seats or did they move walk thru up higher

Someone had posted the construction drawings depicting how they renovated the Stadium a long time ago, but in a nutshell, in order to remove the columns, they had to add rows to the back / upper part of the upper deck, to balance it. And even then, they still needed to do more. The renovated stadium had tension wires holding up the new, enlarged upper deck, tied into the stadium wall, and down to the foundation. They also built a new concourse on top of the old one. The renovated stadium was MUCH taller...

https://mobile.twitter.com/mlbcathedrals/status/670709023738601472

[71lark]

old stadium

[71lark]

UPPER DECK When the stadium was rebuilt how was the upper deck changed it used to have about 4 seats then the walk thru to get to your seats after 1976 the walk thru was much higher and more seats in front of it.Did they make the upper deck come out more to add seats or did they move walk thru up higher

[Mike Wagner]

Thank you for posting this fascinating, but sad piece of history.

[YankeeStadium1923]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNglr01tEYQ

From this reel of CBS News stories from April 1974 at 25:58 there is a Charles Osgood feature on the renovation of Yankee Stadium with him standing on the torn up field and angles of demolition not seen elsewhere before.

Interesting clip...Thanks for posting.

[epaddon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNglr01tEYQ

From this reel of CBS News stories from April 1974 at 25:58 there is a Charles Osgood feature on the renovation of Yankee Stadium with him standing on the torn up field and angles of demolition not seen elsewhere before.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear 3rdGenCub,
I apologize for taking so long to respond. I have not been on baseball-fever.com for a while, although it is a wonderful site. All of the photos are b/w, except for the color cover. The paperback book is 6"x9", and almost 1 1/2' thick. The e-book has the vast majority of color photos. If you wish to contact me, I check my e-mail daily at [email protected]. I do occasionally check on this site. For a review of "Babe's Place," please go to "Babe Ruth: Babe's Place: The Lives of Yankee Stadium," on Facebook, or www.historyoftheyankees.com (This is a fantastic N.Y. Yankees site)! The paperback book is $16.99 and the e-book is $5.95.

Mike

[3rdGenCub]

Dear Friends,

My 620 page e-book, "Babe's Place: The Lives of Yankee Stadium," is no longer on www.lulu.com. It's now on Amazon Kindle for $5.95.

Hi Mike,

I noticed that there is a paperback version of your book. Are there color photos in the paperback or are they all B&W? What are the dimensions of the paperback?

Thank you!

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,

My 620 page e-book, "Babe's Place: The Lives of Yankee Stadium," is no longer on www.lulu.com. It's now on Amazon Kindle for $5.95.

[Mike Wagner]

Dear Friends,
I received this review about my book, "Babe's Place: The Lives of Yankee Stadium," a short while ago from Gregg's Baseball Bookcase on Facebook:

Gregg's Baseball Bookcase
Sharing my thoughts and giving my own review on the baseball books I read, because nobody wants to waste time on a bad book !
Babe’s Place-The Lives of Yankee Stadium
Rate This

I am not a Yankee fan in any sense of the word, but I will acknowledge their achievements throughout history and the contributions they have made to both the game and its storied history. The original Yankee Stadium was witness to many of the games greatest players and scores of historical moments. With its closing a few years back, baseball lost one of its historical palaces, but I have found a book that chronicles its entire history and gives the stadium the true respect that it was due.

product_thumbnail
By:Michael Wagner-2015

There have been a few books in the past that have made me go wow, but this one beats them all. Author Michael Wagner starts from the stadium’s original construction and provides all sorts of details about building a stadium in the 20’s. It covers stories about building delays, internal political struggles, how many bricks that were used and monetary costs to build the palace. I am using that brick number to dazzle my friends when we start asking each other obscure baseball trivia. It obviously does cover the great moments that happened there during its original incarnation and gives the reader a good feel of what the stadium was like during that early era of baseball.

Next the book takes another in-depth look at the remodeling of the stadium in the mid 1970’s. The deconstruction and remodeling details are plentiful in this book and gives an inside look at what really went on behind the scenes during this remodeling phase. Many of these things you will find hard to believe when you hear the lengths they went to preserving its original heritage. This portion of the book also covers the great moments that happened at Yankee Stadium during this second phase of its life. This is the phase many of us are most familiar with so it was nice to relive some of those memories.

This book provides an enormous array of pictures. From the original building of the stadium to its remodeling. Many are from the authors private collection, and they are a unique insight to the process and how large of an undertaking it was to remodel this stadium.

Finally, one aspect I found interesting was the personal correspondence of the author attempting to get memories from those who played there. He had success to varying degrees, but it was a fun way to see what players thought about the old girl during her prime.

It doesn’t matter if you are a New York Yankee fan or not this is a book worth checking out. The original Yankee Stadium has given way to progress, but I personally think it should have remained and been revered in such ways that Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are today. Old Yankee Stadium had a large historical value and this book has done a wonderful job on preserving some of the details and memories for generations to come.

You can contact Author Michael Wagner directly via email for information on how to order this great book for all baseball fans.

[email protected]

Happy Reading

Gregg

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

Today there are so many monitoring systems used in structures that you could see in a report someone just walking around the stadium. Would be neat to see how much a place moves with a big crowd.

I've seen rocker bearings fall out of bridges. They seize up and will slide on their bearing pad. I've seen bearings rust away too therefore freeing them from whatever they were between.

Honestly the culprit here was lack of proper inspection. 20 years of city ownership may have been a factor.

And I'll bet that Ol' Girl in the Bronx moved a lot - a lot more than
might be acceptable if the same renovation were done today!

[Matt The Hammer]

Today there are so many monitoring systems used in structures that you could see in a report someone just walking around the stadium. Would be neat to see how much a place moves with a big crowd.

I've seen rocker bearings fall out of bridges. They seize up and will slide on their bearing pad. I've seen bearings rust away too therefore freeing them from whatever they were between.

Honestly the culprit here was lack of proper inspection. 20 years of city ownership may have been a factor.

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

A steel expansion joint, also known as a rocker bearing, fell from the rafters in 1998.
I believe this rocker joint was added when Yankee Stadium was expanded in 1928.

The Times reported that the renovation in the 1970's reduced the pressure on the steel beams holding the bearing in place, allowing the bearing to wiggle loose over time. This should have been considered during the renovations. The original structure is solid.

The inspectors gave Yankee Stadium a clean bill of health and stated that Yankee Stadium would stand another 75 years....Unfortunately Steinbrenner and the City had other plans.....

I'm going to scan a photo of the rocker joints and post shortly...

Interesting to note that this incident occurred not long after the
highest capacity crowd ever at a game in *post-1975* RYS. Must
have put a lot of stress on those overhanging decks. Would love
to have seen deflection numbers after that 1998 game.