Yankee Stadium [I] Demolition

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

Then again they kept electing Ted Kennedy so it could last forever...

Uhm, Jim - the reference to a living being as "it" is both grammatically incorrect and disrespectful. Keep such fodder off these forums, at least.

[SparkyL]

Uhm, Jim - the reference to a living being as "it" is both grammatically incorrect and disrespectful. Keep such fodder off these forums, at least.

The "it" in his sentence is Fenway, not Kennedy.

[DM23MVP]

The previous Red Sox ownership tried desperately to sell the virtues of a new Fenway Park but the fan base would have none of it. Yankee fans had a laissez-faire attitude toward preservation of the stadium thus enabling the ownership to flawlessly get this project off the ground without a hitch. The Yankees have a committed fan base, but the bottom line is that the passion for the Red Sox and the facility they play in runs deeper in New England than it does for the Yankees in New York.

I hate the Red Sox and I hate the fact that each year they gut the character of Fenway with schemes to bring in new revenue but I respect them immensely for preserving Fenway because it's a great place to watch a game.

Don't kid yourself, if the Red Sox ownership decided to build a new stadium, it would be built, just like Yankee Stadium was, the fans would have little say. And when it was all done and Fenway torn down, they would still sell out the new park.
True fans care more about the team than the stadium, the same holds true with the Yankees, the true fans will continue to flock to the new stadium.

[SparkyL]

Scooterfan, this isn't a replica of OYS. It was never intended to be, by the architects, a replica of OYS.

When the plans for NYS were first revealed, I thought it was going to be/should be a replica. I looked at the plans and thought they looked horrible, and thought it was a terrible imitation of OYS that didn't come close to replicating it. But throughout construction, as the Stadium started coming together and you could get a feel for what it would be like in reality, not just in some crappy artists' rendering that was far from the actual design, I realized that NYS was never really intended to be a replica of OYS. Instead, it is a modern interpretation of OYS. It isn't meant to look like a 1923 ballpark with 2009 amentities, it's meant to look like a 2009 ballpark inspired by a 1923 ballpark.

People looking at NYS as a replica, and comparing it to OYS in that manner, are naturally going to be disappointed. This isn't a replica. This isn't an updated OYS. This is a modern interpretation of a classic ballpark. It was never meant to replicate the look and feel of the old Stadium; it was meant to be a successor to that old Stadium, to be inspired by it but ultimately to have its own look and feel.

Once you realize that, you'll notice truly how much of an architectural masterpiece NYS is. This is how you do a modern interpretation of a classic. And honestly, looking back on it, a replica of OYS would have to be perfect in order not to feel like a crappy knock-off model of the old Stadium, while a modern interpretation of it can be creative, can be modern, can be unique, and still work perfectly and be undoubtedly inspired by OYS. HoK got it right on this one.

You have described what NYS is to a tee! And I think to that regard it will be fantastic.

However, when you read what was initially said NYS was going to be - the 1923 stadium was going to be "coming back - just like the Babe saw it in 1923." So at that point the expectation was set that we were going to get a modern replica, not an interpretation. Either would be great.

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

The "it" in his sentence is Fenway, not Kennedy.

You must be a Vulcan if you were able to discern that. Most "average(human) readers" - myself included, would have assumed what I took that sentence to mean.

My suggestion:

"Then again they kept electing Ted Kennedy so FENWAY could last forever..."

There's nothing like a clear, concise, and to-the-point sentence.

[stadiumbuilder]

It looked obvious to me anyway that the "it" was the aformentioned baseball park.

[NYFan1stYankFan2nd]

It looked obvious to me anyway that the "it" was the aformentioned baseball park.

Like I said, there are Vulcans on this forum, and then there's the rest of us average humans. I'm only a human, not as sharp as the Vulcans here.

[kingcohn]

[stadiumbuilder]

The reference was to New Englanders being resistant to change, they stick with the known entity. Good or otherwise, it was just humor. What planet some of us are from is NONE of your business (That also was humor, good or otherwise)!

[darbypitcher22]

hate seeing the grass gone.... really brings to light that its the end of the old park....

[VAPYankees4]

I think people in Detroit tried preserving some piece of Tigers Stadium but i think they failed. I'm pretty sure it all ended up getting knocked down. I know Yankee Stadium is in a differant situation as far as parkland but what it comes down to is that the city and the citizens in the bronx want it gone. I don't understand what the big deal is about leaving some part of it. How much room could it possibly take up?

[doctor_gogol]

I think people in Detroit tried preserving some piece of Tigers Stadium but i think they failed. I'm pretty sure it all ended up getting knocked down. ?

Actually, everything built from 1912-1923 is still standing. The conservancy received major tax credits and federal earmarks to preserve the stadium. We're waiting on final approval from the city and the project will start in the summer. The approval could come any day, as it was expected last week.

[Yankees12]

AN UPDATE: On my way to and from Citi today, I took the 4 train past OYS both ways. Just from peeking in through the gap, it appears that most of the outfield fence padding has been taken off, at least in LF. There's pads resting up against the wall, and some lyring down on the warning track, and some stray ones still up. It appeared as though most of the plexiglass where MP was has been taken out as well, or at least the padding there has been, since the wires formerly covered up by pads were exposed and some appeared twisted - as if there was no plexiglass supporting them anymore, making them twist and sag.

[Pinstripes]

The previous Red Sox ownership tried desperately to sell the virtues of a new Fenway Park but the fan base would have none of it. Yankee fans had a laissez-faire attitude toward preservation of the stadium thus enabling the ownership to flawlessly get this project off the ground without a hitch. The Yankees have a committed fan base, but the bottom line is that the passion for the Red Sox and the facility they play in runs deeper in New England than it does for the Yankees in New York.

I hate the Red Sox and I hate the fact that each year they gut the character of Fenway with schemes to bring in new revenue but I respect them immensely for preserving Fenway because it's a great place to watch a game.

This isn't about the fanbase in New England being any more dedicated or any different that NY fans. Nor is Fenway all that great of a place to watch a game, other than the fact that it's so small that there are very few far away seats and that it's historical. The facilities are awful, the seats are ridiculously small that even average size people have to squeeze into them, there are columns all over the place, limited seating capacity, etc.

The reason there wasn't more uproar from Yankee fans about the removal of Yankee Stadium is because Yankee Stadium, the original stadium, is alredy gone. It's been butchered virutally beyond recognition. That doesn't mean it still doesn't have the same "core" as it once did, or that it's not a nice stadium, but it just doesn't look nearly the same, internally or externally. The renovation removed much of what made the stadium historical, and most of what gave it its original character.

Had they found a way to virtually identically preserve the visual appearance fo the original stadium when they did the 70s renovation, instead of removing most of the stadium's unique distingushing features (the scoreboard, the frieze, the imposing overhanging roof, and the external facade which got hidden behind hideous ramps, stairways, and partially removed around the upper deck), then there would be a TON more uproar over them tearing it down.

[YankeeStadium1923]

This isn't about the fanbase in New England being any more dedicated or any different that NY fans. Nor is Fenway all that great of a place to watch a game, other than the fact that it's so small that there are very few far away seats and that it's historical. The facilities are awful, the seats are ridiculously small that even average size people have to squeeze into them, there are columns all over the place, limited seating capacity, etc.

The reason there wasn't more uproar from Yankee fans about the removal of Yankee Stadium is because Yankee Stadium, the original stadium, is alredy gone. It's been butchered virutally beyond recognition. That doesn't mean it still doesn't have the same "core" as it once did, or that it's not a nice stadium, but it just doesn't look nearly the same, internally or externally. The renovation removed much of what made the stadium historical, and most of what gave it its original character.

Had they found a way to virtually identically preserve the visual appearance fo the original stadium when they did the 70s renovation, instead of removing most of the stadium's unique distingushing features (the scoreboard, the frieze, the imposing overhanging roof, and the external facade which got hidden behind hideous ramps, stairways, and partially removed around the upper deck), then there would be a TON more uproar over them tearing it down.

The lower Exterior wall of Yankee Stadium is original.....Some of the old windows were filled in with cinder blocks and a stucco type of material. When walking the internal ramps inside the stadium you could see the cinder blocks and know what old windows had been filled in during the renovation.
Maybe if the Bronx wasn't in disarray in the 1970's the renovation would have preserved the old cathedral windows...
Anyway I doctored this photo months ago and removed the escalator pods to show what the renovated Stadium would have looked like with the original Grand entrances.