anagramking Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 One of baseball's greatest shrines will be no more. I went to two games there, and just sitting back and taking in all the history of that park is as good an experience as any in baseball. Looking over in left field at the memorial park with the retired numbers, and thinking of what those retired numbers did in that park. Reggie's three homers, Don Larsen's perfect game, Lou Gehrig's speech, Babe Ruth, Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi, 26 championships. No other ballpark has history like this place. I say all this and I grew up hating the Yankees. But it definitely won't be the same without this ballpark. Article: Yankees to Announce Plan for New Ballpark By RONALD BLUM NEW YORK - The House that Ruth Built will be replaced by the House that The Boss Built, if all goes according to plan. The New York Yankees scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to announce plans for a new $800 million ballpark, which would be built adjacent to the current Yankee Stadium and could be ready by the 2009 season. "I think it will be sad," Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday. "They'll have limos and vans to take the old ghosts over to the new stadium." Just last weekend, New York City and the Mets announced plans for a new $600 million ballpark next to Shea Stadium. The team has spent years planning the new stadium, which will have a capacity of at least 50,800 _ approximately 6,000 seats fewer than the current ballpark _ but could be expanded to about 54,000. It would be constructed in Macombs Dam Park, to the north of the current stadium, and financed by the team. Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923 to a Babe Ruth home run, is the third-oldest park in use in the major leagues, younger only than Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914). Yankee Stadium was renovated extensively in 1974-75, but the team has long desired a modern ballpark with more luxury suites and wider concourses. Since moving into Yankee Stadium, New York has won a record 26 World Series titles. The stadium plan calls for the new ballpark to resemble the original Yankee Stadium in many of its details, and the dimensions of the playing field would be identical to the current ballpark. It would have 50-60 suites, up from 18 in the current stadium. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, New York Gov. George Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg planned to attend a Wednesday news conference announcing the stadium, Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein said. The Yankees hope to start construction in 2006 and move into the new ballpark in 2009, an ambitious timetable, given the delays that frequently occur in construction in New York. Approval from the state Legislature and City Council is necessary. The state would contribute about $70 million to increase parking from 7,000 spaces to 11,000, and the city would replace the lost park land as part of the deal. A new commuter train station and expanded ferry terminal also is part of the plan. The Mets' new ballpark would be used for the 2012 Olympics the International Olympic Committee votes July 6 to award the event to New York. That plan was drawn up after last week's collapse of the proposal to build a retractable-roof stadium in Manhattan for the NFL's Jets and the Olympics. The Yankees and New York City's government agreed several weeks ago to a memorandum of understanding for the new Bronx ballpark. The team will pay for the stadium on its own, and the cost of paying off the bonds used to raise the money will be deducted from the Yankees' locally generated revenue. That will lower the Yankees' revenue sharing payments to the commissioner's office. A service of the Associated Press(AP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anagramking Posted June 16, 2005 Author Share Posted June 16, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 Yeah, as much as I hate the Yankees I never like to see the old ball parks be destroyed. But, that's life I guess. Alot of history here that's for sure, it is a sad chapter in baseball history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 i too am decidedly not a yankees fan, but man what rich history that place holds - it would a real shame to see it torn down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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