Yankee Stadium....Da Bronx....Da Sixteenth

[NJFFSA16]

Maybe I'm just superstitious...but does this seem like a bad omen to anyone else??

August 16, 2006...Officials from inside and outside the ballpark
were set to break ground on a new stadium for the New York Yankees

August 16, 1948...Babe Ruth died of cancer in New York, at the age of 53.

The Bambino's gonna be upset!!

[tanker5117]

[t13one12]

No effin way. If we go 86 years I will die (literally I doubt I'm gonna live much longer than 106).

[nyckftbl]

Getting to work is gonna be so much fun

[nozzelvfd]

The old yankee stadium will be gone and with it goes a ton of tradition. I think the Yankess should be gone as well and be renamed the NY Senators......LOL

[NYSmokey]

The old yankee stadium will be gone and with it goes a ton of tradition. I think the Yankess should be gone as well and be renamed the NY Senators......LOL

I thought they were going to keep it and use it for Little League, etc????

I thought they were going to keep it and use it for Little League, etc????

From what it looked like on the virtual tour, the stadium will be torn down and there will be 3 fields on the old stadium footprint.

[NJFFSA16]

NEW YORK (AP) - No tears were shed Wednesday for the historic
stadium where Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio played out
their storied careers.
Politicians and baseball officials who gathered to break ground
on a new Yankee Stadium shared memories of the old ballpark but
said the new one would be even better.
"Yankee Stadium is an iconic stadium, a place where Ruth and
(Lou) Gehrig played, where popes and presidents have spoken," Gov.
George Pataki said. "But so, too, will the new Yankee Stadium be
an iconic stadium."
Pataki joined team owner George Steinbrenner, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and others for the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of
the new stadium, just north of the existing 1923 ballpark.
The billion-dollar Bronx stadium is set to open in 2009.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he remembered going to
Yankee Stadium as a teenager.
"I can still feel the joy and excitement as I stared in wonder
at the field, perfect in every way," he said. "And there in
center field stood the hero of my boyhood, the great Joe DiMaggio.
... Yankee Stadium is an American monument that has endured for 84
years. Today we are breaking ground on a new Yankee Stadium, a new
monument and new memories for the coming generations of fans."
Steinbrenner, who complained of the heat, was brief.
"It's a pleasure to give this to you people," he said. "Enjoy
the new stadium. I hope it's wonderful."
The Yankees displayed a congratulatory message from President
Bush on the center-field scoreboard during the second inning of
Wednesday night's game against Baltimore. There were some boos from
the crowd.
Before the game, Yankees manager Joe Torre talked about the old
ballpark, and the one being built.
"This is a special place. There's no question. But all the
renderings I've seen of that new ballpark, it's going to be
exciting," he said. "The guys who are going to play in these next
couple years and go over there, I'm sure it's going to be a big
change for them."
Yankees legend Yogi Berra, superfan Billy Crystal and
81-year-old stadium fixture Freddy Schuman, who patrols the stands
with homemade signs, attended the 90-minute ceremony but did not
speak.
Schuman, who banged on his trademark frying pan during applause,
said later he approved of the new ballpark.
"I feel about the old stadium, but this is progress," he said.
The groundbreaking came a day after a state Supreme Court judge
denied opponents a temporary restraining order that would have
blocked construction. He found there was no legal bar to cutting
down trees to permit a project that benefits the city and the local
community.
A few dozen demonstrators carried signs and chanted, "Save our
parks," during Wednesday's ceremony, but police kept them far
enough away that they could not be heard by the participants.
In Mullaly Park, most of which will be lost to the new ballpark,
tennis instructor Sam Fumi said he hoped the politicians would keep
their promise to move the tennis courts to a new park nearby.
"We will relocate somewhere, but right now we don't know," he
said. "It's sad."
Manuel Perez, a lifelong neighborhood resident who was playing
with his two children in the park, said the area's resurgence had
meant only higher rents and other costs of living and a new stadium
was unlikely to help.
"It's not going to do anything for my community," he said.
"Whether we say yes or whether we say no, they're going to do it
anyway."
The 53,000-seat open-air ballpark will replace one of the most
famous sports arenas in the world, christened with a Ruth home run
on Opening Day. Designers plan to restore several elements of the
original stadium, including the frieze that hung from the roof,
that were lost in a 1970s remodeling.
Yankee Stadium is the third-oldest ballpark in the major
leagues, trailing Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley
Field (1914).
The city and state are contributing more than $200 million to
the project, including infrastructure improvements. The Yankees
will pay the rest, financed through taxable and tax-exempt bonds.
Until a dozen years ago, Steinbrenner had denigrated the
neighborhood as dangerous and threatened to move the team to
Manhattan or northern New Jersey. But the Yankees expect to draw
more than 4 million fans to the stadium this year, making it the
eighth consecutive season topping 3 million.
The new stadium will have fewer seats than the current capacity,
57,478, but more luxury boxes. Chief operating officer Lonn Trost
said the ballpark would continue to be called Yankee Stadium rather
than be named for the highest corporate bidder, though parts of the
park would be sponsored.
Construction of the new stadium will involve paving over large
portions of Macombs Dam Park and Mullaly Park and cutting down
about 400 mature oak trees. The Yankees are to offset the loss of
the parks by building new parkland, including three ball fields at
the site of the current Yankee Stadium, which will be dismantled.
Backers say the project will create an estimated 3,600
construction jobs and 900 permanent jobs. But the plan met with
opposition from some South Bronx neighbors and parks advocates.
Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Parks Advocates, said
the stadium foes would appeal Tuesday's ruling and file a federal
lawsuit.
"The Yankees were never required to consider practical
alternatives to the taking of parkland," he said.

[NYSmokey]

I must have been sleeping when they announced that they would tear down the old stadium. Here's more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yankee_Stadium

[t13one12]

Guess its time to start getting out to a bunch of ballgames again before they tear her down.

[38ffems]

I had heard that they are going to try to save some of the really iconic things like the white fence looking stuff that goes around the stadium. This sucks, i could care less if the new stadium has lazy boys and beer taps at the seats I love yankee stadium and hate to see it go. I am not a redsox fan but again I love the stadium cause of its history just like yankee stadium. These old stadiums are the classic american image, coke and a hot dog and a great game, doesn't get any better than that. I just hope they dont give it some stupid corporate name.

[t13one12]

I just hope they dont give it some stupid corporate name.

GOOD POINT! I never even thought of that. I can see it now "Bloomturd Stadium"

[nozzelvfd]

how about (we spend more the your team ballpark)

[t13one12]

Blah Blah Blah

Win some World Championships and you can have money too!

[osfd100]

If they want a classy stadium they should put a green monster in it