Yankee Stadium: NYCýs Baseball Pride and Joy

If you know where Ruthville is, then you know the Yankee Stadium like the front of your iPod. In Baseball shibboleth, you are a Yankee fan and a rabid one. Thus, you already know that the Yankees were booted out from Upper Manhattanýs Polo Grounds. Little did the Yankeesý rivals know that they would precipitate one of Baseballýs big money earners ý the Yankee Stadium.

Humble Beginnings

The Yankees owners Tillinghast LýHoomedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert had no choice but to risk $2.5 million to build the stadium. On game day, April 18, 1923, the stadium had to turn away 25,000 spectators because it could only seat 58,000.

Huston and Ruppert proved naysayers wrong when their star player, the legendary Babe Ruth, made his first home run to defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-1. The rise of the Yankees was fast and furious, and the rest is history.

But Ruppert and Huston would not have dared to foot the bill for the stadium, if they did not have the money earned for them by their star player Babe Ruth. Hence, until today, the Yankee Stadium is lovingly referred to as ýThe House That Ruth Built.ý But this house will soon be replaced by a new stadium.

Itýs time to say goodbye to the old stadium that witnessed great games and events such as the three Papal masses said there. The curtain falls over the old Yankees stadium after the 2008 All Star Game.

The New Yankees Stadium

Adjacent to the old Yankees Stadium is the $1.3 billion stadium currently under construction. This is expected to open in 2009. The new stadium occupies 22 acres of park grounds ý Macombs Dam Park and John Mullaly Park ý dand will have two separate structures. The exterior, a wall that will encircle its perimeter, will look like the original exterior of the original stadium.

The interior will be a ballpark with increased modern amenities to become at par or even better than newer ballparks. A replica of the copper faýade or frieze that lined the inside walls of the first stadiumýs upper deck will be made to give the familiar feel to a new look. This will be placed above the bleachers facing River Avenue.

The ballpark will have similar dimensions to that of the current Stadium and will seat 51,000 fans. Standing room will accommodate another 2,000 baseball fans. The total number excludes the 60 luxury boxes between the upper deck and second level unlike the current one where these are positioned on both sides of the press box behind the home plate.

Seating arrangement will no longer be stacked tiers but will sit fans lower to the field and further back and a total of 30,000 will take up the space. The upper deck will be split, a new design in stadiums with seats above and below the upper concourse.

Getting There

Since the new stadium is just across the current one, the same traffic artery will lead to the new venue. In the New City Subway, multiple bus lines will continue to bring in the fans, but construction of the Metro-North Railroad station is eyed to serve Manhattan commuters via Grand Central Terminal and 125th Street and from the northern suburbs of New York.

The House That Ruth Built will still live in the hearts of his fans and the new Yankee Stadium will usher in a new generation of baseball greats. Come and watch the games next year at the spanking new stadium. Be there and take part of Baseball history.

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