Yankee Stadium

[LkptTiger 1]

Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised this isn't a topic yet. I figure it was an event/building deserving of its own thread...so here it is.

I've saw three games at Yankee Stadium a couple years ago when Atlanta (I'm a Braves fan) was in NYC. I remember craning my neck to get a look at the stadium as we approached, and walking all the way around the building two or three times just to see everything before we went in the gates. When we (I went with my best friend and his father - both big Yankees fans who had been there before) finally went inside, I was just struck by an overwhelming sense of history and tradition. I know that the stadium had been reconfigured, but I couldn't help but look at the field and place all the great players who had played there over the years. The energy and atmosphere was unlike any other baseball games I've ever been to. Just being there was a joy. It was hard to be bummed when the Braves dropped the first game...especially when Mo came in to "Enter Sandman" and everyone in the stadium went nuts; it was an emotion you could feel...almost SEE and SMELL. The experience was really too special to care about who won or lost.

We, obviously, did the tour - and I'm really, really glad we did. Seeing the whole stadium from all the angles, hearing the stories...just BEING THERE...was awesome. I scooped-up a handful of dirt that I can't ever see myself getting rid of. Monument Park was great - the best part of the tour, for sure.

As great as those three games were (I'll never forget them), I can't help but feel like the experience was a bit lost on me, given my young age. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't REALLY appreciate the history of the place, since I can't say I've ever seen any of the old greats (guys like Boggs are about as far back as I can go...and even then I was too young to really remember much more than names). I was a little bummed, since I think I was a little over my head, historically. However, I do consider myself to be a fan of the game and all its tradition...so I enjoyed it to the limits of my inexperience.

Last night (before, during, after the game) I couldn't stop thinking about all the old men who have spent nearly their entire lives at that stadium. Those guys who's fathers brought them to Yankee Stadium to see their first baseball games back when they were 5-6 years old. Those guys who spent their childhood summers scraping enough change together to get through those gates every chance they got. Those guys who grew-up and bought season tickets every year of their adult lives. Those guys who have seen just about ALL the great players step onto that field...the guys who were THERE to see the historic moments I can only read about. That place must have been like a second home to them. This has to feel like they're losing a family member.

Someday when I grow-up and have a family, my kids are going to ask me if I had ever seen a game in The Old Yankee Stadium. I'm really thankful that I get to say "yes."

What about you guys? Who else has been? Do you have any stories?

[LegoDoom 0]

Honestly, I was more impressed when I visited Fenway (I'm not a fan of either team). Yes, there is a lot of history at Yankee Stadium, but it just didn't do much for me. Maybe it's because the Yankees are a big reason of what's wrong with baseball right now... I don't know.

That being said, I have nothing but good things to say about their fans. They cheered at the right times and seemed to root for the right things about the game. Philadelphia fans are generally clueless about the game.

[dalebert 8]

I'm a mets fan and never was a fan of the Yankees. I didn't like the fact they were so good. As lame as it sounds as a kid and now I have always been a fan of the underdog. However I was supposed to go this summer for a game but some unforseen circumstances left me unable to go. After the game last night I was left feeling empty and somewhat upset that I didn't get to go. I'm still young and have my whole life in front of me. Hopefully I'll be able to be that person you spoke of in your post who gets to tell his kids about the memories about Shea Stadium.

[Viking 1]

I've never been, and I'm a big baseball fan, but that doesn't really bother me. I really hate the Yankees, and due to the renovations and everything, I don't feel like there's a connection to history in that building - I would just feel like I was walking into a stadium from the '70s. I've been to Wrigley Field, and that was great, and I've probably been to more games at Tiger Stadium than anywhere else, and I will be really disappointed if I never get to go to Fenway; but I don't feel the same things about Yankee Stadium that I do about those places.

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

I damn near cried.

I remember the first time I went to the Stadium and I remember the last. And unfortunately, despite all of the times I have done, I never got to go to Monument Park. We always got to the game on time, and the last time I went (Old Timers Day 2003) I made sure to go extra-early, but I had bleacher seats, and you cannot go to Monument Park unless you have a grandstand seat.

I'm sorry, but there's something about that place. You pull up to the South Bronx, and it's a shithole. You walk through the turnstiles, and in the concession area, and it's a shithole. You walk up the stairs that are sticky as all get out from people spilling soft drinks, but when you see that perfect field, it totally changes everything.

[dalebert 8]

If memory serves JR Monument Park will still stand. So you can still go see it. It just won't be part of the experience at Old Yankee Stadium.

[DarkStar50 679]

Yankee Stadium after the renovation was never just a stadium from the 70s. It was still Yankee Stadium. Yesterday at work, we were asking about our first game at Yankee Stadium and others. I cannot remember exactly but know my brothers must have taken me in the mid/late 60s when Mantle still played. We always played wiffle ball in the back yard and named ourselves as Yankees! I do have a vivid memory of a doubleheader against the Indians. I went with a bunch of friends and sat out in right field on June 24, 1970. In a late inning of the first game, Bobby Murcer hit a homer that landed right next to me. I was too stunned to grab it. In the second game, Murcer hit three more homers in a row! One hit the upper deck and fell down into this 6'6" giant guy's hand sticking up. One of the other shots landed about 10' to the right of me. Ray Fosse was the Cleveland catcher. Some idiot threw a cherry bomb out of the upper deck behind home plate and it almost hit Fosse. I'll never forget that either.

Yankee Stadium on one of those hot, humid nights in July when it's a sell-out is just a sauna bath with 55,000 fans going crazy. I have been to Fenway a few times and it is awesome, too. Both parks have their own history and feel to them. I still find it hard to believe that The House That Ruth Built is finished. But, hey, the Montreal Forum, Maple Leaf Gardens, and Chicago Stadium are gone, too so nothing surprises me anymore. In these crappy economic times we are in, though, selling those tickets at the New Yankee Stadium for all that money is not going to be as easy as they think.

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

If memory serves JR Monument Park will still stand. So you can still go see it. It just won't be part of the experience at Old Yankee Stadium.

Monument Park is moving to the new Stadium, but it just won't be the same, open-air environment the old one had.

In these crappy economic times we are in, though, selling those tickets at the New Yankee Stadium for all that money is not going to be as easy as they think.

Very true. They are going to price out those fans who have had tickets for god knows how long.

[danglefreak 0]

i love yankees stadium. i like the old ball park so much more than the new ones. there so much history

[mik3 1]

Honestly, I was more impressed when I visited Fenway (I'm not a fan of either team). Yes, there is a lot of history at Yankee Stadium, but it just didn't do much for me. Maybe it's because the Yankees are a big reason of what's wrong with baseball right now... I don't know.

That being said, I have nothing but good things to say about their fans. They cheered at the right times and seemed to root for the right things about the game. Philadelphia fans are generally clueless about the game.

Wait, the Yankees are what's wrong with baseball, but you liked Fenway? Like how the Red Sox are spending at the same rate as the Yankees now, or is it how the Red Sox are milking every penny out of Fenway by doing things like putting seats on the green monster that look cheap as hell.

Yankee Stadium was a bit of a shithole, but it was the mecca of sports. It was state of the art when it was built, and was still a nicer park to watch a game than 95% of places built in the last even 15 years.

[LegoDoom 0]

Wait, the Yankees are what's wrong with baseball, but you liked Fenway? Like how the Red Sox are spending at the same rate as the Yankees now, or is it how the Red Sox are milking every penny out of Fenway by doing things like putting seats on the green monster that look cheap as hell.

I liked Fenway park better. And if I'm picking between the two franchises, I take the lesser of two evils. By the way, I'd rather have them put seats on the green monster than tear the damn place down.

Yankee Stadium was a bit of a shithole, but it was the mecca of sports. It was state of the art when it was built, and was still a nicer park to watch a game than 95% of places built in the last even 15 years.

Yes, I loved how my seats didn't face the infield.

[Keith 0]

Shea was more fun to watch a game at.. There, I said it..... I have to say as a resident of NYC, I am seriously annoyed about that new stadium getting a serious chunk of our money when $500 mil in cuts are being proposed by Bloomberg to cut fire, law enforcement, as well as other important services. I think we are on the hook for almost a billion bucks in public debt for that monstrosity. What the hell did the state think they were going to do if they didn't get that new park, move? Given the current economic climate, having us fund billion dollar private buildings for tycoons is unconscionable.

[JR Boucicaut 3803]

Both CitiField and Yankee Stadium is being funded by the city. And while yes, they did swindle a dirty deal by getting the parkland, the city owned Yankee Stadium and will make it a public park when it's all done. Citi's just getting a bigger parking lot.

[Jason Harris 31]

In these crappy economic times we are in, though, selling those tickets at the New Yankee Stadium for all that money is not going to be as easy as they think.

Very true. They are going to price out those fans who have had tickets for god knows how long.

There was a vignette on Real Sports last month about Personal Seat Licenses, in which Bryant Gumbel interviewed a man who has owned four tickets in the front row at Yankee Stadium since 1976. He said the seats had been reasonably priced until three seasons ago, when they became around $150, then $180, and finally $250. However, that was NOTHING compared to the bill he got for his tickets for next season.

It was something like an $80K PSL per seat plus $1500 per ticket!

or is it how the Red Sox are milking every penny out of Fenway by doing things like putting seats on the green monster that look cheap as hell.

You do realize you are so in the minority on this one, right?

Like how the Red Sox are spending at the same rate as the Yankees now.

The Sox were fourth in spending and would still trail the Yankees even with Tampa Bay and the Marlins added to the payroll.

[Keith 0]

The funding for both stadiums are a disgrace, the Yankees are the easier ones to pick on simply for the fact that they wanted another $350mil in public funds not so long ago. It's not like the yankees would move.......

[Chadd 916]

Jason, glad to see you got home safely. I couldn't do anything about getting back while you were in the area, sorry.

[troy 12]

I went to my first and only game this year, as an A's fan. The surrounding area is terrible, the concourse (if you call it that) was tiny, the Sony club was too congested to breathe, and I needed a nap to find my seat. That said, I completely echo the sentiments about what it feels like to absorb the greenness and crispness when you look out at the field. And from what I could hear down the row, I wasn't very accurate with my seat selection.

[Jason Harris 31]

Jason, glad to see you got home safely. I couldn't do anything about getting back while you were in the area, sorry.

Thanks, Chadd.

That was a fun trip for the family, and one I can slightly tie back to the topic. I tried to check off two stadiums on the trip, but only made it to Nationals Park. It seemed I had a 4' 6" mutiny on my hand when the day ran late in Philly and I suggested we just stay in the city and go to the game. "But, Dad, we wanna go back to Bob and Lynda's house to play with the kids!"

Still, that puts me halfway there at 15 stadiums, although I actually saw the Yankees at Shea Stadium in the early 70's while Yankee Stadium was being renovated.