The New Yankee Stadium--a betrayal to baseball history (My new outlook on baseball)

[txlonghorn14]

I was born and raised in Maryland, but grew up a Yankee fan due to strong influence from my parents who both hail from the NY-NJ tri-state area. My entire extended family are Yanks fans, and once I became old enough to understand their history and tradition, I too became a die-hard Yankees fan. When I was little I always rooted for both the Orioles and Yankees because Cal Ripken and Don Mattingly were my favorite players. When I reached the age of 18, my father drove me and my family on our first trip to Yankee Stadium. It was his first time back since being a young child with his father. My father watched Ted Williams in old Yankee Stadium along with Mickey Mantle and the rest of the Yankee greats. It was July 4, 2002 and the Yankees were playing the Cleveland Indians. I was completely overwhelmed with the history and tradition inside the Stadium as I ran down the tunnel to see the field. The Yankees won the game 7-1, and I stood there in awe after the game imagining all the great players that had graced that field.

The Baltimore Orioles have also always been a big part of my life. When my brother was about four years old, my parents took us to old Memorial Stadium to see the Orioles play the Milwaukee Brewers. It was his birthday, and it was both of our first major league game. I vaguely remember the game, but I remember from then on my brother and I were hooked on baseball.

Camden Yards is one of the most beautiful parks in the Majors, and I always try to make a game when I'm home. My last game was this past sunday afternoon when those bums from Canada smacked the O's 9-2. At least I got to see Tejada hit a homer.

Yankee Stadium was always my favorite place to see a game, but in a few years from now, it will be gone with all of its tradition. George Steinbrenner has truly crossed the line this time and taken away a piece of the game that truly belongs to every baseball fan, Yankee fan or not. I know this is a predominately Texas Ranger fan base on this board, and most of you don't really care if the Stadium exists or not due to the fact that the Yankees are such a hated team in Texas and everywhere outside New York.

My main point is I have come to realize baseball is just a business, and George Steinbrenner truly only cares about how much money he can generate with his luxury boxes and overpaid players. It seems like the game has lost so much purity over the years, and this only makes it worse. As much as I despise the Red Sox, at least they had the common sense to keep Fenway Park and not tear down baseball history. I can't hold Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera accountable for this horrendous decision to tear down a National Landmark, but I can blame George Steinbrenner. I thought I'd never see the day when I'd actually feel betrayed by the Yankees organization, but this time I do.

I've been a Yankee fan for a long time, and it will be hard for me to see the Stadium go, but the fact that I'm leaving New York City ** the end of the spring in 2007, I just might swing my allegaince back to the Baltimore Orioles. I know they probably won't win much, but at least I'll be watching guys truly try for love of the game instead of money (A-Rod, Johnny Damon). Its like being in baseball limbo, but I guess those are the facts of life.

Thanks y'all if you read my story.

 

[Cochese]

Come on, are you loyal to a stadium or a team? Times change and some day even the Urinal on the Northside of Chicago will be demolished and replaced by a top of the line ball park. I dont understand the commotion. A Yankee fan, with a Braves avatar who wants to be a Oriole fan. You must have missed the meeting on what it means to be a fan. Get with it, Yankee stadium is old and has allready been renovated multiple times. The Yanks are probably the most famous and storied franchise in baseball, they deserve a state of the art stadium that can seat more people, bring in more revenues and give the fans a better experience. Come on, the Cowboys are building a new stadium, what are you going to do then? Is that a betrayal to football history? Does that effect your views on the purity of the game?

 

[txlonghorn14]

the fact that the new yankee stadium is gonna seat less and have more luxury boxes irks me. the cowboys from what i hear need a new stadium, although i've never been to texas stadium to see what its like. there's nothing wrong with the current yankee stadium. they sell that place out every night, i don't see the use in tearing it down. i guess you'd have to live in ny to understand this. anyways, atlanta is my favorite NL team, hence my avatar.

if fenway park can be renovated and kept in business, there's no reason the yankees can't renovate the current stadium where so many memories have been had.

and no, i didn't "miss the meeting" on what its like to be a fan. i pull for a few major league teams, i'm a fan of the game.

 

[peplaw06]

Texas Stadium has no where near the historical significance of Yankee Stadium, I'm sorry. It's more comparable to Lambeau Field or Soldier Field being torn down. We've seen those stadiums renovated, but I figure they'll be around for a very long time. The outcry from the public would be deafening if those places were torn down.

Yankee stadium, Monument park... there's a LOT of history there. Like txlonghorn said, Fenway will likely never be replaced, same with Wrigley. I mean seriously, Steinbrenner already makes way more money than any other major league team, is a new stadium with a few more seats really going to do that much?? Keep in mind this stadium, it is estimated, will cost $1 billion... did you catch that? $1,000,000,000. And that's the current estimate, it will cost more than that. Steinbrenner better double ticket prices to make up that much money. Some teams should be immune to the New Stadium Era, and the Yankees are one of them.

Loyalty to a stadium seems a little odd to us because there aren't any stadiums like that around these parts of the country. There was some outcry with the Astrodome being replaces, but it's not the same. But the culture North of the Mason Dixon line is different regarding these places. Most of these stadiums are placed in the middle of the city surrounded by residential areas. Fans in these cities still walk to the games, it's an all day experience. The stadiums here are placed around commercial districts, rows of restaurants, malls and amusement parks, or like Texas Stadium there's nothing around it.

I think that Arlington is trying to change the culture to some extent when the new stadium goes in. It's close to the Ballpark, and there is a commercial district there. That area though has a lot of available space, and some plans include building residential districts around the stadiums. We've seen that with the Victory Center around American Airlines Center. I'm not saying the culture will change, but there seems to be an attempt. If it turns out, I have a feeling there may be the same sense of loyalty with the new Cowboys Stadium and the Ballpark because of that area.

 

[Cochese]

Sorry, but I live in Chicago and if you saw that spaceship on the lakefront known as Soldier Field, you would think it is an entirely new stadium. It even lost its status of a landmark.

 

[Cochese]

the fact that the new yankee stadium is gonna seat less and have more luxury boxes irks me. the cowboys from what i hear need a new stadium, although i've never been to texas stadium to see what its like. there's nothing wrong with the current yankee stadium. they sell that place out every night, i don't see the use in tearing it down. i guess you'd have to live in ny to understand this. anyways, atlanta is my favorite NL team, hence my avatar.

if fenway park can be renovated and kept in business, there's no reason the yankees can't renovate the current stadium where so many memories have been had.

and no, i didn't "miss the meeting" on what its like to be a fan. i pull for a few major league teams, i'm a fan of the game.

Right, I would have to live in New York to understand what tearing down a landmark is when since I have lived here I have seen the old Comiskey get torn down, the legendary Chicago Stadium get torn down and Soldier Field become completely unrecognizable. Things change, its a fact of life and even Wrigley will be torn down someday for a place where fans can actually park their cars and piss in something besides a troth. Its all about the money, sorry if it took you this long to put 1 and 1 together.

 

[txlonghorn14]

Right, I would have to live in New York to understand what tearing down a landmark is when since I have lived here I have seen the old Comiskey get torn down, the legendary Chicago Stadium get torn down and Soldier Field become completely unrecognizable. Things change, its a fact of life and even Wrigley will be torn down someday for a place where fans can actually park their cars and piss in something besides a troth. Its all about the money, sorry if it took you this long to put 1 and 1 together.

chicago is nowhere close to baseball tradition in comparison with new york. the cubs are awful, and the white sox got lucky for one season. chicago sports are mediocre compared to new york sports history. don't compare amatures with legends.

 

[Cochese]

chicago is nowhere close to baseball tradition in comparison with new york. the cubs are awful, and the white sox got lucky for one season. chicago sports are mediocre compared to new york sports history. don't compare amatures with legends.

Dont even start with me with your ignorant new york elitist attitude. What I was trying to say is that Chicago has lost buildings with tons of sports memories in them, and we move on. The games are about money, how many years of your life did it take you to figure this out? How the Knicks been treating you? I am sure the Sox got lucky. Thats what that postseason dominance was...luck. Guess your pissed off they blew away the team that the overrated Yankees lost too, but any way, you shouldnt be talking to me about this. If you want to make this a Yanks championships argument versus Chicago championships argument, then I got nothing, but neither do you... you let a new stadium affect the team you cheer for....ORIOLE FAN. Go join the Oriole bandwagon or whichever of the multitude other teams you have loose affiliations with, loser. I find it horribly ironic that your claim your 2 favorite baseball teams are the most dominant teams in their respective league in the 90's, and your favorite football team is the most dominant team of the 90's. Do I smell a front runner? Which is your favorite basketball team.. The Bulls or The Lakers? If you had gone to the park before you were 18... maybe i could understand you clamoring about the history in which you diddnt get to see. Does it spoil it for you that it was renovated in the 70's?

If this is what it takes to break your loyalty, I am sure Steinbrenner is so sad he is crying...oh wait, he wont miss a bandwagoner like yourself at all. The seats will still be filled, the money will still be rolling in while you watch the horribly mediocre Orioles.

 

[Cochese]

During the first 50 years of Yankee Stadium the only major changes to the park were the addition of lights in 1946 and a major paint-job in 1966, but in the 70s the park really began to show its age. After years of debate the Yankees signed a 30-year lease with the City of New York in 1972 that called for the Stadium to be completely modernized in time for the 1976 season. After the 1973 season the Yankees moved to Shea Stadium for the next two seasons while a major reconstruction effort took place.

Parts of the stadium were completely demolished following the 1973 season, and a major effort began to make Yankee Stadium the most modern home park in baseball. The steel support columns from the old stadium were done away with and replaced by horizontal support brackets underneath the upper decks that made for better sight lines for the fans. This new design, however, did away with the famous scalloped facade that topped the original Yankee Stadium roof. This problem was resolved with an exact replica of the facade being created to fit atop the new 560-foot-long scoreboard that stretched behind the bleachers in the outfield. The new scoreboard featured the first telescreen in baseball, and could display an amazing nine shades of gray. The revamped Yankee Stadium opened on April 15th, 1976 in a game the Yankees won against Minnesota 11-4.




Ive got news for you, the stadium that exists today is almost nothing like the one that Dimaggio and the rest played in.

 

[txlonghorn14]

not really a basketball fan. the knicks are a terrible organization, i've never liked 'em. i'm more of a nascar guy.
:horse:

 

[joseephuss]

the fact that the new yankee stadium is gonna seat less and have more luxury boxes irks me. the cowboys from what i hear need a new stadium, although i've never been to texas stadium to see what its like. there's nothing wrong with the current yankee stadium. they sell that place out every night, i don't see the use in tearing it down. i guess you'd have to live in ny to understand this. anyways, atlanta is my favorite NL team, hence my avatar.

if fenway park can be renovated and kept in business, there's no reason the yankees can't renovate the current stadium where so many memories have been had.

and no, i didn't "miss the meeting" on what its like to be a fan. i pull for a few major league teams, i'm a fan of the game.

Aren't there plans to build a New Fenway Park? I have seen articles about the possibility and also renderings of what the new park would look like.

I don't have problems with new stadiums or a New Yankee Stadium. Sure not being from New York gives me a different perspective, but I just don't think any stadium is meaningful enough to hang on to. Changes occur in sports all the time. I don't mind Dallas getting a new stadium. If they chose to get new uniforms I would be irked, but would accept it. The only change I wouldn't accept is if they left town.

 

[txlonghorn14]

Aren't there plans to build a New Fenway Park? I have seen articles about the possibility and also renderings of what the new park would look like.

I don't have problems with new stadiums or a New Yankee Stadium. Sure not being from New York gives me a different perspective, but I just don't think any stadium is meaningful enough to hang on to. Changes occur in sports all the time. I don't mind Dallas getting a new stadium. If they chose to get new uniforms I would be irked, but would accept it. The only change I wouldn't accept is if they left town.

Last I heard from Theo Epstein in the news is that Fenway Park is staying, and renovations will be added on to the current stadium.

 

[peplaw06]

Dont even start with me with your ignorant new york elitist attitude. What I was trying to say is that Chicago has lost buildings with tons of sports memories in them, and we move on. The games are about money, how many years of your life did it take you to figure this out? How the Knicks been treating you? I am sure the Sox got lucky. Thats what that postseason dominance was...luck. Guess your pissed off they blew away the team that the overrated Yankees lost too, but any way, you shouldnt be talking to me about this. If you want to make this a Yanks championships argument versus Chicago championships argument, then I got nothing, but neither do you... you let a new stadium affect the team you cheer for....ORIOLE FAN. Go join the Oriole bandwagon or whichever of the multitude other teams you have loose affiliations with, loser. I find it horribly ironic that your claim your 2 favorite baseball teams are the most dominant teams in their respective league in the 90's, and your favorite football team is the most dominant team of the 90's. Do I smell a front runner? Which is your favorite basketball team.. The Bulls or The Lakers? If you had gone to the park before you were 18... maybe i could understand you clamoring about the history in which you diddnt get to see. Does it spoil it for you that it was renovated in the 70's?

If this is what it takes to break your loyalty, I am sure Steinbrenner is so sad he is crying...oh wait, he wont miss a bandwagoner like yourself at all. The seats will still be filled, the money will still be rolling in while you watch the horribly mediocre Orioles.

Who pissed in your coffee?? Calm down

 

[TRUTH87]

hey bro wut the hell?

You're a yankees and/or Oriole Fan. and you have a Braves Avatar? hahahaha anyway.

Soldier Field got destroyed. The way they put up the new seats on top of the old columns is horrible. They should of just left that one, and build a new one sumwhere else.

and I live close to Chicago.

 

[Garland powerplay]

Its good to see a collection of great players like the Yankees. It creates a competitive nature to knock off the best. Its also like the pyramid where the standard is higher the other teams gauge themself against a team of all stars, the cool thing about it is you can't buy a championship. The team still loses leaving GS scratching his head wondering how can this happen? This team should be winning 130 games.

 

[Glenn Carano]

I was born and raised in Maryland, but grew up a Yankee fan due to strong influence from my parents who both hail from the NY-NJ tri-state area. My entire extended family are Yanks fans, and once I became old enough to understand their history and tradition, I too became a die-hard Yankees fan. When I was little I always rooted for both the Orioles and Yankees because Cal Ripken and Don Mattingly were my favorite players. When I reached the age of 18, my father drove me and my family on our first trip to Yankee Stadium. It was his first time back since being a young child with his father. My father watched Ted Williams in old Yankee Stadium along with Mickey Mantle and the rest of the Yankee greats. It was July 4, 2002 and the Yankees were playing the Cleveland Indians. I was completely overwhelmed with the history and tradition inside the Stadium as I ran down the tunnel to see the field. The Yankees won the game 7-1, and I stood there in awe after the game imagining all the great players that had graced that field.

The Baltimore Orioles have also always been a big part of my life. When my brother was about four years old, my parents took us to old Memorial Stadium to see the Orioles play the Milwaukee Brewers. It was his birthday, and it was both of our first major league game. I vaguely remember the game, but I remember from then on my brother and I were hooked on baseball.

Camden Yards is one of the most beautiful parks in the Majors, and I always try to make a game when I'm home. My last game was this past sunday afternoon when those bums from Canada smacked the O's 9-2. At least I got to see Tejada hit a homer.

Yankee Stadium was always my favorite place to see a game, but in a few years from now, it will be gone with all of its tradition. George Steinbrenner has truly crossed the line this time and taken away a piece of the game that truly belongs to every baseball fan, Yankee fan or not. I know this is a predominately Texas Ranger fan base on this board, and most of you don't really care if the Stadium exists or not due to the fact that the Yankees are such a hated team in Texas and everywhere outside New York.

My main point is I have come to realize baseball is just a business, and George Steinbrenner truly only cares about how much money he can generate with his luxury boxes and overpaid players. It seems like the game has lost so much purity over the years, and this only makes it worse. As much as I despise the Red Sox, at least they had the common sense to keep Fenway Park and not tear down baseball history. I can't hold Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera accountable for this horrendous decision to tear down a National Landmark, but I can blame George Steinbrenner. I thought I'd never see the day when I'd actually feel betrayed by the Yankees organization, but this time I do.

I've been a Yankee fan for a long time, and it will be hard for me to see the Stadium go, but the fact that I'm leaving New York City ** the end of the spring in 2007, I just might swing my allegaince back to the Baltimore Orioles. I know they probably won't win much, but at least I'll be watching guys truly try for love of the game instead of money (A-Rod, Johnny Damon). Its like being in baseball limbo, but I guess those are the facts of life.

Thanks y'all if you read my story.

You're threatening not being a Yankee fan anymore? As a Yankee fan, I say who cares? You're not a real Yankee fan anyhow. You root for the Yanks when they're good and the O's when they were good. Some Yanks fan you are, rooting for another team within their own division. Good riddance!

 

[txlonghorn14]

You're threatening not being a Yankee fan anymore? As a Yankee fan, I say who cares? You're not a real Yankee fan anyhow. You root for the Yanks when they're good and the O's when they were good. Some Yanks fan you are, rooting for another team within their own division. Good riddance!

you probably didn't even know what a pinstripe was till '96.

i mainly used this thread as a vent. i do have allegiances to a few major league ballclubs since i've moved around so much in my life. half the yankee fans only like the team because they're the most winning team in pro sports, and they like the hat.

while i'm disapointed the stadium is not going to be in service after the '08 season, things never last forever. i still believe some things should be kept sacred (yankee stadium, fenway park, wrigley field). Steinbrenner has all the money in the world, and yet he always wants more. i find it a little crooked that the new stadium will hold less seats for the common fan, and more luxury boxes for the filthy rich white collar business man. this stadium is gonna be a rich man's playground. say goodbye to $12 bleacher tickets and $5 thursday night games. get ready to shell out the same amount of dough as you would for an NFL game, 'cause this is fixin to be the most expensive ticket in the majors.

 

[Garland powerplay]

How else would they support the highest paid team?

 

[Glenn Carano]

you probably didn't even know what a pinstripe was till '96.

i mainly used this thread as a vent. i do have allegiances to a few major league ballclubs since i've moved around so much in my life. half the yankee fans only like the team because they're the most winning team in pro sports, and they like the hat.

while i'm disapointed the stadium is not going to be in service after the '08 season, things never last forever. i still believe some things should be kept sacred (yankee stadium, fenway park, wrigley field). Steinbrenner has all the money in the world, and yet he always wants more. i find it a little crooked that the new stadium will hold less seats for the common fan, and more luxury boxes for the filthy rich white collar business man. this stadium is gonna be a rich man's playground. say goodbye to $12 bleacher tickets and $5 thursday night games. get ready to shell out the same amount of dough as you would for an NFL game, 'cause this is fixin to be the most expensive ticket in the majors.

Quit whining and deal with it. I've been a Yankee fan since the late 70's and stuck with them from 82-94 when they never made the playoffs. I watched and or listened to just about every game during that period and still do, so don't tell me I've only been around since '96. You're clueless.

You can keep saying that Steinbrenner is greedy and all that, but he does shell out the money and try to win. He makes alot of coin, but he spends alot. Not only on salaries, but the luxury tax as well. He could trim salary and not have to pay the luxury tax and make more money, but he tries to win. In 1999 when the new Yankee Stadium opens, George will be close to 80 years old. He's not in the best of health now and it's only going to get worse. He won't be around to enjoy the new Stadium for many years, if any.

 

[txlonghorn14]

Quit whining and deal with it. I've been a Yankee fan since the late 70's and stuck with them from 82-94 when they never made the playoffs. I watched and or listened to just about every game during that period and still do, so don't tell me I've only been around since '96. You're clueless.

You can keep saying that Steinbrenner is greedy and all that, but he does shell out the money and try to win. He makes alot of coin, but he spends alot. Not only on salaries, but the luxury tax as well. He could trim salary and not have to pay the luxury tax and make more money, but he tries to win. In 1999 when the new Yankee Stadium opens, George will be close to 80 years old. He's not in the best of health now and it's only going to get worse. He won't be around to enjoy the new Stadium for many years, if any.

I'm sure you meant that when the new Stadium opens it will be 2009, but I get the point.

Yes, Steinbrenner is a miserable old ******* and is probably on the verge of kickin the can. I can't dispute the fact that he'll do anything to win, and as a sports fan I admire that. I just wish he would honor the fact that Yankee Stadium won't truly be Yankee Stadium unless they play at 161st Street and River ave in the Bronx. I know they're only moving down the street, but it'll never be the same playin in the new Stadium. (Which I will refer to as "The George" or "The House that Greed Built".) I guess this Stadium goes in line with the mentality of most New Yorkers, which is the bigger the better, and "we gotta be better than everyone else, and we gotta let everyone know by being unnecessarily obnoxious." I also believe he's doing this to be in contention with the Mets because they're gettin a new barn out in that DUMP that is Flushing-Meadows.

I thought it was absurd that he brought local kids from the south bronx to the ground breaking of the new Stadium, and said in his press conference that "this new stadium is for you people, I hope you enjoy it." Too bad those kids will probably never get to see a game in the new Stadium because the ticket prices will eventually be through the roof if not right off the bat. Nice try at "interacting with the community".

It'll be a sad day when the current Yankee Stadium turns into the groundwork for some run-down housing project.