The Side Line

Goodbye, Yankee Stadium.

As a Braves fan, it is difficult to not include a “good riddance”, because I shudder when I think of the heartbreak that place has caused me.

But as a baseball fan, I cannot let this monument, this pillar of the game, to go quietly and without a proper sendoff.

To speak of Yankee Stadium is to speak of greatness. Period. The Yankees have hosted 39 of the 103 World Series played, and brought 26 world championships to New York City.

Babe Ruth, the most famous baseball player of all time made his career in Yankee Stadium. Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Roger Maris were some of the biggest names for the Yankees through the first half-century of the stadium.

The team has been, for the better part of baseball history, the empire that just kept rebuilding, and Yankee Stadium has been its capital city.

Whether you love them or hate them, (and there is no middle ground here) you have to respect them, and respect the stadium as the place where legendary moments in baseball history occurred.

From the Babe’s “called shot” to Aaron “frickin’” Boone’s dramatic homer against the hated Red Sox, the House That Ruth Built has played host to some of baseball’s best.

There will be a new Yankee Stadium, sure, because how could they name it anything else? But while the $1.3 billion facility will fill the needs of a modern ballpark, it cannot capture the aura of its predecessor. Not even a little.

While I hate to see Yankee Stadium go, I have to say that the new stadium is the best move for the franchise. The team has started to lose its luster and is showing signs of mediocrity in the competitive American League. The new stadium will be much more fan-friendly and feature more modern conveniences, and would eventually be a necessity if it was not one already.

Looking at stadiums around the league, I have to wonder which great ballpark will be the next to fall? How long can Wrigley Field and Fenway Park stand up to the weight of time and corporate money?

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 26 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry