Yankee Stadium – A Contrarian View

With last Sunday being the last game in Yankee Stadium, there has been all kinds of talk about the history of the place. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Joe DiMaggio. Don Larson’s no-hitter. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. And more recently, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Joe Torre and Mariano Rivera.

The only trouble with that story is it is only half true. The Yankee Stadium that hosted its last game on Sunday did see Reggie and Jeter, Torre and Rivera. But those other guys; they never played in the Yankee Stadium that is being torn down after this season.

In 1974-75 the Yankees played their home games in Shea Stadium so Yankee Stadium could be renovated. But it wasn’t just fixed up. Just about everything except the outside walls was torn out, and they basically built a whole new park inside the old walls. They sort of kept the basic shape of the field, but they even changed that some. And the seating areas were totally new.

Which brings me to my one and only visit to Yankee Stadium. It was in August of 1993. But first a little background. From 1991 through 1993 our kids played tee-ball and softball in Oak Park, and each year they had an "Oak Park Youth Baseball Night" at Comiskey Park. And so we went (which shows the kind of things children can make you do). This was the brand new Comiskey Park. The Comiskey Park with an upper deck that went up so high and so steep that you were almost expecting Sir Edmund Hillary to be your ticket taker.

Well, when we walked into Yankee Stadium that day back in August of 1993, my first thought was not Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. It was: This is just like Comiskey Park. What’s the big deal? The outside walls may be old, but otherwise it’s Comiskey Park.

And that’s why I think the whole history thing about the Yankee Stadium they are tearing down, as opposed to the one that Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle played in, is mostly just another case of New York hype.

Comments

[bob markus]

Pat, I don't know if this will get to you. I tried after you were kind enough to comment on my blog a month or so ago. Unfortunately, I am pretty computer illiterate. Anyway, you had asked a couple of questions, one about Dave Kingman being on the alltime jerk list, the other about the 1973 Cubs being the biggest disappointment. Answer to No.1. Kingman was miserable to deal with for most writers. The only time I had any dealings with him he was fine. No.2: I remember the '73 disappointment, but don't think it was any worse than '69. I prob ably would have voted for 1984, given how the Cubs manhandled the Padres in the two games at Wrigley and needed only one win in three tries to reach the World Series. Of course, the same could be said for the 2003 team, which also lost three in a row. All of them pale, however, compared with the recent debacle, which has finally cured me of caring one way or the other. Losing is one thing, but not even competing is something entirely different. Anyhow, I marvel at your productivity and the breadth of your interests. Regards, Bob Markus