Posted on 08/16/2006 9:07:53 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Yankees officials and a score of politicians gathered Wednesday across the street from The House That Ruth Built to break ground for a new billion-dollar Yankee Stadium project.
Under a bright sun and in front of a huge rendering of the new stadium, Gov. George Pataki said fans "will be entering an icon" when they come to Yankees games starting in 2009.
Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, superfan Billy Crystal and others watched the ceremony from a small grandstand.
Yankees president Randy Levine called the project "the continuation of a great legacy." Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it would "symbolize the resurgence of the South Bronx."
The ceremony came a day after a state Supreme Court judge denied opponents a temporary restraining order that would have blocked construction. He found there was no legal bar to cutting down trees to permit a project that benefits the city and the community.
The 53,000-seat, open-air ballpark will replace one of the most famous sports arenas in the world, home to the Yankees since 1923, when it was christened with a Babe Ruth home run on opening day.
The existing stadium, though renovated in the 1970s, is the third-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, trailing only Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914).
The city and state are contributing more than $200 million to the project, including infrastructure improvements. The Yankees will pay the rest, financed through both taxable and tax-exempt bonds.
Until a dozen years ago, team owner George Steinbrenner had denigrated the neighborhood as dangerous and threatened to move the team to Manhattan or northern New Jersey. But the Yankees expect to draw more than 4 million fans to the stadium this year, making it the eighth consecutive season topping 3 million.
The new stadium will have fewer seats than the current capacity of 57,478, but more luxury boxes.
Construction of the new stadium will involve paving over large portions of nearby Macombs Dam Park and Mullaly Park, and cutting down about 400 mature oak trees. The Yankees are to offset the loss of the parks by building new parkland including three ballfields at the site of the current Yankee Stadium.
Bloomberg and most of the city's elected officials are solidly behind the new stadium. Backers say the project will create an estimated 3,600 construction jobs and 900 permanent jobs.
But the plan met with opposition from some South Bronx neighbors and from parks advocates.
Geoffrey Croft, president of New York City Parks Advocates, said the stadium foes would appeal Tuesday's ruling and file a federal lawsuit.
"The Yankees were never required to consider practical alternatives to the taking of park land," Croft said.
On the Net: New York Yankees: http://www.yankees.mlb.com
A resurgence in symbol only; the Bronx died in the mid-60s.
My Dad took me to a Red Sox game at the Stadium about 40 years ago.I couldn't understand why everyone around me was giving me dirty looks when I rooted for the Sox ;-)
Hate to see these old ballparks disappear!
This is assinine. Keep the old stadium.
Correction - 1958 was groundbreaking for Candlestick, it opened in 1960.
Wrigley's still in relatively good shape; it'll be the last one standing.
What's amazing is that Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest ballpark in MLB after Ruth's House is gone. Still the nicest park in the nation, imo.
Your reception for cheering for the Sox doesn't surprise me, lol! I was subjected to a small amount of derision in 1962-1963, when my Dad took us to games at the old Colt Stadium in Houston. Got to see the Milwaukee Braves w/ Warren Spahn, and the Cardinals w/ Stan Musial. I still have the Braves & Cardinals pennants I bought at those games. People did make a few comments, but I figured I'd always be able to get a Colt 45's pennant. I was wrong! ;>(
Tell us how you really feel, PzLdr! I ache at the thought of Yankee Stadium's demise.
Fenway went wild! It's one of my fondest memories of my Dad.
What's amazing is that Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest ballpark in MLB after Ruth's House is gone. Still the nicest park in the nation, imo.
Dodger Stadium seats, otoh, are wide and padded. ....a pleasure. And a fan can listen to the best in the business call the game: Vin Scully.
In the late 60s and early 70s I drove ambulances around the area from northern Westchester down to north Jersey and across from the Connecticut shore to the Poconos, mostly in Westchester and down into the Bronx. At the time a big section of the Bronx was known as "Fort Apache." The name fit.
I was covering for a friend on an ambulance based out of Yonkers and we took a call for a pick up at a brownstone in the Bronx. We got to the address, parked the rig (a modular on a truck chassis) in front of the building and started to get our stuff out of the back. There was this loud crash and we looked around to see the cab of the truck crushed under a huge cast iron sink. The call was a fake and some folks had hauled this thing that weighed several hundred pounds up on the roof and, when we got there, they'd thrown it off. I don't know if they intended to let us get out of the cab before they threw it or not.
That's the only ambulance company I ever rode for that kept a shotgun under the drivers seat of the rig.
I moved away from there in the late 70s, but was back in the area (central New Jersey) for three years in the late 80s. I never went into the Bronx for any reason while we were there that time, but I was under the impression that it had "gentrified" and come back some. Is that not the case?
The things I miss from NY are the restaurants, particularly the good Italian ones, the little markets scattered around, including the easy access to all sorts of great ethnic stuff, the festivals, particularly San Genero, and just the general access to more variety of everything. Memphis has NY knocked for barbecue, the ease of getting around (if you have a car) and as a much safer place to raise my kids.
It's a mixed bag.
'nuther article w/ more info here - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1685032/posts
The ivy on the wall, the folks sitting on the roofs across Grace(??) Street beyond left field, and the brick wall behind the plate - I couldn't BELIEVE how close it was to home plate!
I felt like I was 8 years old again, I was that excited to be at Wrigley Field.
I did that as well. I'm glad I went to Wrigley; it's still a gem.
How are those Sox doing this weekend in "Fenway Pak" against the Yankees? Wonder how much you're enjoying that series.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
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