Posted on 04/02/2008 7:45:56 AM PDT by Aristotelian
This week marks the beginning of the end of a significant chapter in American sports history: the 83rd and final opening day at New York's Yankee Stadium. Slated for Monday, the baseball gods, almost as if seeking to delay the onset of its final season, rained down on the storied ballpark and the game was postponed. This was fitting. Although it is not the oldest, it is certainly the most historic sports venue in the United States.
It was home to 30 championship boxing matches, the most famous of which took place in June of 1938 when America's Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, faced off in a rematch with Germany’s Max Schmeling, who, although a favorite of Adolf Hitler, was unfairly touted as a Nazi.
Louis, the Heavyweight champion, had vowed to avenge the knockout defeat he had suffered only two years before at the hands of Schmeling, and did so. He dispatched his opponent in only 124 seconds, dealing Hitler and his Master Race a stinging blow.
The Stadium also saw its share of gridiron action. In addition to being the home field for the football Giants for nearly two decades, in 1958 it hosted what many still call "The Greatest Game Ever Played"; the NFL championship between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts. It was the first NFL game to go into sudden-death overtime, and many still remember Alan Ameche's one-yard plunge that gained victory for the Colts.
Perhaps the most famous football game played at the Big Ballyard was between two college teams. It was in the Yankee Stadium lockeroom that Knute Rockne gave his famous "win one for the Gipper" speech at halftime during the 1928 Army vs. Notre Dame game. Of course, the Irish went on to upset the powerful Cadets
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
It’s appalling what little sense of history Americans really have and how uninterested they are in preserving historical relics and sites.
That’s a valid point, but I’d make the case that Yankee Stadium in its current configuration is not much more “historic” than a fast-food joint on a major highway. The stadium underwant a major renovation in the early 1970s that changed its original character dramatically.
Yes it is indeed.
Time to dig out Sinatra’s “There Used To Be A Ballpark”.
That was when they removed the lattice work. It was actually made of copper and painted white in the 1960's.
I recently read where it is going to be used in the new stadium. If so, I wonder where they have been keeping it?
or maybe "They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Piece of Crap Across the Street"
Left-center was reduced to 430 feet in the "new" stadium in 1976 when the monuments were moved beyond the left center-field fence, then reduced to around 400 feet in the last couple of decades as the Yankees tried to accommodate right-handed power hitters (Dave Winfield, Cecil Fielder, Alex Rodriguez, etc.).
I'm sorry to say this, but this version of yankee stadium lacks the history it did before the renovations in the early 70's.
Yogi Berra whenever he is asked about what it was like playing in this park, his answer is he never did. He doesn't recognise this place as the place he played, and many many folks don't either.
The last time Yankee stadium adjusted its fences was before the '88 season (for jack clark no less, lol).
They haven't moved left center or the left field fences or made any other adjustments to the dimensions since then..
Dizzy Dean used to say that the original Yankee Stadium left-center field was a $5 cab ride from home plate.
Yankee Stadium used to be "home field advantage" for left handed hitters (Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Maris, Berra) and Fenway was "home field advantage" for right handed hitters(Foxx, Jensen).
Makes one wonder what Joltin' Joe would have done had he played in Fenway.
I knew they moved the left center-field fence in to about 410 feet in the mid-1980s. I thought they moved it to 399 within the last 15 years or so when they started allowing the public into the monument area before games.
When dey left Brooklyn dey wuz da Bums. Say what you will about New York boorishness (and I do frequently) that sort of sobriquet didn’t follow them to plastic LA, and it’s too bad. Da Bums had hawt. ;-)
I’ve always felt that preserving a historic landmark like Yankee Stadium was pretty pointless when you consider how much the entire South Bronx had decayed in the decades from the 1920s to the 1970s. What’s the point of preserving “historical places” in a Third World dump?
A more appropriate name for any Los Angeles sports franchise would be the L.A. Galaliens.
(Kudos to the forgotten Freeper who came up with that one a couple of years ago. LOL.)
It’s appalling what little sense of REALITY Yankee fans really have and how they don’t understand that nobody outside of New York really cares. Yankee Stadium lost it’s luster back when the entire city started going to hell 40 some odd years ago.
Who cares about preserving a bundle of bricks and steel in a seedy neighborhood where you wouldn’t dare venture without an armed escort? Be thankful for the small things, if it hadn’t been for the N.Y. Giants, you’d be watching your Yankees in New Jersey next year.
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