Save Yankee Stadium?
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- August
- 25
Can Yankee Stadium be saved? This e-mail from a reader who thinks so:
The Stadium is a national treasure, part of our country’s history and our heritage as New Yorkers. It should be a landmark; especially when it is still more than capable of benefiting the community economically. Yankee Stadium could be a museum, a shopping mall, a recreational sports complex or maybe all of the above. They could bring a branch of the Hall of Fame there. The Stadium could create jobs and revenue while allowing us to preserve a piece of our history for future generations.
I’ve started a web site called SaveYankeeStadium.org to help gather support for the Stadium and have asked visitors to sign a petition. My only goal is to support the Stadium and keep it standing so that one day my kids can see it.
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on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Someone has way too much time on their hands.
Personally, I think we might need some park land/open space so some of the city denizens might have an outdoor rec area instead of another land-absorbing stadium.
If I remember correctly, many of the folks that live in the neighborhood of the stadium were very upset about the new stadium being built on top of some of their scarce, cherished open space (McCombs Dam Park), and the idea was that this amount of open space would be restored by tearing down the old stadium. I agree it would be nice for those of us who don’t live there to still be able to visit the old stadium, but it doesn’t seem too fair to the locals.
no way, they need to provide the parkland they promised. tear the old stadium down.
I’m confused. Do they want to save the playing field or the actual structure with all the seats?
Take a picture, it’ll last longer.
I got an idea, on the new stadium lets build a Big Blue Moster about 10 feet from home plate in left field and call it a ballpark.
what everyone else said…..alot of the lovely land they had was trashed by the new stadium. I remember people playing soccer out there etc. They have nothing right now. They deserve their recreational land back. As treasured as Yankee Stadium is, its not the same stadium that was there when Yogi, Ruth etc played…..of course it has its history…but doesnt everything? The new stadium needs its very own stage and spotlight.
There’s something cool about having two Yankee stadiums juxtaopposed. But I can understand the locals wanting a park there.
Maybe a compromise is to wait a few years to demolish the old one? Or the new one?
wow, this a tough crowd.
Park land for kids is more important than an empty building. THe new stadium will act as a museum for the old one as well. Mr. Steinbrenner….tear down that stadium!
Russell ur on a roll, lol
The new YS looks great. Expensive but great. The club house and dugout is huge though.
How about this: we raise out leftfield wall about 69 inches, paint it with pinstripes, and put an advertisement for Ben-Gay right in the center, because it rhymes with Fenway.
You folks all DO realize you can have both?
It’s perfectly possible to have the parkland INSIDE the stadium.
What would be wrong with that? It’s win win.
The old staduim ceased to exist in the 70’s. This stadium is the renovated version. The “True” Yankee stadium is merely steel beams & girders underneath, some of which have come through the ceiling in recent years. It’s really about the atmosphere of the place. The new stadium will have it’s own atmosphere, and hopefully it’s winning.
Wasn’t part of the deal to make the new stadium in the field next door, then take down the old stadium to replace the field?
Feelings for the old place aside, it would be terrible to have (or live in) a neighborhood like that with TWO full size stadium structures.
“It’s perfectly possible to have the parkland INSIDE the stadium. ”
It’s not enough parkland. lol
Why couldn’t they play on the field? Isn’t that park – like land? Tear down a portion along the outfield. Its called compromise.
Prediction: Yankees are WS Champs from 2009-2069. MLB ceases to exist after recognizing they can’t come up with a rule to stop the Yankees from winning.
I thought they already had plans in the works for what to do with the stadium. And it’s technically owned by the city. Not sure how much convincing one can do for the city.
I might agree if the stadium wasn’t remuddled in the 70’s.
I tried something like this back in March and there was virtually no interest.
Save Yankee Stadium? What is guy getting his news from Joe girardi?
Girardi: ” Yankee stadium is fine. We expect to be playing there for the foreseeable future.”
I know it’s tired but I couldn’t help it. The off days kill me.
But seriously, this guy seems a few years late even if all he wants is to preserve the structure. It would be interesting if they could somehow preserve the “footprint” of the playing field though.
All they need to do is find a rare species that lives in Yankee Stadium so they can have it declared a natural habitat. I’ve heard stories about Huge Rats – maybe that is a place to start
Um, hello? Rare Yankee Stadium Squirrel habitat anyone?
(TKinDC, I think the huge rats live in Fenway)
(in fact, the Huge Rat King is said to play second base there)
If Yankee Stadium had not been renovated and completely changed in 1974qnd ‘75, then I could have been on the National Historical Site list. Not sure it can be saved under that statute now. Wrigley Field could be saved, but, Fenway has been changed drastically.
Here in a town outside of Savannah, Georgia, there is what most considered a historical site, that was a POW camp for German POWs during WWII. The VFW purchased the site from the city to preserve it, and place it on the Historical Register. They wanted to renovate the place, and were told that if the building was changed from it’s orgional basic construction, it couldn’t be placed as an historical site. They could remodel the inside…just not change the basic strucure. Fenwat Park may fall under this same situation.
“All they need to do is find a rare species that lives in Yankee Stadium”
How about “clutchhitterus offensivus” It used to thrive on that parcel of land but has been driven to extinction over the last 5 months.
“How about “clutchhitterus offensivus—
Now THAT is funny
for me, give the Bronx the parkland.
i could care less about the actual structure… what i could see, though, is perhaps markers in the parland which outline the playing field dimensions, where the bases were, etc.
how about erecting small statues of baseball players in the traditional area where the players would have lined up to starty the game…
or plant trees to “take the field” in the positions of where the players traditionally stand?
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/25/the-boss-bon-jovi-headed-for-obamas-acceptance/
looks like Pete needs to get himself out to Denver for Thursday if he wants to catch Springstein play next.
Nick, you are the savior the squirrels have been waiting for.
Springsteen*
Turn Two -
I LOVE your idea about the markers/statues in the parkland! You need to get this suggestion to someone who can do something with it.
Given the neighborhood, I bet the new park would just become a drug hangout. Why not keep the stadium to give the poor buggers some shelter?
What are the intending the park be used for? If its open area, then they won’t want to have statues and trees blocking the way for sports to be played on it.
I think Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, when it was demolished, they left a small portion of the wall. Anyone know if this is true?
Perhaps something like that. Or leave homeplate.
As cool as it would be to keep the old stadium as a landmark, etc. I don’t live in the Bronx, but I’ve heard how much they want that parkland. What would be nice is to put a bronzed monument of homeplate where the plate at the current Yankee Stadium is. That would be nice, I think.
I think we should at least wait to tear the OLD stadium down until the Ghosts have packed their bags and all moved accross the street. Make sure they get the memo.
mel,
Congrats on Hawaii. I saw the highlights. Is the name misspelled or is that the league their from?
They should keep the field and the dugouts, how cool would that be?
Heres another idea. Move Scranton to Yankee stadium so when we need a call up. They could just cross the street. Saves alot of money on buss fair for Britton.
Many years ago, I thought a real baseball hall of fame ought to be built in Hoboken. It was, after all, the real site of the first baseball game, at Elysian Fields. At the time, there was enough memorabilia in storage at Cooperstown and at the Smithsonian to fill up many museums with nothing but baseball stuff, and the Barry Halper collection was still owned by Barry Halper. Put it all together and there would be a whopper Hall of Fame….
I think Farnsy killed and stuffed all of Nick’s squirrels (the untold story of why he was traded)
I believe it has to be used for ballfields as that was what was on the space that is being used for the new stadium.
actually the area being taken over looked a lot bigger than the one being left behind.
The homeplate ideas are cool. I’d be down for taking a few hacks as I’m sure many others would.
Moose a Hall of Famer?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3550167
From mlbtraderumors.com
“An executive who knows C.C. Sabathia well told Heyman the pitcher’s first choice in free agency is the Giants. It’s not a great fit, as starting pitching is the Giants’ strength and Sabathia would add another $100MM+ contract to their rotation. The Yankees are considered the offseason frontrunners for Sabathia, though former teammate Casey Blake sees C.C. in Dodger blue.”
I am not too nervous about this b/c CC needs to find someone to bid on him besides us – should be interesting to see this play out. We NEED you CC!
If the stadium was going to be saved and used for anything, converting the field into 2 or 3 Little League fields would be the best solution. Is there a better way to honor the great players that made their way through the “Cathedral”? The building could be renovated/restored and made into a paying museum for NY baseball and all things related to the history of NY.
Desperate Yankees run into the nervious Red Sox for a Bronx showdown: Story Link
Keep the playing field as part of the park. Let everyone stand where Babe, Joe, Whitey, Lou, etc. etc. etc. stood.
As for the concrete and steel? Meh. Much better to have parkland where kids can run around, play ball and maybe grow up to be Yankees.
I hear the Red Sox have some $50 odd million coming off their books. It’d be silly to count them out of the CC sweepstakes.
“I am not too nervous about this b/c CC needs to find someone to bid on him besides us – should be interesting to see this play out. We NEED you CC!”
Dodgers will be in it. Lot of money comng off the books out there. Depending on how bad the Beckett injury is, there’s another team who may get in.
There are very few top of the line left handed pitchers lining up to pitcher half of their seasons in fenway.
Could the Mets be in the race? They have Pedro and Delgado(i believe)comming off the books as well.
“I hear the Red Sox have some $50 odd million coming off their books. It’d be silly to count them out of the CC sweepstakes.”
I’d guess that includes Ramirez’s $20M. You’d have to put $7.5M back in for Bay. Schilling’s gone. Timlin. Vatitek. Wakefield.
Not sure that’s $50M, but it may be close. Some holes to fill there though.
Would they demolish Wrigley Field?? Would they raze Fenway Park?? I think not…
As we get closer to the day of reckoning, I’m having a harder time accepting this whole thing. Money and commerce trumps history and nostalgia. This is all very sad…
Yankee Stadium is the only true cathedral of baseball.
I think the RS will make some noise about CC, but I really don’t see them going for as many years he will want. It all depends on Beckett’s true health.
The Tigers will probably go after him too, they definitely need another starting pitcher if they think they can contend soon.
Sunny 615…I linked that article in another comment section. I think its poorly written and Cafardo tries to make his opinions come off as facts. Plus he needs to learn to get over manny.
“Would they demolish Wrigley Field?? Would they raze Fenway Park?? I think not…”
With the value of land today, I’d guess they’d absolutely raze those parks.
After the Rays’ B.J. Upton was benched last week for not hustling, Monday he cruised out of the box when he thought he had a home run, then loafed into second to settle for an apparent double. Except that the Angels’ Mark Teixeira, trailing the play, tagged him before he got to the bag. Great play by Tex. Awful by B.J.
Sunday night, the Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez loped over to a ball hit to him in left field in extra innings, instead of charging it, then flipped it casually into second base instead of firing it in. The Phillies Shane Victorino beat out the throw, and the Phils won a few batters later.
Jennifer:
I believe that netted young BJ yet another benching.
“I LOVE your idea about the markers/statues in the parkland! You need to get this suggestion to someone who can do something with it.”
thanks, Doreen. i cant imagine what i have to suggest would make waves anywhere, but its nice to think the idea is accepted by at least one person
sunny, thanks for linking to the Moose-HOF article. It’s pretty good, except for its digression away from Moose at the end.
ooops never mind Sunny, got tricked by the desperate Yanks title which they both used.
Dodgers are our biggest competitor for CC because of the fact that CC really wants to go there and would probably be willing to take a discount to go there.
So basically we have to blow away LAD’s offer in order for him to consider us. Once we get past that, then we can start worrying about darkhorse teams like Detroit and Texas that might be willing to get into the bidding war with us.
Giants are not a threat in the CC sweepstakes. They already have a terrific young core with Lincecum-Cain-Sanchez, plus high ceiling arms in the minors like Bumgarner, Alderson, and Sosa who are all studs. Zito is in their rotation for a long time too. Where is the fit for CC? This team is old as dirt with no position players or offense. Molina is their cleanup hitter.
“Would they demolish Wrigley Field?? Would they raze Fenway Park??”
Wringley Field-If they still havnt won a championship. Hell yeah!!
Fenway-I cant see them tearing it down. Where would Boston fans go to take a tinkle? That piss hole stays.
Lets pretend it can be and schedule Pavano to pitch on demolition day.
All I know is that the organization will look so bad if CC rejects us after we passed on Santana last year. Then we’re really screwed. What do we about next year’s pitching? We’ve put all of our eggs in the CC basket. Kind of curious for a guy who seemingly doesn’t even want to come here.
Sheets, Brunett, and Perez are not adequate consolation prizes. Sheets is an NL pitcher who is injury prone. Brunett is a headcase who is injury prone. Perez is an NL pitcher who is a headcase. All of them are major risks.
Keep Yankee Stadium. It has a ton of history in it, next to Wrigley Field imo. Home to Reggie’s 3-HR game. Home to the stardom of Jeffery Maier. Where Jeter’s clutch hits happen. Where Byung-Hyun Kim is remembered. Where Little left Pedro in too long. Where Aaron Boone made his name in history. Home to Munson, Murcer, Bernie. Where Derek Jeter dove into the stands. Where Wells and Cone were perfect. Where Boggs won a title. The list goes on.
And by the way, Neyer made a lot of points in that Mussina article. He is the definition of borderline Hall of Famer.
green beret: checked your posts today (re: media etc)
preach it, brother.
Oh, and why not go for Yu Darvish either? Sure the success rate of Japanese pitchers to the majors isn’t high, but Darvish has a 92 mph cutter/slider (?) with a ton of movement. He’s only 22 and has a WHIP under 1.00 and an era under 2.00 and about a 9.0 k/9 rate in the past 2 seasons.
And CC is not a major risk? A guy who’s already thrown 200 innings and is on track for a career high in IPs; who’s looking for a 6-7-? year contract at >$100M – that doesn’t have come with risks? (I thought that insurance was only available for three years of a contract – after that, the club is on the hook for the salary if the player is injured. If true, that tells me that the risk is significant.)
Any professional athlete, especially one with miles on his arm and looking for multi-year deal, has a risk.
“If Yankee Stadium had not been renovated and completely changed in 1974qnd ‘75, then I could have been on the National Historical Site list. Not sure it can be saved under that statute now. Wrigley Field could be saved, but, Fenway has been changed drastically.”
Green Beret,
Very informative. I always wondered why it couldn’t be a Historical site.
LLIME, who is this Brunett that you speak of? I’ve heard of a pitcher named George Brunet, who pitched for Washington, Baltimore, Milwaukee, the Angels and others…but, he died years ago. You seem to be a specialist in headcases. Do you have experience in this area….personal experience, perhaps?
Manny 20 mil
Schilling 8 mil
Varitek 10 mil
Cora 2 mil
Colon 1.25 mil
Casey 800 k
that’s about $42 mil there… – Guess I overstated a little. But still, that’s a good chunk of CC money.
Vinny, I’m not much od a preacher. I just have no use for the media or most of those working it the field. I put them on the same cedibility level as politicans and lawyers….the lowest wrung of human evolution. I put prostitutes and pimps on a higher level. If I upset anybody in those fields, oh, well.
No prob o’neil
clay, I may be wrong on the exact laws governing the historical sites laws, but, that’s close. Back in 1947, when The White House was restored, the building was dismantled completely and each brick was numbered to rebuild the structure back as it was. I believe that a wing was added, but, the main structure was identical. The reason for dismantling was to replace the brick mortar and all infrastructure. Had they done that when remodeling Yankee Stadium in 1974-75, there wouldn’t be this issue, now. The playing field could still have been altered.
I’m sure some people will try to steal home plate, but they should still leave it there in the ground.
“I just have no use for the media or most of those working it the field. I put them on the same cedibility level as politicans and lawyers….the lowest wrung of human evolution. I put prostitutes and pimps on a higher level. If I upset anybody in those fields, oh, well.”
The media can be annoying at times, but you have to admit that they do serve an important and necessary purpose, right?
a shopping mall?
wtf, we are talking about a stadium with history and you have ideas about turning it into a shopping mall?! I’m okay with the other ideas but that made me get goosebumps.
Clay, the only purpose that the media serves is that it has places like this that gives people like me to tell them what I think of them, and, it gives me a chance to talk with some people with a decent knowledge of baseball. Sadly, with that comes the whiners, idiots and infantile trolls.
maybe john varvatos can turn the old yankee stadium into a store ala cbgbs
i can understand the value of leaving old yankee stadium up but the city and the yankees promised to replace the parkland that was taken and they are already reneging on that. they wanted a new stadium, they got it and so the old one has to go. it’s a pity but why screw the people who live there?
I wish they’d save the stadium. Hell, I wish they had chosen to remodel the current one again, instead of building a brand-new one. The old stadium might not be perfect, and people may say that it’s not the same anymore after the first remodelling, but now when my kids go to see the Yankees play (for their first time), I won’t be able to point down there and say, “That’s where Babe Ruth changed the game. That’s where Lou Gehrig gave his speech. And that’s the spot where Mickey Mantle dinged a homer off the facade.”
MOS, that would have been the advantage of ny dismantling the old Stadium in 1974-75, brick by brick and numbering the pricks and rebuilding it using the same bricks and replacing the steel structures and infrastructure. You have the same park as before, only safer and newer ammenities.
LMAO ***sorry about that typo…that was supposed to be numbering bricks. There are too many of the others on this board to number.***
Yeah, I get the problem with naming it a national landmark now. My problem is that Yankee Stadium should never have been replaced to begin with.
(Also, “pricks”? That’s pretty funny.)
Spend taxpayer money to maintain an old stadium or spend taxpayer money to maintain a new multi-use park? Even borough politicians can get this one right.
Pittsburgh did keep part of a wall from Forbes Field. I would say to keep just the lower level of seats, from dugout to dugout. Get rid of the rest for parkland. Leave 5,000 seats and it can even be use for small summer concerts or city championships games for high school baseball. You can fit other little league fields in the other parts. Remember you can get closer to the street because you don’t need such wide sidewalks.
If the site of the current stadium becomes park land, in this age of GPS have the exact location of home plate measured and place a bronze (or whatever) replica permanently in the exact GPS location of the old one. In this way, at least, people can stand at the replica plate and say “this is where the Babe stood” or “Here’s where Mantle swung from” and let their imaginations do the rest.
I’m glad someone made something like this.
I thought about doing something simliar, but never got the chance to do so.
I’d rather they built some low-income housing on the site.
At the Yankees’ expense, that is.
The Houses that Ruth Built, they could call it.
no, tear it down, take a dump on it, pave it and throw up a methadone clinic. God forbid someone comes up with a creative way to merge parkland with the world’s most famous baseball park.
The new Stadium is where it is because the Yankees and the City of New York did a swap of a park for the new stadium location. I don’t know how many of you geniuses have ever really been to the Bronx and to Yankees Stadium but your mean-spirited “suggestions” are completely uncalled for. The Yankee Stadium neighborhood is just that. People actually live there. There is valuable open space that has always been used for athletic activities. There was a genuine compromise that allowed this magnificent new Yankee Stadium to built. Not only is there going to be a new park area where the old stadium is now, but the “footprint” of the stadium replete with the baseball diamond and the foul lines will remain. The people who live there need to be able to live a real life as much as anyone else.
Some buildings merit landmark status. This stadium is not one of them. The memories are great, but the stadium is not. It’s important to distinguish between the two.
Anyone that knows the first thing about landmark criteria, knows that Yankee Stadium is worthy of landmark status. It is the greatest arena since the Roman Coliseum. Greed, ego, and corruption, are the real reasons the Stadium has not been landmarked. The Bronx just nationally landmarked an affordable housing complex, because it had ONE party in 1975, that had early hip-hop-type music. I kid you not: Google it up (”Bronx Hip Hop Preservation Pete Shaver”.)
Does anybody really believe Yankee Stadium is less historically and architecturally significant than a totally non-descript affordable housing comlex that had early hip- hop-type music? Nah. It’s all about destroying the Stadium and legends – first and foremost Ruth – that Steinbrenner could never surpass. … Oh yeah, and they can sell this so-called “non-historical” Stadium, piece-by-piece, in the largest plundering since the British found King Tut.
When Bloomberg and the Yankees announced their plans for the new Stadium, they specifically said the old one would be saved, with the interio dedicated to recreation for the local community. They deliberately misled the public. In actuality, they’re both sharing BIGTIME in ripping off and selling this National Treasure to collectors and auction houses all over the world.
Of course, the Stadium is a national landmark, no matter how hard the City tries to claim it’s not. How many World Series have been played at the Hip Hop landmark? How many times did Pele, Mandela, and the last three Popes,visit there? Anyone with a brain knows Yankee Stadium is a national landmark – despite the greed and corruption blocking that official designation.
Let’s kids from the neighborhood, and all around the world, play in the same stadium that eveyone from Ruth to A-Rd have. It’s the greatest treasure the Bronx has ever witnessed. Don’t rob them of it. Let them play inside it’s walls. And let the Hall of Fame open up a satellite museum there. It will make an absolute fortune for the community -as it always has – a fortune they’ll desperately need, if they want to see any games in the new stadium – The Stadium That Ruthless Built – aka Hankee Stadium..