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Yankee Stadium is the home stadium of the New York Yankees, a major league baseball team. Located at East 161st Street and River Avenue in The Bronx, New York City, it originally opened on April 18, 1923. The first night game was played on May 28, 1946. For the 1974-1975 seasons, the Yankees relocated across town to Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium underwent extensive renovations. It was reopened on April 15, 1976. In 2006, the Yankees began construction of a New Yankee Stadium, to open in 2009. Most of Yankee Stadium is expected to be demolished at that time, leaving only the underground clubhouses as part of replacement park facilities.
History and design
Yankee Stadium favors left-handed batters because of a shorter right-field fence, which was once called "Ruthville" and is now known as "the short porch", although the field has become much more symmetric over the years. In contrast, the park has been less favorable for right-handed batters. Under the original configuration, the outfield distances were 295 feet from home plate to left field, 460 ft to left center, and 490 ft to straightaway center.[1] Left-center soon came to be called "Death Valley," in reference to the high number of balls hit to that area that would have cleared the wall easily in most other parks but resulted in simple fly ball outs in Yankee Stadium. Although the fence has been moved in several times over the years to make it more hitter friendly, the park remains one of the most difficult for right-handed hitters, as evidenced by the fact that in 2005, Alex Rodriguez became the first right-handed Yankee hitter to hit 40 home runs in a season since 1937, when Joe DiMaggio belted 46. Rodríguez set a new team record for right-handed batters with 48. According to baseball historian Bill James, Joe DiMaggio lost more home runs due to his home park disadvantage than any player in history. Two lefthanders have done better than Rodríguez: Roger Maris belted 61 in 1961, and Babe Ruth hit 49 or more season homers on five occasions with a peak of 60 in 1927.[2] Switch-hitting Mickey Mantle hit 54 in 1961. The Stadium's elevation (near sea level) and other climate-related factors may also be involved.Image:DSC03402.jpg View of a night game at Yankee Stadium between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins At the time the stadium was built, there was media discussion over the short right field line (295 feet) which clearly favored left-handed power hitters such as the Yankees rising star Babe Ruth. The left field line was also short. However, the advantage was only for a true pull hitter, as the dimensions were deep almost everywhere else, and even right center, where it was 350 feet, was not out of line for that time period; nor was the right field area as generous to hitters (specifically, Ruth) as it had been at the Polo Grounds. The deep left field area also allowed easy accommodation of football. Over the next five decades, many college and professional football contests were held, prior to the 1970s renovations which rendered the Stadium primarily a baseball facility.
Often referred to as "the black," the seats behind center field are painted black and not occupied during baseball games. Known as a "batter's eye," this allows batters to track the ball as it is pitched, as the "black bleachers" section is directly in front of them. If fans were allowed to sit in this section, it would create an unfair pitcher's advantage, as it would make it virtually impossible for batters to track the ball if a substantial number of fans were wearing white shirts. Fans can run over from the right-center field bleachers to chase balls hit into the batter's eye, but this only happens a couple of times a season. Yankee Stadium is the scene of such historic events as Babe Ruth's then-record 60th home run in 1927; tearful farewell addresses by Lou Gehrig in 1939 and Babe Ruth in 1948; Don Larsen's perfect World Series game in 1956; Roger Maris's then-record 61st home run in 1961; Reggie Jackson's three home runs in a World Series game in 1977; and on-field celebrations of World Series championships. In addition, the 1939 and 1977 Major League Baseball All-Star Games were held there, as well as the second 1960 All-Star Game. Yankee Stadium was awarded the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game according to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.[3] One hypothesis is that the "Bronx cheer" was so named because of its popularity among Yankees fans. Image:Yankee stadium exterior2.JPG Yankee Stadium as seen from a neighboring parking lot Yankee Stadium was owned by Rice University from 1962 until 1971, when the City of New York acquired the property by eminent domain for $2.5 million. Rice University alumnus, John Cox ‘27, acquired all of the capital stock of the stadium holding company in 1955, donating it to his alma mater in 1962. Though the university owned the stadium itself, the Knights of Columbus owned the actual real estate underneath.[4] No one had ever been married at home plate until March 10, 2006. A longtime Jersey City resident, Ed Lucas, a blind reporter for the Mets and the Yankees, wedded his fiancee, Alison Pfeifle, in the first on-field wedding ceremony to be performed at the site. According to Yankee spokesman Ben Tuliebitz, weddings had been held in the Yankee Clubhouse and Monument Park before. One notable engagement ceremony took place in the Stadium's Monument Park on Old-Timers' Day in July 2004. Michael Munson, son of Yankee catcher and captain Thurman Munson, proposed to his girlfriend Michelle Bruey under his father's plaque. The proposal (and her acceptance) came just before the Yankees held a special ceremony honoring their former star, and recognizing the 25th anniversary of his August 1979 death. The World Series at Yankee StadiumSince its 1923 opening, 37 of 83 World Series have been played at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees winning 26. Sixteen of those World Series were clinched at Yankee Stadium:
Professional football at Yankee StadiumThe New York Giants football team played at Yankee Stadium from 1956 to 1973. They left the Polo Grounds, where they had played since their founding in 1925, and won the NFL Championship in their first season in the Stadium, defeating the Chicago Bears 47-7 on December 30, 1956. The football field at Yankee Stadium extended down the third base line. In the early years, extra bleachers were added in what would be right field. Later, the permanent bleachers were the only seating on that side of the field. It is accepted by football historians that the chant, "Dee-FENSE!" was first used at Yankee Stadium that year to describe the Giant defense, led by linebacker Sam Huff[citation needed]. Other Giant Hall-of-Famers to play for them in Yankee Stadium include quarterbacks Charley Conerly and Y.A. Tittle, running back Frank Gifford, tackle Roosevelt Brown, defensive end Andy Robustelli and safety Emlen Tunnell. During these years, the Giants were coached by Jim Lee Howell (1954-60) and Allie Sherman (1961-68). Howell's staff included offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi, who had played for Fordham University at Yankee Stadium, and defensive coordinator Tom Landry, who had been a Giant defensive back. The two men would become head coaches, and Lombardi's Green Bay Packers would face Landry's Dallas Cowboys in two NFL Championship Games in the late 1960s. In addition to the 1956 game, which they won, the Giants hosted two other NFL Championship Games at Yankee Stadium, at a time when host sites were rotated between the league's Eastern and Western Conference Champions. The Giants played the Baltimore Colts on December 28, 1958, and, in the first overtime game ever played in the NFL, lost, 23-17, in a game described by many observers as "the greatest game ever played." On December 30, 1962, the Giants lost to Lombardi's Packers, 16-7 in the championship game. Despite reaching the Championship Game six times in eight years between 1956 and 1963 (including the 1959 game in Baltimore, the 1961 game in Green Bay and the 1963 game in Chicago), the Giants only won the first of these, in 1956. It was also at Yankee Stadium that one of the NFL's "greatest hits" took place. On November 20, 1960, the Giants hosted the Philadelphia Eagles, and just after catching a pass, Gifford was hit by Eagle linebacker Chuck Bednarik, knocking him out and causing him to fumble. The fumble was recovered by the Eagles, who went on to win the game and later the NFL Championship. This was the one season between 1958 and 1963 that the Giants did not win the Eastern Division. Gifford was so badly hurt that he missed the rest of the season and all of the 1961 season. The photograph of Bednarik, pumping his fist in celebration of the recovered fumble, standing over an unconscious Gifford, is one of football's best-known pictures. By 1964, age and injuries began to catch up with the Giants, and they were largely uncompetitive for the remainder of their tenure in Yankee Stadium. Knowing the Stadium would close in the middle (for football) of the 1973 season, and that the stadium they had arranged to build in New Jersey (to be named Giants Stadium) would not open until 1976, the team secured temporary home fields for the remainder of 1973 and all of 1974 and 1975. The Stadium was also home to several football teams known as the "New York Yankees," but none of these lasted for more than a few seasons. College football at Yankee StadiumThe 1930 and 1931 Army-Navy Games were played at Yankee Stadium. Army won both of them, by scores of 6-0 and 17-7. Army played Notre Dame there 20 times from 1925 to 1946. In the 1928 game, Army led 6-0 at halftime, before Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne invoked the memory of his school's greatest football hero to that point, George Gipp, who had died in 1920. In a story he is now believed to have made up, Rockne told of meeting Gipp on his deathbed, and hearing the great player say, "Some day, when the team is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell 'em to go out there with everything they've got, and win just one for the Gipper." Notre Dame came back to win the game, 12-6. Army and Notre Dame also played at Yankee Stadium in 1946, when Army was ranked number 1 in the nation and had won the last two National Championships, and Notre Dame was ranked number 2. One of several college football games to be known as "The Game of the Century" in the days leading up to it, the game ended in a 0-0 tie, and when both teams remained undefeated at the end of the season, Notre Dame was awarded the National Championship. The two schools would play each other at Yankee Stadium only once more, in 1969, by which point Army was no longer a major football power, and Notre Dame won, 45-0. In games played against each other at Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame won 14, Army won 4, and there were 3 ties. Notre Dame played 24 games at Yankee Stadium, going 15-6-3. Army played 38, splitting them, 17-17-4. New York University played more games there than any other school, 96, using it as a secondary home field from 1923 to 1948, with a record of 52-40-4. Nearby Fordham University played 19 games there, going 13-5-1. Eight college football games were played at Yankee Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, the first seven by NYU: Beating Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1931 and 1932, beating Fordham in 1936, losing to Oregon State in 1928, losing to Carnegie Tech in 1929, and losing to Fordham in 1934 and 1935. The eighth, in 1963 between Notre Dame and Syracuse University, was won by Syracuse, 14-7. This was a rematch between the teams involved in a controversial 1961 game (officially won by Notre Dame 17-15) in which both sides claimed victory. The Gotham Bowl was scheduled to premiere at Yankee Stadium in 1960, but was cancelled when no opponent could be found for Oregon State University. The 1961 game was moved to the Polo Grounds, and when just 6,166 people came to Yankee Stadium for the 1962 game, won by the University of Nebraska over the University of Miami, 36-24, the Gotham Bowl was never played again. Starting in 1971, the Stadium hosted the Whitney M. Young Urban League Classic, a game between "historically black colleges," often featuring Grambling State University of Louisiana, coached by Eddie Robinson. The Classic helped to spread the fame of Grambling and other similar schools. The Classic was held at Shea Stadium during the 1974-75 renovation of Yankee Stadium, and was last played there in the 1987 season, the last time a football game was played there. Grambling lost to Central State University of Ohio, 37-21.[5] It has been held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands Sports Complex ever since, though the Yankees remain a supporter of the event. Soccer at Yankee StadiumThe first documented soccer game at Yankee Stadium took place on June 28, 1931, when Celtic F.C. beat the New York Yankees (the result of the merger between the Fall River Marksmen and the New York Soccer Club) of the American Soccer League 4 - 1 in front of 10, 000. On May 4, 1947, Hapoel of Tel-Aviv toured the United States and made Yankee Stadium its first stop on the tour. More than 53, 000 tickets were sold for this match which saw Hapoel beat the New York Stars 2 - 0. This match may have also been the first televised soccer match in the United States. On June 15, 1952, Manchester United were crushed by their English rivals Tottenham Hotspur 7 - 1 at Yankee Stadium. On June 8, 1953, the U.S. national soccer team lost to the England national team 6 - 3 in front of 7,271 fans. A few days later on June 14, Liverpool FC drew 1 - 1 with BSC Young Boys from Switzerland. In 1967 the United Soccer Association placed a team in Yankee Stadium called the New York Skyliners, and their opening game at the stadium drew 21, 871 fans. On June 21, [1968], S.S.C. Napoli of Italy lost to Santos Football Club of Brazil 4 - 2. Later that year on September 1, Santos tied SL Benfica of Portugal 3 - 3. Later that month on September 15, the U.S. national soccer team tied the Israel national football team 3 - 3. The New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League used Yankee Stadium for home games in 1971 and then again in 1976 where they averaged 18, 266 a game. Yankee Stadium almost hosted games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States, however FIFA eventually nixed the plan. In a letter to the editor in the New York Times dated August 2, 1993, then Vice President & Chief of Operations New York Yankees John C. Lawn stated, "Two years ago the Yankees worked diligently with the New York Sports Commission to induce World Cup soccer officials to consider Yankee Stadium for the 1994 championships. There was no other facility in New York City that met their requirements. We offered Yankee Stadium not because it was good for the Yankees, but because it was good for New York City. We failed because the selection committee said that Yankee Stadium lacked sufficient parking, sufficient luxury suites and good public transportation. How can New York City ever hope to continue fostering international recognition when institutions like Yankee Stadium are considered second rate?" The New York City regional hosting of the World Cup eventually was held by Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Other eventsMany boxing matches have been held at the Stadium, notably Joe Louis's first-round knockout of Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938. Heavyweight champions Jack Dempsey (after losing the title), Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson and Muhammad Ali all had at least one fight there. Image:Yankee stadium kids.jpg A family sitting in the pre-renovation bleachers during intermission at a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses Beginning in 1950, the stadium began holding religious conventions of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The first convention attracted 123,707 people, more in a single day than any other stadium event up to that time.[1] These conventions would continue on until the late 80's. When room ran out in the stands, the ladies were asked to remove their heels, and people were brought in to sit in the outfield. There was also a makeshift camp nearby where the program was broadcast for hundreds others to listen to. In 2005, the convention was held in Nassau Coliseum. However, Nassau scheduled a Destiny's Child concert on a day of one of the three day conventions, causing the Witnesses to need to split the schedule and clean up after the concert. After this incident, the witnesses pulled their conventions from Nassau, and planned to hold them at Yankee Stadium once again for 2006. However, they decided instead to split the conventions into smaller groups meeting at smaller indoor facilities throughout the Tri-State area. Billy Graham held large gatherings at the Stadium. On October 4, 1965, Pope Paul VI celebrated a Mass at Yankee Stadium during a visit to the United States in front of a crowd in excess of 80,000. This was the first Papal Mass ever delivered in North America. Fourteen years later, on October 2, 1979, Pope John Paul II also celebrated Mass there. The first rock concert held at the stadium was on June 22, 1990 by Billy Joel. It was also the site of two dates of U2's ZOO TV tour in 1992. During one song, Bono paid tribute to the show's setting with the line "I dreamed I saw Joe DiMaggio/Dancing with Marilyn Monroe...". Pink Floyd also performed two sold out shows at this venue on their 1994 tour in support of The Division Bell album. The Stadium was also the site of a memorial service on September 23, 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, the Stadium has been used almost exclusively for baseball since 2001, as most other concerts and events seek the more modern facilities of Madison Square Garden or Giants Stadium. NHL executives had inquired about the possibility of using the field for a Heritage Classic type event with a New York Islanders vs New York Rangers ice hockey match during the 2006-07 NHL season.[6] The NHL announced that there will not be such a game during the 2006-07 season, but planning for a possibility for 2007-08. Based on the initial rumors, such a game would likely be played on New Year's Day and serve as the kickoff for NBC's NHL coverage for that season. During the New York Rangers game telecast on September 27, 2006 against the Boston Bruins, it was noted by Rangers play-by-play broadcaster Sam Rosen that a Rangers vs. Bruins matchup was a possibility for the NHL game at Yankee Stadium. It would be a clear attempt to play up the New York and Boston rivalry that is prevalent in all American sports, not just baseball. Distinguishing characteristicsImage:MonumentPark.jpg The entrance into the monument section of Monument Park Monument ParkMonument Park is a section of Yankee Stadium which contains the Yankees' retired numbers, a collection of monuments and plaques pertaining to the New York Yankees and other events to take place at the stadium and in the city. Image:TheFacade.jpg The Facade over the wall behind the bleachers The FacadeOne of the most distinguishing characteristics of Yankee Stadium is the facade. Originally, the facade was a series of copper arches (painted white in the 1960s) that ran around the roof of the grandstand's upper deck. However, the renovation of the 1970s greatly scaled back this roof, and the facade was removed. A white replica was run along the bleacher billboards and scoreboard, where it stands to this day. In the new stadium, the facade will return to the upper deck roof. The Facade is used as an icon for Yankee Stadium, and the New York Yankees ballclub. This can be clearly seen in its major use in graphics for the YES Network. While it is called "the Facade" by fans, broadcasters, and Yankees officials, the term "facade" has nothing at all to do with it. The correct term would be "frieze", which is used very sparingly. It seems, however, that the Yankee organization is trying to shift to "The Frieze" when referring to this fixture in the new stadium, where it will be restored to its old position. Image:TheSlugger.jpg The Louisville Slugger shaped exhaust pipe The Big BatOutside the stadium's main entrance gate, stands a 138-foot tall exhaust pipe in the shape of a baseball bat, complete with tape at the handle that frays off at the end. It is sponsored by Louisville Slugger, which leads to many people referring to it as "The Louisville Slugger". Is designed to look like a Babe Ruth model. "The Big Bat" is often used as a meeting place for people who will be sitting at games together but arriving separately. Image:Yankee Stadium 1928-1936.JPG The Stadium as it looked during 1928-1936 Asymmetry inside and outsideYankee Stadium was built on a five-sided, irregular plot of land. This gave it a very distinctive asymmetrical shape. For many years, and even today after remodeling, left field and center field were and are much more difficult areas to hit home runs than right field. The designers plans to extend the right field upper tiers compelled a short right field area. As the photo at left shows, there would have been ample room for a "normal" right field if that design element had been omitted and the bleachers had been made much narrower. Bob SheppardSince 1951, Bob Sheppard has been the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. His distinctive voice (Yankee legend Reggie Jackson has called him "the Voice of God"), and the way he announces players for over half a century has made him a part of the lore of the stadium and the team. Before a player's first at-bat of the game, Sheppard announces his uniform number, his name, his position, and his number again. Example: "Number 2... Derek... Jeter... Shortstop... Number 2..." For each following at-bat, Sheppard announces just the position and name: "The shortstop, Derek Jeter." Sheppard's long-term back-up is Jim Hall. Hammond OrganThe Hammond Organ was installed at Yankee Stadium in 1967, and was primarily played by Eddie Layton from its introduction until his retirement after the 2003 season. The playing of the organ, or "tickling of the ivories", has added to the character of the stadium for many years, playing before games, introducing players, during the national anthem and the rendition of "Take me out to the ball game" during the seventh inning stretch. After Layton's retirement, he got to pick his replacements, New York Islanders organist Paul Cartier and Ed Alstrom.[7] In recent years, the use of the organ has been decreased in place of recorded music between innings and introducing players. Since the 2004 season, the national anthem has rarely been performed by the organists, opting for military recordings of the Star Spangled Banner. There have been rumors that there will not be an organ at the New Yankee Stadium, but these rumors are false. In fact, in 2005, a new Hammond Elegante was installed replacing the Hammond Colonnade which Eddie Layton played for all those years. The organ has actually been slowly increasing in use the past few years, and will be a welcome feature at the new facility.[citation needed] "God Bless America"After the September 11 terrorist attacks, all Major League Baseball stadiums started playing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch for the remainder of the 2001 season. Many teams ceased this practice the following season, although it has continued in post-season events at many cities. Five years later, the Yankees are the only team in baseball to play the song for all 81 home games. Usually, a recording of the song by Kate Smith is played, although sometimes there is a live performance by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan. For part of the 2005 season, the Yankees used a recording of Tynan, but the Kate Smith version was reinstated due to fan complaints. Other characteristicsWhile some elements of the Stadium are decidedly modern, its asymmetry, monuments in left-center field and exterior arches give fans a reminder of the Stadium during its most golden period. Even the blue YANKEE STADIUM letters over the main gate are longtime features; they're the same letters that first appeared there in white in the early 1960s. The proximity to the 4 train makes it a part of the stadium, and there is a large gap in the walls behind the right field bleachers where fans and commuters can get a peek at each other. Roll CallAfter the first pitch is thrown at the top of the first inning, the "Bleacher Creatures" in Section 39, usually led by a man nicknamed Bald Vinny (a t-shirt designer and vendor who was featured in 2005 in the YES Network's reality television show YES's Ultimate Road Trip), begin chanting the names of every player in the defensive lineup (except the pitcher and catcher, with some rare exceptions), starting with the center fielder (ie: "JOH-nee DA-mon, clap, clap, clap clap clap"). They do not stop chanting the player's name until he acknowledges the Creatures (usually with a wave or a point), who then move on to the next player. Other names called out during roll call from time to time have included Yankee broadcasters John Sterling and Michael Kay, or Aaron Boone, Bucky Dent, and Babe Ruth when the Yankees host the rival Boston Red Sox. Sometimes, after a long rain delay, the Creatures start another Roll Call for kicks. Often when a player is replaced in the field, their replacement is also welcomed with a chant. Also, after finishing going through the players, the Creatures then chant "Box Seats Suck" to the fans in the right field box seats, or sometimes the more popular "Boston Sucks", a reference to the arch-rival Red Sox. They are sometimes countered with the chant "We've Got Beer", using the same meter, mocking the fact that the bleachers are a dry section. This chant is also often caused by, or responded to with, a chant of "Alcoholics". In 1999, when David Wells, who had pitched a perfect game for the Yankees the season before, made his first appearance at the stadium since an offseason trade to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Creatures included David Wells in the roll call. When David Wells was a Yankee, he was also the only Yankee pitcher to receive a roll call every time he pitched. In Hideki Matsui's first game at Yankee stadium the chants of Matsui went on for approximately two minutes, due to the fact that Matsui didn't know what was going on and was unsure of what to do. Alfonso Soriano's name was chanted when he made his first appearance at Yankee Stadium after being traded to the Texas Rangers before the 2004 season. Former Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius is notorious for not waving to the Bleacher Creatures immediately after they chanted his name the first time, like many players on the diamond. He got such a kick out of it, that he would wait until they chanted for sometimes up to a minute for him to wave at them. In the 2006 home opener against the Kansas City Royals, the Bleacher Creatures chanted the name of Bernie Williams, who was the designated hitter that day, right after the rest of the defensive lineup. Williams, whose future in baseball was uncertain in the offseason, was in the clubhouse at the time and did not hear the Creatures. Pitcher Shawn Chacon ran to the clubhouse to retrieve Williams, but by the time they returned the chant had ended.[8] Rules at the stadiumAfter the September 11, 2001 attacks, the authorities of Yankee Stadium enforced stricter (and more controversial) rules. Some of these rules were already used for any playoff games held at the stadium. As of 2006, the following rules are enforced at Yankee Stadium:
The reason given for these strict rules is security considerations, and indeed, Major League Baseball requires that some of them be enforced at all stadiums. And most of the other New York area teams also have similarly strict security rules. Still, they have proven unpopular. Security guards frisk and wand fans upon entering the stadium. They also occasionally request odd things of fans such as showing them that the fan's cell phone works, citing that the phone might be a bomb. Some fans are skeptical as to the real motivation behind these lengthy security measures (a restriction on cans and bottles, for example, forces people to buy beverages from the concession stands). Despite their unpopularity, attempts to get rid of these rules have not been successful. The one exception of has been the water bottle situation. Although official rules list that all bottles are banned from the stadium, security has allowed plastic bottles of water and soda. However, on opening day 2006, security did not allow these bottles to enter the stadium, with mixed reasons including it being a new league policy or team policy. This stance lasted throughout the team's first homestand of the season, where many bottles littered the ground of the stadium. After many complaints by fans and media, the team changed their mind and have allowed water bottles (but not soda bottles) into the stadium for the remainder of the season. The Yankees outsource their security details to Burns Security. Additionally, they have NYPD officers throughout the stadium to maintain public safety. Also, no stadium outside New York outlaws bags. Instead, other teams' security guards check inside fans bags to search for weapons—a practice that is common at other New York City locales, including Madison Square Garden and other concert venues, museums, and libraries- although not at stadiums. Many city fans have found this restriction particularly burdensome, since many travel to games using public transportation and cannot leave personal items in their cars. However, many local businesses have profited off this, creating bag checks at their facilities for a nominal fee, a practice that the Yankees do not endorse. Critics say these new rules have less to do with safety than control. Forbidding bags, they say, has more to do with cosmetics than security. Antiterrorism and police officials have not said that Yankee Stadium is a terrorism target more than any other place in the United States. AccessYankee Stadium can be reached via the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station of the New York City Subway, along the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4) and IND Concourse Line (B D). Since the 1970s renovation, there has discussion to add a Metro-North station on the Hudson Line tracks that run behind the Stadium's south parking garage, but the Yankees have never been willing to pay for the station. In 2006, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it plans to pay for a station after the Yankees relocate to a new stadium north of 161st Street in 2009. The station will cost $45 million. The MTA said it will use money that had been earmarked to explore a subway expansion to La Guardia Airport in Queens. The MTA also has buses that run to the stadium. Lines BX 1, 6, and 13 all have stops near Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium has 15 official parking lots around the stadium for those wishing to travel by car. The main auto route to the stadium is the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87). NY Waterway runs a ferry service to Yankee Stadium from various piers in Manhattan and New Jersey. This service is called "The Yankee Clipper" and serves food and alcohol while fans enjoy New York skylines. Outfield dimensionsSince it opened, Yankee Stadium has changed its dimensions several times. This chronology is derived from a variety of sources. Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry, is a good basic reference. Baseball annuals, starting with editions in the 1920s, routinely gave dimensions of the major league ballparks. Photos are also a good source, as the Yankees were among the first to post distance markers on the outfield walls. Among the many book sources of photos are Yankee Stadium: Fifty Years of Drama, by Joseph Durso; and Yankee Stadium: 75 Years of Drama, Glamour and Glory, by Ray Robinson and Christopher Jennison.
The team's magazines indicate that there may be an area of center field as deep as 417 feet. If so, it is unmarked. Photo gallery
The New StadiumA new stadium for the Yankees is currently under construction on part of the former site of Macombs Dam Park. The new stadium's design will incorporate the design of Yankee Stadium from its original 1923 exterior as well as from the 1970s renovation. The above ground portion of the stadium will be completely demolished, with the existing clubhouses, which are underground, remaining in use for replacement park facilities.[9] Three baseball fields will be built atop the Yankee Stadium field after the Yankees' new stadium opens.[9] These new recreation facilities were designed to alleviate the loss of parkland to the Yankees' new stadium. Monument Park will be relocated in the new stadium. The $1.3 billion stadium project, which includes $450 million in public subsidies, is being constructed on 22 acres of public parkland north of the team's East 161st Street home. The public costs include acquiring land for the stadium, building parking garages (including one on the former site of John Mullaly Park, which consisted of handball courts and was already being used for parking on game days), tearing down Yankee Stadium, and tax breaks. It does not include a $45 million Metro-North station, which will be paid for entirely by the public (through money accumulated in the MTAs budget since the 1980s, specifically for this purpose). Of the stadium's remaining cost, up to 40 percent may be subsized through reduced revenue-sharing contributions. The Yankees' $200 million payroll is consistently the highest in baseball, making them the largest contributor to the league's revenue-sharing pool. It has been estimated that the Yankees will contribute one-third of their new stadium's cost. Although groundbreaking has taken place, community groups have not given up their fight to preserve their rare patch of parkland in one of the nation's poorest congressional districts. A federal lawsuit accuses the National Park Service of not exploring other options that preserve the neighborhood's parks and for not providing equivalent replacement parkland elsewhere. This negligence, the lawsuit says, violates federal laws designed to protect parkland from private business development. The Yankees' stadium and free-parkland acquisition were proposed in June 2005 without input from the community but with preapproval from pertinent legislative bodies. Consequently, it was approved within days of its announcement, forcing underfunded community groups to scramble for support. Even as fierce opposition mounted from parks and community groups, they were left with no room to maneuver to save its parkland. One year after the Yankees' new-stadium news conference, the team cleared all legislative, financial, and procedural hurdles. The Yankees expect to begin the 2009 season in their new home. This would make 2008 the final season at the Yankees' famed ballpark. On January 31, 2007 MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced that the 2008 All-Star game will be played at Yankee Stadium,[10]. References
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