Encyclopedia
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. For the 1974-1975 seasons, the Yankees relocated across town to
Shea Stadium while the Stadium underwent extensive renovations . It was reopened on April 15, 1976. The first night game was played on May 28, 1946. It is expected to close in 2008, with a
New Yankee Stadium to open in 2009.
History and design
Yankee Stadium is often referred to as "The House that
Ruth Built", but it is usually referred to as "The Stadium". It was the first baseball park to be labeled a "Stadium" rather than a "Field," a "Park," or a "Grounds," and it conformed to the usage of the term in ancient
Greece, where a stadium was a foot-race arena. Yankee Stadium's field was initially surrounded by a quarter-mile running track, which effectively also served as an early "
warning track" for fielders, a feature now standard in all major league ballparks.
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.
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 . Switch-hitting
Mickey Mantle hit 54 in 1961. The Stadium's elevation and other climate-related factors may also be involved.
At the time the stadium was built, there was media discussion over the short right field line 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 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.
A depiction of the atmosphere of the pre-renovation stadium can be seen in the latter scenes of the 1959 Mervyn LeRoy film The FBI Story, which starred James Stewart. In these scenes, FBI agents tracked a suspected
Soviet espionage courier. These scenes show the arrival of an elevated train at the station near the right field bleachers, football action and crowd scenes and reaction during a New York Giants game, groups of people waiting at a concession stand, and scenes outside the main stadium concourse.
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-centerfield 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.
One hypothesis is that the "Bronx cheer" was so named because of its popularity among Yankees fans.
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.
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 the late Yankee catcher and captain
Thurman Munson, proposed to his girlfriend Michelle Bruey under his father's plaque. The proposal 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 Stadium
Since its 1923 opening, 37 of 82 World Series have been played at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees winning 26.
Sixteen of those World Series were clinched at Yankee Stadium:
The
St. Louis Cardinals are a Major League Baseball [i] team based in St. Louis, Missouri [i]. ...
, in 1926 and 1942
Professional football at Yankee Stadium
The 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. 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. 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 and Allie Sherman . 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 Division 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. Despite reaching the Championship Game six times in eight years between 1956 and 1963 , 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 of the 1973 season, and that the stadium they had arranged to build in
New Jersey 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 Stadium
The 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 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 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.
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 Stadium
The first documented
soccer game at Yankee Stadium took place on June 28, 1931, when
Glasgow Celtic beat the New York Yankees 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 rival
Tottenham Hotspurs 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 events
Many 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 ,
Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson and
Muhammad Ali all had at least one fight there.
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. 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 Collesium. 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.
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. 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.
Distinguishing Characteristics
Monument Park
Monument 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.
The "Facade"
One of the most distinguishing characteristics of Yankee Stadium is the facade. Originally, the facade was a series of copper arches that ran around the roof of the grandstand's upper deck. However, the renovation of the 1970's 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 with it. The correct term would be "
frieze", which is used very sparingly.
The Big Bat
Outside 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 reffering 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.
Asymmetry inside and outside
Yankee 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 was ample room for a "normal" right field
if that design element had been omitted and
if the bleachers had been made much narrower.
Bob Sheppard
Since 1951,
Bob Sheppard has been the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. His distinct voice, and the way he announces players by their number, name and number again for over half a century has made him a part of the lore of the stadium and the team.
Hammond Organ
The
Hammond Organ was installed at Yankee Stadium in 1967, and was primarily played by the late
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. 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 not been performed by the organists, opting for recording of the Star Spangled Banner. The decrease in organ use has led to rumors that there will not be an organ at the New Yankee Stadium.
Other Characteristics
While 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 Call
After 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 , begin chanting the names of every player in the defensive lineup , starting with the center fielder . They do not stop chanting the player's name until he acknowledges the Creatures , 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.
Former Yankee 3rd baseman Scott Brosius is notorious for not waving to the Bleacher Creatures immedietly 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 dugout at the time and took a curtain call.
Rules at the stadium
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the authorities of Yankee Stadium enforced stricter 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:
- No video cameras
- No backpacks
- No briefcases
- No large bags
- No coolers
- No glass or plastic bottles or cans
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 . 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 into the stadium for the remainder of the season.
The Yankees outsource their security details to Burns Secuity. Additionally, they have
NYPD officers throughout the stadium to maintain public safety.
Also, some other baseball stadiums do not outlaw 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 of this, creating bag checks at their facilities for a nominal fee, a practice that the Yankees do not endorse.
Access
Yankee Stadium can be reached via the
New York City Subway using the , or trains.
Since the 1970s renovation, there has been a plan to put a
Metro-North station on the Hudson Line tracks that run behind the Stadium's parking deck, but this has not yet been done, citing concerns over the Yankees committing to playing in the Bronx. A tentative deal has been reached to construct a station in time for the opening of the
New Yankee Stadium, if it is built as currently planned.
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.
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 dimensions
Compiled from various photos, baseball annuals, and
Green Cathedrals by Phil Lowry.
1988-present- Altered to make Monument Park more accessible
- Left Field Line - 318 ft.
- Straightaway LF - 379 ft.
- Deep Left Center - 399 ft.
- Center Field - 408 ft.
- Right Center - 385 ft.
- Straightaway RF - 353 ft.
- Right Field Line - 314 ft.
The team's magazines indicate that there may be an area of center field as deep as 417 feet. If so, it is unmarked.
The New Stadium
The Yankees have begun tearing apart Macombs Dam Park and John Mullaly Park, making way for the team's new stadium. The new stadium would feature a combination of elements from the old stadium before and after the 1970's renovation, with the current stadium being demolished to be used for public parkland. When the project is completed, no portion of the historic stadium or its field, the third-oldest facility in baseball, will remain. A baseball field will be placed in the spot of the current field, but will be elevated from the current location to better fit the surrounding park facilities.
The stadium project, which would cost $800 million for the stadium, and $400 million for infastructure, is being constructed on 22 acres of public parkland north of the team's East 161st Street home. Financing for the $400 million infastructure relies on public subsidies from the city and state; up to 40 percent of the Yankees' portion may be subsized through reduced revenue-sharing contributions, which would rely on luxury taxes that the Yankees have previously paid for having higher revenues than other Major League teams.
Although all legal hurdles have been overcome and 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. The Yankees' stadium and free-parkland acquistion was 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 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. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has noted that playing the 2008 All-Star Game at the old Yankee Stadium would be "a very intriguing possibility," while noting that several stadiums remain in the running.
External links
