Admittedly, I am not a Yankee fan, but even the most apopleptic Yankee hater has to love the House that Ruth Built. Born in 1923, it's the third oldest park, after Fenway and Wrigley. But New York despises the old and celebrates all that is young and new. Like Shea Stadium, and like the elegant and elegiac Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, Yankee Stadium is coming down. Already, the cranes are raising its replacement.
photo from urch
At least New Yankee Stadium will still be called Yankee Stadium, instead of something inhuman like Virgin Mega-Field or Starbucks Park. However, they'll sell naming rights so a company with deep pockets can dub the joint "Yankee Stadium at (corporate name) Plaza."
The local residents are not happy about the new stadium, but I can't tell how fans feel about it. Other than one polite New Yorker and this baseball fan, I haven't come across many complaints. What's that about?
Still, in this essay, writer and Dodger fan Pete Hamill makes a strong plea, arguing that "places contain memory, too" and we "shouldn't have to remember what used to be, as limousines deposit sleek strangers on their journeys to the skyboxes."
2 comments:
Shame.
I understand "New Yankee Stadium" as it was referred to 30 years ago was just another ugly looking concrete 70's monstrosity replacing the dirty gothic looking original that my family used to drive by when motoring upstate. But moving that diamoned off of it's original foot print is just plain wrong.
I have in the last decade tried to get my mind back into baseball but I cant. These stadiums reflect baseball today..Phony. The games are now much to technical. When the Scooter passed a few weeks ago I realized why I cant stand baseball any longer...Too corporate.
Shea Stadium...Even though the stadium represents what was wrong with stadium architecture in the 60's and 70's , it is still my childhood park..gonna miss it...I dont give a crap about CITI Field..Bill Shea will live on!!!
When I first read about the plan to tear down the real and only Yankee Stadium (as far as I am concerned), I did a bit of research online. I discovered that a 1996 vote by the New York City Council had to be taken to approve such an inherently stupid move. To my amazement, the vote came in at 44-3 in favor of tearing down the revered stadium. All I can say is, I don't know who the members of the council were, but they could not have been lifelong residents of New York City. Hoewever, you don't have to be a New Yorker, love baseball, or be a Yankee fan to appreciate the loss of this AMERICAN icon. It should have been declared a national landmark years ago. It all comes down to money. A sad commentary of our times.
Post a Comment