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Another One Bites the Dust

By ClassicRocker06, Section MLB
Posted on Sat Aug 19 2006 at 4:17 PM EST
More on: New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium (all tags)

By Billy Fellin

The New York Yankees and other prestigious members of the New York hierarchy were across the street from Yankee Stadium on Tuesday around a loosened pile of dirt. All donning Yankee hardhats, they broke ground on the $1.2 billion stadium that will be completed and ready for the team to move into in 2009.

So what does this mean for baseball? Just as the title says, another great stadium bites the dust.

This is a huge loss for baseball and for Yankee nation. Even though the new stadium will have countless amenities and hold 57,478, it just won't have the charm and the aura that the current stadium has. 2009 is the deadline for any fan that hasn't seen the Yankees play in the current stadium to see it. This Yankees fan is included in that category. Even though I grew up about two or three hours away from the stadium and being such a huge fan, I still haven't gotten the chance to get there. However, since this piece of baseball history will no longer be active in around 3 years, I know that I'm going to do everything in my power to get to a game in The House that Ruth Built.

I feel sorry for the next generation of Yankees fans that will never get to see a Yankees game in the Original Yankees Stadium. It's really a tragedy that can't be fixed. Like I said earlier, there is just the aura about the place, one can even feel it through a TV. It's like "wow, this is Yankee Stadium. This is something special". Enough history is installed in the place, it's like the ghosts of the Yankee greats are there, watching the game with the fans. I can only imagine the feeling.

What I don't get is why the new stadium had to be built. It's been around forever, yes, and it is showing it's age (the falling beam, the bathrooms), but it's still capable of holding a capacity crowd. Just because it has bad bathrooms, which I'm sure would cost a lot less than $1.2 billion to fix, doesn't give cause to build an entirely new stadium across the street. However, as most people know, Steinbrenner doesn't always follow simple logic. It's sad that they he has that amount of money just lying around though.

So here's to the Stadium. I think that all baseball fans should make plans to get to the Bronx sometime between now and 2009. Even the Yankee haters should make a visit there to appreciate its' place in the history of baseball. The stadium usually gets around 4 million fans a year. I have a feeling with the ground being broken on Yankee Stadium 2 that number will go up.