Demolition of the old Yankee Stadium

[dhermann1]

The old stadium is finally going. When I was there last fall, they had just taken out the seats in the upper deck. That looked strange, but this looks a whole lot stranger. It wasn't the best place to see a ball game by a long shot, but it was "The Stadium". Sniff sniff.
http://www.1010wins.com/Yankee-Stadium-Update/6604494

 

[LizzieMaine]

As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I think this is a horrible thing -- not just for the Yankees, not just for baseball, but for American cultural history. The Stadium is the most famous American public venue of the twentieth century, and for it to be torn down with not a piece left standing as a memorial is a cultural crime of the first magnitude. The Steinbrenners ought to be ashamed of themselves, but I kind of doubt they're capable of such emotion.

 

[Feraud]

Was there ever any discussion in the media about preserving something..anything from this iconic structure?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Was there ever any discussion in the media about preserving something..anything from this iconic structure?

Some folks have been trying to save Gate 2, which is the part of the structure left most unchanged after the 1974-75 renovation, but apparently too many political hands got greased early in the process for this to ever have a chance to happen. Gate 2 is right on the edge of the current demolition area, and expectations are they're rushing to knock it down to make sure no one can get any kind of a historic-preservation injunction in to save it.

Very similar to what the hacks and grafters in Detroit did last year to the plan to save a portion of Tiger Stadium, may it rest in peace.

 

[dhermann1]

I've always felt that this structure was the closest thing our country has to Rome's Coliseum (without the lethal associations). I don't see why they couldn't have kept the exterior wall, at least. I think it's a monstrous travesty.
When the old Metropolitan Opera House was destroyed back in 1966, it was said that one reason the Opera Company let it happen was to eliminate the chance of competition from a new opera company in the old house. Maybe there was some of this thinking in this decision. Anyway, even tho the new place os FABULOUS (built with HUGE public subsidies) I will miss the old palce A LOT. :rage:

 

[Subvet642]

I'm sorry, as another lifelong Red Sox fan and baseball partisan, I just can't get worked-up over this. [huh] I feel sorry for the fans (kinda), but I'm not in the least suprised the Yankees are doing this.

 

[skyvue]

Well, once the new one was built, the demolition of the old one was all but a given.

I was surprised there wasn't more of an uproar when plans to build the new stadium were announced.

And, of course, it hasn't be so long since the Red Sox were planning on replacing Fenway Park -- thankfully, those plans fell through.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And, of course, it hasn't be so long since the Red Sox were planning on replacing Fenway Park -- thankfully, those plans fell through.

The day that happens is the day I give up baseball -- I want a ballpark and a ball game, not a shopping mall and a "multimedia entertainment experience." Give me a scorecard, a pencil, and a hot dog, and I don't want or need anything else. A lot of the current Fenway renovations went against my grain -- the Monster Seats are nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as the old screen was -- but I guess they're better than the alternative.

 

[adamjaskie]

Re: Tiger Stadium in Detroit, it stood empty for ten years. I never heard a word about preservation until the city finally started tearing it down.

 

[davestlouis]

I find the whole notion of public subsidies for privately held sports teams shameful...I'm also not much of a fan of professional sports, and I suppose there's a connection.

The new Busch Stadium is kinda cool in a skin-deep pseudo-retro way, but baseball still bores me to tears.

 

[Chas]

The commercial crassness of professional sports is pretty much what drove down my interest in it. I still like baseball, but I prefer to catch AA or AAA games in small town stadiums now. It's just better. Not to mention cheaper.

How hard is it to imagine THIS man playing in the "Bell Center"...or should I say "Centre Bell"?

I don't agree at all with public subsidies for private business, so it's up to the businessmen of the leagues to whore themselves out to whoever they want, I suppose.

 

[Feraud]

Gate 2 is gone.

Fans had hoped to preserve Gate 2 as part of the planned and long-awaited Heritage Park, but Parks officials said it wouldn't work and, last month, a plan to demolish the Gate was approved. Today, one commenter wrote on the Demolition of Yankee Stadium website,

There are so many other ways this could have been handled. I wonder if the person or people who made the decision to handle it this way have any soul at all. Were they ever a baseball fan? What is the rush to make this whatever it is going to be, compared to what it was? When do you think the "light bulb" will go off and they realize they ripped down one of the "Top 10" structures in our country, without one shred of dignity? New York owned what I believe was the most sacred piece of property pertaining to the American past time. They had an opportunity to do something very special, and they blew it. When all is said and done, it will be a park for people who will never know the history they are standing on, and couldn't tell you Mickey Mantle's number if their life depended on it. With all of the things in life we can't control, we take something we can, and screw it up anyway.

More photograph of the destruction here. And the land swap that the city made with the Yankees for the new stadium has been criticized, because it removed 20.8 continuous acres of park space from Bronx residents and left them with eight smaller parks instead.

http://gothamist.com/2010/04/01/yankee_stadiums_famed_gate_2_demoli.php

If you've the stomach for this sort of thing..
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[LizzieMaine]

And the barbarians chalk up another triumph in their ongoing sacking of 20th-century culture. Fifty years from now, this whole project will be mentioned in the same breath as the demolition of Penn Station.

 

[Miss Dizzy Dame]

 

[Feraud]

And the barbarians chalk up another triumph in their ongoing sacking of 20th-century culture. Fifty years from now, this whole project will be mentioned in the same breath as the demolition of Penn Station.

I don't think it will take that long for some genius to sit back and think, "uhhh, what the he// did we do?.."

 

[cookie]

The trouble is that even with stringent heritage orders etc they still get away with it like one of the theatres in Sydney. It remained a hole in the ground for 5 years.

 

[Silver Dollar]

This is the same thing that happened to Ebbets Field. They ripped down the home of one of the most famous teams in history. I was a bit too young to know what was going on then but as far as I'm concerned, the Dodgers were Brooklyn and that was that. Now they're doing it again. When you think of it, there's so much baseball history that's gone down the tubes, it's ridiculous. It's like tearing down St. Patrick's cathedral or the Empire State Building to make room for a parking lot. :rage: :rage: :rage:

 

[Tomasso]

And then there were two....

 

[dhermann1]

I was just by the site last weekend. There's nothing left but a hole in the ground. Completely gone, now. Damn.

 

[Mr Vim]

Truly sad, but not the first time something like this has happened in New York, remember Penn Station?