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Yankee Stadium

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The exterior of the Yankee Stadium
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The exterior of the Yankee Stadium

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 (which significantly changed the look of the ballpark). It was reopened on April 15, 1976. The first night game was played on May 28, 1946.

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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 (misshapen) 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. [link]

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 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. Rodriguez 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: Roger Maris with 61 in 1961, and Babe Ruth on four occasions with a peak of 60 in 1927. Switch-hitting Mickey Mantle hit 54 in 1961.

A story that has become somewhat of an urban legend purports that the stadium's design was tailored to fit the left-handed power exhibited by Babe Ruth. However, a look at aerial photographs of the area shows that the stadium is built on a triangular plot of land originally owned by one of the Yankee owners, and that the stadium, like many other parks of that era and many newer "retro" parks, was fit into that plot. Additionally, an elevated train line still runs beyond the right field bleachers, and was present when the stadium was first built. Making the right field area larger would have necessitated eliminating seating and possibly building a high "Green Monster"-like wall.

A good 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.

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.

Perhaps the best known of all baseball stadiums, Yankee Stadium is the scene of such memorable 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.

The World Series at Yankee Stadium

Perhaps the best description of Yankee Stadium is as follows: "It's called the World Series, but it's usually played here." Since its opening in 1923, the World Series have been played at Yankee Stadium an astounding 37 times out of 82 World Series through 2005, with the Yankees winning 26 out of 37.

These are the World Series that were clinched at Yankee Stadium:

The Yankees also lost the 1921 and 1922 World Series to the N.Y. Giants, but at the time the Yankees played their homes games at the Polo Grounds -- the Giants' park.

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 (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 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 (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 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, "Sometime, 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. A game between Notre Dame and Syracuse University, scheduled for November 23, 1963, was postponed to Thanksgiving, November 28, due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Syracuse won, 27-15.

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. [link]

It has been held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands Sports Complex ever since.

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 (after losing the title), Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Ingemar Johansson and Muhammad Ali all had at least one fight there.

Billy Graham held large gatherings at the Stadium. The New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League used Yankee Stadium for home games in 1971 and then again in 1976.

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 have 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.[link]

The Facade and the Big Bat

One of its distinguishing features is the white facade that hangs over the outfield bleacher billboards and scoreboard. A similar frieze, although copper green in color, once hung from the roof over the upper deck before the renovation.

Also notable is the exhaust stack that stands outside the main entrance gate, constructed in the shape of a baseball bat. It is sponsored by Louisville Slugger, and 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.

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.

Rules at the stadium

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the authorities of Yankee Stadium enforced stricter (and more controversial) rules. As of 2006, the following rules are enforced at Yankees Stadium: The reason given for these strict rules is security, but they have proven unpopular due both to inconvenience caused and to skepticism as to the real motivation behind them (some fans believe the restriction on cans and bottles, for example, is really intended to encourage people to buy beverages from the concession stands, with the "security" rationale simply used for justification). Despite their unpopularity, attempts to get rid of these rules have not been successful.

Monument Park

The following personalities are honored with monuments or plaques in Monument Park, located behind the left-center field fence at Yankee Stadium, between the bullpens. Monuments, rather than plaques, are generally awarded only to the greatest of the great, and then only after their deaths. Many of these figures also had their uniform numbers retired. Such ceremonies often take place either at home openers or on Old Timers' Day. Figures are listed in the order in which their plaques were dedicated: Huggins, Gehrig, Ruth, Barrow, DiMaggio, Mantle, McCarthy, Stengel, Rizzuto, Gomez, Ford, Dickey, Berra, Jackson and Ruffing are also members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Allen received the Hall's Ford Frick Award, the broadcasters' equivalent of Hall of Fame election.

In addition, the Knights of Columbus donated plaques to the Yankees in honor of the masses delivered at Yankee Stadium by Pope Paul VI on October 4, 1965 and Pope John Paul II on October 2, 1979.

This led to a joke: "Who are the two former Cardinals who have plaques at Yankee Stadium?" It should be noted, however, that Huggins and Maris played for the St. Louis Cardinals, so there is a real answer to the joke's question. Joe Torre also played for (and managed) the Cardinals, and will likely receive a plaque shortly after his retirement, which would end the joke, unless Pope Benedict XVI or a successor visits the United States and delivers a Mass at Yankee Stadium or the planned successor ballpark, making it, "Who are the three former Cardinals..."

The Yankees dedicated a plaque to the victims and rescue workers of the 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of the attacks. Although usually referred to as a "monument," it is simply a plaque resting in a corner of Monument Park, rather than a plaque mounted on a granite slab as the "monuments" are.

Although Paul O'Neill (outfielder 1993-2001) has not been honored with the retirement of his number 21 or with the dedication of a Monument Park plaque, the number has not been reissued following his retirement. Tino Martinez was reissued #24 for his 2005 return to the team. While it was issued to Ruben Sierra in 2003 and 2004, the number has not been reissued in 2006.

Although Major League Baseball retired number 42 leaguewide for Jackie Robinson in 1997, the Yankees remain the only team not to list 42 along with their team's retired numbers. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera is the only current player to wear the number as the number was grandfathered for all players wearing the number at the time, but all the other teams retired #42 while they had players wearing the number.

The monuments are located more than 450 feet from home plate. It is an achievement for a home run in the "new" Stadium to go into the monuments on the fly. Among those who have done so are Thurman Munson (in Game 3 of the 1978 American League Championship Series) and Alex Rodriguez (in August 2005).

Since the mid-1980s, the rear fence lining the walkway from the grandstand to the monuments -- the barrier that was the outfield fence from 1976 to 1984 -- has borne the Yankees' retired numbers. Under those numbers are small stands with short biographies of the players that were honored.

Roll Call

After the first pitch is thrown in the top of the first inning, the "Bleacher Creatures" in Section 39, usually led by a certain bald-headed, t-shirt designer and vendor, begin chanting the names of every player in the defensive lineup (except the pitcher or catcher), starting with the centerfielder.(example: "Bernie, clap clap, Bernie, clap clap") They do not stop chanting until the player acknowledges the Creatures (usually with a wave or a point) who then move on to the next player. At the end of chanting the players' names the Section 39'ers chant "Box seats suck."

Access

Yankee Stadium can be reached via the New York City Subway using the B, D, or 4 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.

Chronology of outfield dimensions

Compiled from various photos, baseball annuals, and Green Cathedrals by Phil Lowry.

1923-1936

1937-1973 1974-1975 1976-1984 1985-1987 1988-present

Replacing Yankee Stadium

The Yankees are closing in on plans to tear down Yankee Stadium and build a new facility across the street from it, on the site of Macombs Dam Park. The $1.3 billion stadium project would be constructed on 22 acres of public parkland north of the team's East 161st Street home. Financing for the stadium plan involves $800 million from the Yankees as well as $450 million in public subsidies from the city and state; up to 40 percent of the Yankees' portion may be subsized through reduced revenue-sharing contributions. The plan has come under fire by fans and community groups not only for the closing of a historical site and the public money involved, but for the removal of parkland from one of the nation's poorest congressional districts.

Unlike the high-profile campaign that defeated the construction of a football stadium on Manhattan's West Side for the New York Jets, the anti–Yankees' stadium groups do not have a financial backer with deep pockets such as Cablevision, which launched a major advertising offensive against the West Side stadium. Unlike the groups that have organized against developer Bruce Ratner's proposal to build a Brooklyn basketball arena for his recently purchased New Jersey Nets, the anti–Yankees' stadium groups do not have celebrities to support their cause. Groups opposed to the Yankees' seizure of parkland have relied on websites and grass-roots campaigns to promote public awareness of the stadium project. The West Side stadium failed to win legislative support after several years in the planning stages. After two years, the Brooklyn project is still in the planning stages; it has not been voted on by any legislative body. The Yankees' stadium and free parkland acquistion was proposed in June 2005 without input from the community. It was approved within days of its announcement, forcing these underfunded community groups to scramble for support.

Only procedural hurdles stand between the wrecking ball and the House That Ruth Built. The Internal Revenue Service must approve of the Yankees' use of $930 million in tax-free bonds, which may violate the tax-reform bill 1986. The National Park Service, which paid for renovations to Macombs Dam Park in the 1970s, must approve of the transfer of parkland to a private business for nonpark use. The Yankees had planned on breaking ground by May 1, 2006, with Opening Day 2009 to open their new stadium. No ground has been broken; no revised plans for a groundbreaking have been made. If the new stadium is built on schedule, 2008 would be the final season at Yankee Stadium. Major League Baseball's third-oldest stadium would then be completely torn down.

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Preceded by:
Polo Grounds
1913–1922 		Home of the
New York Yankees
1923–1973 		Followed by:
Shea Stadium
1974–1975

Preceded by:
Shea Stadium
1974–1975 		Home of the
New York Yankees
1976–present 		Followed by:
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