THE PITCH : House that Ruth built shouldn’t be torn down
Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Forget economics. Forget construction jobs and all of that blah, blah, blah. Do we really want to demolish one of the single most recognizable architectural icons in not only the sports world but the entire globe ?
The 84-year-old Yankee Stadium is slated to be torn down in 2009. While this scribe is an avid Red Sox fan and should probably revel in the destruction of the house where the Evil Empire resides, I don't.
It's a travesty and Major League Baseball should hide its face in shame for allowing it to happen. Major League Baseball not only looked the other way, it publicly supported the project.
No, MLB just scheduled the 79 th All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium as a memorable send-off. Just pull the plug on grandpa. Nevermind the inconvenient fact that he's still breathing.
Now the center field where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once roamed will be buried under 10 feet of dirt. It's a filthy way to treat some of the richest history in one of baseball's most traditionrich ballparks.
If the U. S. government ever decided to construct a new White House, would we tear down the old one ? No ! Someone somewhere would fathom the bright idea of transforming it into a museum. What a novel notion.
Boston fans would riot in the streets and slay the mayor if Fenway Park ever had a date with the old wrecking ball and chain. Cubs fans would storm Springfield and take the governor hostage if Wrigley Field were ever on the chopping blocks. And it doesn't seem that New Yorkers are even that concerned about the loss of such historical monument.
Out with the old, in with the new as the old, overused adage goes.
Yankee Stadium was erected in 1923 for a mere $ 2. 5 million. The stadium was remodeled from 1974-1975 for a cool $ 167 million. The Yankees new cathedral will set back the Steinbrenners an esti mated $ 1. 3 billion.
That's all wonderful - more money than any of us will ever see in 10 lifetimes. But now what we won't ever be able to see again in this lifetime is Yankee Stadium, and no I don't mean that big, fancy transmogrification across the street.
Just like when the Yankees sent Babe Ruth packing after his best year's were behind him, the club will bid adieu to its home - the place where Lou Gehrig was the luckiest man on earth, where Ruth blasted his 60 th homer into the right-field stands in 1927 and where Roger Maris later hit his 61 st round-tripper in 1961, where DiMaggio embarked on his 56-game hitting streak (a record that still stands ) and where no baseball fan will ever be able to hear the crack of the bat, the smack of leather or the raucous jubilation thousands enjoying America's true past-time.
No, now baseball's followers will have to go across the street for that, where history begins anew. Not me; I think I'll pass.
Heath Allen is a sportswriter for the Northwest Arkansas Times.
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