When you attend a game at the new Yankee Stadium, you can’t help but notice the slow and tortuous demise of an American Icon, the original Yankee Stadium. The best way I can describe this sight is that it’s like you’re trapped at a never-ending wake and the body is slowly rotting in front of you. It’s a sad, sad sight. Throughout the season, I’ve been documenting this with my camera.
Here is my latest batch of pictures, from this past Sunday:
First, here’s is the outside of the Stadium when you come out of the 153rd street garage. There is now a blue fence that surrounds the entire Stadium and you can not get within 10 feet of the building.
I was able to slip my camera inside one of the fences and grab a couple of shots.
Up in the Section 412 of the Grandstand at the new Stadium, you can get at good look up at the top row. The next picture shows a view of the back of the bleachers wall being removed. I then zoomed in at the hole bulldozed at ground level.
Look at the mess inside. It looks like a dirt bike competition is about to break out.
As you can see, the seats have been removed in the upper deck and there have been construction numbers spray-painted above each section.
In this final picture, you can see through the frieze that the bleacher benches are gone. Also, the old Budweiser sign from 2001, which was covered up for the past seven years, has been uncovered and is clearly showing it’s wear and tear.
Later this week, I’ll post pictures from the new Stadium. Like many people, I have mixed reviews of the place and I’ll critique them extensively. For now, take a moment and pay homage to a wreck that should’ve been avoided.
I think they should have done what the Mets did, likely the only time I will say that the Yankees should take any lessons from the Mets, and knocked it down quick. It is painful to watch. So many memories.
Keep up the good work! Love the blog!
Comment by osaplbpp — June 9th, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Personally I would have much rather had the Yankees restored the old stadium instead of making a new one. The new one looks like a giant mall/museum. Nice pictures. Actually they are not “nice” pictures but you know what I mean.
Comment by I Got 99 Problems But The Yankees Ain't One — June 9th, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
OSAPLBPP – They didn’t knock down the Stadium in the off-season just in case the new one wasn’t ready. Also, Steiner Sports wanted to take it down inch-by-inch so they could sell everything for obscene prices.
JAY-Z – I agree. Not much else to say.
Comment by Patrick Tiscia — June 10th, 2009 @ 8:49 am
What do you think about Steiner selling every piece of the old stadium? Will you be purchasing anything? On one hand, I think it’s great, you could own a piece of history, and it would definitely be quite the conversation piece. On the other hand, I think the prices of everything is absolutely ridiculous!! And do you REALLY need a “Men’s bathroom” sign for $300?!
I’ve been to both the new Yankee Stadium, and Citi Field, and I have to say, Citi Field has so much more of a baseball feel than Yankee Stadium. It’s too bad… I agree with “I Got 99 Problems”… Should have just restored the old stadium!
Comment by HBO1004 — June 10th, 2009 @ 10:08 am
HBO – When is Curb Your Enthusiasm coming back? I’m dying for it to return.
Anyway, back on subject, I’m not sure if I will buy anything from the old Stadium. I did scoop some dirt from the field on a tour last year and it’s quite the display piece in my office. I can confirm that a Men’s Bathroom sign will not be finding it’s way into my home.
I have been to Citi Field as well and liked it a lot. It does have some issues (obstructions in the upper levels, very little Mets displays, etc.), but it was a very nice place to take in a game.
Comment by Patrick Tiscia — June 10th, 2009 @ 10:43 am
This whole senitment of a lot of Yankee fans that the old stadium is a cathedral and should have just been renovated is something I personally don’t get. Don’t get me wrong, as a Met fan, I always enjoyed going to “The Yank” because it was rich with some modicum of warmth and history that the cavernous Shea lacked. However, I think anyone that considered the old Yankee Stadium akin to baseball’s hallowed ground is mistaken. The old Yankee Stadium is nothing like the original. Note the addition of the word “original” to the description. When the “original” Yankee Stadium was renovated in the early 70s (which, combined with the construction of Giants Stadium marked one of the worst eras in New York Sports where four local teams were stuffed into one stadium for two years and the Giants spent two years playing at Yale Bowl, of all places), it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The renovations were done in the early-mid 70s, when classic architecture was foolishly replaced with cold artificial plastics and paint colors. I could list an entire page of atrocities that occured during that renovation, but the two most glaring examples are the classic trademark frieze that draped the border of the stadium roofline being replaced with what my friends and I called “the spaceship” that surrounded the outer part of the stadium, adding what became the upper deck. And perhaps the worst travesty was that awful grey industrial paint slabbed mercilessly on the outside of the once gorgeous stone exterior. The new stadium has none of those flaws, and instead reinstitutes those old trademarks of the “original” stadium to their new glory, and does so with many improvements in concessions and comfort to the point where the “old” stadium–not the “original”–at times appeared to be as much of an abomination of style and class as Shea. Aside from the hallowed ground of the field and a few trademark touches (Monument Park, The Big Bat) that have an/or will make their way over to the new park–I say good riddance to the hollow shell of what once was a treasure of our national pastime!
Comment by DJ Renz — June 15th, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
DJ – I completely understand where you are coming from. I wish I had the opportunity to see the original set-up of the old stadium, I’m sure it was a sight to behold. For me, the renovated stadium is where I grew up and had some of the greatest moments of my life. During the glory years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, no place came alive more in late games and the intensity of the crowd and the team was something special to be apart of. Unfortunately, with the way the new stadium is built, the atmosphere will never be the same. The upper deck no longer hangs over the field and the bleacher seats now sit behind a section $100 luxury seats. Not to mention the awful section of special seats behind home plate, aka The Moat, that is never filled. The renovated structure wasn’t anything special, but the way it was set up was.
Comment by Patrick Tiscia — June 15th, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
I think the old stadium should have been restored. I’ve been going to yankee games since i was 9 yrs old. Dad had season tickets for 40 yrs 6 rows behind the yankee on deck circle. The memories I have of boston series, reggies 3 homeruns etc are amazing. The new stadium is nice but history was made in the old stadium.It brings tears to my eyes to see it being slowly towrn apart.
Comment by Patty — August 17th, 2009 @ 3:57 pm