It’s over for NY Yankee Stadium

This archived article was written by: David Osborne

From it’s 60,00 thousand seats, the triple deck seating from left to right field, and the original wooden bleachers, it’s officially time that the New York Yankees along with the rest of baseball officially say good bye to the House that Ruth built. As of Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008, Yankee stadium officially closed its doors with a win over the Baltimore Orioles. Closing down to build a new stadium across the street to create more luxury for patron’s, a monument in baseball is soon to be gone forever. But why focus on the tearing down of the stadium? Instead, why not focus on the amazing events that happened there?
Originally built in 1923 because the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) were threatening to kick the Yankees out of the Polo Grounds, this ball park soon became a legend. The very first home run in the ball park’s history came from Babe Ruth himself in the first game every played there, and appropriately it was against the Red Sox. The Yankees won four to one. For the first time in history, a team took home the World Series title during the inaugural season of their ball park, a feat that would not happen again until 2006 when the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.
Yankee Stadium is not only known for the Babe calling his home runs or even for being the stadium that has hosted the most postseason games, at 161 along with hosting 37 of the 86 World Series during its existence. Three perfect games have been thrown in Yankee stadium, all by Yankees pitchers. There have also been countless home runs blasted by the Bronx Bombers. Twenty six World Series titles have come out of this stadium, along with 20 Hall of Famers and 19 MVP’s.
Numbers may not be the most important thing in showing what this stadium has meant to the world of baseball, but rather the moments that have shaped Yankee Stadium history. Everybody knows one of the most famous events in baseball history, where the Great Bambino called his shot over the center field fence and blasted a home run right after. Another event was when Reggie Jackson or “Mr. October” hit three home runs in one game. Not only has Yankee Stadium hosted thousands of baseball games but also other countless venues, that are equally as amazing as no hitters. All three Papal visits to New York City have lead to mass being held in the stadium. Along with baseball in Yankee stadium there have been boxing matches and football games.
And so it is that on Sunday night we close the doors to the Cathedral of Baseball, the Big Ball Park in the Bronx with a home run by Jose Molina, and the final home run in Yankee stadium heading to the Hall of Fame.