▃▄▆▁▂▁▆▄▃
▆▁▄▆ ▆▄▁▆
█◤ ◥█
█◤ ▂▄▆▆▄▂◥█
█ /\__ ▉▋█▍ ██ ◣ █
█ /\__ ▊▎▌▍ ◤ ▊ █
█ ▂ /\__ _▆. ★ ◥ ◢█ █
▉◢█▌ /\__ ▃▆▃▆▃ ★◣◤ ▊ █
◤◤ ▊ /\_▋ ▁▆▄▃◥. ◢◤ █
█ ▊ █/|__▍ ██▅▂╲▄▏ █
█ ▊ █ /|__◥▃◥ ▌▎ ▎◥▍ █
Yankee Stadium History █ █ ◢▌ /|\ ▔ ▌▎ ◤ ▌ █
───────────────── █ █ ▌▂/|\▂▃ ▍▄╲_▂▕_▂ ▌ ◤
█ █ ▊▊◢◤▊ ▎◢◤ ◢▋ ◢▋ ▎▏
Only a year after they changed █ █ ▂█ ▋ ∣▏ █◤█▆/█▆_ ◤▌
Baseball forever with the purchase of █▌ __/\ █ /\__ █
Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox, the █ __/\ █ /\__█
Yankees made another buy that would █◣ █ ◢█
forever change the way the game was ▂◣ █ ◢▂
watched. ▄▃ ▃▁ ▁▄▆▃▆
▊█▅▃ ▁▃▅
On February 6, 1921, the Yankees issued a ▃█ by Leviathan
press release to announce the purchase of 10 ◥ ▎
acres of property in the west Bronx. The land, purchased from the estate of
William Waldorf Astor for $675,000, sat directly across the Harlem River from
the Yankees' current Manhattan home, the Polo Grounds, which they shared
unhappily with the landlord Giants of the National League since 1913.
The relationship between the Giants and their tenant crumbled after the 1920
season when Yankee attendance boosted by their new slugging sensation doubled
to 1,289,422. That was over 100,000 more than the Giants, who, in 1921,
notified the Yankees to vacate the Polo Grounds as soon as possible. With
their departure from the Polo Grounds now inevitable, Yankee co-owners Jacob
Ruppert and Tillinghast l'Hommedieu Huston set out to build a spectacular
ballpark of their own, Baseball's first triple-decked structure. With an
advertised capacity of 70,000, it would also be the first to be labeled a
"stadium."
Original plans of the architect the Osborne Engineering Company of Cleveland,
Ohio had the Stadium triple-decked and roofed all the way around. An early
press release, in fact, described the Yankees' new home as a field enclosed
with towering embattlements, rendering the events inside "impenetrable to all
human eyes, save those of aviators." But the initial, grand design was
quickly scaled back with the triple-decked grandstand not reaching either
foul pole. Contrary to the owners' wishes, the action would be more than
visible from the elevated trains that passed by the outfield as well as from
the buildings that would spring up across River Avenue. Fortunately, a purely
decorative element also survived the project's early downsizing and would
become the park's most recognizable feature. A 15-foot deep copper facade
would adorn the front of the roof which covered much of the Stadium's third
deck. It would give Yankee Stadium an air of dignity that no park has
possessed -- either before or since
The new stadium would favor lefthanded power with the right-field foul pole
only 295 feet from home plate (though it would shoot out to 429 by right
center). Though the left-field pole measured only 281 feet from the plate,
righthanded hitters were neutralized by a 395-foot left field and a whopping
460 to left center. It would also be friendly to patrons, boasting an unheard
of "eight toilet rooms for men and as many for women scattered throughout the
stands and bleachers." (When the Stadium was remodeled 50 years later, it
included more than 50 restrooms.) The club's executive offices would be moved
from midtown Manhattan and located between the main and mezzanine decks with
an electric elevator connecting them with the main entrance.
The construction contract was awarded to New York's White Construction Co. on
May 5, 1922 with the edict that the job must be completed "at a definite price"
($2.5-million) and by Opening Day 1923. Incredibly, it was. In only 284
working days, Yankee Stadium was ready for its inaugural game on April 18,
1923 vs. the Boston Red Sox.
Officially, 74,200 fans packed Yankee Stadium for their first glimpse of
Baseball's grandest facility while thousands more milled around outside after
the fire department finally ordered the gates closed. Before the game began,
John Phillip Sousa and the Seventh Regiment Band led both clubs to the
flagpole in deep center field where the American flag and the Yankees' 1922
pennant were raised. Appropriately, Babe Ruth christened his new home with a
three-run homer to cap a four-run third inning as the Yankees coasted to a
4-1 win.
Because it was widely recognized that Ruth's tremendous drawing power made
the new stadium possible, it would immediately become known as "The House
That Ruth Built." Later that season, the Stadium hosted the first of 33 World
Series and the Yankees won their first World Championship over their former
landlord, the Giants. Of course, as the Stadium became the stage for a
staggering number of World titles - now totaling 26 - it also would become
known as "The Home of Champions."
In its early years, when wooden bleachers surrounded the outfield, a grass
slope approached the outfield walls from foul pole to foul pole. Outfielders,
especially Ruth in right, routinely backed up the small hill to pull down fly
balls. Atop the bleachers were advertising signs except for a lone, manually
operated, wooden scoreboard in right-center field which was "big enough to
record 12 innings for games played by every club in the two major leagues.
" Over the years, the board would be replaced by more modern models. The
Yankees, in fact, would unveil the first electronic message board in 1959.
By 1928, the Stadium was ready for its first major facelift as the
triple-deck grandstand in left field was extended beyond the foul pole to its
current termination point. The right-field grandstand was extended in 1937,
allowing "upper-deck" home runs in both directions. With the '37 expansion of
the grandstand, the remaining wooden bleachers were replaced by a concrete
structure and the distance t center field dropped from 490 feet to a
still-astronomical 461 feet.
Except for the addition of lights in 1946, the look of Yankee Stadium would
now remain relatively the same until the winter of 1966-67. Then, under the
direction of its new owner, CBS, the 44-year-old facility received a $1.5
-million modernization, most of which was spent on paint (90 tons of it).
The brown concrete exterior was painted white as was the by-now greenish
copper facade. And all of the grandstand seats went from green to blue, a
color scheme that would be retained when the Stadium was completely remodeled
after the 1973 season.
On August 8, 1972, after years of debate about the future of the aging
ballpark, the Yankees signed a 30-year lease with the City of New York which
called for Yankee Stadium to be completely modernized in time for the 1976
season. After completing the Stadium's 50th-Anniversary season in 1973, the
Yankees moved to Shea Stadium for two seasons while their home was almost
completely demolished and then rebuilt.
The most striking change of the modernization would be the removal of the
numerous, obstructive steel columns which supported the second and third
decks as well as the roof. By "cantilevering" the upper decks and by lowering
the playing field while increasing the slope of the lower stands, sight lines
for fans would be dramatically improved. Of course, with the removal of the
original roof, the Stadium almost lost its most-recognizable feature: the
facade. But an innovative design concept included an exact replica of the
facade atop the new 560-foot-long scoreboard which stretched across the rear
of the bleachers. The board would also include baseball's first "telescreen,"
which could provide instant replays of the action by emplying a then
-incredible "nine shades of gray."
Yankee Stadium's exterior changed dramatically, too, as three escalator
towers were added, one at each of the Stadium's three entrances. And, with 10
additional rows of seats added to the upper deck, the already-grand Stadium
would have an even more majestic look.
The remodeled Yankee Stadium opened on April 15, 1976 with the Yankees
topping Minnesota 11-4 and, like its predecessor, would host the World Series
in its inaugural season. The Stadium, in fact, hosted the Fall Classic in its
first three seasons with the Yankees winning back-to-back World titles in
1977 and 1978.
Also held at Yankee Stadium...
As one of the world's most-prestigious addresses, Yankee Stadium has also
been the home of scores of other sports, entertainment and cultural events.
While the Yankees were on the road or out of season, the Stadium opened its
gates to college and pro football, soccer, political assemblies, religious
conventions, concerts and even the circus.
Boxing immediately found a home at Yankee Stadium with Benny Leonard winning
a 15-round decision over Lou Tendler for the lightweight title three months
after the gates opened on July 24, 1923. Until Mohamud Ali stopped Ken Norton
on September 28, 1976, thirty championship fights have been fought at the
Stadium, perhaps none more memorable than the one for the heavyweight title
between Joe Louis and Germany's Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938. After
suffering a knockout loss in the initial non-title encounter at the Stadium
two years earlier, Louis now the heavyweight champ avenged his defeat with a
stunning first-round KO in the rematch.
Football also became an immediate fixture at Yankee Stadium with the 1923
Army-Navy game inaugurating a rich history of collegiate and later
professional football matchups. On November 12, 1928, with Notre Dame and
Army locked in a scoreless game at halftime, the legendary Knute Rockne made
his famous "win one for the Gipper" pep talk and the Fighting Irish went out
and beat the Cadets, 12-6.
The New York football Giants also called Yankee Stadium home from 1956
through 1973 and, on December 28, 1958, played in what is widely recognized
as "the greatest game ever played." With the NFL championship at stake, a
crowd of 64,185 watched the Baltimore Colts tie the game 17-17 on a Steve
Myrha field goal with seven seconds left. Eight minutes into professional
football's first-ever "sudden-death" overtime period, the Colts' Alan Ameche
crashed through from the one yard line, ending a contest that would help
establish pro football as a major sport.
The Stadium was also an important stop for religious conventions with the
conventions of the Jehovah's Witnesses the major outside activity each year.
Beginning in 1950, the convention attracted as many as 123,707 people in a
single day far more than any other Stadium event. On October 4, 1965 with the
Yankees out of the World Series for only the third time in 17 years the
Stadium hosted an event of worldwide significance. During the first visit to
North America by a Pope, Paul VI celebrated mass before a crowd in excess of
80,000. Fourteen years later, John Paul II also made Yankee Stadium a stop on
his tour of the United States.
--
╭─────────────────────────────────────╮
│ New York Yankees 紐約洋基 │
╰─────────────────────────────────────╯