Farewell Yankee Stadium

It brings me such sadness to say that Yankee Stadium, one of the most well-known ventures in all of professional sports, will be closing its doors for good next Sunday night, as The New York Yankees will be playing host to divisional foe, Baltimore Orioles, in a game that will be nationally televised as the Sunday Night Game of the Week on ESPN. The game will start at 8ET, 5PT.
Isn’t it ironic that the Yankees will be finalizing their old stadium by playing a team that shares their former city and nickname? (The New York Yankees were originally founded as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901. They then moved to New York in 1903, with a new nickname, the Highlanders, before eventually becoming the Yankees in 1913. The present-day Baltimore Orioles were the result of a nickname and city change from the St. Louis Browns in 1954.)… Sure. There aren’t many sports teams that move to a different city, with a new nickname, and then later on have to challenge a new team that resurrected once again with the former city and nickname.
What’s even more ironic is the fact that this will be the first year in this decade, in this millennium even, where the New York Yankees will not be making any post-season plans.
My eyes have become so accustomed to seeing Yankee Stadium as a fixture, a symbol, as you will, throughout the playoffs for so many years in a row that this year’s Major League Baseball’s playoffs will not even feel like “real” playoffs to me. Yankee Stadium has hosted the World Series an unprecedented 37 times, the most of any baseball stadium! The Yankees were world champions 26 times. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the history of what could possibly go down as the greatest sports stadium on American soil…

THE OPENING
Before Yankee Stadium, The Yankees had previously played at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, a stadium which they shared with the same-city rival, New York Giants. However, big-time Yankee slugger Babe Ruth was bringing more Yankee fans to the ballpark than the original owner Giants were, and in 1921, the Giants told the Yankees to find a new place to call home.
Yankee Stadium was built in the Bronx in 1923, right across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds. The proximity of Yankee Stadium to the Polo Grounds was as if the Yankees were out to prove a point to the Giants on who the real New York team is, and will always be, in the sport of baseball. (The Yankees beat the Giants in 3 times in the World Series: 1923, 1936, and 1937. The Giants eventually moved to San Francisco in the year, 1958.)
Tabbed as “The House That Ruth Built”, Yankee Stadium definitely lived up to its name, as on April 18, 1923, the stadium’s opening day, Ruth did what he did best and that was hit a home run, the first home run in Yankee Stadium history. They shortened the right field porch to about 295 feet just for him. Ruth would later go on to hit a total of 259 home runs at Yankee Stadium.
In its 82nd and final year of existence, Major League Baseball decided to have the 2008 All-Star game played there this year. It was, all-together, the most memorable All-Star experience ever! In the Home Run Derby, Texas Ranger slugger Josh Hamilton, hit a single-round record of 28 home runs. One day later, the All-Star game itself set a record for the longest lasting All-Star game with a time of 4 hours and 50 minutes.

OTHER FACTS
- First tri-level sports facility built in the US
- Tied with Cleveland Stadium for hosting the most MLB all-star games (4)
- First venue in baseball with an instant-replay display
- Venue for the first televised boxing match in the U.S.(7-1-1939; Baer def. Nova)
- Most storied team in college football, Notre Dame, with a record of 15-6-3 there
- The NFL New York Giants played home games there from 1956 to 1973
- Bob Sheppard, PA announcer there since 1951 (known as “the Voice of God”)
- 3 different popes have celebrated mass there (Paul VI- 1965; John Paul II- 1979; Benedict XVI- 2008)
- Blind Yankee sportswriter, Ed Lucas, and fiancée, Allison Pfieffle, only couple to have a wedding there. (March 10, 2006; broadcasted on ESPN)
- Host to more postseason games than any other stadium in baseball history
- Yankees clinched 9 of their 26 World series titles there

As last words go, farewell, Yankee Stadium! You have given so many memories to sports fans everywhere of all ages. It will be sad to see you go, as your new big brother, The New Yankee Stadium, will soon replace you. But don’t worry you will only be replaced physically, never spiritually.