Yankee Stadium
I’ve been really torn on the issue of Yankee Stadium being torn down after this season; only to be replaced with a new Yankee Stadium just next door. For those who have been fortunate enough to see Yankee Stadium, you know exactly what I’m talking about — there’s a certain aura to the place. You walk in there, and you’re overwhelmed by what is Yankee Stadium. You can feel the history. It’s all still there; within your reach. You sit down in your seat, wherever it might be, and you know the crowd will be into the entire game, inning for inning and no matter what the score. You don’t experience that anywhere else.
But when you think about it, the current Yankee Stadium isn’t the same house that Ruth built back in 1923. Sure it stands on the same grounds, but it was more or less entirely renovated in the 70s. Major things changed in the 70s for the stadium that set it apart from the 20s. So why not start completely over in 2009? In the end, what’s the big deal? The history, and memories, will still be there — just carried over to a stadium a block away. The prestige of the Yankees organization will still be there — just in another stadium.
However, I realized the other day why I was so torn on the new versus old stadium. And honestly, it comes down to my son or daughter just not being able to see the old stadium and what it had to offer. I was very fortunate growing up and going to several Yankee games per year. I wasn’t the biggest baseball fan, but even then, I just enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. Every time we would go, my father would tell me stories about how him and his friends used to sneak out to go to Yankee games, or how his grandfather used to take him to games, or how he was able to see Player A do X, Y, and Z. At the time, I could care less about those stories, as would any young kid. But as now an adult, it’s those stories and the overall history of the Yankees that absolutely define the current stadium to me. And it saddens me to not be able to share that same feeling with my children.
I am looking forward to the new stadium and what it has to offer. I’m looking forward to being able to see the many memories to come in that stadium, too. I certainly hope to be able to share those new stadium memories with my children, as well.
But when I’m at a game with my kid, and I’m doing what my father did to me, telling him stories. They’re going to be about “the old stadium across the street.” I’ll be able to tell him or her about how I was able to see Paul O’Neil hit three home runs in one game on August 31st, 1995 — but in the old stadium. I’ll be able to tell him or her about the great seats my father used to get just five or six rows from the Yankee’s dugout — but in the old stadium. And I’ll be able to tell him how his mother and I froze our asses off in an April game which resulted in us leaving in the second inning — but that all occurred in the old stadium.
Maybe I’m just looking into it a bit much. Maybe it’s not the physical aspect of the Yankees that needs to be there to continually cherish all of these moments. Maybe it’s just the memories themselves that define everything. The memories will always live on, maybe soon in a different form, but they’ll still live on.
So maybe it is a good thing, this new Yankee Stadium. Maybe it’s good to create new memories for a new generation. I was fortunate enough to see a great dynasty, and I’ll always be able to share those memories with my son or daughter — just the same way my father did with me. We’ll always hold on to these memories, and just because the current stadium is coming down, it doesn’t mean these memories will just vanish. They’ll always be there for us to appreciate and to reflect upon.
