For Trade: 86 Years of Tradition For A Luxury Box

April 16th, 2009 New York, NY


"I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in the first game in this new park.”
– Babe Ruth

Today the Yankees officially open the New Yankee Stadium.™

It’s a sad day for fans of the Yankees and their great tradition, because we lose not only the Grand Dame of all sports venues, Yankee Stadium, but a huge edge.

In 1923, Yankee Stadium was the most spectacular stadium in sports. Before the original Yankee Stadium, teams played games at parks and fields. Seating over 70,000 fans, it was the first “stadium” in baseball and boasted three decks of seating, a 15-foot copper façade almost all around the stadium, a near-total enclosure to keep out prying eyes, a whopping eight toilets, a cavernous center field that only the best players could hope of covering and a short porch to right custom-made for the Yankees new star, Babe Ruth.

It was a monument of hubris for a tradition that did not yet exist, a true cathedral of baseball. And the Yankees christened it as holy ground almost immediately. Ruth hammered the first homer and a crowed cheered so loud “the building felt like it would come down,” and the Yankees won the first of 26 titles in the first season.

As the game evolved, so did the stadium. It went from state-of-the art to timeless. Updated in 1967 to be more comfortable for fans and totally rebuilt in 1973. It still kept its unique character while hosting more World Series’ than any other stadium. Yankee Stadium aged, the mystique grew and it became a stage that could make or break legends. Playing on hollowed ground is what made players “real” Yankees. The mystique was about creating a moment of your own in the stadium:

• Reggie’s three home runs in Game 6
• Rag’s July 4th no-hitter
• Gehrig’s speech.
• The Mick hitting a home run off the façade
• Fans swarming Chris Chambliss as he rounds the bases in 1976 ALCS
• Jeter’s dive into the seats versus the Sox

No other stadium is filled with so many emotional moments and joy for the fans.

So why tear it down?

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Rhymes with "honey"....

Yes, money. The organization sold its home field advantage for luxury box revenue.

"Fans? Fuck the fans, pay me," is what the Steinbrenner family say.

The Yankees organization bamboozled the fans more than the Baltimore Colts did when they left town under the dark of night. Before fans really knew what was happening, the new stadium was half built. The Yankess announced the new stadium will all the fanfare of a September call-up.

No discussion about losing the mystique of the franchise, no talk of what the emotional the cost would be. No talk of a Fenway-like revitalization. Nothing.

What was the biggest moment of the stadium move? A heartfelt speech after the last game in the old Stadium by the captain, Derek Jeter:

"… although things are going to change next year, we're going to move across the street, there are a few things with the New York Yankees that never change -- it's pride, it's tradition, and most of all, we have the greatest fans in the world.

"We're relying on you to take the memories from this stadium and add them to the new memories that come to the new Yankee Stadium, and continue to pass them on from generation to generation. On behalf of this entire organization, we want to take this moment to salute you, the greatest fans in the world."

Touching, Derek.

Perhaps you should have run this by the Yankees, though. Because as fans, our thanks was this:

• A home without a lower-level seat less than $350 between the foul poles.
• A stadium where a prime season ticket costs $850,000 per year.
• Home field with fewer seats for a franchise that sells out 90% of its games.
• Home field bleachers with obstructed views (how can you obstruct a bleacher seat – that’s truly great architecture).

Yup, that' a salute. Of the one-finger variety. So much for passing along seats from generation to generation, unless your Donald and Ivanka Trump.

But the news isn’t all bad. The training facilities, 30,000 square foot clubhouse, PCs in the lockers and spas seem to be excellent. The players are raving:

"There are screens in your lockers, lockers that are three times the size of other places. Cubby holes. We have a chef. It's just crazy stuff. It's the best venue in any sport, I guarantee you that," said Brian Bruney

"I think everyone is going to be a little bit spoiled," Jeter said.

"Amazing, they did a great job," Andy Pettitte said. “I'm just thankful to have an opportunity to play here. You feel really spoiled."

I hope there's room for the ghosts of DiMaggio, The Babe and Thurmon Munson.

Yes, fans. We’ve tore down the Sistine Chapel. What was once a franchise with a legendary park full of tradition just another money-grubbing franchise with a faux-throwback stadium. Forget the fans, bring on the luxury boxes.

Roll call will be a little quieter this year, and not because there are few fans, but less passionate ones. The Bronx-bred lovers of the Yankees are priced out, and the corporate fans have taken over. A proud franchise loses its mystique today.

What does mystique mean? It’s an edge…and without that edge, the onus is on the team to bring over a winning tradition immediately. Because from today forward, they don’t have the passion of fans, they don’t have teams that dreading to come to the Bronx. Let’s hope the Yankees look around and decide they should earn these comforts and win a title -- now. And 25 more, because that’s what it will take to replace the Original.

Here’s what we’ve lost, from someone who had everywhere:

“This was the place, the number-one place in baseball. The stadium was like the Empire State Building or the Grand Canyon of baseball, and every time I stepped inside of it I had to pinch myself!"
- Mel Allen, the Voice of the Yankees (1946 - 1965)

Goodbye Yankee Stadium. We’ll miss you.