Yankee Stadium

Unless you live in the Bronx, there are very few reasons to go to there. Yankee Stadium appears to be the main reason people venture to the borough, especially now since there are TWO stadiums. Well, not quite. The original stadium was built in 1923 and is the site of major baseball history, which I have to hear about all day from male coworkers. Although there is nothing structurally wrong with the original stadium, a new stadium built across the street is scheduled to open in April 2009. Why? Money, of course. The new stadium has fewer seats, 60 ‘luxury boxes’ and more commercial space. Giuliani was a major player in getting the plans through and making taxpayers dish out the dough.

I’m not a big fan of luxury, and I was pleased to see that the original stadium has nothing to do with luxury. Some paint is needed, the seats might need replacing and the locker room (the clubhouse or whatever) has slightly moldy ceilings. The row spacing speaks to a time when people were smaller, and a few people on the tour had to maneuver sideways up from the field. There were only 3 or 4 private boxes and they looked bombed out.

My favorite part of the tour was when my boss Jim got yelled at for touching the grass on the field. Another person from our party got down on her knees and smelled the grass, but she was promptly scolded as well. My other boss demonstrated his allegiance to the Yankee’s foes by depositing a small sticker of the Red Socks in monument park, which is as close to blasphemy as you can get.