Emma Span writes her Opening Day swan song to the New York stadiums in the New York Press today. While the media has been pouring on the nostalgia this month, Span’s piece brings a fan perspective to the teary-eyed good byes to Yankee and Shea Stadium.
Remember Yankee Stadium history
Nostalgia reigns supreme in the Daily News these days. This Sunday’s paper saw the second part of their magazine honoring Yankee Stadium history, and they now have a special Yankee Stadium tribute page set up on their website. I like the old photos best.
More about this stupid T-shirt “curse”
Most fans felt the story of the Red Sox shirt embedded in the concrete slab of the visitor’s clubhouse at the New Stadium was just a laughable “exclusive” by the Post that was a few days late for April’s Fools. Turns out the Yankees weren’t taking any chances:
It took about five hours, but the Red Sox jersey that was embedded in the concrete of the Yankees’ new stadium to place a curse on the New York franchise has been unearthed with jackhammers, according to a published report.
…
“They absolutely pinpointed that if it was in the ground, that’s where it was,” Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion told the newspaper.
As always, Hank Hal Steinbrenner provided the money quote: “I hope his co-workers kick the [expletive] out of him.” Hank’s great when he isn’t talking about making trades and stuff, isn’t he? Hal just earned all sorts of street cred in my book. Sox fans did what they do best, the turned the story into another patently lame T-shirt. Where’s the “David Ortiz is hitting 0.70-.231-.140 and Francona still has him batting third” swag?
ZOMG Yankee Stadium is teh cursed!!11!eleven!
When I walked past a newsstand on the way to the subway this morning, my eye fell upon the cover of today’s Post. “Buried shirt puts Sox pox on new stadium,” it read.
When I got in to work and had a chance to read this article, I had to stop for a second and ask myself if the Post was joking. Labeled an EXCLUSIVE, Alexander Hamilton’s one-time great newspaper was trying to sell this story as real news:
A devilish Boston fan working on a concrete crew at the $1.3 billion stadium covertly buried a Red Sox T-shirt under what will become the visiting team’s locker room to jinx the Yanks, two construction workers told The Post yesterday.
“In August, a Red Sox T-shirt was poured in a slab in the visitor’s clubhouse. It’s the curse of the Yankees,” one worker said. “Nobody knows about it. It’s in the floors, it’s buried.”The workers say they now fear that they unwittingly helped hex their beloved Bronx Bombers. “I don’t want to be responsible for sinking the franchise,” said a second worker, who witnessed the sabotage. “I respect the stadium.”
Really, The Post? Is this the best you could come up with? Is this even true?
Meanwhile, the rest of the article is filled with equally idiotic statements. “Look at the curse of A-Rod. The Yankees haven’t won since [Alex Rodriguez] came to their game. There’s probably more to that than a T-shirt,” Peter Nash, author of a history of Red Sox fans, said. Well, the Yankees haven’t won since Denny Neagle was on the team either but no one’s talking about the Curse of Denny Neagle. Give me a break.
Howard Rubenstein said it best though: “It sounds like a tall tale, and it would take more than a Red Sox T-shirt to put a curse on the Yankees.”
And somewhere Alexander Hamilton rolled over in his grave.
Scenes from a topped Stadium
In my Inbox yesterday morning were more scenes from inside the new Yankee Stadium construction zone. These shorts, courtesy of again to reader Paul V., show some scenes from inside the construction site, and they show the final piece of the façade on the way up.
The photos, all taken by Robert Barkovitz, show the Stadium going up. You can view a slideshow below or check them out here at my flickr site. Some highlights:
- Above, the final piece of the façade, decorated with the Union flag, the U.S. flag and the Yankee flag, rests on the ground before making the trip up to the top of the stadium.
- That final piece if laid into place.
- The view inside shows that the Stadium has a long way to go yet.
- No seats yet on the lower level.
- The view around the seating bowl looks pretty nifty.
Thanks again to Robert Barkovitz for this final set of photos from inside the new stadium, and we’ll have construction shots all summer long. The slide show is below.
What price Yankee Stadium beer
A friend of mine — one of those midwest transplants who move to New York — finally made the trip to Yankee Stadium after a few years spent living in the city. As I was reading his account of the trip, I came across the typical beer rant. Beer is too much at Yankee Stadium, he opines.
But the accompanying picture got me thinking: Is beer really that expensive in the Bronx?
That’s the sign from the Stadium. A 24-ounce Heineken costs $12.50. That’s expensive, right? Who wants to pay $12.50 for a beer? Well, in reality, you’re paying $12.50 for two beers. A bottle of Heineken contains 12 ounces of beer. So one giant Yankee Stadium beer contains two bottles of beer.
I know I’ve been to bars in New York City where bottles of Heikenen can run $5 or $6. Sure, that’s expensive, but that means Yankee Stadium’s $6.25 bottles of beer aren’t that outrageously priced.
Walking around the streets of New York, you’d be hard-pressed to find $4.50 hot dogs. You can’t buy Cracker Jacks at Yankee Stadium prices anywhere else, and the peanuts you can find in the city are better and cheaper than the ones they sell at the Stadium. But the beer, well, that’s not that much more expensive than other places that sell Heikenen at marked-up prices.
A Stadium grows in the Bronx
As many of you know, I love charting the progress of the new Yankee Stadium through photos. While my first trip up to the Bronx this spring isn’t until Sunday and I haven’t made it up in person since late December, we live in a Web 2.0 world. So let’s head to flickr for some peaks inside the new stadium.
We begin our journey looking east down 161st St. as the new stadium rises above the subway tracks. As we’ve seen before, the new stadium will be a stone’s toss away from the downtown platform of the 4 train, but that first shot really captures of the effect of the stadium rising above everything else.
From inside the current Yankee Stadium, it’s hard to miss construction going on just beyond the outfield walls. But the best views are from that downtown 4 train. Ride the train south from 167th St., and spy the inside of the new stadium and all the construction inside the seating bowl. The field itself won’t be completed until shortly before Opening Day 2009.
Next week, I’ll probably have a whole slew of new photos to toss up for you. While some of us bemoan the new stadium and others await it with eager anticipation, it’s pretty neat watching this thing go up.
The photo above by flickr user 94Aug.
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