The House That Ruth Built

Gate 4 (home plate) entrance to Yankee Stadium, Sep-2007.

A view from the top of the left-field grandstand, Aug-2008.

The classic view from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium includes the Bronx County Courthouse.

Chronological Tour: Stop 2

• Location: 161 Street & River Avenue, Bronx, N.Y.
• Opened: 1923 (renovated 1976)
• Closed: 2008
• Demolished: 2010
• Home team: New York Yankees, American League (1923-73, 1976-2008); New York Yankees, American Football League (1926), National Football League (1927-28); New York Yankees, American Football League (1936-37); New York Yankees (1940), Americans (1941), American Football League; New York Yankees, All-America Football Conference (1946-49), New York Yanks, National Football League (1950-51); New York Giants, National Football League (1956-73); Army Black Knights (off-site games, 1925-69); New York Skyliners, United Soccer Association (1967-68); New York Generals, National Pro Soccer Association (1967), North American Soccer League (1968); New York Cosmos, North American Soccer League (1971, 1976)
• Capacity: 57,545

Rating: 4 baseballs

This is still the House That Ruth Built, the outfield Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle roamed, the pitcher’s mound where Don Larsen fired a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against Brooklyn.

The exhaust tower shaped like a Louisville Slugger in front of gate 4, Aug-1992.

However, several other features were altered, including a significant shortening of the outfield fence (it’s been shortened more since), and moving the flag pole and monuments from in play 467 feet from the plate in dead center to an area behind the fence in left-center. Upon seeing the revamped park for the first time, former shortstop Phil Rizzuto remarked, “The bullpen used to be in the bullpen.” Both wound up behind Monument Park, in the old power alley. Last, but not least for many fans, the old ornamental frieze was eliminated, with an ersatz one put in place only in the outfield.

Still, there was something about visiting the Big Ballyard in the Bronx, home of the most successful franchise in the majors, a club that won the World Series 26 times during its 84-season tenure at this venerable park.

A plan to build a new Yankee Stadium in nearby Macombs Dam Park was postponed in early 2002 by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg in the wake of a budget crisis resulting partly from expenses relating to the 11-Sep-2001 terrorist attacks. However, the new park was approved in 2005; ground broke in 2006 in the city park, across 161 Street from the current facility. The new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009.