The Yankees get a new stage
While for the most part I don't disagree with the author's negative appraisal of the new Yankee Stadium design -- what Steve Goldman calls "the shotgun wedding of new stadium and old exterior" -- I wonder if he's ever attended a ballgame at the "creaky old stadiums" he extols.
I have never been to Dodger Stadium (one of these days), and I haven't been to Fenway since they added the seats over the Green Monster. But I have been to Fenway, and while you cannot but love the intimacy of the place, I can tell you that adding the seats over the left field wall did nothing to improve on the dark and dank passageways, the suspicious restrooms, or the long lines for refreshments. I can pretty well assure you that it did not relieve the aching necks of people sitting in the bleachers who are facing first base, not home plate (at least that's my memory), or who find themselves sitting behind a support pole. I feel certain that while those new seats may be more appropriate for seating a 21st century American, the other seats in the park were made for people living in 1912.
Truth is, the Red Sox would bulldoze Fenway in a second if they had the real estate with which to build a new stadium in the fens. But they don't, unless the city of Boston decides to put a whole lot of apartment dwellers in the neighborhood out on the street. And moving the team outside of the city would be -- literally -- suicide for the owners of the team.
With dilapidated old Macombs Dam and John Mullaly Parks the Yankees have the space, and they and their fans deserve a better facility to watch the games. I'll miss the Yankee Stadium field, which is goosebump inducing when you walk out of its own dark concourse and see the green field and the packed house, and feel the history of what's taken place on that field since 1923.
But I won't miss the hulking grey "facade" that was so poorly renovated in 1973. The first time I got off the subway and saw the Stadium, I can't tell you how disappointed I was to find that the exterior of "the cathedral of baseball" looked like a parking garage.
I won't miss the shoving of 56,000 people trying to get out of the place which, if the Yankees happened to have lost, can be a menacing experience, and if they won, an experience that can wash away any joy you might have felt minutes (or should I say hours) earlier.
Yes, I would have preferred something more daring, something more illustrative of 21st century design, rather than a pale copy of something 100 years old, but the design was not unexpected and the new stadium nestled inside should make seeing a game that much more enjoyable an experience to watch the final years of the storied careers of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez (maybe even Jason Giambi).
The idea, of course, is to treat the past and the present with equal sensitivity, but the result is more suited to Las Vegas than to the Bronx. There are creaky old stadiums that have been renovated without losing their character. Think of Boston's Fenway Park, built in 1912, where additional seats were added on top of the famous Green Monster, or Dodger Stadium, which has been cleaned up but retains its aura of a 1960's-era ballpark.
I have never been to Dodger Stadium (one of these days), and I haven't been to Fenway since they added the seats over the Green Monster. But I have been to Fenway, and while you cannot but love the intimacy of the place, I can tell you that adding the seats over the left field wall did nothing to improve on the dark and dank passageways, the suspicious restrooms, or the long lines for refreshments. I can pretty well assure you that it did not relieve the aching necks of people sitting in the bleachers who are facing first base, not home plate (at least that's my memory), or who find themselves sitting behind a support pole. I feel certain that while those new seats may be more appropriate for seating a 21st century American, the other seats in the park were made for people living in 1912.
Truth is, the Red Sox would bulldoze Fenway in a second if they had the real estate with which to build a new stadium in the fens. But they don't, unless the city of Boston decides to put a whole lot of apartment dwellers in the neighborhood out on the street. And moving the team outside of the city would be -- literally -- suicide for the owners of the team.
With dilapidated old Macombs Dam and John Mullaly Parks the Yankees have the space, and they and their fans deserve a better facility to watch the games. I'll miss the Yankee Stadium field, which is goosebump inducing when you walk out of its own dark concourse and see the green field and the packed house, and feel the history of what's taken place on that field since 1923.
But I won't miss the hulking grey "facade" that was so poorly renovated in 1973. The first time I got off the subway and saw the Stadium, I can't tell you how disappointed I was to find that the exterior of "the cathedral of baseball" looked like a parking garage.
I won't miss the shoving of 56,000 people trying to get out of the place which, if the Yankees happened to have lost, can be a menacing experience, and if they won, an experience that can wash away any joy you might have felt minutes (or should I say hours) earlier.
Yes, I would have preferred something more daring, something more illustrative of 21st century design, rather than a pale copy of something 100 years old, but the design was not unexpected and the new stadium nestled inside should make seeing a game that much more enjoyable an experience to watch the final years of the storied careers of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez (maybe even Jason Giambi).
posted by John at 3:23 PM
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