Breaking ground in the Bronx

Mark your calendars for April 2009. That’s when the new Yankee Stadium is scheduled to open.

Ground was broken a short time ago on the new ballpark in the Bronx. Ironically, we were just talking about the new stadium at dinner last night. My mom and Kris didn’t realize a new stadium was being built and we were saying that we’ll want to make sure we go one more time before the old ballpark closes. At the time I didn’t realize the ground breaking would be this morning.

I’m slowly warming up to the idea of a New Yankee Stadium. Don’t get me wrong…the House That Ruth Built is one of my favorite places on Earth. Once your sitting in your seat and taking in the view of that field you can feel the history and the magic. However, that said, the rest of the stadium on the outside is a tad on the ugly side.

So while a new stadium will be very nice, the really sad part will be seeing the old ballpark destroyed. I had always hoped that somehow, even though the team would be playing in a new stadium across the street, the original baseball cathedral could somehow be preserved. But now I’ve read that the plan is to demolish the old stadium that was first built in 1923.

Apparently the plan is to place three baseball fields in the space occupied by the current stadium. Hopefully one of those fields will actually be the original field that’s there now. Maybe they can tear down the building around it, but leave the grass, the pitcher’s mound and the base path where so many legends have played the game.