Out with the old

From the Wasington Post

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees and politicians broke ground Wednesday on a billion-dollar stadium project across the street from The House That Ruth Built.

In front of a huge rendering of the new Yankee Stadium, team owner George Steinbrenner, Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others, some wearing Yankees hard hats, plunged shovels into some loosened dirt.

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The existing stadium, though renovated in the 1970s, is the third-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, trailing only Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914).

The new stadium is expected to be ready for the 2009. A look at the graphics for the new park shows it to look much like the old stadium.

I've only been to Yankee Stadium once in my life.(I grew up on Long Island as a New York Met fan.) One thing I remember about the ballpark was its neighborhood. One didn't feel very safe there at night time. Unless things have changed in 28 years, that problem still exists.

All ballparks get torn down eventually. Wrigley and Fenway will meet the wrecking ball one day. When these parks are gone, so will be much of baseball history.

Hat tip- Below the Beltway
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