Pinstripe Perspectives: From the House that Ruth Built to the House that George Built

Hey Yankee fans, what’s goin’ on? First off I’d like to thank my buddy Justin for inviting me to contribute to his blog. Much like you all, I can’t wait until we bring home #27, and show the world where the Yankees belong.

I’ve been a Yankee fan for as long as I can remember, being that it’s a family tradition. For my first post, I’m going to talk about the New Yankee Stadium. The new “state of the art” stadium has been a point of debate among the Yankees community for years. Some people love the prospect of a brand new facility, where others are traditionalists who see the end of the current stadium as sacrilege. I find myself in agreement with the later. "This new stadium will present new comforts, new features and be state-of-the-art in every way," Yankees president Randy Levine said. "It will be the most spectacular fan-friendly stadium ever built." As a hardcore Yankee fan, I find it hilarious that members of the Yankees’ front office like Levine claim that the new stadium is “fan-friendly.” In my opinion, there are two crucial points that contradict Levine’s statement. For one, the new stadium will hold 51,000. This is a problem for me, because the new stadium will hold 6,000 less people than the current stadium. Second, the new stadium will house 42 more luxury boxes. Now, does that sound like the front office is building the stadium for fans? If they were doing it for the fans, they would build more seats! It’s hard enough as it is to get single game tickets, and it’ll be much worse next year. If you ask me, the fact that there will be 42 more luxury boxes is reason enough that the new stadium is being built primarily for financial reasons. There are some other amenities in addition to the luxury boxes, including a museum, a sports bar, a steakhouse, and a martini bar. It’s definitely necessary to have a museum considering the rich history of the organization. Overall I can’t say I’m sold on the idea of a new stadium. I’ve heard the argument that the current stadium needs a renovation, and personally I don’t buy it. In my opinion, the new stadium is a pure money making scheme. Steinbrenner’s been trying to get a new stadium built since the 80’s, and he finally succeeded. Big Stein’s going to make even more money off the Yankee fan base because of the decrease in supply, and obvious increase in demand of seats. Yankee Stadium was opened in 1923, and saw a ridiculous amount of baseball history. It’s housed a team that has won 26 World Series Championships, and even more pennants. There have been countless Hall of Fame players that have played on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, and it will be a very sad day when the Yankees play their last game in this historic ballpark. The Yankees organization is moving from the House that Ruth Built, to the House that George Built, and not for good reasons. Thoughts?