It's a well known fact that parking at Yankee stadium sucks. Hey, I've been through it. What I wouldn't give for a solution...
Wait, no, that seems to be the problem. I won't give enough for the solution. Because according to George Steinnbrenner, the solution to all his problems is to move the Yanks to Manhattan. For those of you who tend to agree with him, bear with me for a minute...
Imagine going to Yankee stadium after the move, if it's even called that. Yeah, if it's even called that. Steinnbrenner Stadium is only slightly worse than some of the other names: Bank One Ballpark, Pro-Player Stadium. Anyway...
The plaques and monuments will have been lifted across the city many years before, the stadium will be shiny and new. There will be a marked spot where the first homerun was hit (a veteran Derek Jeter or perhaps a slugging new rookie?). Despite the fact the stadium was opened only a few years before, there will be trash litering the place, and beer soaking the pinstripe-blue seats.
Well, you say, think of what we'll get in return. You've got the slightly better parking, the luxury boxes, and the fact that it's in a better part of town. Luxury boxes and increased seats are all great--hey, more for us in October. But when the World Series rolls around, the tickets won't go to us. Think about it, better stadium = more money. More money- more sponsors. More spnsors- more postseason tickets to give away.
What about the field itself? It'll be all modern, not traditional, which is grotesque in and of itself. Then there's the fact that the fences will undoubtably be brought in, encouraging a swing-for-the-stars ideal that the Yankees of today despise. Who knows what this ballpark will contain? Probably a dome- maybe even astroturf!
Many baseball fans are proud to admit, that growing up, they held the monuments then placed in deep centerfield in awe. Some imagined that was where Babe, Gehrig, and Huggins were buried, while others would swear they saw those ghosts. When you walk through Monument Park, you tread the same field as your mothers and fathers did decades ago.
When you think of the pros and cons, all you come up with today is the horrid influence of money and greed on baseball. We'll be without the tradition and the memories which inspire the yankees today, without the glory and pride that drives a rookie, knowing they're gracing the same field as the American legends, Ruth and Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio.
And I'm sure I don't need to tell you, nothing can fix New York's parking.
And think of what we'd have to give up. The old stadium itself, of course. Let's see, shall we let another team use it? Shall we drive by it and see the signs taken down, the dates of the championship years which now adorn the side of the biulding painted over? Maybe it'll be just torn down. Yankee stadium torn down. And in my mind, there was and is and will be only one Yankee Stadium.
So come on, people! Let's band together. Thousands upon thousands of loyal Yankee fans writing in protest, pleading with dear old Steinny to leave us where we are. If we get rid of the stadium, we get rid of the Babe, and with him his curse. The motivation will no longer be there, the tradition upon which a Yankee fan's love is based. And come on, guys! We can't let the Red Sox outlast us!
When I first came to Yankee stadium, my dad, who has been a fan since he was a kid, took care to point out what made the stadium what it is. He pointed to the rightfield bleachers, "that's where the stadium's first home run landed, hit by the great Babe Ruth". He gestured to the outfield. "That's where Mantle and DiMaggio used to play. They say that Joltin' Joe was the most classy man to ever grace the field."
I want to be able to say, "Children, over there is where Babe Ruth lay after his death, for a thousand or more fans to shuffle past and see for the last time." Yet it will be impossible. In less than ten years, we will no longer be able to glance around our beloved stadium, and turn to our children and say, "Here is where Lou Gehrig said his final goodbye."