When it opened, 74 springs ago at River Avenue and 161st Street in the Bronx, it was The House That Ruth Built. It has since become America's most famous stadium.
This spring, as the New York Yankees fly their first new World Series flag in 18 years, the question is: Will Yankee Stadium soon become The House That George Left?
Owner George Steinbrenner asserts that parking, access and crime make the city-owned stadium an unacceptable home for his team after its lease runs out in 2002.
Steinbrenner won't discuss publicly where he would like the Yankees to play, but he has done nothing to squelch debate over potential sites at New Jersey's Meadowlands complex and Manhattan's West Side. A study commissioned by the city, state and team last year said a multipurpose stadium with a retractable dome, built over Manhattan's rail yards between 30th and 34th streets, would cost at least $1 billion.
In the months after Yankee third baseman Charlie Hayes gloved the foul ball that clinched the World Series on Oct. 26, it was widely expected that Steinbrenner and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani--a lifelong Yankees fan--would use the championship afterglow to settle the stadium issue.
But with Giuliani seeking re-election 'How can you imagine tearing down a shrine to baseball like The House That Ruth Built . . . ?' and polls indicating a Manhattan stadium is unpopular with voters, the mayor and owner are keeping quiet on the team's future.
The result has been a stadium debate without any input from those with the power to make decisions. If negotiations are going on, nobody involved is talking.
There is little danger the team will actually leave Yankee Stadium in 2002, given the litigation that would probably surround any stadium project. But the prospect of the Bronx Bombers--the team of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle--moving to Manhattan or the swamps of Jersey is a nightmare for many fans.
"How can you imagine tearing down a shrine to baseball like The House That Ruth Built, and converting it to another use?" Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer asked at a recent forum on the stadium's future at the Hofstra University School of Law.
The Cleveland Browns' move to Baltimore last year showed once and for all that tradition and fan support will not keep today's sports franchises from moving to take advantage of a lucrative stadium deal. But Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist, who writes on the business of baseball, argues that a Yankees move to New Jersey would make less sense than Browns owner Art Modell's decision to abandon decrepit Municipal Stadium.
