Societies simply should not be self destructing like this — taking out their greatest cultural icons and most magnificent athletic venues the way ours is about to. Yankee Stadium is America’s Coliseum and, to some extent, our Acropolis, a place of such significance that one would imagine Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would value it too much to take a wrecking ball to its 85-year-old walls. Yet in our culture, where bigger equals better, where “Money Talks” has become not just a movie, but a lifestyle, it is all too easy to demolish our Coliseum for its fat, shiny replica across the street for the sake of luxury suites and wider concourses. We are losing history here and it cannot be replicated, it cannot be moved; A House That George Built will never be mistaken for the House That Ruth Built.
It was from Yankee Stadium that dignity was first broadcast over the radio: Lou Gehrig, stricken with a disease which would lead to his death within two years time, was prodded by his teammates into a farewell speech in front of 61,000-plus fans. The baseball icon announced himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth” simply for the chance to associate with the men who he called teammates, for earning the respect of his rivals and receiving the love of his parents and wife. The Iron Horse was not only bidding a farewell to his beloved audience, but setting the stage for great things to come on the corner of East 161st Street and River Avenue.
Yankee Stadium turned into more than just the Cathedral of Baseball, but a symbol of America during its time. Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and most recently Benedict XVI gave mass at the stadium; Alan Ameche brought American football into the national spotlight with its first overtime game in the Giants-Colts 1958 Championship game; American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling took politics into the boxing ring in the months leading up to World War II; President Bush threw a strike to home during the World Series in the aftermath of 9/11. Even with all of this history, America’s Coliseum — the stadium that belongs to all Yankees — is only months away from a demolition and destruction which will go beyond the scope of baseball and cut into the fabric of our culture.
But if, alas, after 85 years the fate of the stadium is truly sealed, its glory will always be preserved though our memories, our tales and, thankfully, ESPN Classic. The ghosts that swoop through those achy corridors, the streams of sun that shine out into left field over the top tier and the echos of so many childhood heroes will all be gone soon, irreplaceable and lost, once the machinery goes to work on those sacred walls. It is only a shame they couldn’t tear down Fenway first.