It’s not enough to say that when Yankee Stadium closed this year it was the end of an era. It was the end of history as we know it. It was the House the Ruth Built, the home of the 26 World Champion winning Bronx bombers and it really should have gone out in a blaze of post-season glory. But it was not to be.

The cathedral of baseball was built in 1922-23 after John McGraw, the owner of the New York Giants, kicked the Yankees out of the Polo Grounds. The relationship between the teams began deteriorating when the Yankees added Babe Ruth to their roster and the tenants started eclipsing the owners of the ball field. In 1920 Yankee attendance doubled to 1,289,422, 100,000 more than the Giants. Yankee co-owners Jacob Ruppert and TillinghastHuston set out to build a spectacular ballpark of their own, baseball’s first three-tiered structure. With an advertised capacity of 70,000, it would also be the first to be labeled a “stadium.”

Babe Ruth hit most of his 714 home runs here. Roger Maris hit his 61st here in 1961. Reggie Jackson went deep three times in one World Series game here to become Mr. October, and Derek Jeter homered here in November. And those are just a sampling of the great baseball moments that took place in Yankee Stadium:

• In 1939, the Yankees became the first team to retire a uniform number. That was the day Lou Gehrig gave his famous speech. You know the one: It begins “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth …”
• It was the site of the infamous Pine Tar Game, which began here on on July 24, but finished on August 18.
• Baseball’s first televised World Series was played here in 1947 where the Yankees met crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Yankee pitcher Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game of the of the post-season here on on October 8, 1956, game 5 of the 1956 World Series. There have only been 17 such games in Major League history and Yankee Stadium has hosted three of them. Forty-two years after Larsen’s feat, David Wells, who went to the same high school as Larsen in San Diego, would pitch a perfect game of his own at the stadium. And with Larsen and his perfect game pitcher Yogi Berra on hand to celebrate Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium, David Cone went out and pitched the 16th perfect game in major league history.

And it doesn’t end with baseball. Thirty championship fights have been fought at the Stadium, perhaps none more memorable than the one for the heavyweight title between Joe Louis and Germany’s Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938. In their first match in 1936, Schmeling defeated Louis, a win that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler used to propagandize Aryan superiority. Two years later, they met again at Yankee Stadium. This time, Louis, now the heavyweight champ, avenged his defeat with a first-round knockout.

The stadium also played host to two of football’s greatest games. On November 12, 1928, with Notre Dame and Army locked in a scoreless game at halftime, Knute Rockne made his famous “win one for the Gipper” pep talk and the Fighting Irish went out and beat the Cadets, 12-6.

And, on December 28, 1958, the New York football Giants hosted “the greatest game ever played” at Yankee Stadium. With the NFL championship at stake, a crowd of 64,185 watched the Baltimore Colts tie the game 17-17. Eight minutes into professional football’s first-ever sudden-death overtime period, the Colts’ Alan Ameche crashed through from the one yard line, ending the contest.

On October 4, 1965 with the Yankees out of the World Series for only the third time in 17 years the Stadium hosted an event of worldwide significance. During the first visit to North America by a Pope, Paul VI celebrated mass before a crowd in excess of 80,000. Fourteen years later, John Paul II also made Yankee Stadium a stop on his tour of the United States.

But Yankee stadium isn’t the only abandoned sports venue where history happened. Here’s a look at 10 more.

Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium
The former home of the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves was once known as the home of baseball’s worst playing surface. The ballpark didn’t even have a full-time groundskeeper until 1989 when Bobby Cox became manager. The old infield was ripped out and the entire stadium was resurfaced. Soon after, the NFL Falcons moved out, leaving the sod safe from damage by football cleats.

Known as the launching pad for the many home runs hit there, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was the highest park in the majors until the Colorado Rockies entered the major leagues and began playing at Mile High Stadium.

On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron became baseball’s all-time career home run leader here by hitting his 715th home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing. Three statues outside the stadium honor Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Phil Niekro.

The stadium’s final event was Game 5 of the 1996 World Series; Andy Pettite of the New York Yankees closed down the stadium with a 1-0 shutout over John Smoltz of the Braves. Luis Polonia, made the final out in stadium history. via flickr

Comiskey Park
The fourth concrete and steel stadium in major league baseball was known as the Palace of Baseball when it was built in 1910.

The first-ever All-Star Game was held there in 1933; Comiskey went on to host three more All Star games. Comiskey Park was also the site of four World Series.

• In 1917, the Chicago White Sox won games 1, 2 and 5 at Comiskey Park and went on to defeat the New York Giants. It was the last Championship for the White Sox for 88 years.
• In 1918 Comiskey Park hosted the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs, who borrowed the stadium for the series to take advantage of its larger seating capacity.
• In 1919 the White Sox lost the infamous “Black Sox” World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, five games to three in a nine-game series. Games three, four, five and eight were played at Comiskey Park.
• In 1959 the White Sox lost four games to two to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Games one, two and six were played at Comiskey Park.

Comiskey was known for the creative landscaping work of its groundskeepers. “Camp Swampy” referred to the area in front of home plate that was dug up and soaked with water when White Sox sinkerball pitchers were on the mound. But the dirt was mixed with clay and gasoline and burned to provide hard soil if a sinkerballer was pitching for the visiting team.

Opposing team bullpen mounds were lowered or raised from the standard 10-inch height to upset visiting pitchers rhythm. Under Eddie Stanky, the grass in front of shortstop was cut long because the Sox shortstop had limited range, but at second base the grass was cut short because the Sox second baseman had good range. via wikipedia

Ebbets Field
The home of “Dem Bums,” the Brooklyn Dodgers, featured an 80-foot rotunda made of Italian marble with a floor tiled to look like a baseball and a chandelier with 12 baseball-bat arms holding 12 globes shaped like baseballs.

Major League Baseball’s first televised games were held here om August 26, 1939; the Dodgers split the double header with the Cincinnati Reds.

The park opened on April 9, 1913, with double-deck seating from third base, around home plate, and all the way down the right side. There was an open, concrete bleacher extending the rest of the way down the left side to the outer wall. There was no seating in left or center. Known as the bandbox or the cigar box because of its small dimensions,

The Dodgers won pennants in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. But as the team’s fan base grew, it grew increasingly apparent that the field couldn’t accommodate them. For one thing, there was no parking for suburban fans from Long Island, although the field was conveniently located near a subway stop. Team owner Walter O’Malley lobbied to build a domed structure in downtown Brooklyn. But City Building Commissioner Robert Moses wanted to build a stadium in Flushing Meadows, in Queens–the site of the current Shea Stadium. O’Malley refused to consider Moses’ position, and Moses refused O’Malley’s.

The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California, after the 1957 season. The stadium was demolished in 1960 with the same wrecking ball that was used to demolish the Polo Grounds–home of the then-New York Giants, who had also defected to the West Coast. via flickr

Forbes Field

The home the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Steelers, Forbes Field was the nation’s first ballpark made completely of poured concrete and steel. The field, which opened in 1909 and closed 62 years later upon the completion of Three Rivers Stadium, also became one of the first ballparks to have luxury suites; the first to have ramps to take people to their seats and elevators to take patrons to the third level.

The University of Pittsburgh bought Forbes Field for $2 million in November 1958. The Steelers played their final game at Forbes Field on December 1, 1963; the team opted to use the University’s much larger Pitt Stadium. The Pirates played their last game at Forbes Field on June 28, 1970. The field is now the site of a University of Pittsburgh library and dorms. Home plate remains on display in its final location. Via wikipedia

Foxboro Stadium
The home of the New England Patriots was known as the worst stadium in the NFL. It was built in September 1970 for $7.1 million with no funding from the state of Massachusetts or the city of Boston. Because of this, Foxboro had virtually no amenities: No club seats, luxury suites or deluxe locker rooms for the teams. It also only had about 60,000 seats, among the lowest in the league.

Foxboro opened in 1971 as Schaefer Stadium, was renamed Sullivan Stadium in 1983 and became Foxboro in 1989. Foxboro Stadium hosted the 1994 World Cup Soccer Championship. The last game at Foxboro Stadium took place on January 19, 2002. The stadium was demolished in the spring of 2002. The Patriots moved into Gillette Stadium the next year. via wikipedia

Gator Bowl Stadium

Built more than 70 years ago with a seating capacity of 7,600, the Gator Bowl, originally called Fairfield Stadium, was constructed for Jacksonville’s three new high schools - Lee, Jackson and Landon. The stadium emerged into the national spotlight with the first Gator Bowl in 1946. The stadium was expanded in 1948 to 16,000 seats and renamed the Gator Bowl. The stadium also hosted the annual Georgia/Florida college football game, known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

One of the most famous events held at the stadium is unrelated to sports, however. The Beatles played at the Gator Bowl on September 11, 1964, shortly after the city was struck by Hurricane Dora. The concert almost didn’t happen–not because of the weather but because the band had announced that they wouldn’t play for a segregated audience.

“We will not appear unless Negroes are allowed to sit anywhere, announced The Beatles in a press statement on September 6, 1964. Halfway through a 23-city US tour? their first? the group was looking ahead to a date in Jacksonville, Florida, where they`d heard that blacks were confined to the balconies or upper tiers at public events such as concerts.

The next day, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville’s daily paper, ran a disparaging editorial entitled Beatlemania Is A Mark Of A Frenetic Era. The group was called a passing fad, whose appearance on the scene was perfectly timed and fitted to the mores, morals and ideals of a fast-paced, troubled time. Their sound was described as high-pitch monotone. There was no mention of segregation, but it was clear that those in the news media hardly considered these hirsute scourges of Liverpool intelligent enough to comment on social issues. By today’s standards, their pronouncement was taken about as seriously as N`Sync`s Lance Bass saying he wanted to join the space program.

In the end, the concert went off as planned.

The Gator Bowl was demolished in 2004 to make way for Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. via wikipedia

Mile High Stadium
Mile High’s history goes back to 1948, when private funds were used to build a stadium for the Denver Bears, a minor league baseball team and the local football team. A hill at 19th and Clay Street was built of mainly bleachers. By the time Denver’s football team became part of the AFL, the 17,000-seat Bears Stadium, as it was then called, was too small and the stadium’s seating capactity was increased to nearly 34,000 to satisfy the Broncos. By the late 1960s, seating capacity was increased even further to accommodate more than 50,000 spectators.

Minor League Baseball teams moved in and out Mile High Stadium throughout its existence but it took 30 years before Denver got a major league baseball franchise. On the 1993 Opening Day for the Colorado Rockies, the club drew 80,227 fans, a record for single game.

The last Rockies game at Mile High Stadium was on August 7, 1994. The Denver Broncos continued to play at Mile High Stadium until the end of the 2000 NFL season. The stadium was demolished during the winter of 2002. via wikipedia

Orange Bowl Stadium
Orange Bowl stadium opened in December 1937 with a seating capacity 74,476 as the home of the Miami Hurricanes, the football team of the University of Miami.

The Orange Bowl was the site of the NCAA?s longest college football winning streak. Between 1985 and 1994, the Hurricanes won 58 straight home games. The Miami Dolphins also set an NFL record for most consecutive home games won at the Orange Bowl, 31. The Orange Bowl has played a part of 16 National championships - including three University of Miami National Championships ? five Super Bowls and the 1972 Miami Dolphins Perfect Season.

The stadium also was the site of President Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis Speech.

The President went to the Orange Bowl with Jackie, who made a speech in Spanish hailing the bravery of the members of the brigade. Kennedy was so overwhelmed with emotion when he was pressented with the rebel flag from the Bay of Pigs that he declared in his address that “this flag will be returned to this brigade in a free Havana.”

Diplomatically, it was the worst possible gesture that a President of the United States could have made at that time, but, as Bobby expected, it did John F. Kennedy a lot of internal good.

The stadium was demolished this year to make way for a baseball-dedicated park for the Florida Marlins. The Hurricanes have moved to Dolphins Stadium.

Polo Grounds
There have been four ballparks known as the Polo Grounds dating back to the 1800s. The first opened in 1883 on a site just north of Central Park. The city of New York evicted the Giants in 1889 and the team moved uptown to a ballpark between 155th and 157th streets, on the southern parcel of Coogan’s Hollow. Although that park had previously been known as Manhattan Field, it was now called the New Polo Grounds.

After the Players League collapsed in 1891, the Giants moved into Brotherhood Park and changed the name to the Polo Grounds. This third incarnation burned down on April 14, 1911 and a fourth version was built on the same site with temporary stands for 1911. The infield stands were rebuilt with concrete for 1912, and the outfield concrete double deck was finished in 1922.

The New York Yankees shared the field with the Giants from 1913 until 1922 when Giants owner John McGraw evicted the team because they were drawing more fans than his team, thanks to the home run hitting prowess of one Babe Ruth. The park was a pull hitter’s paradise with short lines to the foul poles, 279 feet to left and 258 feet to right. It was, however, a long 505-foot shot to straightaway center, which enabled the team to plant a large flowerbed in center field.

The Mets moved into the park after the Giants departed for the West Coast in 1957. The new expansion team played at the Polo Grounds until Shea Stadium opened in 1964. via flickr

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 5:53 am and is filed under Mixed Bag. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.