Yankee Stadium Demolition - 05/05/10

I was out at the Yankee game today (pitiful Orioles pitching...) and took some photos of the Old Yankee Stadium demolition site. At this point, here really isn't very much left. Just one small portion of the exterior wall is still standing (gate 6). The debris field is still quite large with many grapplers cleaning up the mess. The last piece of outer wall has been like this for about a week. My assumption is that the demolition crew is waiting until after the Yankee homestand is over to pull it down. With today's 7-5 win, the homestand is over, so the last piece of the old park probably doesn't have too many days left.

I've uploaded nearly 30 photos and 2 videos to StadiumPage.com today. You can get them through the main site or directly through THIS LINK.

Yankee Stadium (1923) - Exterior Ornamentation

Yankee Stadium - Gate 2

One of the cool features of the recently departed original Yankee Stadium (the last piece is set to fall within days) was the exterior ornamentation. While alot of the details were lost in the 70's renovation, some of them were kept on the old Gate 2 entrance.



Here is a closeup of the "balcony". I don't know how it worked in the original stadium, but after the 70's renovation, there was really nothing behind it. It wasn't like there were offices or a room behind it. I believe it was always just for decoration. If you look closely at the three "seals", the two on the left and right feature a pair of baseballs, while the center seal features a "primative" version of the Yankees' interlocking NY logo.



In a recent visit to the NYC Times Square ESPN Zone restaurant, I noticed the above on display. It is an original seal, probably from gate 4 or 6 that was saved during the 70's renovations. I assume they were colored like this prior to the renovation, but painted grey in the 70's. During the recent demolition, the balconies and the seals were saved, so you may see them show up in the new Stadium's museum or even Cooperstown.




Another interesting exterior feature of the old Stadium was the "Eagle Seals". Originally, there were two of these stationed at gates 2, 4, and 6. Like the balconies, these were removed during the 70's renovation. Two of the eagles were saved, refurbished and posted above the press/club entrance that was just to the left of the post-renovation gate 4.

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