‘Save Yankee Stadium? Babe’s Granddaughter Says “Yes”‘

With due respect to Jeffrey Becker’s call to give landmark status to the existing Yankee Stadium, as a life-long Yankee fan from the 1960s, the single biggest reason to not keep the stadium is the experience in the ballpark now [Letters, “Save Yankee Stadium? Babe’s Granddaughter Says ‘Yes,'” September 2, 2008].

In a word, it is horrible.

Walkways and aisles are far too narrow to circulate through comfortably and safely; exiting the stadium takes forever because of the lack of egress capacity; the outside spaces are not pleasant at all, and many of the field views are either blocked or partial. And I won’t go into the restrooms because there just aren’t enough facilities to accommodate patrons and not miss an inning.

By contrast, the newer stadiums across the country, of which I have visited and circulated through quite a few, offer views of the field even while traipsing along the food and beverage spines. Everything seems to be more capacious: wider (and yes, fewer) seats, more frequent concession stands, multiple entry points, and outside pedestrian spaces where fans can comfortably accumulate and meet.

While I will never forget my experiences of going into the old place — certainly, I can never forget my young daughters’ facial expression of wonderment and fright at the giant expanses there when they were about five years old — my advice to the hallowed fans of the hallowed Yankee stadium is this: get over this myth of keeping the stadium and forget the crumbling, unfixable relic that it became.

The Coliseum in Rome it is not; focus on the team. The new place will have a new experiential factor, both inside and outside of the stadium, which will pleasantly surprise all game-goers with more-than-ample recreational space.

When the Bombers win hopefully soon again, the newer generation will have a whole new set stadium stories to regale their next generations with.

STEVEN SCALICI

Staten Island, N.Y.