A New & Last Season for NY Ballparks (NY Times)

From a Special Opening Day Section in The New York Times:

Remembrances & more: The New York Times and its sports columnists share their experiences accumulated from the playing field of Yankee Stadium to the locker rooms at Shea

Ballparks Come, Ballparks Go, the Memories Are Forever
By George Vescey
March 30, 2008

"My father played hooky to attend the first game in Yankee Stadium. I always think of him when I see pictures of the raw new ballpark in the Bronx".

"....Now both teams are putting up new ballparks, with fewer seats and higher prices. Our tax money is paying for infrastructure for stadiums where fewer of us can afford to go. I don’t claim to get it...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30vecsey.html

Deep Inside the Big Ballyard in the Bronx
By Tyler Kepner
Published: March 30, 2008

“Babe Ruth stood at home plate,” Goose Gossage said. “The new stadium’s going to be spectacular in all ways, but it’s going to be different. I don’t care any way you look at it, it’s not home plate.”

The Yankees will re-create the exterior of the original Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923, when they christen the new version next spring. They will bring back the famous frieze, and the field dimensions will be the same as today.

But the nooks will be different, the sense of place skewed. There are doodles and quirks and alcoves that will be lost to memory. Savor them now, because soon they will be gone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30stadium.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin


So long Shea: "It's a dump. But it's our dump"
By Ben Shpigel
Published: March 30, 2008

“It’s dilapidated and obsolete, sure, but I could say the same thing about the apartment where I grew up, in Bayside, Queens,” said Howie Rose, the Mets’ play-by-play broadcaster on WFAN. “That apartment was home. My memories there are happy, warm and indelible, just like they are from Shea. To me, Shea is home.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30shea.html?ref=baseball


The Spirits of Yankee Legends Permeate a Locker Room
By Joe Lapointe
Published: March 30, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/30lockers.html?ref=baseball


You Can’t Just Blow Up History
By Richard Sandomir
Published: March 30, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30apart.html?ref=baseball


Looking Out My Window Into the Past and the Future
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: March 30, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30rhoden.html?ref=baseball


From Reggie to Chub: One Last Roll Call
By DAVE ANDERSON
Published: March 30, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/sports/baseball/30anderson.html?ref=baseball