POLL: Old Yankee Stadium

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I got to thinking of this when I was watching the DVD I just bought (Yankee Stadium: Baseball's Cathedral). It's about the extremely thorough renovation the place went through from '74 to '76. And I do mean extreme. They showed pictures of what it looked like while this was going on. Pretty much the entire structure was gutted. People think of the renovation and they are like "Oh, that's when they took down the frieze", but it was a lot more than that. It wasn't even the same field anymore (they moved it down about six feet).

I used to be sorta on the fence about this but now I'm firmly convinced that after the renovations, it was not the same stadium. The original stadium, built in 1923, I consider to be Yankee Stadium I; after the renovation, Yankee Stadium II. (And of course the brand new one would be Yankee Stadium III.)

Here's my question: Do you consider the post-renovation (1976) Yankee Stadium to be the same stadium, or a completely different building?

Note that I'm not trying to turn this into a knock-down-drag-out over whether Yankee Stadium III is a good stadium, or whether II needed to be replaced, or whatever. I'm just curious about the renovations and what you all think - do you think II is literally a different stadium from I, as I do?

 

[Mallory]

I consider it to be the same ballpark as the original. True, they did do a lot to it, but they essentially ended up with pretty much the same field in the same place. I went there both before and after the renovation and while things were much better post-renovation I never felt like I wasn't in the original Yankee Stadium.

 

[scottydog]

I dunno. Is Michael Jackson still Michael Jackson after all his face surgeries? Yes, it's still him, but not recognizable. So this is a tough call.

 

[BRG]

I would consider it the same ballpark.

My home town soccer team have played at Rugby Park since 1899. The ground has evoled cosiderably over the years, including two major redevelopements in the 60's and 90's. No part of the original stadium remains, yet everybody in the town, and in football, all regard it as the same venue.
This is the same with many great clubs in Britain, including Manchester Utd, Liverpool, Celtic, and Rangers.

It may have been a virtual total rebuild, but in my opinion, it was still the same Yankee Stadium.
BRG