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The opening day of the original Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923 Babe Ruth at first game in New York City’s new Yankee Stadium

ittsburgh Pirates fans have been through it. Manhattan, but found it prohibitively expensive. Land in the neighboring
So have Baltimore Orioles fans and borough of the Bronx, across the Harlem River, was less costly and the
PDetroit Tigers fans. But as difficult as the Yankees were able to choose from a number of potential sites there. With
loss of historic ballparks have been in those subway service now running north into the Bronx, fans would be able to
cities, New Yorkers would say that all of them access the site fairly easily. These factors combined to
come in second behind the closing in 2008 of make the Bronx the obvious choice for the team’s
the facility located at East 161st St. and River new home, and construction began in May 1922.
Avenue in the Bronx: Yankee Stadium, often “The site they chose actually had been a lumber
called “The House That Ruth Built” in honor of yard, owned by the estate of William Waldorf
the ballplayer that many consider the greatest Astor,” says Wagner.
ever to swing a bat. Construction proceeded rapidly, with one of
No other major league baseball team is close the materials suppliers, the Edison Portland
to the New York Yankees when it comes to the Cement Company, providing the cement for the
Babe Ruth’s 1933 Goudey card big prize: 27 World Series championships, with walls of the stadium. The company was owned by
includes his full given name. the St. Louis Cardinals a distant second with 11. inventor Thomas Edison.
All but 1 of those 27 titles came when the team The stadium was built in 284 days, which was
called Yankee Stadium home from 1923 until 2008, a run of success a month ahead of schedule. On April 18, 1923,
that’s rivaled by few other teams in any major sport. the Yankees took the field for the first time and
Although the stadium was completed and ready for action earlier beat the visiting Boston Red Sox—a team with
in 1923, it seems like Opening Day that season—April 18—is the which the Yankees would later become great Recommended read: Michael
Wagner’s 2017 book, Babe’s
logical date to commemorate as the 100th anniversary of the rivals—4 to 1. Babe Ruth, already recognized as Place: The Lives of Yankee
legendary ballpark. one of the greats of the game, hit a three-run home Stadium contains a great
run for the Yankees. deal of interesting information
A Crowded Field on the history of the
Opening Day didn’t come a moment too soon. For 10 years, the A Taste of Things to Come iconic ballpark.

Yankees had played their home games at the Polo Grounds, which in That first game may have been a kind of good luck charm, as the
itself would go on to become an iconic ballpark as it was the home of Yankees went all the way that year, beating the New York Giants in six
the rival National League team, the games for their first World Series
New York Giants. Whatever bloom victory. It was a measure of revenge for
there may have been in 1913 was the Yankees as they’d lost the World
definitely off the rose by 1922, with Series in both 1921 and 1922 to …
the Giants’ management pushing for the Giants. It also was the beginning of
the Yankees to find a new home. “The a long series of great players and
Giants wanted to get rid of the historic moments at Yankee stadium.
Yankees because the Yankees started After losing the 1926 World Series
outdoing the Giants in attendance – to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees
especially because of Babe Ruth hitting came back the next year with a season
all of those home runs,” explains for the ages. The 1927 Yankees were
Michael Wagner, author of the book unstoppable, winning 110 of 155
Babe’s Place: The Lives of Yankee regular season games and then rolling
Stadium. “That’s what people wanted over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the
to see.” World Series in a four-game sweep.
Yankees management had hoped to Yankee legends Lou Gehrig and Babe
build a new facility in the borough of Aerial view of an early game in process Ruth led the charge along with fellow
22 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles