The Ghosts of Yankee Stadium

MINNEAPOLIS — Tuesday night’s All-Star Game will be a grandiose affair, celebrating Yankee Stadium’s rich history, in its final season.

Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter will be there, telling stories, reliving memories and urging the ghosts to come with them, across the street.

A new Yankee Stadium is being built next door, with 50 luxury suites and a martini bar, for $1.3 billion.

The Yankees, who have won 26 World Series titles — all since this stadium first opened in 1923 — will move into their new digs next April.

“I think after the All-Star Game, it’ll get more nostalgic,” Jackson said. “Then you’ll only have (32 home) games left, and they’ll go by pretty quickly. It’ll be sad, heartfelt, and we’ll probably see some tears.”

Not from Berra.

“I never played in that one,” he said. “I played in the old one — before the renovations.”

In 1973, Berra said goodbye to the stadium as he first knew it. The Yankees gave it a $160 million facelift, and after playing two years at Shea Stadium, they returned in 1976.

“It’s a shame they had to do it. I liked the old one,” Berra said. “There was good memories in there for me. Maybe the kids like this one better.”

By kids, Berra meant Jeter, Mariano Rivera & Co.

Jeter said he was 6 or 7 the first time he laid eyes on the place.

“My grandparents live in Jersey, and I used to spend my summers there,” he said. “So I went to the games with them.”

Jeter remembers his first impression.

“Everything’s larger than life,” he said. “That’s probably the best way to put it.”

That was the point from the beginning.

RUPPERT'S BIG GAMBLE

After acquiring Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox in 1920, the Yankees began to outgrow the New York Giants, their co-tenants at the Polo Grounds.

So Jacob Ruppert purchased a 10-acre lumberyard in the Bronx for $600,000 from William Waldorf Astoria.

Giants manager John McGraw scoffed, saying, “They are going to Goatville, and before long they will be lost sight of.”

But Ruppert spent an unthinkable $2.5 million on construction. In 284 days, workers completed the first three-tiered sporting facility in the United States.

In 1912, Boston opened Fenway Park and Chicago opened Wrigley Field. Eleven years later, with Ruth as his drawing card, Ruppert opened baseball’s first true stadium, with two times more seating capacity than the average major league park.

The Yankees announced an attendance for 74,217 on Opening Day in 1923. Ruth hit a home run, of course, as they defeated the Red Sox, 4-1.

A LEGENDARY VENUE

The historic moments that unfolded from there exceeded the imagination.

It’s the place where Notre Dame rallied after Knute Rockne told the Irish to “win one for the Gipper.”

The place where Lou Gehrig said he was “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

The place where John Unitas guided the Colts past the Giants for the 1958 NFL title. The place where popes preached and Muhammad Ali fought.

The place where Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

What if that had happened somewhere else? “It wouldn’t have been as important, wouldn’t have had the stature,” Jackson said. “I think Yankee Stadium — with the Yankees and the Dodgers, George Steinbrenner, Howard Cosell, all the people that were there — that made it very special.”

Combine all that history with all the noise from 58,000 screaming fans, and Yankee Stadium has proven plenty intimidating for visiting teams. The Minnesota Twins, for instance, are 5-18 there, counting the postseason, since 2002.

The trick for the Yankees now will be transferring their mystique into the new stadium, where the stated goal is to pamper fans as if they were at a five-star resort.

“They said it will be beautiful,” Berra said. “They said it’ll look like the old stadium. The scoreboard is going to be down like they had it in the old days. It looks pretty.”

That doesn’t mean it will haunt other teams.

“We’ve gotta get the ghosts to go over a few hundred feet,” Jeter said. “But I think they’ll make the trip.”

20 MOMENTS TO REMEMBER AT YANKEE STADIUM

Stepping inside Fenway Park and Wrigley Field is like stepping back in time for a baseball fan. Yankee Stadium doesn’t have their character or charm. It was built in 1923 and modernized with a major renovation in the mid-1970s. But there’s a reason Yankee Stadium is arguably the most famous sporting venue on Earth. It has been the site of so many famous events. We picked 20, to help tell the story:

1923 The opener (April 18, 1923)

Three years after being sold from Boston to the Yankees, Babe Ruth homered into the right field stands, and New York defeated the Red Sox, 4-1, in the first game at “The House that Ruth Built.”

1927 Ruth hits No. 60 (Sept. 30, 1927)

The ’27 Yankees were one of the greatest teams in baseball history, going 110-44. Lou Gehrig hit 47 home runs, and Babe Ruth hit 60, with the last one sent into the rightfield bleachers against Washington’s Zach Zachary.

1928 Rockne’s “Gipper” Speech (Nov. 10, 1928)

Trailing Army 6-0, Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne urged his squad to “win one for the Gipper.” The Irish rallied for a 12-6 victory in honor of former All-America George Gipp, who died in 1920.

1934 Negro Leagues showcase (Sept. 9, 1934)

Pittsburgh Crawfords ace Satchel Paige and Philadelphia Stars ace Slim Jones pitched to a 1-1 tie in a game called because of darkness.

Jones struck out nine batters, including Cool Papa Bell, Bill Perkins, Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson.

1936 Big loss for Seven Blocks of Granite (Nov. 22, 1936)

Yankee Stadium used to be a showcase for college football each Thanksgiving. This time, undefeated Fordham and its famous defensive front, featuring Vince Lombardi, needed one more win to reach the Rose Bowl. But with 50,000 watching, New York University (4-3-1) dashed its rival’s hopes with a 7-6 victory in the sleet and mud.

1938 Louis vs. Schmeling (June 22, 1938)

Joe Louis not only won the heavyweight title against Max Schmeling, but he also gave the United States a point of pride against Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Louis was another African-American standing tall, just like Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

1939 “Luckiest man” speech (July 4, 1939)

One month after being diagnosed with ALS at the Mayo Clinic, Lou Gehrig told a crowd of more than 60,000: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

1941 DiMaggio’s streak (June 17, 1941)

Joe DiMaggio’s major league record 56-game hitting streak ended on July 17, 1941, at Cleveland’s League Park. A key moment, however, came one month earlier at Yankee Stadium, when official scorer Dan Daniel gave DiMaggio a hit on a ball that bounced off Chicago shortstop Luke Appling’s shoulder, extending the streak to 30 games.

1947 “Babe Ruth Day” (April 27, 1947)

Hobbled with cancer, Babe Ruth spoke in a raspy voice to a crowd of 60,000 on “Babe Ruth Day.” He returned one last time, on June 13, 1948, for a ceremony honoring the stadium’s 25th anniversary. A photo from that last appearance by Nat Fein won the Pulitzer Prize.

1951 “Voice of God” debuts (April 17, 1951)

Reggie Jackson called Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard “The Voice of God.” In his first game in the 1951 opener, Sheppard called the names of seven future Hall of Famers: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, along with Boston’s Ted Williams and Lou Boudreau.

1956 Mantle hits the facade (May 30, 1956)

Mickey Mantle hit many of the longest homers in the stadium’s history. This one came off Washington Senators righthander Pedro Ramos, who later pitched for the Twins. The ball hit the stadium’s famed facade, hanging down from the right field roof, and came about 18 inches from leaving the entire ballpark.

1956 Larsen’s perfect game (Oct. 8, 1956)

With the World Series deadlocked at two games apiece, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in Series history, blanking the rival Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0. Two days later, the Yankees won the series with a 9-0 victory in Game 7.

1958 “Greatest Game Ever Played” (Dec. 28, 1958)

In a game that changed the sports landscape, the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants in overtime, 23-17, for the NFL title. John Unitas, Raymond Berry and Alan Ameche became household names.

1961 Maris hits No. 61 (Oct. 1, 1961)

Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season into the rightfield stands, breaking the record set by Babe Ruth in 1927. Commissioner Ford Frick said Maris’ record deserved an asterisk because Ruth achieved 60 in a 154-game season, compared to 162 for Maris.

1965 Pope Paul VI’s visit (Oct. 4, 1965)

One of three papal visits at Yankee Stadium, this one brought about 90,000 to see Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II visited Yankee Stadium in 1979, and Pope Benedict XVI this year on April 20.

1976 The re-opening (April 11, 1976)

After a $160 million renovation that forced the Yankees to play the 1974 and 1975 seasons at Shea Stadium, the stadium re-opened with a game against the Twins. Minnesota’s (Disco) Dan Ford hit a first-inning homer in an 11-4 Yankees victory.

1977 Mr. October (Oct. 18, 1977)

Reggie Jackson hits three home runs to lead the Yankees over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the clinching Game 6 of the World Series. The home runs came on three consecutive swings against Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough.

2001 Mr. November (Oct. 31, 2001)

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the postseason was moved back a week. Game 4 of the World Series went past midnight, meaning it was Nov. 1 when Derek Jeter hit his game-winning, 10th-inning homer off Arizona’s Byung-Hyun Kim.

2003 Boone’s game-winner (Oct. 16, 2003)

After Grady Little pulled Pedro Martinez from Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, the Yankees came back to force extra innings. Aaron Boone won it with a home run off Tim Wakefield in the 11th inning.

2004 Schilling’s’ bloody sock (Oct. 19, 2004)

Pitching with sutures in his right ankle and red splotches on his white sock, Curt Schilling held the Yankees to one run over seven innings in Game 6 of the ALCS. That forced Game 7, which the Red Sox won en route to their first World Series title since they had Babe Ruth, in 1918.