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Not too much can really compare to the sights and sounds of a baseball game as a child. Ahh, the crazy adventures of heading out to Candlestick Park with my Dad and his buddies. Learning how to spit like a guy and throw peanuts at a Dodgers or As fan six rows down and then pretend it wasn't you (a true art). Munching on my hot dog while keeping an eye on that giant goofy bloated bear-looking character at all times, poised and ready to run if it got too close. And I won't even go into the other screwball antics that were always bound to occur, since I know my dad will be reading this & he'd kick my butt. Always on the opposite side of the spectrum was visiting my aunt & uncle in Leonia, NJ every summer. Heading over the George Washington bridge for a Yankees game with them and my cousin was always a guaranteed day of fun. Hobnobbing with all the suits from WPLJ Radio in the luxury box. Nibbling finger food and drinking shirley temples while my uncle & the stiffs sipped martinis and talked about new marketing and promotional ideas for the station. My cousin & I would just sit back, try to drown out the boring talk and take in the grand surroundings and goings on outside of the box. All the time hoping a fly ball would roll its way up that netting right into our hands. I of course taught her the art of throwing peanuts at the opposing fans below and then pretending it wasn't us. Didn't work quite as well in NY as it did in SF. Instead of being praised for a good throw, we'd just get caught and yelled at. As a kid, I never understood how those fancy seats were considered better when you're trapped in a room, dressed up & acting all important, looking down longingly on the real fans in jerseys & jeans, chowing on dogs while cursing out the umpire and having a good old time in the normal seats. Just baffling. Needless to say, they were all extraordinary outings and wonderful memories that i will always cherish and often reminisce upon. My hope is to someday fill my children's lives with the same (if not better) crazy good times. This can only make me wonder, would our children be better off with their own memories of the old time ballparks that we all know and love? The one's with seemingly endless glorious history and enough great stories to make your head spin? I know for me, it would've been a thrill to take my daughter to Yankee Stadium some day, point to the mound and say look Daisy Mae, that is the very spot where Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series facing the bitter rival Brooklyn Dodgers, and right there at home plate is where Mr. October hit three homers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series against the same hated Dodgers....only that series was against the ones from LA that we hate, too. Then we'd get our peanuts ready. Sadly, this is but a dream. "The House That Ruth Built" will crumble to the ground during the 2008 off-season. My own personal memories aside, it is tough to even try to grasp the unimaginable amount of joy, excitement, heartbreak, and breathtaking moments that have taken place inside those walls at East 161st Street & River Avenue during the past 85 years. How can it be possible that the field where guys like DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Maris, Berra, Ford, Mantle, Mattingly, Dent, Lazzari, Gossage, Cone, O'Neill, Jeter, Rivera, and The Babe did their thing will be turned into some random park where dogs will shit and vagabonds will sleep. It's hard to imagine what a park that is constructed over top of the dirt that embodies history, will be like. What will it feel like walking through the grass there knowing what went on in that very spot? Will it be haunted by the ghosts of baseball past? When the wind blows, will you faintly hear things like Lou Gehrig's touchingly heartbreaking farewell speech, or the crack of Boone's bat from that fateful day in October 2003, or the Hammond Organ playing God Bless America, or maybe Mel Allen shouting "how about that!" with the faint roar of the crown in the background, or maybe even the chantings of the bleacher creatures? Will the air that fills the park smell slightly of an 85 year old mixture of cigars, beer and pine tar? One can only hope. Whatever the case, groundbreaking at the spot of future greatness took place on the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth's death (August 16th, 2006). The New York Yankees will have a brand spanking new stadium come opening day 2009. Beyond any ill-feelings with regards to the old stadium, there are many reasons to get excited about the new digs. The organization has set the bar high. Their goal is to replicate the design and many of the features of the original stadium built in 1923 into the new one. The exterior facade will look as identical as possible to the original stadium, and be a completely separate structure than the interior. The inside stadium structure will be taller than the exterior wall making the grandstand visible from the street. The original stadium had the regal coat of arms on either side of the "Yankee Stadium" sign on the entrance, they will also be in place on the new entrance. The original copper frieze that had lined the old stadium will be re-created as well. The new stadium will seat nearly 52,000 fans with 60 luxury suites. The field dimensions and bullpen placement will remain the same as they are now. Monument Park, which holds much of Yankee past, will of course be re-located to the new stadium and placed behind the center field wall. In the end, the project will cost about $1.3 billion, but you cannot put a price on what should easily be a century of magnificent new memories, exciting playoff games, thrilling world series games, perfect throws, unthinkable comebacks, grand slams, amazing catches, perfect games, and all the drama and enchantment that is, Yankee Baseball. ----------
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