Our stadium doesn't have a corporate name -

As Citigroup grovels for a bailout from public funds, the Mets insist the name will not change. Not to give free publicity to these jokers, but as of this moment, the new stadium is still Citi Field...

New ballparks are a source of amusement in the Bronx as well as in Queens. It was recently reported that the Bloomberg administration had bargained 250 extra parking spaces to the Yankees in exchange for a larger luxury box and free food for the high-profile schnorrers from City Hall.

This disclosure makes it easier to understand why the Bloomberg administration was so compliant about the vanishing of a neighborhood park that was so inconveniently in the way of the new Yankees playpen. The city claims it will eventually put in tiny little parklets on top of garages, but at least the Yankees respect their brand and are not selling their naming rights to some shaky financial institution...

The Mets can do without the $20 million a year, since all they would do with the loot is recruit some other ghastly bullpen.

The 'deal' between the Yankees and the city is disappointing but not surprising. At least we can be thankful the Yankees won't be playing at 'Adidas/Coke/Microsoft/McDonald's Stadium'.

From an email I received today:

I’m a Bronx native and lifelong Yankees fan though transplanted to Atlanta for the last 13 years. I think it’s a tragedy that Yankee Stadium is going to be torn down after the season... It should stand so others can appreciate it.

Memories like that just won’t mean the same thing at “New” Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth, Joe D., Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson will never be a part of that place as they are in the original House That Ruth Built.

 

The Stadium is a national treasure, part of our country’s history and our heritage as New Yorkers. It should be a landmark; especially when it is still more than capable of benefiting the community economically. Yankee Stadium could be a museum, a shopping mall, a recreational sports complex or maybe all of the above. They could bring a branch of the Hall of Fame there. The Stadium could create jobs and revenue while allowing us to preserve a piece of our history for future generations.

 

I’ve started a web site called SaveYankeeStadium.org to help gather support for the Stadium and have asked visitors to sign a petition. We would love to have you visit and check it out and we’d definitely appreciate it if you would consider linking to the site from your blog. The site has only been live for a couple of days, but it looks like the word is starting to get around and people have been very generous in sharing their opinions.

While I agree with the sentiment, I'm afraid it's too little, far too late.  Part of the Stadium deal was the agreement that Old Yankee Stadium will become a park and Little League field.

One of the reasons that this deal is happening is that the Old Stadium stands on public ground, so the Yanks pay rent.  If I understand it correctly, New Stadium's land was sold to the Steinbrenners, so once the construction cost are paid off (will the generous support of John Q. Public) the Yankees will redefine "cash cow."

I don't know why Yankee fans never got a grassroots "Save the Stadium" going.

Maybe we'd simply listened to big Stein make so much noise about moving the team over the years that we didn't take the possibility of a new stadium seriously until way too late.  I'd believe any fan who told me that keeping the team in the Bronx was/is enough.

Maybe the remodel in the '70s sapped the place of that much of its nostalgia; it hosted championships in the late '70s and again in the late '90s, but Renovated Yankee Stadium is farther removed from Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle than most sports writers will admit.  No one waxes poetic about the '80s.  

Check out his site, sign the petition.  Then gather up you best photos of the Stadium and got buy a couple frames.

(Source:  Engadget HD) 

Here's the press release and a description of the massive piece of technological eye candy:

The Diamond Vision™ scoreboard has 8,601,600 LED lamps and is nearly 101 feet wide and 59 feet tall, producing 5,925 square-feet of brilliant, high-definition display area. The display will be driven by Mitsubishi Electric’s state-of-the-art DSC2 Digital Display Controller, providing picture-in-picture type technology with the flexibility to show one large 1080 HD image, several HD images, messages, scoring or other data simultaneously. By comparison, the scoreboard in use today at Yankee Stadium measures 24.9-inches X 32.8-inches with 486,400 LED lamps. The new Diamond Vision will be flanked by matrix signage supplied by Daktronics, Inc.

 
Hat tip to RAB

On the eve of the final Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, Tyler Kepner gives us fans an extremely rare glimpse of some hidden secrets inside the most famous cathedral in all of sports. 

Be sure to check out the “The Hidden Yankee Stadium” slideshow which Kepner also narrates.  Pretty cool stuff.

Speaking of ballparks, I’m really looking forward to watching the Nationals’ home opener tonight to see the christening of Nationals Park.  ESPN has a sneak peek inside that new yard.

Okay, sue me.  I’m a sucker for cool ballparks.

First pitch just over 27 hours away.