Debate of The Century

 

OK, you poked the bear.

Or the Babe.

So, Sean, Kris, and I were at the Yankees/Angels game last night in New York.

In a building called Yankee Stadium that opened in 2009.

The previous Yankee Stadium was on a plot of land across E. 161st St. But we'll come back to that.

But since the New York Yankees have long-lived rent-free in the minds of every knucklehead on the planet, somehow it became "a thing" to dump on them noting that the anniversary of the first game in the original stadium took place 100 years ago yesterday.

Personally, when I bought the tickets, I was thrilled that we were going on this date. It felt just nice.

So, since so many are so outraged/befuddled/whatever the click baiters of the world are writing, allow me to detail exactly what the "celebration" of 100 years of Yankee Stadium entailed.

- A logo.

- Fans were given a "commemorative ticket" when they walked into The Stadium.

- I vaguely recall someone was introduced to thank them for sponsoring the "commemorative ticket" before the game.

- The scoreboard ran an in-between innings video on the first game, a 4-1 victory over the Red Sox.

Basically, that's it. There was no pageantry. No special bases or balls. No throwback uniforms, unlike those worn at the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012.

Souvenir ticket from last night. Suitable for framing.

I stood with four people for most of the night and not once did the 100th anniversary come up.

I came home and hung the ticket up because it was meaningful to me.

So, why the outrage? Why do people care? Why are people so focused on trying to ruin something that was a huge nothingburger (cost: $35 at Yankee Stadium)?

Why is there such a thing over honoring something so historic? 

The grounds are across the street and you bet your curveball that I went there before the game. And, further, as a historian of this stuff, it boiled my blood towards a series of people for the shameless destruction of an iconic building as well as the disgusting upkeep of the parkland that was so "desperately" needed.

The site of the original Yankee Stadium is out there.
Supposedly, the 1923 home plate is around second base.

Giuliani, Bloomberg, Steiner, Steinbrenner. Don't get me started. They left virtually nothing of the old place. The location of home plate isn't marked. The ground is rutted and the grass is bad. Keep in mind these are three fields used for baseball and softball.

It's infuriating.

It does please me to see games being played there but it could have been so much better. Look at what Detroit did with the site of old Tiger Stadium. Seriously, go look at it sometime. They've built what they've called The Corner Ballpark at the location and I admire that. Cleveland's old League Park has also been honored. Stadiums in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Bloomington, MN, Atlanta, and elsewhere have somehow acknowledged their history with monuments and notations of certain elements such as the site of home plate.

Even Hilltop Park -- the home of the Highlanders (Yankees) -- is recognized with a plaque at the site of home plate. The Brush Staircase is the remainder of an acknowledgment of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan.

But New York City has completely dropped the ball on Yankee Stadium.

I honestly thought last night was otherwise about as harmless as possible. You've never seen the Los Angeles Dodgers honor things that happened in Brooklyn? And, believe me, anything that ever happened at Ebbets Field is noted.

As it is, I recall a building in Queens that is a model of Ebbets Field. You know, the stadium that was in Brooklyn. The stadium in Queens that celebrated the team that played in Brooklyn. They've since mostly rectified that. I will add may there be mercy if the Mets make any mention of the 60th anniversary of Shea Stadium in 2024.

The idea is that Yankee Stadium and others are brands in their own right. It's marketing. You can buy items with the words Yankee Stadium on them. They might not have registrations or trademarks or whatever but they are their own entity. 

When the old Stadium closed in 2008, the scoreboard contained a nightly countdown to the closing of the building. I was at the closing game when the "1" should have been moved to "0." Instead, it was announced that it would be "Yankee Stadium Forever."

It's with that in mind that the Yankees chose to acknowledge the opening of their original place.

I enjoyed it.

Nobody was harmed.

I'm content to die on this hill.

Or pitcher's mound.

*****

The funny thing is that this whole kerfuffle highlighted something I've seen lately. There were spirited comments on this topic today on my Facebook page and while it rankled me I certainly didn't delete any of the comments. Recently, I noticed someone writing that what he posts on his page is, in essence, open to debate based on his rules.

"My page. My rules," he wrote, and he said how it was well within his right to delete comments as he sees fit. Yes, that is true.

But.

There's something sort of, what's the word I'm looking for here ... well, I'll just go with "wrong" about that.

Look, people debate with me. That's their business. It's then my business to decide how to respond. Sometimes I fire back. Often, I ignore them. I pick my battles. I stress that all the time.

But to just delete comments because they don't fit an agenda? No, I generally have a pretty big problem with that.

I find it rather gutless, to be honest. Or maybe disingenuous.

Chris Kaelin and I were known to wage wars over certain things but, at the end of the day, no matter how wrong I thought he was I still respected him enough as a person and a friend to not just eliminate his comments because they didn't suit me.

But to engage in such editing is, otherwise, just trolling and curling up when it doesn't go your way.

Thus I have the right to make these statements here because, heh ...

My page.

My rules.