by Steve Politi/The Star-Ledger
Saturday May 23, 2009, 6:37 PM
NEW YORK -- She still looms across the street from her replacement like a reassuring old friend. But not for long.
The blue plywood construction walls are going up, and once they are in place, the original Yankee Stadium will begin to come down. The process will take months, and few of the fans streaming into the new ballpark realize what will remain of the old one when the demolition teams are done.
Nothing.
Not one foul pole. Not one bleacher seat. Yankee Stadium is about to become a ghost under the current plan, but before it does, several concerned fans are fighting to preserve something.
They want to save Gate 2, the most complete piece of the pre-renovated stadium that still exists, and turn it into an entrance to the parks and ballfields that will soon occupy the land.
Gate 2 would become a monument to the old ballpark, a spot where sentimental Yankee fans can take their grandchildren and tell them about seeing Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in a World Series game or Mickey Mantle run down a fly ball in center field.
It is a plan that makes too much sense to fail, because if it does, the city will lose one of its most famous landmarks. If it does, we'll only be left with photos, videos and memories.
"There is a perception out there that a lot of the old stadium is going to be saved," said Mark Costello, a Long Island resident who is spearheading the effort. "Well, that's not the plan anymore.
"Maybe it's too late. But maybe it's not."
No city has a greater baseball history than New York. And no city has done less to preserve it.
Ebbets Field was razed in 1960, with only a plaque marking where the Dodgers' old home once stood. The Polo Grounds came down four years later, and again, just a plaque remains. Even poor old Shea Stadium, with all its flaws, was gone without a trace in a few months.
Yankee Stadium is on deck.
If replacing the original ballpark was a mistake -- and plenty of fans still believe it was -- then completely demolishing it is the final injustice. It seems unthinkable that the city would tear down one of its landmarks without leaving behind some sign of its existence.
But that is the current plan. The city was originally going to preserve most of the original stadium, with plans for a hotel, convention center, a high school for sports medicine and sports management, a museum and other offices in and around the historic ballpark.
Those lofty plans were quickly abandoned, but the city was supposed to leave part of the stadium seating area and the original field in place at the new 10-acre Heritage Field, along with two new baseball and softball fields that would be constructed on top of a parking garage.
The idea of leaving something behind made it easier for diehard fans to accept the new park. But that plan has been reconfigured this spring to answer valid community complaints about the configuration of the park, and the result is this: There will be no real evidence that Yankee Stadium ever existed.
"What is the draw for the tourists to come here when there's no game? Zero," John Trush said. "If there's something here, somebody from St. Louis might come up here to show their grandson. Why not?"
Trush was standing in front of Gate 2 last week, pointing to the Yankees emblem etched in the concrete. The gate is in need of serious restoration -- gone, for example, are the distinctive terra cotta medallions of eagles, as are the two flag poles that once rose from the top. But, unlike the modern copy with the steakhouses and the $1,250 seats across the street, this is the real deal.
Trush is a Washington, N.J., resident. He tried to organize a movement to save the stadium four years ago, starting a website, yankeesstayhome.com, and reaching out to politicians. He could not get enough support.
He has now joined the group trying to save Gate 2 but worries the effort might also be too late. He pointed to the metal poles that have been drilled into the concrete, now covered with yellow caution tape, but which will soon be supports for the construction walls.
This is the first priority.
"We need to keep it from getting torn down," Costello said, and nobody can be sure how much time they have before that happens, or who exactly in the city is willing to help them.
They have reached out to Frank McCue, the stadia project manager for the city's Parks and Recreation department, with their proposal. McCue did not return a phone call seeking comment this week, but his office issued a statement that said the current design for Heritage Field did not include Gate 2 but would incorporate "existing elements into the park design to commemorate the old Yankee Stadium."
"The plan includes orienting the southern ballfield in the same alignment as the old Yankee Stadium ballfield, creating a tree-lined walking trail that outlines the perimeter of the old Yankee Stadium, and incorporating historical plaques and markers," the statement reads.
In other words, another ballpark will be torn to the ground, another stinkin' plaque will be put in its place.
The idea was born on an internet message board. The discussion topic was the demolition of Yankee Stadium.
When Richard Lillard, a 24-year-old college student at Arizona State, saw the photos of the famous ballpark with a giant hole in the wall for construction vehicles, he was stunned into action.
He started sharing ideas with Matt Visco, a 49-year-old computer software designer from Hamilton Township, and Costello, who is 56 and a safety consultant in Amityville, N.Y. They kept coming back to the same concept: The new Heritage Field would need an entranceway.
And it was already there.
"We all shared a desire to make sure something meaningful and tangible from the stadium was preserved," Visco said. "People can see the gate. They can take pictures of it. It's real."
Gate 2 sits directly across 161st Street from the new stadium, so fans would see it when they attended games. Plus, it could be preserved without losing any of the space earmarked for the much-needed parks.
They created an artist's rendering of what the renovated gate might look like, launched the website savetheyankeegate2.com and started attending community meetings.
They have been at it for just over a month now, doing their best to make inroads with local politicians and city officials. They have reached out to the Yankees and have gotten no response.
The group cannot answer the biggest questions: How much will it cost and who will pay for it? But the list of people who should help pay for it is long.
How about Brandon Steiner? He is the one who, for $80 for five square inches of freeze-dried turf and $1,499.99 for a pair of seats, is selling off every last piece of the old stadium.
Or the team? Yankees COO Lonn Trost did not return a phone call last week, but this franchise would not have become a billion-dollar business without calling that stadium home.
Or Derek Jeter? He became a star there. Or Rudy Giuliani? He loved his front-row seats. Or Mayor Bloomberg? He should consider the value of another potential tourist destination in the Bronx.
Or the fans? If they are willing to pay $10 for a beer in the new place, they should be willing to help save part of the old one. Especially once they consider what they're about to lose.
"People really need to start thinking about this now," Lillard said, "or it's going to be too late."
"It's one of the most historical sports venues in the country," Tom Linn said, and he wasn't talking about Yankee Stadium. He was talking about Tiger Stadium, which will get a second lease on life if a group of activists in Detroit is successful.
Preserving part of an old ballpark is not unprecedented. They did it in Cleveland, where one of the walls to League Park was saved. They did it in Pittsburgh, where the original center field wall from Forbes Field was salvaged.
Now in Detroit, Linn and others are in the process of turning part of Tiger Stadium into an asset to the city, complete with restaurants, offices, museum exhibits and -- most importantly -- baseball fields.
The project will cost $27 million and is close to receiving final approval, which means construction could begin in the spring.
"You use every bit of political wiliness that you can muster," Linn said when asked how his group stopped the wrecking balls, "and try to get yourself as much support from politicians as possible."
If Detroit can save its ballpark, then New York can do the same for one small part of its stadium. The plan for restoring Gate 2 as an entrance to Heritage Field is less ambitious but no less important.
The old Yankee Stadium cannot disappear entirely. Those blue plywood construction walls are going up, and soon, an important part of our baseball history will go down.
Once it does, there is no bringing it back.
http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/...e_old_yan.html
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) has to be the greatest post in the history of this forum. i got to say some of those pics of them taking out the seats are starting to sting a bit. im not looking foward to the inevitable. 
i got tickets for the 21st vs the orioles.i can't wait.... well getting back on topic here are some new pics from chopper 880
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