JOHN STERLING and Michael Kay were doing a good job hosting the last Old Timers’ Day in Yankee Stadium Saturday when it was time to introduce Don Larsen. Larsen, Kay declared, had thrown the greatest game ever pitched in “this grand cathedral.”
And those are the kinds of words that have become troubling. If Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923, is a grand cathedral, why are they knocking it down?
We’ve recently heard and read many similar descriptions, that Yankee Stadium is an historical landmark, an American shrine that draws tourists even when no game is being played the way the Capitol building in D.C. draws those who don’t always vote and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral attracts those of all faiths and faithlessness.
And we’re going to hear and read many more such reach-high descriptions over the next two months, as Yankee Stadium nears its end. It’s a shrine, a cathedral, a monument, America’s Roman Coliseum.
So why is it being demolished?
It’s being destroyed because it, too, has been priced out of the game. It’s being knocked down for a new ballpark with fewer but far more expensive seats; eliminated so it can be replaced by a stadium with more luxury boxes and costlier come-ons for corporations and the mindlessly wealthy.
It’s being knocked down for the same reason that Michael Kay, TV Voice of the Yankees, on Sept. 22 won’t be calling the last scheduled home game in Yankee Stadium. That game has been moved to an 8:05 Sunday-night game for ESPN. It has been moved for money. There’s nothing that money can’t build or wreck, grand cathedrals included.
Give credit to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. While thousands of multiple-decade and multiple-generation Giants and Jets ticket subscribers are being driven out because they can’t/won’t pay the teams’ mortgage on new PSL Stadium, Goodell has managed to ignore the issue, not a public word of regret or contrition.
Goodell, though, has been busy on other matters, including Brett Favre‘s proposed $20 million retirement package. Goodell operates like Bud Selig, a CFO, another commissioner who places the best financial interests of team owners far above those of the sport.
Saturday, Goodell told the NFL Network, another greed-based enterprise (and one apparently moving closer to partnering with ESPN), that the Favre issue has to be resolved “on behalf of Brett, on behalf of the Packers, on behalf of fans.”
Gee, thanks.
It gets so silly. The Verizon TV program “info” button attached to CBS’ Bridgestone Invitational (Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, among others) Saturday read only that Tiger Woods wouldn’t be playing. Yep, no Tiger, not worth watching.
Yesterday, on Ch. 11, Houston’s Carlos Lee was batting when Keith Hernandez explained that Lee’s a power hitter who is not easily struck out because with two strikes his “philosophy” is to shorten his swing, not try to hit homers. Taking a huge cut, Lee then struck out.
So now, in addition to another Knicks’ management team, Scott O’Neil, an NBA exec, has been appointed to the new position of president of sports, Madison Square Garden. For a fellow who knows what he’s doing, Jim Dolan sure makes lots of changes. Had Dolan been hired by Dolan, he’d have been long gone.