Yankee Stadium Renovation 1974-75

[henhao1972]

The renovated stadium was a perfect balance of old retro vs new with its modifications.It wasnt corrupted and compromised by promos and video screens everywhere.The focus was on the game it self.The scoreboards were simple yet perfect.(until they changes the loge section scoreboards(bulbs) to video screen scoreboard in the late 90s)The upper decks steep,distinct and majestic.The facade was a perfect backdrop in the outfield.The ground was hallowed,once roamed by Ruth,Gehrig and Dimaggio-TRULYSAD

[Elvislivzon]

Only George Steinbrenner would turn the best stadium of the jewel box era into a concrete doughnut.

[tomchyo]

素晴らしい映像をありがとうございました。ヤンキースタジアムは­昔の方がはるかに良かったです。

[iceman112677]

if i could go back to this day knowing i had from 1976-2008 to see the yankees play in the best stadium in the world i would do it in a heartbeat. i refuse to step foot inside this new disgrace they mockingly call yankee stadium

[cleanandsober2009]

Thank you for posting. I always love looking back at the 70's where my roots lie. I loved the music as well. Very meloncholy, but uplifting in many ways. I think it symbolized the emotions going through many die hard Yankee fans during the 74-75 period. Sad to see the house that Ruth built go through a complete remodel, but happy because they would be playing on the same land within the same walls and in a much more updated facility instead of playing in New Jersey.

[EdEddnEddyFan62920]

What chump ordered the Old Yankee Stadium demolished? CHUMP!!!!!

[nyg1781]

wicked cool. I've seen photos of the renovation process but this stuff's priceless. thanks for the upload

[leafas]

They turned this beautiful stadium into a Shea Stadium look alike dump.

Thankfully they tore it down, and built the greatest stadium that the New York Yankees ever played in.

[BOOGE64]

For what the city paid in cost overruns, they could have knocked the whole place down and built a beautiful new stadium that would have still been in use today. Such is life in the big city.

[dzanier]

Projected at 24 million, it cost almost 100 million. 

[chud1able]

i remeber the 1st yankee stadium very well. when renovation goi ng on i stood on the #4 train to see this done. i cried for years.

i am now 54 yrs pld and remember, mantle, ford, howard, jake gibbs, tom tresh etc.

i will always love the 1st yankee stadium.

charlie muller jr woodlawn heights bronx.

yankee fan since 11-20-56 my birthday.

[dzanier]

I was born in 72 & obviously never got to go the old Stadium. I guess if you'd been going their for years you certainly would develop an affection towards it, & of course it held countless memories. But the mid-70's renovation could be justified from an aesthetic standpoint as well as an urban renewal idea. The stadium was outdated ( view-obstructing pillars). I though the renovated stadium was a gem. A beautiful gem. The one now is a shrine to excess & greed. Yankee Stadiun no longer exists.

[alonenjersey]

@dzanier I could'nt have said it better myself. The ONLY way I'll attend a game @ Yankee Stadium III is with a ticket that did'nt cost me anything. The ownership is not getting any money out of wallet ever again!

[robertmastroianni]

@chud1able Do you remember the day you turned 7?

[Coodeville]

Yet, the Bronx was burning.

[alonenjersey]

I've been a Yankee fan since the reopening in April '76. This footage is nothing less than fantastic! Has this ever been part of Video/DVD documentary? Anyway, thanks a hell of a lot for sharing.

[quagmire2]

@MegaObserver1

I doubt he wanted more seats because NYS holds less then OYS( by roughly 2000 seats). Don't doubt he wanted more money making luxury boxes though. One beam falling is not enough to prove the whole structure was falling apart. Yankee Stadium was deemed safe after inspection and repair. OYS should never have been torn down. But, another classic American example of money being more important then preserving an historic place.

[quagmire2]

@quagmire2

Have to correct myself. NYS holds 50,000 seats so it is down 6,000 seats from OYS( 52,000 capacity if you count standing room).

[deepcosmiclove]

Hey, the Original Yankee Stadium held 75,000!

[MegaObserver1]

@nmill1894 There were several reasons. The previous stadium was owned by the City. Steinbrenner wanted to build his own stadium for the tax benefits, and not have to share revenue with the City. Also, Steinbrenner wanted more luxury boxes and seats. And lastly, the Yankees were responsible for upkeep and by the early 2000's it was costing them a fortune to keep the stadium from crumbling. Some of it actually did, forcing a few games to be played at Shea.

[MegaObserver1]

Steinbrenner bought the team with the understanding that the stadium would be bought by the city and rebuilt. But during the 1973 season some City Council members threatened to block the funding. George made public overtures to New Jersey officials about building a ballpark at the planned Meadowlands complex. Message received. The City Council relented and approved the funding.

[FernyBass007]

thanks for sharing this footage!!! i'm blessed that i was in the old stadium in the late 90s all the ticket games i bought i sneaked in...until the last game....those where the days!!! now is expensive and sell out to buy the new tickets!!!

[kiss742000]

Its frightening to think that this... is all gone now. time flies....

[quagmire2]

@nmill1894

Steinbrenner had nothing to do with the renovation. It was all CBS and Mayor Lindsay. By the time Steinbrenner bought the team, the renovation plans were practically finalized. You think Steinbrenner could have bought the team in 1973 and able to have all the politics, designing, engineering, etc all done by the end of the same season? It takes a good two years at least to start planning. Now I do not like Steinbrenner because he wanted to ditch Yankee Stadium back in the 1980's.

[Godpuppet26]

some feel a part of yankee stadium died when they renovated it. It looked hardly anything like the original on the inside to a pretty good extent. The outside was still relatively the same and all, but they truly can't replace the cathedral. I am looking forward to seeing a game at the new yankee stadium when I visit family in NY next month. By the way this is great footage.

[1macboo]

tear it down they did? Why??? years from now nobody will care about the parking but to be able to stand on the original Yankee Stadium...now that is speacial. How sad, i am certain Fenway will not meet such a fate. On a side note, I liked it before the update in 74-75.

[masterlee123]

Now is gone for ever :(

[ZMan2324]

thank you for this!

[nakedvolleyball]

@dzanier You better have a good reason that you removed this comment.

[dzanier]

I did it by accident.

[BDOUG23]

Strange watching this just after I watched the recent videos of them taking it down.....so sad

[MadDog31a]

Great video. Anyone got a name of this song?

[DontCancelThisAcctYT]

The renovations took a lot of the charm out of the place, but still, when you went to a game, it had a "feeling", a sense of history. The new place has no soul.....the interior especially looks like every other generic HOK park. The moat aisle downstairs is a disgrace in itself. Once the old timers retire and their new park is only half full, the NYY might then wish they had kept their old park. Who will want go into the Bronx to see "the great pretender" (i.e. NYS) anyway?

[nakedvolleyball]

@DontCancelThisAcctYT The new stadiums, the new rules...all suck. Used to be you could buy the cheapest seats in the house and sit somewhere else. If someone else came along BFD, you left and found other seats. Now, you can't do shit. You're in prison the moment you step into a ballpark...with a bunch of fat pigs eating cheese made from chemicals and being fed watered down, chemical beer. MLB has even made watching it on TV lees educational. They own baseball, not just the Major Leagues.

[victorEL3MEN2]

its gone its alllllll gone :(

[prausch65]

The most recognized sports venue in the world...

[prausch65]

The most recognized sports venue in the world...

[martidm]

YS was condemned by the city before the renovations.

[nakedvolleyball]

@martidm Great excuse. Hey, that's why everything happens. Safety. They say something isn't safe. That's why kids are wearing helmets to ride friggin bikes. Pretty soon people will have to wear helmets to bed. And I don't get why people aren't required to wear shoes to bed...I mean look at all those stubbed toes that insurance companies are paying for.

[NYHammer6284]

Being a Met fan and a fan of baseball overall i believe in the Gate 2 concept to save something from the old gal. The Mets listened to the fans about saving the old homerun apple so why not let the bronx bomber faithful save a slice of history from the wrecking ball.

[quagmire2]

It's looking more unlikely. One of the Turner high ups stated as soon as the Upper Deck is down, they will start demo'ing the left field walls. So Gate 2 has roughly 1-3 weeks left to live.

Also, he stated renovating the old stadium would have cost $4.5 billion vs the new stadium being $1.5 billion to build. I call BS on that.....

[AaronTG1990]

I never liked the renovated stadium, I liked the history of that ballpark and everything that happened in it. Yankee Stadium gave us everything over it's 85 year history. I really miss the old stadium and get choked up anytime I pass it when I'm on the Deegan. I really wish I had seen the original Yankee Stadium, the one built in 1923 that stayed intact until Steinbrenner destroyed it.

[quagmire2]

@AaronTG1990

I repeat Steinbrenner had nothing to do with the renovation plans. He didn't own the team when the renovation was planned out. Sure there are things I would have done differently with the renovation, but most of the stadium was still intact from its 1923-1938 state.

[quagmire2]

@AaronTG1990

Extended reply:

Some might argue the things that were removed removed the character of the original looks( frieze, Gate 4, and Gate 6 which I would agree with), but the renovated stadium gained a new character.

If I was in charge of the renovation, I would have kept Gate 4 and 6 the way they were. That's pretty much it as those were the biggest mistakes of the renovation and biggest removal of Yankee Stadium's character.

[quagmire2]

@AaronTG1990

Sorry, more extended reply. Stupid character limit.

I quite liked the extended upper deck and wrap around lights. It gave the stadium added character and made the look of the upper deck look intimidating( with its steepness). I wish the new stadium had carried over that feature as well as the upper deck extending over the mid-level deck. They should have done another renovation in order to restore some of its past character( mostly restore Gate 4 and 6) instead of a new one.

[AaronTG1990]

Yeah I think they could of shared Shea Stadium with the Mets from 2006-2008 and renovated the old stadium at that time. Honestly they really could of made it look like a brand new stadium too. I loved the big steep upper deck that was my favorite part of the old stadium, I wish they would of done it like that in the new stadium.

[danteras23]

I disagree. I think the renovated stadium was great. The old stadium was great too, but it needed renovation and they did a good job. Both places were great and hold a lot of memories and will always be missed.

[Yankeeboy610]

I always wish I could have seen it to. However, I enjoyed the renovated one too. The first time I went to Yankee Stadium was in 95', so my first memories of it are there. It always had a nice style to it. The problem Steinbrenner faced at this time was the old stadium was (literally) falling apart. They said Debris would fall from the top deck to the bottom in the early 70's and the poles holding up the top deck were growing weaker. So he really was really obligated to fix it.

[mrakbaseball]

Why was Steinbrenner "obligated" to fix it? As someone already pointed out, Steinbrenner wasn' the Yankee owner when the renovation plans were finalized. I'm sure the was debris that fell from the upper deck by fans walking on the catwalks over the mezzanine in the pre-renovation stadium.

[Yankeeboy610]

It really isn't a question of who was obligated, it had to get done. Trust me when I tell you I wish I could have seen the old stadium, even in it's worst condition. But you can't say you will never have great memories of the renovated one. Mattingly's 95' playoff homerun, all the world series game etc etc etc....unless your not a Yankee fan (which Im assuming you are)

[mrakbaseball]

Actually, it's funny you mentioned 1995 being that I'm a Seattle fan. The old Yankee Stadium, specifically from 1967-1973, after it was painted blue and white, IMO looked the best.

It's too bad that teams have to rely so much on luxury suite, club seats and other retail sources for revenue. If it wasn't for all that, the real Yankee Stadium 1923-1973/ 1976-2008 would continue to be in use.

[jackbooooooooooooooo]

I can't front I like the new stadium but

Renovated the stadium is one thing and to demolish the stadium is another thing

Especially when the stadium was a Landmark for the city of NY it's an insult to the legendary players who played on the green land of the park.

They should preserved the park for all community events and attach the stadium with a bridge so people can visit the old park with virtual games of baseball or other events etc.

[DNSKansas]

This is when Steinbrenner turned Yankee Stadium into crap. The current stadium is Yankee Stadium III, not Yankee Stadium II. We should always distinguish between 1923-73 Yankee Stadium and the crap Steinbrenner put up.

[quagmire2]

@DNSKansas

When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, the renovation plan was already set in stone. Steinbrenner had nothing to do with the renovation.

But, I hate him as well. They should have just done another renovation then to build a new stadium. Yankee Stadium was structurally sound, but Steinbrenner wanted a bigger source of revenue which the old stadium was failing to do. So the new stadium was built. At least it isn't the Rudy Giuliani retractable roof atrocity that was planned.....

[mrakbaseball]

@DNSKansas I wouldn't call the 1976-2008 version of Yankee Stadium "crap". I would have done some things differently however. I would have never have brought the fences in 1st in 1985 and again in 1988. I would have limited the amount of ads that were plastered everywhere like the facing of the loge and upper deck and the OF wall. The renovated Yankee Stadium was simply an engineering marvel that perhaps we won't see the likes of again.

[quagmire2]

@mrakbaseball

Well they needed to get rid of death valley in order to build monument park.

What I consider to be the biggest mistake in the renovation was changing Gate 4. Putting that pod thing was horrendous. If they left it alone then we would be talking about saving Gate 4 and not Gate 2.

[mrakbaseball]

I would have also used darker blue seats at the renovated Yankee Stadium, ironically similar in color as the seat at the current Yankee Mallpark. Yeah the escalator pods were ugly. Perhaps only acceptable by Gate 2 since that pod was located within the stadium footprint unlike 4 and 6.

[WuYorkYankees]

Incredible video...thanks!

[Arps103]

This is great footage, rennovation footage is rare, great bacground music choice too!

[gillies9]

Fantastic video. I am surprised at the lack of video and pictures shot by the Yankees during the renovation. I have seen a handful of photos in books but you would have thought that someone in the team's employ would have shot roll after roll of every square inch of the original park for posterity.

[Zickcermacity]

You had it posted here before - where did the title & performer of the background track go? That s$@t rocks! Must play it down in the Caymans when I get there.

I tried looking for it on Amazon & I-Tunes to no avail 4 months ago. :(

[giantsean]

Nice shot of Gate 2 at :35. Hope they can actually save it after all

[tributes4NYY]

Your right, it would be the only think left of such a piece of history. How great would it be?

[KOFILMSANDMEDIA]

thats awesome. whenever i went into the old stadium, then see the pictures of the pre-renovation stadium, i can't believe theyre the same place.

go yankees!

[henhao1972]

1975-2005 best memories of yankee stadium..Bob Sheppard ...Eddie Layton...Reggie......Donnie Baseball...."The warrior" (Paul O'neil) Priceless times that are indelible.

[tributes4NYY]

such good memories... it breaks my heart to see it come down

[Zickcermacity]

Priceless! Sadly, this is what we will be looking at, in reverse, over the next 16 months.

Please go to Baseball-Fever for details on an effort to save even 10% of the original Yankee Stadium: Gate 2 - which was least affected by the renovations in the above video.

[lauras1978]

I thought that they were saving the field and first deck as an amateur park. They're knocking down the whole thing and uprooting the whole field? This video actually made me cry. The music was perfect for this video.

[yankee2479]

This is an amazing video. Thank you so much for posting. This was before my time, but I am thankful for being a Yankee fan and being at the Stadium many times and on the last weekend of the season last year. RIP 1923-2008

[Whatever291]

Im surprised this video doesnt have thousands of more views at this point. THANK YOU StadiumGuy for posting this! This is extremely rare footage and for you to post it up is jjust amazing.

[Wheeljack35]

This is pure gold

Nobody ever shows the work or pics from the remodel

Thank You for sharing this peice of history

[x05e]

I lived 5 minutes away by foot from here, so it was a nice memory. Thanks for the posting!

[edkollin]

That was thirty five years ago!!. And I remember Bobby Murcer R.I.P. bieng so frustrated at Shea because (Yankees played there during this remodling) balls that went out at Yankee Stadium would come up just short at Shea. Thanks from me to

[oshea41]

this is great stuff! thanks for posting.