The Beginning of the End

Although there has been no firm statement as such, the last season of Yankee baseball is about to begin at The House that Ruth Built.

The Cathedral of Baseball as many call it was built for $2.5 million dollars and opened it's gates on April 18, 1923. The under construction stadium was originally priced at ~$800,000,000. However the latest figures put final costs at $1.3 billion, just a little bit over budget roughly 39%. That seems just about right since the cost of gasoline has risen about the same since 2006 when construction began.

With the changing of the playing field has come the changing of the Steinbrenner management. Younger sons have taken the reins from George Steinbrenner. Rumors fly about George's health. However even for all his faults and follies, you do have to hope that if the rumors are true, and his health is failing, that George gets to see the first pitch tossed in the the new Yankee digs next year; after all he paid for most of it; and among fanatical sports owner-fans, George will always rein at the top.

There are 31 days till first pitch of the NY Yankee's Opening Day is tossed in the old stadium. I will be there as always, but this year, I am wondering if it will be the last time I feel that energy I get when I look at the playing field. My awe is based on the history that has been made in the Bronx in that old stadium; the many baseball hosts who must be walking the concourses and sitting next to the current crop of Yankees.

You have to wonder if that feeling will continue in the new stadium. Surely the baseball ghosts can walk across the street, but the new stadium is just that, brand spanking new. No history will have been made in it when it opens in 2009. Well I just guess I will have to wait and see if that occurs next year.