Happy Birthday Yankee Stadium

They've officially been playing baseball at the corner of 161st St & River Ave in the Bronx for a century.  Yes, there was that two-year span when the Yankees were playing at Shea Stadium.  And, yes, for the last 15 years, they've been playing in a new stadium across the street.  But it was 100 years ago today, April 18, 1923, that the original Yankee Stadium first opened its doors.

We all know the story by now.  The Yankees were the Giants' tenants in the Polo Grounds, but they were getting too popular, so Giants owner Charles Stoneham and manager John McGraw kicked them out.  So, the Yankees decided to build their own stadium...directly across the river from the Polo Grounds!  And it would be the grandest ballpark anyone had ever seen.  The first built with concrete.  The first with three decks (enough seats for 60,000 people).  The first to be called a "stadium."

And it's really all because of one man.  Babe Ruth.  Ruth's popularity is why Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert thought he could build a 60,000-seat stadium and actually fill it.  And was right!

Ruth, of course, went on to provide Yankee Stadium with its first memorable moment, a three-run homer in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox in the stadium's opening game, immediately giving Yankee Stadium its nickname, "The House That Ruth Built."  That's how they christened their new home.  They'd finish off that first year by winning the first of their record 27 World Series titles (by beating the Giants).

When the original Yankee Stadium closed in 2008, it had quite a farewell, too.  The Yankees missed the playoffs that season, but in a way, it was better.  Because that celebration prior to the finale, capped by Derek Jeter's wonderful speech, was perfect.  So was that season's All*Star Game, a 15-inning, five-hour epic.  I remember Joe Buck saying at some point late in the game, "This stadium does not want to say goodbye."  That's exactly what MLB was doing, though.  Saying goodbye to a baseball cathedral that had seen so much of the game's history.

On the Fourth of July in 1939, Lou Gehrig gave his "luckiest man" speech.  In 1956, Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the World Series.  In 1977, Reggie Jackson homered on three successive pitches in the World Series.  In 1983, again on the Fourth of July, Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter.  David Wells and David Cone pitched perfect games 14 months apart in 1998 and 1999 (both championship seasons).

The stadium was never louder than it was on back-to-back nights in 2001, when the Yankees had incredible walk-off wins in Games 4 & 5 of that epic World Series against the Diamondbacks.  Game 5 ended in the early morning hours of November 1, earning Derek Jeter the nickname "Mr. November."  Then, two years later, the original Yankee Stadium had its final classic postseason moment when current Yankees manager Aaron Boone won Game 7 of the ALCS against the Red Sox with a walk-off homer in the 12th inning.

There were the individual moments, too.  Ruth hitting his 60th home run in 1927.  The home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961, with Maris breaking Ruth's record on the last day of the season.  Chris Chambliss walking it off against Kansas City in the 1976 ALCS.  The place absolutely losing its mind when Don Mattingly went deep against Seattle in the only playoff series of his career--the 1995 Division Series.  Derek Jeter becoming the all-time Yankee Stadium hit leader during that final homestand in 2008.

One of the most amazing things about the original Yankee Stadium is that it was built in roughly six months.  Yet, when the stadium closed for renovations after the 1973 season, it took two years!  And construction of the current Yankee Stadium began in 2006, but wasn't complete until 2008.  Although, the new Yankee Stadium would be christened in the exact same way as the original...with a Yankees championship.

Prior to moving into Yankee Stadium, the Yankees had never won the World Series.  Over the next 85 years, they'd win 26.  And those 26 include some of the greatest teams in baseball history.  The Murderer's Row squad of 1927.  The 1939 team that won the last of four straight titles.  Casey Stengel's run of nine pennants (and seven championships) in 11 years from 1949-60.  The 1961 season.  Billy Martin's crazy 1977 team.  And the greatest team I ever saw--Joe Torre's 1998 squad that went 125-50.

It wasn't just baseball, either.  Boxing was big in the Roaring Twenties and into the 1930s, and many a championship fight was held in the 60,000-seat venue.  Ditto with college football.  Yankee Stadium was the site of the famous "Win One for the Gipper" game.  It was the (football) Giants' home venue from 1956-73, and the "Greatest Game Ever Played," the 1958 NFL Championship Game, took place at Yankee Stadium.  There were concerts, soccer games and Papal masses.  Babe Ruth's body even lied in state at Yankee Stadium after he died in 1948.

But still, Yankee Stadium (both incarnations) has always been, first and foremost, a baseball venue.  The Yankees played more than 6,500 regular season games at the original, with countless more in the postseason.  Yankee Stadium had this mystique and aura that couldn't really be explained, but were often cited as reasons why good things happened to them and/or bad things happened to their opponents.

While the mystique and aura haven't made their way across the street (save a championship in the first season at the current Yankee Stadium), other features have to make you still feel you're in the presence of that history and greatness.  Monument Park is in center field, with its monuments, plaques and retired numbers honoring Yankees legends.  That distinctive white frieze, which was part of that copper roof at the original, encircles the grandstand at the new place.  Thurman Munson's locker, which stood empty in the Yankees clubhouse until it was relocated to the museum when the new stadium opened.

A lot has happened on both sides of 161st & River over the last 100 years.  There are too many memories to count, and so many more to be made.  I can't wait to see what happens next.  Because, even though the original isn't there anymore and the Yankees play across the street now, there are plenty more memories to come.  Happy Birthday Yankee Stadium!  And many more!