A Bronx farewell

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

No American sports facility has had a more storied history than Yankee Stadium, the South Bronx home of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees. Opened in 1923 at a cost of $2.5 million, the stadium is the closest thing this country has had to the Colosseum in Rome, with gladiators named Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Jackson wearing the team’s iconic pinstripes.

In its 85 years, the stadium played host to a franchise that won 26 World Series, by far the most championships of any major American professional sports team. The Yankees appeared so many times in the Fall Classic that the stadium looked naked without the traditional red, white and blue bunting hanging over its rafters.

Love-hate passions run deeper with the Yankees than with any other team, and the stadium played the part of willing co-conspirator. Between the baselines, one could see the ghosts of the Babe, the Iron Horse and the other members of Murderer’s Row, the Yankee Clipper and many, many others. Just beyond the outfield wall one could visit Monument Park, a collection of memorabilia that salutes the heroes who made the Bronx Bombers the most feared outfit to don cleats.

Ask for lasting images and the stadium provided us with gems, perhaps none more famous than catcher Yogi Berra leaping into the arms of pitcher Don Larsen after the hurler had delivered a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

On Sunday night, after the Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles, the mighty stadium shut off its lights and closed its turnstiles for good, to give way to a $1.3 billion ballpark across the street that will open next season.

The new facility will have all the trappings of a modern ballpark, but no amount of money will be able to replace the rich history written by Yankee Stadium. Love the Yankees or hate them, there is no denying the stadium played host to a cast of characters with a standard of excellence the likes of which will probably never be seen again.