Yankee Stadium

Lore & Background

During construction of the new stadium, a construction worker and avid Boston Red Sox fan buried a replica jersey of Red Sox player David Ortiz underneath the visitors' dugout with the objective of placing a 'hex' on the Yankees, much like the 'Curse of the Bambino' that had allegedly plagued the Red Sox long after trading Ruth to the Yankees. After the worker was exposed by co-workers, he was forced to help exhume the jersey. The Yankees organization then donated the retrieved jersey to the Jimmy Fund, a charity started in 1948 by the Red Sox' National League rivals, the Boston Braves, but long championed by the Red Sox and particularly associated with Ted Williams.

The worker has since claimed to have buried a 2004 American League Championship Series program/scorecard, but has not said where he placed it. These attempts did not have much effect upon the home team, though: the Yankees went on to win the 2009 World Series at the end of their first MLB season in the new stadium, though the original Yankee Stadium was still partially standing at the time.

Reader's Guide

The stadium was designed by the architectural firm Populous. The exterior was made from 11,000 pieces of Indiana limestone, along with granite and pre-cast concrete. The limestone is from the same quarry that produced the limestone for the Empire State Building. It features the building's name V-cut and gold-leaf lettered above each gate.

The interior of the stadium is adorned with hundreds of photographs capturing the history of the Yankees. The New York Daily News newspaper partnered with the Yankees for the exhibition 'The Glory of the Yankees Photo Collection', which was selected from the Daily News collection of over 2,000 photographs. Sports & The Arts was hired by the Yankees to curate the nearly 1,300 photographs that adorn the building from sources including the Daily News, Getty Images, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball.

The seats are laid out similar to the original Yankee Stadium's stands, with grandstand seating that stretches beyond the foul poles, as well as bleacher seats beyond the outfield fences. The Field Level and Main Level constitute the lower bowl, with suites on the H&R Block Level, and the Upper Level and Grandstand Level constituting the upper bowl. Approximately of the stadium's seating is in the lower bowl, the inverse from the original Yankee Stadium. 46,537 fans can be seated, with a standing room capacity of 52,325 for baseball games.

The new stadium's seating is spaced outward in a bowl, unlike the stacked-tiers design at the old stadium. This design places most fans farther back but lower to the field, by about an average of 30 ft. Over 56 suites are located within the ballpark, triple the amount from the previous stadium. Seats are 19 - 24 in wide, up from the previous stadium's 18 - 22 in wide seats, while there is 33 - 39 in of leg room, up from 29.5 in of leg room in the previous stadium.