'Save Yankee Stadium? Babe's Granddaughter Says "Yes"'

'Save Yankee Stadium? Babe's Granddaughter Says "Yes"'

With due respect to Jeffrey Becker's call to give landmark status to the existing Yankee Stadium, as a life-long Yankee fan from the 1960s, the single biggest reason to not keep the stadium is the experience in the ballpark now [Letters, "Save Yankee Stadium? Babe's Granddaughter Says 'Yes,'" September 2, 2008].

In a word, it is horrible.

Walkways and aisles are far too narrow to circulate through comfortably and safely; exiting the stadium takes forever because of the lack of egress capacity; the outside spaces are not pleasant at all, and many of the field views are either blocked or partial. And I won't go into the restrooms because there just aren't enough facilities to accommodate patrons and not miss an inning.

By contrast, the newer stadiums across the country, of which I have visited and circulated through quite a few, offer views of the field even while traipsing along the food and beverage spines. Everything seems to be more capacious: wider (and yes, fewer) seats, more frequent concession stands, multiple entry points, and outside pedestrian spaces where fans can comfortably accumulate and meet.

While I will never forget my experiences of going into the old place — certainly, I can never forget my young daughters' facial expression of wonderment and fright at the giant expanses there when they were about five years old — my advice to the hallowed fans of the hallowed Yankee stadium is this: get over this myth of keeping the stadium and forget the crumbling, unfixable relic that it became.

The Coliseum in Rome it is not; focus on the team. The new place will have a new experiential factor, both inside and outside of the stadium, which will pleasantly surprise all game-goers with more-than-ample recreational space.

When the Bombers win hopefully soon again, the newer generation will have a whole new set stadium stories to regale their next generations with.

STEVEN SCALICI

Staten Island, N.Y.