The effort to save Gate 2 from the original Yankee Stadium could come to a head next week when the city's Design Commission reviews plans for preservation.
The effort to save Gate 2 from the original Yankee Stadium could come to a head next week when the city's Design Commission reviews plans for preservation.
The issue: Preservationists want to restore Gate 2 from Yankee Stadium as a reminder of the original facility, making it the perfect entrance to Heritage Park, the planned use for the old place. The city says Gate 2 was heavily altered during the 1970s "renovation" of Yankee Stadium and is not worth preserving. Besides, the city says, it could cost $10 million or so to preserve the gate, and that's money the city doesn't have. Preservationists counter with an estimate of $1 million for saving the gate. The Yankees, sad to say, are quiet on the subject.
The disagreement over this plan highlights a problem with preserving anything from the 1970s-renovation of Yankee Stadium. The myth was that Yankee Stadium was merely given a nice new veneer and seat after the "renovation." But the truth is that the place was torn down to the girders and rebuilt in the name of progress. Players who spent time in both argue to this day that there was nothing left of the original Yankee Stadium in the rebuilt facility, and that fact is being sadly confronted by preservationists. They're desperate seeking any part of the old place to save, and Gate 2 comes closest to any remnant of the original Yankee Stadium — but the disagreement over the historical significant and heritage of the gate shows how hard a task this has been, even in a city that prides itself on architectural preservation. The real crime here has an expired statute of limitations: the 1970s "renovation" was crudely handled and mischaracterized by the city and the Yankees for a long time.
RELATED STORIES: Preservationists: Cheaper to save Gate 2 than tear it down
Subscribers to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter see features before they're posted to the site. You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.
Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!