May 22, 1998

Yankee City Most New Yorkers want Yankee Stadium to stay in the Bronx. They’re right! It’s historically important —not only to the City and the Bronx but also to the country. Clearly, the "Bronx Bombers" need a new stadium. Alternative locations like Manhattan’s West Side or the New Jersey Meadowlands won’t make it. There is already too much in Manhattan. It would cause immense traffic problems and at the same time diminish the Bronx. New Jersey would provide too much immediate competition for other sporting events and would cut into the strong traditional public relations and promotional marketing that New York and the Bronx offer. The real solution is to build a "Yankee City" in the section of the Bronx where Yankee Stadium is now. Such a development would provide many job and recreational opportunities for the city. The City could include a little league stadium along with some other playing fields for public use, a New York Yankee Museum, perhaps a Yankee baseball camp, a shopping area that would offer some sport’s theme restaurants and sporting goods stores, a movie theatre that would show films of famous Yankee and other baseball games as well as full length sports films. Two other major attractions could be a World Series theme hotel and a college level educational facility to train people in the sports and recreational management fields. The hotel could attract tourists and sports conventions. The school could be created through an affiliation with a major local University. Baseball was the national pastime. It probably reached its peak in the mid1960’s. The heart of the national pastime was New York City with three famous ball parks, Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field. Today, Yankee Stadium is falling apart, the Giants and the Dodgers are long gone to other cities. The other pride and joy of New York baseball fans is the New York Mets’ Shea Stadium and that is going to be replaced. "Yankee City" could bring baseball back as a national pastime and make New York the heart of that national pastime. The perfect game so recently pitched by Yankee pitcher David Wells is a continuing testimony to the legends that the New York Yankees have produced–Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and many other great players. There is a certain mystique that the Bronx has for the New York Yankees. The "Bronx Bombers" have to stay in the Bronx. It is their "Field of Dreams". James C. Benerofe May 22, 1998 Editorial #8