Person of the Week: Yankee Stadium

Sept. 19, 2008— -- Tonight we take a bit of liberty with our "Person of the Week." Instead of choosing someone who has done something remarkable, we chose a place that has seen so much that is remarkable. This 85-year-old is world famous, has fathered countless legends, has hosted millions of guests and has been the subject of endless childhood and adult fantasies. On Sunday, Yankee Stadium will hold its last baseball game.

It's known as just "The Stadium," "The Diamond in the Bronx" or "The House That Ruth Built."

"More than anything, Yankee Stadium is the cathedral -- not just of baseball, but of sports," said Bill Madden, the New York Daily News' national baseball columnist.

"I'll miss everything. I'll miss the energy -- all the things that maybe the fans don't get an opportunity to see," said Derek Jeter, the Yankees' all-star shortstop. "You know, [I'll miss] walking from the clubhouse to the dugout, down the tunnel, seeing the Joe DiMaggio sign hanging."

That sign holds a famous quote from Joltin' Joe: "I thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee."

The stadium really was built for Babe Ruth.

"Babe Ruth was acquired by the Yankees in 1919 from the Red Sox," Madden explained. "And he instantly became the biggest player in the game because, in those days, they didn't hit home runs the way Babe Ruth hit home runs."

In fact, in his first year with the Yankees, Ruth hit 54 home runs, more than any other Major League team combined.

At the time, the Yankees were playing at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, home to the New York Giants baseball team.  But when Ruth joined the Yankees, the team started drawing bigger crowds.

"It became an untenable situation for the Giants management," said Tony Morante, tour director of Yankee Stadium. "So, they asked the Yankees to leave."

So, Yankees owners Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert took a gamble, bought 10 acres in the South Bronx and built the country's first triple-tiered ballpark -- the first to be called a stadium.  Where other ballparks sat 30,000, Yankee Stadium would seat more than 57,000.