Old Yankee Stadium's Gate 2 focus of debate as part of new Heritage Park
By Eitan Gavis and Larry McShane (NY Daily News)
Save Gate 2!
Despite the opposition of baseball romantics and some Bronx residents, the city plans to dismantle the classic Gate 2 from the old Yankee Stadium.
"I think saving it is a good idea," Sandra Mullen, 33, of the Bronx, said of the majestic entrance opposite the new Yankee Stadium.
"I like the old stadium from when I was a child. The new one is beautiful, but the old one was a classic."
Boosters of the effort to save Gate 2 want it incorporated as the front door to the new Heritage Park, a 10-acre park slated to fill the footprint of the House That Ruth Built. They've established a pro-Gate 2 Web site, featuring a 2-1/2-minute video presentation with their vision of the structure as a gateway to the new park. Critics of the plan say Gate 2 is undeserving of rescue. Stabilizing and restoring the gate would cost $10 million, they say.
The "historic" gate was significantly changed when the Stadium was renovated in the mid-1970s, they note. The Parks Department said there are plans to use other aspects of the old stadium - at least those pieces not peddled as pricey collectibles.
The famous bat that stands behind the old home plate entrance will stay at the new park, along with sections of Yankee Stadium's historic frieze. One of the new baseball diamonds - dubbed "Championship Field" - will follow the same alignment as the old stadium infield.
For baseball fans like Bill Turner, 77, of Victoria in Canada, that's not enough. Turner visited the Bronx last week as part of a tour of baseball stadiums past and present."We visit some of these places where the original field is gone, and all we have is a brass plaque saying, 'This is where home plate was,'" he said. Saving the gate is "a brilliant idea," Turner said.
Bronx borough historian Lloyd Ultan compared saving Gate 2 to preserving ancient ruins for future generations.
"If you go to Rome, you can get some idea of what the Forum was like from the ruins," said Ultan. "If it's feasible, it's worthy to save that part."
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More news on the demolition of the old Yankee Stadium
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/sports/baseball/11stadium.html?ref=sports
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