Historic Events

Baseball is not the only event the stadium has hosted. In 1928, legendary Notre Dame college football coach Knute Rockne urged his team to beat Army for ailing teammate George Gipp - forever known as "win one for the Gipper." In 1938, as Adolf Hitler drove the world to the brink of war, American Joe Louis defeated German Max Schmelling at Yankee Stadium to win the world heavyweight boxing title. The New York football Giants played there and lost the 1958 NFL Championship to the Baltimore Colts in overtime. The stadium has also hosted three Popes - Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI - all said mass there. Former South African president Nelson Mandela led a rally there, and there have been numerous music concerts there including by U2, Billy Joel and Pink Floyd.

THE OLD YANKEE STADIUM

THE OLD YANKEE STADIUM
This was the lastest picture before it have been rebuilt

New York's Yankee Stadium Closes Forever

One of the most storied buildings in Major League Baseball -Yankee Stadium- is set to host its final baseball game Sunday night. The "House that Ruth Built" will be torn down and replaced with a new state-of-the-art facility.Sunday evening, an era ends. Yankee Stadium's public address system will blare out Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" for the last time. The balls will be put away, the bronze images of New York Yankee heroes like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris will be packed with an almost religious reverence to be moved to their new home.And Yankee Stadium will be no more.

NEW YANKEE STADIUM

NEW YANKEE STADIUM
This is the Yankee Stadium rebuilt. Now it has a beautiful architecture

This is another view of th Yankee Stadium

The House that Ruth Built

Built in the early 1920s, Yankee Stadium was America's first three-deck sports facility. The land in New York's South Bronx was purchased from William Waldorf Astor for $675,000. The stadium cost $2.5 million to build. The Yankees originally played at New York's Polo Grounds, which the American League club rented from their National League rivals the New York Giants. But the Yankees started drawing bigger crowds and they wanted their own facility. Babe Ruth hit the first home run in the new park in New York's 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox on April 18, 1923. A New York reporter then dubbed the stadium "the House that Ruth Built" and the name stuck.During its lifetime, Yankee Stadium has witnessed some of the most storied moments in baseball, including 26 World Series titles won by the so-called "Bronx Bombers." One of those moments was a perfect game pitched by Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series. Larsen says he did not know he achieved perfection until the final frame of the contest."I didn't know it was a perfect game until someone told me in the clubhouse after. I knew I had the no hitter going," he said. "You expect the guys to get a base hit, that doesn't bother you. You don't go out and try to do stuff like that. You just try to go out and do a decent job and hope you come in on the winning end."Other pitchers to throw a perfect game at Yankee Stadium included David Wells in 1998 and David Cone a year later. Roger Maris hit his record-setting 61st home run there in 1961. Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game Six to help the Yankees win the 1977 World Series.The stadium was also where former first baseman Lou Gehrig gave his speech in which he called himself the "luckiest man on the face of the earth." The man known as "The Iron Horse" lay in state at the stadium when he died from the disease that now bears his name. The list of Hall of Famers to play for the Yankees reads like a who's who of baseball, including Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Gehrig and Reggie Jackson. Current Yankees' manager Joe Girardi says no other venue can compare with Yankee Stadium.Girardi said that "This place has been the house of numerous, numerous championships. This place has meant a lot to the history of baseball, the history of this country because of all the things that have happened here. And I think everyone appreciates it and everyone wants a piece of it."Longtime Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard says that Yankee Stadium has always felt like something sacred, something that represented all of America. Shepard went on to say "I think of it as a kind of baseball cathedral. Almost like St. Patrick's Cathedral except devoted not to the Lord, but to baseball."

Babe Ruth near the end of his career with the Yankees

The New Ballpark

The stadium was renovated in the 1970s, but now a new ballpark is being built across 161st Street. The new $1.3 billion New Yankee Stadium is 63 percent larger than the old venue. It features a martini bar, steak house, art gallery and luxury boxes for high-paying customers. More comfortable seating has been installed with the best seats going for $2,500 a game.Some of the old landmarks will remain - fans will still have to take the Four Line subway to reach the field. The original limestone exterior will be replicated, as will the eagle medallions outside the stadium entrance. The cathedral windows and the frieze in the outfield will make the trip. And the memories - and ghosts - of Yankee Stadium will also make the trip when the Yankees play their first game at New Yankee Stadium next April.

RESOURCES:

Byrd, David. «New York's Yankee Stadium Closes Forever.» 20 September 2008. VOA News. 27 September 2008. http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-09-20-voa23.cfmIf you liked this article, we invite you to watch the next video: B Unger Yankee Stadium report

Close pitches cause benches to clear

Martin plunked, buzzed before Kuroda nearly hits Victorino

Benches cleared moments after warnings were issued to both teams in the top of the third inning of Sunday night's Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers leading, 6-1.

Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, hit with a curveball in the first inning by Phillies starter Jamie Moyer, had a Clay Condrey fastball buzz under his chin in the bottom of the second inning before grounding into a double play. An angry Martin slammed his helmet and pounded a cooler in the dugout.

With two outs in the top of the third inning, Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda threw the first pitch behind the head of former Dodgers farmhand Shane Victorino, who yelled at Kuroda, pointing at his head while plate umpire Mike Everitt issued warnings to both benches and Kuroda.

Victorino grounded out to first base to end the inning. When the play ended, Victorino continued complaining to Kuroda, who was nearby having come off the mound to cover first. Kuroda took a step toward Victorino and both benches and bullpens emptied.

No contact was made, but Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez had to be restrained from going after Phillies reliever J.C. Romero, and first-base coaches Mariano Duncan of the Dodgers and Davey Lopes of the Phillies had to be restrained by their respective club personnel.

Umpires met between innings but nobody was ejected.

The incident was a follow-up to the first inning of Game 2, when Phillies starter Brett Myers threw under Martin's chin and behind Ramirez's head in the first inning of Philadelphia's 8-5 victory.


Russell Martin and Joe Torre restrain Manny Ramirez during the third inning.

Resources

Gurnick, Ken. «Close pitches cause benches to clear.» 12 October 2008. MLB. 12 October 2008 . http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081012&content_id=3614415&vkey=ps2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

jueves, 20 de noviembre de 2008

Pitchers to watch



Each year there are some players that emerge as key cogs in their team’s success who are not mega stars. They may not even be stars or highly-prized prospects.
And these are some of them.

David Price
The young left-hander as the most notable of this group was an easy choice. After all, his performance in the postseason is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Used in the postseason, Price pitched in five games, throwing 5.2 innings and striking out eight while posting a 1.59 ERA. He’s headed for the rotation next season and has the potential to one day become the ace of the Tampa Bay starters.



Jose Arredondo

Arredondo, who was one of a pair of right-handed setup men for the Angels last season, could assume the closer’s role if the Angels don’t go after a finisher in free agency.

His two biggest weapons are his aggressiveness in the strike zone and his explosive fastball. He also has a great ability to consistently get the ball over the plate and pick up some strikeouts along the way.




Jon Adkins
The Reds shoddily need pitching help. On Sept. 8, they purchased the contract of Adkins, who led the International League with 30 saves while posting a 3.48 ERA in 62 innings. He got into just four games with Cincinnati but he does have a resilient arm.

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Longoria wins American League rookie of year; Soto wins in National League



The rookie race came to an end. Evan Longoria and Giovanni Soto won the rookie of the year, Longoria from the American League and Soto from the National League.

These two players that played in the last All-Stars game in the Yankee Stadium.

"I had a great year, bar none," Longoria said. "I know I have the ability to do more."

Evan Longoria became the first Tampa Bay player to win a national award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

"It's kind of surreal. It really hasn't sunk in yet," Soto said on a conference call from Puerto Rico.

Called up from the minors in April, Longoria batted .272 with 27 homers and 85 RBIs despite missing five weeks after breaking his right wrist.

Tampa Bay started play in 1998 and had never won more than 70 games until Longoria helped lead the Rays to 97 wins this year and the AL East title. He also hit a tying double with two outs in the eighth inning during the July 15 All-Star game in New York.

The Cy young Award from the Major league of baseball will be announced in the next few weeks

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domingo, 12 de octubre de 2008

Baseball section

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