Yankee Stadium (1923)

===Planning and construction===
The Yankees had played at the [[Polo Grounds]] in upper [[Manhattan]] since 1913, sharing the venue with the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]]. However, relations between the two teams were rocky, with the Giants harboring resentment towards the Yankees. The Yankees had been looking for a new and permanent venue since at least 1909.<ref>[''New York Times'', December 24, 1909]</ref> The local papers had periodic announcements about the Yankees acquiring and developing land in the [[Kingsbridge, Bronx|Kingsbridge]] neighborhood for a new ballpark northeast of 225th and Broadway, and wrote about the park as if its construction was already in progress.<ref>[''New York Times'', November 12, 1911]</ref><ref>[''New York Tribune'', March 29, 1914]</ref> The Kingsbridge pipe dream continued with new owners Ruppert and Huston, but nothing came of it. The Yankees would remain tenants at the Polo Grounds for ten years, the same length of time they had spent at [[Hilltop Park]].

For the 1920 season, the Yankees acquired star slugger [[Babe Ruth]] and in his first year with his new team, the Yankees drew 1.3&nbsp;million fans to the Polo Grounds, outdrawing the Giants. By the middle of 1920, the Giants had issued an eviction notice to the Yankees, which was soon rescinded.<ref name="sabr">{{cite web|url=http://sabr.org/bioproj/park/58d80eca|title=Polo Grounds (New York) &#124; SABR|publisher=sabr.org|access-date=September 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907072152/http://sabr.org/bioproj/park/58d80eca|archive-date=September 7, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1921, the Yankees won their first [[American League]] [[pennant (sports)|pennant]] (but lost the then-best-of-nine [[1921 World Series]] to the Giants in eight games, all played at the Polo Grounds). This exacerbated Giants owner [[Charles Stoneham]]'s and manager [[John McGraw]]'s resentment of the Yankees and reinforced their insistence that the Yankees find another place to play their home games. McGraw, always ready with a pointed quote for the sportswriters, derisively suggested that the Yankees relocate "to [[Queens]] or some other out-of-the-way place".<ref name="House">{{cite book|last=Weintraub|first=Robert|title=The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923|year=2011|publisher=Hachette Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-0-316-08607-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZKHQmFAMEYC&q=Queens%20or%20some%20other%20out-of-the-way%20place%20giants&pg=PT23}}</ref>
[[File:Yankee Stadium,1920s.jpg|thumb|left|Main entrance during the 1920s]]
[[Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston]] and [[Jacob Ruppert]], the Yankees' owners since January 1915, finally decided to put the club's dream into reality and build their own stadium. The owners did so at considerable financial risk and speculation. Baseball teams typically played in 30,000-seat facilities, but Huston and Ruppert invoked Ruth's name when asked how the Yankees could justify a ballpark with 60,000 seats. The doubt over the Yankees' lasting power was amplified by baseball's sagging popularity after the 1919 [[Black Sox Scandal]], in which eight [[Chicago White Sox]] players were expelled for conspiring with gamblers to fix that year's [[1919 World Series|World Series]]. Many people also felt three baseball teams could not prosper in New York City, but Huston and Ruppert were confident the Yankees could thrive amongst the more established [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] and [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] (their gamble eventually paid off: Both National League teams relocated to California following the 1957 season). The total bill for construction of the stadium was $2.5&nbsp;million.

Huston and Ruppert explored many areas for Yankee Stadium. Of the other sites being considered, the [[Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York|Hebrew Orphan Asylum]], at Amsterdam Avenue between 136th and 138th streets in [[Manhattan]], nearly became reality.<ref>{{cite news |title=Yankees Pick Site For New Ball Park |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/30/112667624.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/30/112667624.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=30 January 2021 |work=The New York Times |volume=LXX|issue=23017 |date=30 January 1921 |page=1}}</ref> Consideration was also given to building atop railroad tracks on the West Side of Manhattan (an idea revived in 1998) and to [[Long Island City]], in [[Queens]]. The area Huston and Ruppert settled on was a {{convert|10|acre|ha}} lumberyard in [[the Bronx]] within walking distance from and in sight of, [[Coogan's Bluff]]. The Polo Grounds was located on the Manhattan side of the [[Harlem River]], at 155th Street and [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]]. Huston and Ruppert purchased the lumberyard from [[William Waldorf Astor]] for $600,000, equal to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|600000|1922}}}} today. Construction began May 5, 1922 and Yankee Stadium opened to the public less than a year later. The stadium's walls were built of "an extremely hard and durable concrete that was developed by [[Thomas Edison]]",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/the_bonus/09/18/yankee.stadium/index.html |title=Yankee Stadium, it's gone! Goodbye! |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |first=Tom |last=Verducci |date=September 18, 2008 |access-date=September 22, 2008}}</ref> with a total of {{convert|20000|yd3}} of concrete used in the original structure.<ref>{{cite book|title=Yankee Stadium: Fifty Years of Drama |url=https://archive.org/details/yankeestadiumfif00durs |url-access=registration |first=Joseph |last=Durso |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1972 |page=[https://archive.org/details/yankeestadiumfif00durs/page/40 40]|isbn=9780395140079 }}</ref>