For the better part of 2009, I’ve covered the grassroots movement by a group of preservationists and Yankee fans to save Gate 2 and incorporate it into the plans for Heritage Field. While the city officials say the plan is cost-prohibitive, the group claims Gate 2 could be saved for around $1 million. Now, with the Parks Department set to gain preliminary approval for its Heritage Field plans, the Gate 2 movement may be nearing a conclusion, but early reports indicate that Gate 2 will not be a part of the Heritage Field plans.

Benjamin Peim, writing for the Daily News, has more on this development:

The city Parks Department plans to seek preliminary approval next week for plans to commemorate the stadium at Heritage Field – the future park after the House That Ruth Built meets the wrecking ball. Gate 2 is not in the plans. “If it gets approved, I think we’re through,” said John Trush, one of the fans fighting to save the gate.

The Parks Department presented its plans last May to the Design Commission, which approves all permanent works of art, architecture and landscape architecture proposed on or over city property. It granted preliminary approval, with the caveat they make revisions to better incorporate the stadium’s history.

At next week’s meeting, with Gate 2 crusaders making their pitch, the commission will decide the department’s revised plans for the old Yankee Stadium. A Parks spokesman said the revised design will have some of the old stadium’s frieze, historical plaques and markers, and one of the baseball diamonds will follow the same alignment as the old infield.

At the heart of this debate is the city’s tendency to disregard its history. As I wrote in August, early Heritage Field plans basically ignored Yankee Stadium. Although a few plaques would commemorate the spot, no aspect of Yankee Stadium would have remained, and even the replacement fields would not align with the old Yankee Stadium infield.

For the city, this disregard for history is nothing new. Lower Manhattan contains few remnants of its 400-year-old history, and even newer landmarks — Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds — are nothing but memories we recognize from sepia-toned photographs. The Save the Gate 2 movement wanted to preserve an original part of old Yankee Stadium before it was too late. As Bronx borough historian Lloyd Ultan has repeated said, the preserved gate “would serve the same function for future generations as the Roman forums serve in Rome today.”

Now though, it is the proverbial bottom of the ninth. I’ll reserve judgment on the Parks Department’s final plans until they are released. The early word is somewhat promising but also a bit hypocritical. Although the Deparment claims that saving Gate 2 would be futile because the substantial parts of the gate date only to the 1970s renovation, most of the new plans seem to preserve Yankee Stadium II memories while glossing over the original stadium configuration. “The [Parks Department] argument falls down when you take a look at the [revised] plans for the site,” Ultan said. “Most of what they’re saving is from the 1970s structure.”

We might have to eulogize Gate 2 next week and tip our caps to those trying to save it. If the effort fails, it was a valiant one. Hopefully, the city won’t come to rue a mistake if it tears down the entire stadium while just giving a perfunctory nod to history. The House that Ruth Built deserves better.

The Yankees announced their pricing schedule for 2010 season tickets last night. Only one section — Main Level, Rows 1-22: 216-217, 223-224 — increased in price, from $100 to $125. Every other section is either the same or decreased. The decreases were pretty significant, too: 38 percent in Field Level Rows 12-30: 115, 125, and 30 percent in Rows 12-30: 116-124. There is also a decrease in Legends Suites pricing. Everything else in the park remains the same, including the bleachers.

Here’s the full chart:

Doesn’t seem like there will be many complaints. Except for the people in Main Levels 216 to 217 and 223 to 224.

Here’s CNBC’s Darren Rovell on Legends:

The much publicized $2,500 per game suite tickets, which were not part of the seats whose price was cut in half in April, will cost $1,500 in 2010. That’s despite the fact that many people who bought the suites before the stadium opened this year agreed to pay between 3 and 6 percent more for their seats each year, depending on how long of a commitment they made to the team.

That means a person or company who agreed to buy the most expensive seats in the stadium on a 10-year contract was on the hook to pay $834,300 ($2,575 per game per seat for 81 games) for four suite tickets in 2010, but will now pay $486,000.

Good to see the Yanks coming down from these prices. Perhaps now we’ll see the best seats in the house filled on a nightly basis.

Jess Willard and Floyd Johnson square off at Yankee Stadium in 1923.

On September 28, 1976, Yankee Stadium hosted its final boxing match. Muhammad Ali took on Ken Norton in an event that marked the end of an era. Under the backdrop of a New York City police protest, the streets ran wild with gangs and hoodlums. Most fans stayed away from the park, and those that came out created near-anarchy. The event was a financial disaster for all involved.

That night marked the end of an era of boxing in baseball stadiums. As Don Stradley wrote in a fantastic piece earlier this year, boxing and baseball stadiums once went hand in hand. He wrote of Yankee Stadium:

When Yankee owners Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert splurged for the $2.5 million stadium in 1922, they had boxing in mind. With second base the logical spot for a ring, a 15-foot vault was installed directly under the ground; it was wired so members of press row could telegraph stories to their editors. During the next 38 summers, the stadium hosted 48 nights of boxing, including 30 championship fights, the first of which was the 1923 lightweight bout between champion Benny Leonard and challenger Lew Tendler.

Yankee Stadium wasn’t alone in its love of boxing. The Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field, Griffith Stadium and Fenway Park, among others, hosted epic fights, but it’s been over 30 years since a baseball venue served as a stage for a fight. Now, the Yankees may bring boxing back to the Bronx.

Earlier today, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao stood with promoter Bob Arum to announce a November fight in Las Vegas. During the press conference, Arum spoke of his desire to bring a fight to Yankee Stadium, and the Steinbrenners seem to be on board. “We have a history of bringing big fights to the Yankee Stadium,” said Arum. “It’s something we’d like to do again…Yankee Stadium had a great tradition of boxing, and hopefully with the new Yankee Stadium, we’ll start a new tradition.”

Both Arum and Lonn Trost, the Yanks’ COO, spoke of their desire to see a boxing ring at second base. “I think one of the reasons we had the press conference here is a precursor for a big, big event,” Arum said. “Certainly a big fight is going to happen next year, and it’s going to happen at Yankee Stadium.”

As the Yankees look to maximize the revenue streams from their new stadium, an off-season boxing match would be the perfect attraction. “There’ll be a winner of this fight and a winner of the Mayweather fight,” Trost said. “Where better to hold that fight than Yankee Stadium?”

Tom Kaminski is starting to pull out our heartstrings. The man behind the camera in WCBS’ Chopper 880 has been making the rounds over old Yankee Stadium as crews work to tear down the park, and the pictures are heartbreaking. As the shot above shows, the stadium will soon be without its frieze. A full photogallery of these shots is available here.

Meanwhile, over the last week, Kaminski has spotted some interesting goings-on inside the House that Ruth Built. The stadium is being reclaimed by nature. Weeds and wispy plants are sprouting out of the former infield and outfield areas while the stands are covered in moss. The foul poles have been removed as well.

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While the old stadium will soon be but a memory in the minds of Yankee fans, the new stadium has become a campaign issue in the Bronx. Helen Foster, City Council representative from the 16th district, is facing Carlos Sierra in the primaries in two weeks, and both politicians are unhappy with the stadium. Gotham Gazette’s David King had more:

For both candidates, the stadium symbolizes how projects the rest of the city might want are not necessarily best for their low-income district. During her time on the council Foster has been outspoken in her criticism of the stadium. “I was the lone voice on the council against Yankee Stadium,” she said, “and now we are seeing a lot of what we were afraid of come to fruition. Local vendors have been left out. There was a recent article about a fruit stand there that is bringing fruit from out of state, from Washington and New Mexico.”

Sierra has been active at protests at the stadium and says he intends to keep pressuring the team to build parks to replace the ones that existed where the stadium now stands.

While stadium supporters pushed the local angle turning construction, most urban policy experts are not surprised the stadium has not been a boon for near-by neighborhoods. This is a nation-wide trend, and sports stadiums continue to exist uneasily with the surrounding areas. That’s why sports economists generally do not support public investments in private sports stadiums.

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Finally, the Chicago Tribune reports that the Yankees are courting a Big Ten team for a football game at the stadium. Northwestern has been in talks with team officials about playing a game in the new park, and the Big Ten and Big East may turn to the Bronx for a bowl game.

The Yankee Blog Universe is all a-buzz with news of a changed bag policy from Yankee Stadium. RAB’s own Leokitty first posted the news on Friday, and Ross and Andrew both picked it up over the weekend.

In a nutshell, the terrorists have finally lost as the Yankees will, for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, allow fans to carry bags with them into the stadium. Similar to at an airport, bags must fit into this box, and the Yankees have amended their stadium rules:

Diaper bags, small backpacks, small purses and bags are permitted. However, in accordance with Major League Baseball security regulations, bags larger than 16 x 16 x 8 inches will not be allowed into the Stadium. Briefcases, large backpacks, large purses and bags, coolers and hard-sided bags and containers are also not permitted. All bags must be thoroughly inspected before they are permitted into the Stadium. Box templates shall be used at inspection points, and bags and their contents must fit without assistance, modification or adjustment. The Yankees reserve the right to inspect any bags, clothing or other articles prior to entry into Yankee Stadium and prohibit entry or require removal of any items the Yankees deem inappropriate or potentially injurious to Yankee Stadium, other patrons or field personnel.

I am quite relieved by this long-delayed rule change. During the summer of 2001, I journeyed to 12 stadiums in 10 cities and carried a backpack with me to every single game. After the 9/11 attacks, stadiums stopped allowing bags into ballparks, but over the next few years, those stadiums outside of New York relaxed their standards.

A few years ago, fans could once again bring bags into Shea Stadium, but the Yankees were obstinate in their bag policies. My apartment was, at one point, home to tens of cheap clear plastic bags with the Yankee logo on them. Last year, the Yanks started allowing any plastic bag into the park, and now, bags — messengers bags, small backpacks — are back. The terrorists have definitely lost.

The Yankee Stadium Farmers Market on a cold April day. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

I first saw this odd fruit stand right inside Gate 4 at the new Yankee Stadium on a cold day in April, and it seemed fairly gimmicky to me. After all, bananas were two for $3, and both navel oranges and Anjou pears carried the same price tag. For nearly one-third the price, I could just grab a banana at the fruit store on the way to the subway before heading up to the game.

Yet, over the course of the season, these fruit stands have become quite successful, and yesterday, The Times’ Manny Fernandez explored the stadium fruit stand phenomenon. Apparently, fans turned off by the high prices — and more importantly, the high calorie counts — of the regular stadium fare are turning to the fruit stand for relief.

At Yankee Stadium this week, in the entrance hall just beyond Gate 4, the fruits were arranged in baskets and trays on a wooden pushcart and on two other displays. It is a place of only-in-New York moments: men and women, some in Yankee pinstripes, shorts and sneakers, some holding tall half-empty cups of beer, squeezing fruit and asking if the peaches were fresh.

Several customers said the stand was a pleasant surprise. In the third inning of a game on Tuesday against the Texas Rangers, Randy Ian Brandoff, 33, an executive at a private jet company, had trouble deciding between a nectarine and a peach, and walked away with one of each. A few minutes later, Ronnie and Carole Meyer, a retired couple from Bloomington, Minn., bought two bananas. “There’s too much greasy food,” said Mrs. Meyer, 64, adding that she and her husband would probably have bought popcorn had they not found the fruit stand.

Angela Mangels, 31, a health-conscious architect from Long Island, was not planning to eat anything at the stadium. “I don’t normally buy anything at ball fields,” she said. She bought two nectarines, an apple and a banana at the stand for $6.

As Fernandez relates, the fruit isn’t as local as one would prefer. The stand is run by a Los Angeles-based fruit importer and distributor, and the fruit is shipped in from Washington, California, Oregon and even New Zealand. “I’m thrilled that it’s there,” Michael Hurwitz, the head of New York’s very successful Greenmarket program, said. “I just think that there’s a great opportunity to support our regional economy and our regional growers, particularly in this economy. You could have New York State apples, you could have New York State peaches, you could have New York State pears.”

The company, Melissa’s Produce, defended its cross-country shipping by citing the weather. A spokesman said that fall may bring some local apples as well.

Meanwhile, the fruit stand sells around 200 pounds of produce a game, and even at a mark-up of nearly 300 percent in some cases, that’s still an impressive total. Who would have thought we’d see the day a fruit stand thrives inside a baseball stadium?

According to critics, the plan to save Gate 2 comes with a hefty price tag.

As the Yankee Stadium demolition continues apace, the effort to save Gate 2 is gaining traction. Yet, despite the increased publicity and focus on the preservation effort, critics contend that it is far too late and far too costly to save this bit of Bronx baseball history.

The latest development in this fight over parkland and the historic parts of Yankee Stadium comes to us via the Daily News. Today’s article sums up the current state of the movement, and it doesn’t sound as though things are falling into place for those of us who wish to see a part of Yankee Stadium incorporated into Heritage Park.

Eitan Gavis and Larry McShane talked to a few unnamed critics of the plan, and these naysayers point to the price and historical modifications of Gate 2. According to those who oppose the effort, it could cost up to $10 million to restore Gate 2 to its historical image and stabilize the gate so that it stands without the help of the existing stadium. These critics also contend that the gate was “significantly changed” during the renovations to the stadium in the 1970s.

According to the Daily News and previous reports, the Parks Department plans to leave the giant bat in place. There is, however, a functional aspect to it as it serves as a vent from the physical plant located below ground. The department will also incorporate some of the frieze into plans for Heritage Park.

Proponents of the plan though hit upon the real reasons for saving Gate 2. For too many years, we have simply destroyed baseball history, leaving plaques in out-of-the-way locations or home plates buried under parking lots. “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,’” Bill Turner, a supporter of the movement, said.

Lloyd Ultan, Bronx borough president, compared Yankee Stadium to some of the world’s more famous architectural and archeological ruins. “If you go to Rome, you can get some idea of what the Forum was like from the ruins,” Ultan said to the News. “If it’s feasible, it’s worthy to save that part.”

As I said last week when I wrote about the plans for the park, the Yankees and the City should figure out a way to better incorporate the old stadium into plans for Heritage Park. The team could front some of the money for preservation, and Save the Gate 2 could fundraise for it as well. Too late will we realize what is missing if the stadium is demolished with no eye toward both the future and the past.

Despite efforts, Heritage Park will not incorporate much of old Yankee Stadium. (Image via Save the Yankee Gate 2)

New York City is one of the oldest towns in the nation. Founded by the Dutch in 1624, it was the capital of the nation for five years and has been the country’s biggest city since 1790. Despite this legacy, though, the city is shockingly lacking in history.

Stroll around Lower Manhattan, some of the longest continuously settled lands in North America, and the history is from the late 1800s and not the mid-1700s. Instead of historic preservation mixed in with modern development, New York City has continually built over and on top of its history.

More immediately, our city’s ballpark history is marked with gone and nearly forgotten stadiums. All that remains of Ebbets Field is a housing project in Flatbush. The Polo Grounds is also a housing project, and Shea Stadium, no one’s favorite place to watch a game, is a parking lot.

Across the street from the current Yankee Stadium sits the old House that Ruth Built, an 85-year-old Baseball Cathedral. Sure, it was gut-renovated in the 1970s, and many old-time fans feel it lost its character then. But the truth remains that Yankee Stadium after the renovation saw its fair share of historic games.

When the Yankees announced plans to build a new home, the old stadium was to be turned into a park called Heritage Field. Supposedly, this new field would incorporate Yankee baseball history and serve as a living monument to the stadium. Now, though, as details about the city’s plans for the park come into view, little of Yankee Stadium will remain, and the park may serve more as a monument to what could have and should have been than to what was.

In the current issue of The New Yorker, Paul Goldberger penned a Talk of the Town piece on the future of Heritage Field. The Parks Department and the Yankees convened a summit to discuss ways to incorporate the stadium, but the outcome was less than appealing:

Now that the Yankees have moved to their new $1.5-billion ballpark, the question has arisen as to whether their former home ought to disappear as completely as Shea did. The city has promised to turn the site into a park, complete with three ball fields. But the current design calls for the entire stadium to be demolished, its history recalled mainly through a series of panels and plaques in the pavement…

[Park designer Gary Sorge] explained that one of the three ball fields would be set in roughly the position of the old Yankee Stadium diamond, but shifted slightly, so that second base would be atop the original home plate. The plans also called for the reuse of two thirty-foot-long panels of the old Stadium’s famous scalloped frieze. And the designers proposed painting two of the park’s field light posts to resemble foul poles.

[Bronx borough historian Lloyd] Ultan, the historian, was the first to respond. “What is missing from the design is the architecture of the Stadium itself,” he said, holding up a souvenir cookie tin shaped like the old Stadium. “Some people came to see me recently who were trying to save Gate 2, which has not been altered. Couldn’t we preserve that as a monument?”

“Our research showed that Gate 2 had been altered,” one of the planners said. “It would have to be restored.”

So then restore it, I say.

Later on during the meeting, Sherida Paulsen, a former head of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Committee, posed a good question. “Putting second base at home plate doesn’t make sense,” she said. “Why can’t home plate just be at home plate?”

In the end, the city should do more than create a park that sort of resembles Yankee Stadium while telling a story through staid plaques and panels in the pavement. They should be able to create a monument to a great ballpark while keeping the essence of the park alive. It is a challenge in urban planning, but after decades of tearing down history, it is one the city should meet.

Parks Department head Adrian Benepe would seem to agree. “Yankee Stadium has had papal Masses, Billy Graham’s crusade, championship boxing matches, and the rally when Nelson Mandela was freed,” Benepe said. “Why can’t we create a great new park that acknowledges all of this?”

Why can’t we, indeed.