Demolishing history

By B.J. Drye, Managing Editor

Sunday, July 20, 2008 July 21, 2008 08:51 am

— The Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at Yankee Stadium this week.
I’m not that big of a baseball fan. Yet, it still is saddening to know that after this season, Yankee Stadium is no more.
A new Yankee Stadium will open next spring at a cost of more than $1.3 billion.
The old Yankee Stadium is reportedly going to be torn down to put up a park or parking lot.
Old buildings don’t seem to mean much in some areas. In Charlotte, the 20-year-old Charlotte Coliseum was torn down. The old coliseum, once known as Independence Arena and now known as Cricket Arena, will probably one day face the demolition crew.
A new Locust is rising up with more businesses than ever in its “downtown” or town center as it’s called now. More business is a good thing for the local economy, yet it is still sad that the one-time face of Locust had to be torn down to widen a road.
I guess you can’t stop progress.
Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, and Dodger Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will now be the three oldest baseball parks — and you have to wonder how long they’ll last.
Why do we have to tear down all these buildings? They seem like they would be a suitable home for a museum, not a parking lot.
Yankee Stadium is where Babe Ruth played, where Lou Gehrig became the Iron Man for playing 2,130 consecutive games, and where Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson and others became legends.
With all the records and legends and moments that have come out of Yankee Stadium, why would anyone want to tear it down? It’s history … soon-to-be literally history.
What if, come January, the new president decides he doesn’t like the White House? Would we let the president tear down a living history, a monument such as the White House? What about the Smithsonian or the Washington Monument?
If we can’t keep some of our original buildings, it’s at least a little reassuring we have a county museum and other local museums to keep our history recorded for today and future generations.

B. J. Drye is managing editor of The Stanly News and Press. Write him at P.O. Box 488, Albemarle, NC 28002. E-mail him at snaponline25@yahoo.com.

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