Yankee Stadium Structural Defects Postpone Game

Part of the House that Ruth Built came crashing down Monday--just days before its 75th birthday.

A 500-pound support beam smashed into the Yankee Stadium stands Monday afternoon, forcing postponement of two games between the New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels and shifting a third game to Shea Stadium.

There were no fans inside the park--baseball’s most storied landmark--when the beam fell an estimated 40 feet from the underside of the upper deck into the mezzanine section and landed on seats between third base and left field about 2 p.m., city officials said.

More than 20,000 people had been expected at Monday night’s game at the stadium, which turns 75 years old Saturday. Mayor Rudy Giuliani said someone almost certainly would have been killed if the collapse had happened during the game.

The beam--actually a 1-cubic-foot steel joint--crushed one of the blue plastic seats into pieces and gouged a 6-inch hole in the concrete. The beam tore another hole in the ceiling of the upper deck.

“Yankee Stadium is crumbling. ... Everybody is in a little disarray right now,” pitcher David Cone said.

While night games Monday and Tuesday were postponed, the Yankees later announced they would play the Angels at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Shea Stadium, home of the rival New York Mets. The Mets are also scheduled to play at Shea that day, at 7:40 p.m. against the Chicago Cubs.

The earliest the Yankees can play in the stadium would be Friday night against the Detroit Tigers. If the stadium is not repaired by then, that series would be moved to Shea.

“As a Yankee fan, I’d rather that we were playing, but as a mayor we have to make sure it’s safe,” Giuliani said at an impromptu news conference at the stadium.

The accident came five days before the ballpark turns 75 years old.

Babe Ruth christened the stadium with a homer the day it opened, April 18, 1923, and it has been home to baseball’s greatest players ever since. Hall of Famers like Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson have helped the Yankees win 23 World Series championships.

Bill LeSuer, the Angels’ muscle therapist, was walking on the field toward the hallowed Monument Park beyond the left-field fence when the beam fell and landed in section 22, row B, seat 7.

“There was a real loud bang,” he said. “I looked up and saw a lot of debris falling down, a lot of concrete.

“I mean, I’m from New York, and it’s always exciting to come here,” he said. “But the only explosion I was hoping to see was from the Angel bats.”

Yankee Stadium was extensively remodeled in 1974 and 1975, forcing the Yankees to play at Shea until it reopened in 1976. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has been trying to get a new ballpark, complaining the current stadium doesn’t have enough parking and amenities.

Steinbrenner was at his home in Tampa, Fla., when the accident occurred.

The announcement was made while the Yankees were taking batting practice. The team began the season on the road and did not have its first home game until last Friday.

“It is sad. You don’t want to see that happen like that. It’s an old stadium,” said pitcher David Wells.

Monday night’s game would have been the Yankees’ fourth home game.

Despite the closure, the Yankees plan to play a practice game Tuesday afternoon against their Double-A Norwich team. The Angels also will work out at the park.

“It’s a real shame this happened,” Angels manager Terry Collins said. “This is a shrine to baseball.”

The postponements also could cause a schedule nightmare for both teams.

Anaheim and the Yankees are not scheduled to meet again in New York until Aug. 25-27, meaning a possibility of two doubleheaders in a three-day span late in the season. Both teams are off Aug. 24, and perhaps they could play that date.

The Yankees played their entire home schedule at Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975 while Yankee Stadium was being remodeled. The Yankees are scheduled to play the Mets at Shea on June 26-28 as part of interleague play.

Mets manager Bobby Valentine was in Milwaukee when the postponements were announced. He joked that if the Yankees get to play in Shea this week “we’d lose our home-field advantage.”

The stadium is owned by the city and leased to the team.

Stadium superintendent Bob Wilkinson said the ballpark is inspected once a year. He said crews would work through the night Monday to check “every nook and cranny.”

“There is a lot of foundation work and steel still here from 1923,” he said. “But this stadium is in good shape. This is an isolated incident.”

One possibility is to construct a stadium near Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Steinbrenner also has spoken with New Jersey officials about the possibility of that state constructing a ballpark near Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Yankee Stadium is fourth-oldest ballpark in the majors, behind Detroit’s Tiger Stadium (1912), Boston’s Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago’s Wrigley Field (1914).