Yankee Stadium Is Ready for Business Once Again

Yankee Stadium will reopen for a game against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, 11 days after the stadium was closed when a 500-pound steel beam tumbled from the upper deck and crushed a seat.

The 75-year-old stadium “has a clean bill of health,” Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday.

“It’s been thoroughly examined by the Buildings Department, the Parks Department, the Department of Transportation,” the mayor said. “To the extent that you can by inspection determine if there are any difficulties, at this point they tell me there aren’t any.”

Also Monday, Giuliani proposed using the revenue from a city business tax to help fund construction of new stadiums in the city.

The plan would provide $600 million over three years to allow the city to contribute to stadium construction without saddling New Yorkers with new taxes, the mayor said. It’s expected the stadiums would be built with a combination of funds from the city, state, teams and corporate sponsors.

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Ricardo Aramboles made his initial extended spring training start for the Yankee organization, striking out three in two innings against Philadelphia Phillie minor leaguers at Tampa, Fla.

Aramboles, a 16-year-old Dominican, was given a $1.52-million bonus to sign with the Yankees in February.

Aramboles, who threw 23 of 36 pitches for strikes, gave up two unearned runs and two hits. He struck out two in the first.

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Yankee designated hitter Chili Davis, who has been on the disabled list since April 7, had surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right ankle and will be sidelined for at least eight weeks.

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The state may proceed with an investigation into whether the Minnesota Twins and major league baseball illegally tried to force it to build the team a new ballpark, a judge ruled at St. Paul, Minn.

The Twins had asked Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan to halt an antitrust probe by Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III.

While acknowledging the exemption, Marrinan said it applies narrowly to player transactions and not to franchise moves.

The decision means the team and baseball will be compelled to answer questions first posed by Humphrey’s office in December.

“At issue is whether major league owners are conspiring to pressure fans and public officials into buying them brand new stadiums with higher returns on things like luxury boxes and concession sales,” Humphrey said in a statement. “If they have nothing to hide they should cooperate with our investigation.”