April 18, 1923: Yankee Stadium Opens

April 18, 1923: The original Yankee Stadium opens, at the intersection of East 161st Street and River Avenue in the South Bronx. What was then reported as 74,218 fans, a record crowd for a Major League Baseball game, but was later admitted to be "only" 62,000 or so (still a record at the time), saw the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1.

Yankee superstar George Herman "Babe" Ruth was not happy that the American League's Yankees were leaving the Polo Grounds, which they'd rented from the National League's New York Giants since 1913. Its short foul pole distances made for easy pickings for the Babe's booming bat. But the Giants were jealous of the Yankees beating them in attendance, so they were kicked out, effective the end of their 10-year lease.

It was fine with the team's owner, Jacob Ruppert, who now stood to make enough money as the team's owner to offset his former occupation, the brewing of beer, having been made illegal by Prohibition in 1920. (He lived long enough to see Prohibition repealed.) He built his new stadium near the bank of the Harlem River, almost right across from the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, with Harlem to the south and Washington Heights to the west.

Ruth walked onto the field for the first time, looked around at the biggest stadium ever built for baseball to that point, and said, "Some ball yard." He saw that the right field fence was only 3 feet high, and the pole was just 296 feet from home plate. The money he'd brought into the Yankees got the ballpark nicknamed "The House That Ruth Built," but it also seemed to be a house built for Ruth. And he said, "I'd give a year of my life to hit the first home run in this ballpark."

What the Babe wanted, he usually got. In the bottom of the 1st inning, against Boston Red Sox pitcher Howard Ehmke, he hit a fly ball down the right field line, but it was caught. He batted again in the 3rd, following an RBI single by Joe Dugan that made the score 1-0 in the Yankees' favor. With Whitey Witt on 3rd base and Dugan on 1st, Ruth crushed Ehmke's delivery deep into the right field stands, making it 4-0 Yankees.

He had hit the 1st home run in Yankee Stadium. Did he give a year of his life for it? Hard to say: The Babe was a heavy smoker, and it was throat cancer that took his life in 1948. He was only 53 years old.

The Yankees won that 1st game, 4-1. The winning pitcher was Bob Shawkey. As far as the Yankees were concerned, the Roaring Twenties were well underway.

You'll notice, in the photo above, that the triple-decked stands hadn't yet been curled around the foul poles. That wouldn't happen in left field until 1928, and in right field until 1937. The configuration of Yankee Stadium that most of us are familiar with was one in which Babe Ruth never played. He never hit one into the upper deck at the Stadium: It didn't yet have one for him to hit one into. Even Lou Gehrig only played 2 full seasons with that configuration: 1937 and 1938.

The opening of the original Yankee Stadium began a 2-week stretch in which 3 of the greatest sports venues ever built opened. The original Wembley Stadium opened in London on April 28, and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum opened on May 1.

Also opening in 1923: The Memorial Stadiums (memorials to the servicemen lost in World War I) of the Universities of California, Illinois, Nebraska and Oklahoma; and what became known as Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University.

The Yankees won the World Series in 1923, their 1st season in Yankee Stadium, and their 1st title, having won their 1st 2 Pennants in 1921 and '22, but losing the World Series both times to the Giants, their Polo Grounds landlords. Before the original Stadium closed in 2008, they won 37 Pennants and 26 World Series while playing there. It hosted the All-Star Game in 1939, 1960, 1977 and 2008.

The scoreboard, and the YANKEE STADIUM sign and the

Longines clock above Gate 4, mean this photo was taken no earlier than 1959.

The sandstone exterior, not yet painted white, and the green seats,

not yet painted blue, mean it is no later than 1966.

The original Yankee Stadium also hosted some legendary college football games, including Notre Dame's win over Army in 1928 that included coach Knute Rockne's invocation of late Notre Dame Star George Gipp, "Win one for the Gipper"; and another Army-Notre Dame game, in 1946, with both teams undefeated. It was billed as "The Game of the Century," but it didn't live up to the billing, ending 0-0. From 1971 to 1973, and again from 1976 to 1987, the Whitney M. Young Jr. Urban League Classic featured black college football teams.

The New York Giants football team played there from 1956 to 1973. They won the NFL Championship Game there in 1956, beating the Chicago Bears. But they also lost it there in 1958, against the Baltimore Colts in an overtime classic that has been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played." They lost another NFL Championship Game there in 1962, to the Green Bay Packers.

Legendary soccer teams have played there, including Brazilian club team Santos, the Brazil national team, and, in the 1976 North American Soccer League season, the New York Cosmos, all with the greatest player in the sport's history, Pelé. AC Milan and Internazionale played a Milan Derby there, and Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers both played there, although not against each other. A 1952 match featured the last 2 Champions of England's Football League, with Tottenham Hotspur of North London demolishing Manchester United 7-1.

And the old Stadium hosted lots of prizefights, including Joe Louis knocking out Max Schmeling in 1938, Rocky Marciano knocking out Archie Moore in 1955, and Muhammad Ali beating Ken Norton in 1976.

In 1973, the Yankees celebrated Golden Anniversary Day, and invited Shawkey to throw out the ceremonial first ball. In 1976, following a 2-year renovation that required that they share Shea Stadium in Queens with the New York Mets, they reopened Yankee Stadium, and Shawkey threw out the first ball again.

With Monument Park fully fleshed out,

and the interlocking NY logo behind home plate,

this photo was taken in 1996 or later.

The last game at the old Yankee Stadium was played on September 21, 2008. With regular catcher Jorge Posada injured, the last home run was hit by his backup, Jose Molina. The new Yankee Stadium opened across 161st Street on April 16, 2009, and Posada hit the 1st home run, but the Cleveland Indians spoiled the party, 10-2.

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April 18, 1923 was a Wednesday. It was the off-season for the NFL and the NHL, and there was no NBA yet. But it was Opening Day of the 1923 baseball season, and a full slate of games was played. In addition to the Yankee Stadium lid-lifter:

* The New York Giants beat the Boston Braves, 7-4 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Brooklyn Robins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Ebbets Field. They were named for their manager, Wilbert Robinson. When he was fired after the 1931 season, they went back to using the name Dodgers.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Redland Field in Cincinnati. It was renamed Crosley Field in 1934.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-2 at Cubs Park in Chicago. It was renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-6 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.