History of the City of New York - Field Trip 6

Morningside Park, The Bronx and Yankee Stadium


Stonecarvers at St. John the Divine
We met on the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. After we walked around the corner, to where we could see the full length of the cathedral, Professor Jackson told us that it is the largest cathdral in the world. St. John's is over 100 years old, and is still being constructed. This is actually normal for Gothic cathedrals. St. John's was started in the Romanesque style, seen today in the large dome in its rear half, but when the original architect died, the new architect changed the style to Gothic. However, because the Romanesque portion was so large, to keep the building in proportion, the cathedral had to be designed to be larger than any other ever built. Instead of the traditional two aisles in the main part, St. John's has four. It is over two football fields in length.

In the seventies, the Rev. James Parks Morton wanted to restart the building (which had stopped during WWII), and also help the poor in the community, so he set up a program to train unskilled workers to carve stone for the cathedral. People thought he was crazy, and that the skill taught was useless. As it turned out, the work at St. John's is still going on, and other cathedrals have also commissioned work from the laborers at St. John the Divine, for repairs and restorations.


Morningside Park with St. John's constuction on the left
We continued down the block to Morningside Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, the designers of Central Park, Morningside Park has a somewhat checkered past. Built on a slope between Morningside and Manhattan Avenues, the park was considered unsafe even by its architects, simply because of its layout, which allowed too many hiding places. As Professor Jackson told us, Jane Jacobs hated this park.

The park deteriorated over the years, but in the 60's Columbia University unveiled a plan to build a gymnasium there. The gym was supposed to accomodate both Columbia students and people from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the architects' plan had great state-of-the-art facilities for the students, but a small, underdeveloped sction on the bottom floor for the residents of Morningside Heights. Needless to say, the plan was not met with favor, and appears to have touched off the infamous riots in 1968. Since then, nothing has been done with the park, and it stayed a disreputable and unsafe place. Recently, however, Columbia started funding a volunteer project to help fix up the park, and it seems to be working. When we walked through to the subway, there were at least two soccer games going on, there was a clean pond with a man-made waterfall, and the park was generally pleasant. It still needs work, of course, but there seems to be hope.


Prof. Jackson at the top of Morningside Park
After a minor mixup with the subways, we arrived in the Bronx, just outside of Yankee Stadium. Walking by the stadium is like walking into a time warp. Opposite the ballpark is a whole row of bars, restaurants, and souvenir shops, all connected to the Yankees in some way. Sometimes it's the name of the place, or a life-size cutout of a famous player, or even a dish on the menu. It's one of the last stadiums that's really incorporated into a city neighborhood. We walked around for a while, and Professor Jackson discussed some of the history of the Bronx by the county courthouse (where Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities takes place). We talked about the Grand Concourse, the main street in the Bronx, and its development by the Jewish middle- to upper-class, and its decline upon their emigration to Co-Op City.

We continued down the Grand Concourse and discussed the various famous public schools, the transition from a predominantly Italian and Jewish neighborhood to an African-American and Hispanic one. Finally, we stopped in Joyce Kilmer (yes, the guy from the CU Bad Poetry Contest) Park and talked about the Yankees' (read: Steinbrenner's) desire for a new stadium. Basically, Yankee Stadium, with all of its history, doesn't have the modern money-making luxuries like Skyboxes, which can be rented for the season to companies, generating large profits. Also, the Bronx has a bad rep, and the owners think they can attract more fans in a better location. So far, there appear to be three options:


The stands at Yankee Stadium
1) The Yanks can move to New Jersey, which New Yorkers really don't want to happen.

2) The team, in conjunction with NYC, will build a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan.

3) Yankee Stadium can be leveled, and a new stadium can be built on the site, during which time the Yankees would play their home games in Shea Stadium in Flushing.

The questions that arise are: how will a move affect the economy of the Bronx? Are there a lot of people in the borough who derive their income from the team's presence? Also, how important is it to the city to keep the team in New York, realizing that games (specifically the post-season) may bring tourists who spend money on NYC food, hotels, and other items? Last is the sentimental issue. Yankee Stadium is "The House that Ruth Built," home of one of the greatest teams in baseball history, a team which single-handedly revived the game of baseball in the United States. How could the Yankees play anywhere else? How could they be anything but "The Bronx Bombers?"

During our free time before the game, we found a great little souvenir shop next to the Associated supermarket around the corner from the stadium. They have all of the hats for two-thirds to half the price of the other vendors, and they have lots of other accessories as well, like sunglasses, cards, and other items. Definitely worth checking out.


The field at Yankee Stadium
Finally, we got into the stadium. We were sitting in the mezzanine on the left field line, just over third base. Although it was crowding up, I ran down to the field level to get my first kosher hot dog at a baseball game. Not bad, for boiled franks. The game was fantastic. The Yankees were down four runs in the third inning, but a single by Figga, a triple by Knoblauch, and an RBI groundout by Jeter brought the Yanks within one. With two outs, Bernie Williams singled and Tino Martinez walked, setting up a monstrous 400-foot-plus homer by Shane Spencer, and the Yanks took the lead. They scored three more in the fifth, on a single by Tino, a double by Spencer, and then another three-run shot by Chad Curtis, who picked a great time to come out of the slump he had been in. It was a historic game, as the Bombers tied their team record for wins, set by the legendary '27 Yankees, and set a major-league record for most wins in a 162-game season with 110.

by David Sanders

For a full recap of the game from CNN/SI click here.

A 360-degree interactive photo of Yankee Stadium


Stonecarvers at work (behind trees)
Detailed work on a statue

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