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On this day in New York · April 16, 2009

The New Yankee Stadium Opens With a Loss

The Yankees spent $2.3 billion on a new house across the street from the old one and got beaten in it on opening day.

The New Yankee Stadium Opens With a Loss
Wikimedia Commons / Yankee Stadium

The facts

Date
April 16, 2009
Final score
Cleveland Indians 10, New York Yankees 2
Total cost
$2.3 billion, including $1.2 billion in public subsidies
Groundbreaking
August 16, 2006, the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth's death

On April 16, 2009, the Yankees played their first regular-season game in the new Yankee Stadium, built one block north of the 1923 original in the Bronx's Concourse neighborhood. Before the Yankees took their first at-bat, the actual bat Babe Ruth used to hit his first home run in the old stadium was carried out and set on home plate for a moment. It didn't help. Cliff Lee, the reigning Cy Young winner, and the Cleveland Indians beat the Yankees 10 to 2, with Jorge Posada hitting the first Yankee home run in the building and Grady Sizemore answering with the first grand slam in the new park's history, off reliever Damaso Marte.

In their words

The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.

  1. The Yankees lost the stadium's first regular-season game to the Indians and 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee by a score of 10–2.

    Wikipedia, "Yankee Stadium" entry

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. Before the Yankees went to bat for the first time, the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit his first home run at the old Yankee Stadium in 1923 was placed momentarily on home plate.

    Wikipedia, "Yankee Stadium" entry

    Source: Wikipedia

Why it still matters

It closed the book on the ballpark Ruth built and moved the Yankees into a stadium designed to print money for the next century, a bet the team has been collecting on ever since.

Sources

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