Building the House of Ruth

Yankee Stadium construction work in 1922

The Yankees, tenants since 1913 of the New York Giants across the Harlem River at the Polo Grounds, begin construction 102 years ago today on a new ballpark that will become one of sports’ most iconic venues over the next 50 seasons.

Yankee Stadium, at the cost $2.4 million – that, folks, would be $44.8 million in today’s money – opens 284 days later and in time for the start of the 1923 season.

The superhuman Babe Ruth hits the new ballpark’s first home run off Boston’s Howard Ehmke on Opening Day 1923, which ends with a 4-1 Yankees victory before a Wednesday afternoon crowd of 74,200 in the Bronx.

The much more mortal Duke Sims hits the then-old stadium’s final home run off Detroit’s Fred Holdsworth in the Yankees’ last game of the 1973 season, which ends with the Yankees losing 8- 5 to the Tigers in front of a Sunday afternoon crowd of 32,238.

After that, the Yankees spend two seasons in Queens as tenants of the Mets at Shea Stadium before a vastly refurbished Yankee Stadium reopens in 1976.

Yankee Stadium shortly before Opening Day 1923