Another famous Major League ballpark ready to bite the dust

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Cleveland Municipal Stadium lasted 60 years. Fenway Park in Boston has been going strong for 96 years and Wrigley Field in Chicago has been around for 94 years.

At the end of this baseball season, fans will say goodbye to the third oldest Major League Baseball stadium in the United States -- Yankee Stadium in New York City.

As much as Northeast Ohio baseball fans hate the New York Yankees, we must accept the fact that 85-year-old Yankee Stadium is a baseball shrine where some of the all-time greats have played.

The park has had many nicknames over the years -- the House That Ruth Built, the Big Ballpark in the Bronx and the Cathedral of Baseball among them.

With a seating capacity of about 58,000, it is the largest of the older remaining baseball stadiums; Fenway and Wrigley each seat only about 35,000 people.

Built for $2.5 million in 1923, it once could hold about 70,000 people before a $167 million renovation in 1976 cut the capacity to about 54,000.

It was Babe Ruth who allowed the Yankees to build the stadium in the Bronx. And fittingly, it was Ruth who hit the first home run in the opening game there.

The Yankees went on to capture their first World Series title in the stadium's inaugural season, and many more have followed. Only the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals have duplicated the feat of winning the Series in the first year of having a new playing venue.

Unlike the stadiums of today, which can take up to two years to build, Yankee Stadium went up in 11 months. It was the first three-tiered sports facility in the nation, and preceded Cleveland Municipal Stadium by 10 years.

The Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio era was before my time, but I remember many of the Yankee greats who came after them in the 1950s and 1960s -- Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford and managers Casey Stengel and Ralph Houk.

Mantle is one of my all-time favorite players.

Many more great Yankees in recent times have played in the stadium, such as the recently deceased Bobby Murcer, the late Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson and still active Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

I recall watching the Indians play the Bronx Bombers on television in the days before the Yankee Stadium renovation, when the centerfield wall was 460 feet from home plate and several monuments to past players were in the field of play.

I remember three or four years ago when a metal beam fell from below the second deck onto seats in the lower deck; fortunately not during a game, thus averting many injuries.

Over its eight-plus decades, Yankee Stadium has hosted pro boxing matches and college/pro football and soccer games. This year's baseball All-Star game was its fourth and the first in 31 years.

More World Series have been played there than in any other stadium -- 37 -- with the Yankees winning 26 of them.

Construction of the new Yankee Stadium started in 2006, and it will host its first game next April. Reports are that the old stadium will be razed soon after this season is over.

The new stadium is expected to cost $1.3 billion, the most expensive ever in the U.S. and third most expensive in the world. It can accommodate slightly more than 52,000 fans.

Looking at a rendering of the new park, it boasts a close resemblance to the old one, will have the same field dimensions, and Monument Park will be moved there.

NYC's other MLB team -- the Mets -- also will move to a new stadium next year. Citi Field is under construction near the Mets' current park -- Shea Stadium. It is projected to cost $780 million.

It is designed to look like old Ebbets Field and will have a capacity of about 45,000. Reports are that demolition of Shea will begin a few months after this season is over.

After Fenway, Wrigley and Yankee Stadium, the next oldest MLB park is Dodger Stadium, built in 1962 and once also called Chavez Ravine when the Los Angeles Angels played there in the 1960s.

Then comes Shea (1964), the Oakland Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium (1966), Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium (1973) and the Metrodome in Minneapolis (1982).

Other new ballparks on the horizon are for the Minnesota Twins (2010), Florida Marlins (2011) and Oakland A's and Tampa Bay Rays (2012).

Other past MLB stadiums which saw longtime service were Briggs (Tiger) Stadium in Detroit (87 years), Sportsmen's Park in St. Louis (84 years), Comiskey Park in Chicago (80 years) and the Polo Grounds in NYC (73 years).

In recent years, the park which succumbed after the fewest years was the Kingdome in Seattle (23 years).

Arlington Stadium in Dallas was used for only 28 years, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh for 30 years, Fulton County in Atlanta for 31 years and Riverfront in Cincinnati and Veterans in Philadelphia each for 32 years.

A minor league stadium closer to home -- Cooper Stadium in Columbus -- is in its final season. Built in 1931, it will be replaced by Huntington Park when the Clippers open their 2009 season.

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