The new Yankee Stadium replaces one of the most famous ballparks in the world. The original New York Yankee Stadium was rich in nostalgia for fans and a popular attraction in the Bronx for baseball fans of all kinds, from the avid fans to the fair-weather fans, all of whom swarm in on game day from the subways, the streets, and the many hotels near Yankee Stadium.

The new ballpark opened on April 2, 2009, and the Yankees played their first game there, an exhibition match against the Chicago Cubs, the following day. The New Yankee Stadium replaced the third-oldest venue in major league baseball, edged out only by Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. The New York Yankees once shared playing space with the National League’s New York Giants, an arrangement the Giants weren’t especially pleased with once the Yankees began to command higher ticket sales. On February 6, 1921, it was announced that William Waldorf Astor had purchased ten acres of land in the Bronx for $675,000 to be used to give the New York Yankees their own place to play.

The inaugural pitch at the original stadium was thrown out on April 18, 1923, and that day the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1, clinching the victory on a three-run homer from Babe Ruth, recently traded to the Yankees from the Red Sox. Ruth’s immense talent and popularity among the crowds led to the stadium’s common nickname as “The House that Ruth Built.” The New York Yankee Stadium was renovated in the 1970s, and the Yankees played for two seasons at Shea Stadium while the original stadium was almost entirely demolished and reconstructed. Renovation highlights included vast improvements in fan sightlines and baseball’s very first telescreen. The remodeled stadium’s opening day was April 15, 1976.

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Construction continued for the Yankees years later with the creation of the new Yankee Stadium, at which the Yankees won their 40th World Series title on November 4, 2009. The team contributed $800 million to the funds for the new ballpark. The new Yankee Stadium, which is across the street from its predecessor, contains 51,000 seats, several luxury suites (three outdoor suites and eight party suites among them), and four new parking garages. Also part of the complex are an adjacent convention center, a Yankee Stadium Metro North Station, and, for those interested in hotels near Yankee Stadium, a new hotel.

For hotels near Yankee Stadium, there are two schools of thought. For hardcore baseball fans just in town for the game, a budget choice in the Bronx, such as Howard Johnson Inn Yankees Stadium, may be the best way to go. But for Bronx Bombers fans who also have other things to do in New York City, Upper Manhattan hotels will do nicely, due to the ease of the NYC transit system. Try the Hotel Newton, a very nice Upper West Side hotel at an affordable price, or if you want to splurge, The Carlyle: A Rosewood Hotel is a high class gem on the Upper East Side.

The new stadium holds onto some of the most cherished elements of the original ballpark, including outfield scoreboards, cathedral-style windows, and perhaps the most eye-catching symbol of New York Yankee Stadium, the Yankee façade. Together these make the new Yankee Stadium feel like home to longtime fans. Monument Park will be relocated to the new Yankee Stadium as well.