One of the most famous ballparks in the world, New York Yankee Stadium is rich in nostalgia and present-day excitement for baseball fans. The New York Yankee Stadium is a popular attraction in the Bronx for baseball fans everywhere, from the avid to the fair-weather, who swarm in on game day from the subways, the streets, and the many hotels near Yankee Stadium.

The New York Yankee Stadium is the third-oldest stadium in major league baseball, edged out only by Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. The New York Yankees once shared playing space with the Giants, an arrangement the Giants weren’t especially pleased with once the Yankees began to command higher ticket sales than the Giants. 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 stadium was constructed by New York’s White Construction Co., completed on time in a mere 284 working days. The inaugural pitch was thrown April 18, 1923. As a sign of things to come, the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox in a 4-1 victory. Babe Ruth, recently traded to the Yankees from the Red Sox, hit the three run homer that clinched the victory. Ruth’s immense talent led to the popular nicknaming of the stadium as ‘The House that Ruth Built”.

The New York Yankee Stadium was renovated in the 1970s – 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.

Construction continues for the Yankees years later – the new Yankee Stadium is slated to open for the 2009 season. The Yankees have contributed $800 million to the funds for the new ballpark. The new Yankee Stadium, neighboring the current stadium, will contain 51,000 seats, luxury suites (three outdoor suites and eight party suites among them), and four new parking garages. Also in the works is 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 that 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 will hold onto some of the most cherished elements of the current ballpark– outfield scoreboards, cathedral-style windows, and perhaps the most eye-catching symbol of New York Yankee Stadium, the Yankee façade, will make the new Yankee Stadium feel like home to longtime fans. Monument Park will be relocated to the new Yankee Stadium as well.

The Yankees’ season runs from April through October, and tours of New York Yankee Stadium and Monument Park are conducted year-round. Those who wish to have ample time to examine every inch of The Home of Champions should arrive at the ballpark early. Die-hard fans can make it easy to take in multiple games by making a reservation at one of the hotels near Yankee Stadium.