American Scientist

To the Editors:

I recently read Henry Petroski’s column “Controlled Demolition” (May–June). As a native New Yorker, I was particularly interested in the section on the demolition of Yankee Stadium. It turns out that the ballpark pictured and discussed in the article was not the original Yankee Stadium that opened in 1923, but the second Yankee Stadium built only in the 1970s.… I remember this because the Yankees had to share Shea Stadium with my National League New York Mets during the 1974 and 1975 seasons.

Michael Guile
Tahlequah, OK

Editors’ note: Michael Guile is correct that the first Yankee Stadium was heavily remodeled in the mid 1970s. But most of the core structure remained intact, including the steel beam that eventually fell in 1998, as Petroski discussed.