Growing up in the Bronx, Art Donovan used to steal beer from the dance hall at the Concourse Plaza Hotel. He played baseball on the fields in the shadows of the neighborhood’s big league park. And when his Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Colts was over, the intersection of 161st Street and Grand Concourse — in the neighborhood where he was born — was named in Donovan’s honor.
“I was born maybe four miles up the road from Yankee Stadium,” Donovan said. “I went down there for baseball games almost every afternoon in the summertime, and another thing, my father [Arthur] was the referee in the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight. The fight took place in Yankee Stadium.”
But for all of the countless days Donovan spent at Yankee Stadium, one — Dec. 28, 1958 — will never be forgotten — not by Donovan, not by any of his teammates and certainly not by any Colts fans who watched the city’s team win “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”
The Colts’ Alan Ameche powered across the goal line in sudden-death overtime to culminate a 23-17 victory over the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game — a game televised nationally by NBC.
“For me,” Donovan said, “the biggest thing to be coming back and playing where my father once refereed, it was almost unbelievable.”
But tonight, the hallowed field of Yankee Stadium will be used for the final time, when the Orioles conclude a three-game series against the Bronx Bombers at 8:05 on ESPN.
The 75-year-old stadium, which is nicknamed “The House That Ruth Built” in the honor of Baltimore native Babe Ruth, will give way to a “new” Yankee Stadium that will be built next door — on top of the youth field that Donovan, 83, once roamed as a child.
“It’s the most famous stadium ever built, if I’m not mistaken,” Donovan said. “I don’t know why they made a new stadium.”
Yankee Stadium was, though not officially, built for Baltimore’s Babe Ruth. It’s once-unparalleled capacity and short right-field fence was perfect for left-handed power hitters, who one by one, turned the ballpark into their stage toward immortality.
Legends, such as Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle, already had made Yankee Stadium the country’s preeminent ballpark before the Colts won Baltimore’s first major title and vaulted the NFL on the same playing field as Major League Baseball.
“The publicity that came ignited the National Football League beyond measure,” said Lenny Moore, the Colts’ Hall of Famer who provided the key block during Ameche’s decisive run. “That’s where it is today, basically due to the turnaround of where football was at that time.”
Moore, however, didn’t believe playing the game at Yankee Stadium added to its luster, as all he remembers was how Johnny Unitas marched the Colts down the field for the championship.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Moore said, “because once Johnny U starts calling, you’re mind blanks.”
Yankee Stadium has been the venue for many iconic moments.
It’s where Pele kicked a soccer ball.
It’s where Muhammad Ali boxed.
It’s where the Pope held mass — three times.
It’s where some of the biggest names in music — Pink Floyd, U2 and Billy Joel — rocked the masses.
And it’s where thousands gathered to mourn after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Former Baltimore sportscaster Vince Bagli traveled to the stadium for two football games — highlighted by the 0-0 tie between Army and Notre Dame in 1946 — and Game 1 of the 1947 World Series between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers.
“They’re closing it up,” Bagli said. “Because they’ve won all those championships, it’s obviously the most famous baseball team of all time — the New York Yankee Empire. It’s a famous team. It’s the most famous team of all time. Nobody will question that, even though we’re not crazy about them here.”
But Moore won’t shed a tear when the Yankee Stadium lights are turned off for final time tonight. After all, if Moore and Baltimore’s beloved Memorial Stadium can be torn down, so can the baseball shrine at East 161st Street and River Avenue.
“They tore ours down,” Moore said with a laugh. “Time goes on.”
