By ROBERT F. KELLEY
April 6, 2008
New York Evening Post Wednesday, April 18, 1923
The biggest crowd that has ever seen a baseball game in New York was in the new Yankee Stadium at 1:30 this afternoon, an hour and a half after the gates had been opened, waiting patiently for the opening game of 1923 of the American League season. But more interesting than this was the fact that the crowd was lost in the confines of the huge plant. The lower deck was comfortably filled and the mezzanine held a few thousand, but thousands in this grand stand are like millions in a war loan, just incidental.
Video: Yankees on Memorable Stadium Moments
The best indication of the immensity of the new plant was furnished by the music of the Seventh Regiment Band, working hard in the corner of the left field stand, with only snatches of tunes reaching the crowd near the home plate. It was like hearing the music of a parade on Fifth Avenue from an office window on a cross street.
The steady, even flow of human beings across from the elevated and subway made it certain that even the huge capacity of this newest baseball park might be reached, though there was some doubt of this expressed earlier in the day.
As in the World Series, the teams delayed their coming to the field until the stands were well filled, when they came from under the stands to be assailed by an army of photographers. Then Ruth stepped to the bat and drove a long fly into the right field bleachers, while the stands rocked with applause. Finally, the band prepared for the parade across from the field for the flag raising and other ceremonies which were to start off the 1923 season.
