Yankee Stadium "will most likely remain closed for
inspections and repairs through the weekend," putting off
Saturday's home game against the Tigers that would have
marked the 75th anniversary of the stadium, according to
King, Hardt & Kuntzman of the N.Y. POST. Yankees officials
were in "heated negotiations" with Tigers officials to
switch the weekend series to Detroit, and play next
weekend's series, scheduled at Tiger Stadium, in the Bronx
(N.Y. POST, 4/15). An A.L. official said there was "no
compelling reason for the Tigers to agree to a switch that
would inconvenience their own fans" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/15).
HOME AWAY FROM HOME? The Yankees will play the Angels
today at 12:05pm at Shea Stadium. Mets Senior VP/Business &
Legal Affairs David Howard said that having the Yankees play
at Shea Stadium "will be a significant cost to us, but we
will address that at a later date. ... We are not charging
the Yankees any rent." Howard "would not divulge specifics
of any monetary arrangement between the two clubs," but he
said that the Yankees will get ticket and parking revenue,
and "will cover the actual expenses of having a game."
Howard said whether the team will host future games at Shea
"remains to be seen" (Arthur Staple, NEWSDAY, 4/15).
STADIUM INSPECTIONS: NYC Parks Commissioner Henry Stern
said that the "last time city inspectors checked out the
500-pound expansion joint that crashed into the stands ...
was in the early 1980s," according to Finnegan, Fitz-Gibbon
& Siemaszko of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Since July '96, NYC has
spent $5M in repairs/improvements (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/15).
There are 40 engineers overseeing the project. One engineer
said that 15 cracks in the stadium's support beams were
discovered, and that eight beams bore markings indicating
they should have been replaced but were not. One Yankees
player who asked not to be identified said, "From what I'm
hearing, I'd be surprised if we played a game here before
June 1" (Jack O'Connell, HARTFORD COURANT, 4/15).
