Atlantica - 01.06.2006, Page 52

William O’Connor, a 21-year-old student
from Adelaide, Australia, takes off his
Yankee cap that he found on the floor of an
Adelaide nightclub where he worked, and proudly
proclaims that the cap is now returning to its roots
in the Bronx.
It’s a hot, sunny day in May, and O’Connor is
a passenger aboard the Yankee Clipper. He’s en
route to see a Yankee game in the heart of New
York City, but the excursion is a world away from
the steamy, crowded subway other baseball fans
have to take to get to Yankee Statdium.
“Yankee Clipper” was the nickname of Joe
DiMaggio, the late, great Yankee player and hus-
band of Marilyn Monroe. It’s also the ferry that
leaves from sites in New York City and New
Jersey, travels along the Hudson River, around
Manhattan, under the Brooklyn Bridge, up the
East River and Harlem River to the stadium, which
is in the city’s Bronx borough. The boat trolls its
way to and from day and night games, offering
dramatically different perspectives depending on
when you go.
Visitors like O’Connor are struck by the archi-
tecture they encounter along the way. Nelle
Rhicard, a Duluth, Minnesota resident visiting
New York for the first time, waited for a ferry
to mid-town Manhattan at a new terminal in
Weehawken, New Jersey. “I didn’t expect to be
bowled over, but I was,” said Rhicard, especially,
she said, by the Statue of Liberty and the wide
gap, behind skyscrapers, at the former site of the
World Trade Center.
Another American baseball fan and expert,
John Nerone of Urbana, Illinois, who has been
to stadiums throughout the United States, called
his first Yankee Clipper ride in 1999 the best
approach to the ballpark. “That was before 9/11,
so passing the World Trade Center wasn’t espe-
cially poignant,” said Nerone. “It’s a grand tour
of Manhattan, though, and while you’re riding it
you sort of feel the stadium approaching, and as
you get closer you can feel the city moving toward
the ballpark.”
Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 and was reno-
vated in the 1970s. A new stadium is planned
for 2009. The Yankees have won 26 of the 103
World Series championships since 1903, includ-
ing four of the past 10, most recently in 2000.
They’ve produced legendary stars like Babe Ruth,
Lou Gehrig, the aforementioned DiMaggio, and
Mickey Mantle. Such dominance has generated as
much scorn as adulation nationwide.
The Yankee Clipper passes slowly under small,
low bridges that, depending on the tide, almost
scrape the top of the boat. There are no tour
guides or announcements, so passengers see some
landmarks and may miss others. The day I ride,
everyone seems to spot the gleaming Chrysler
Building; most seem to recognize the United
Nations building; and probably just a handful pick
out Gracie Mansion, where the mayor of New
York City lives.
The contrast between being on the river and
being on the streets of New York is perhaps most
clear at East 34th Street, when the boat stops for
passengers at a makeshift dock. Just a few meters
away from the water, cars and people speed by
while you gently drift.
Baseball is big business in this town. The value
of the Yankees franchise, owned since 1973 by
combative, controversial Cleveland, Ohio ship-
builder George Steinbrenner, has been appraised
at USD 1 billion, but the team reportedly has been
losing money. The Yankees spend more on their
AT L A N T I CA 51
By Scott Berman. Photos by Páll Stefánsson.
The House that Ruth Built
You’ve seen the interlocking NY on
caps in the streets of cities around
the world. Though some of their
owners may not know it, the letters
signify the New York Yankees, the
most successful, richest, loved and
despised team of American baseball
– and arguably of all sport. Summer
means baseball to baseball devotees
in New York City – why not take a
ferry through the city’s rivers and take
in some views before the game?
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