Letter to the Editor: Screw You, Tropicana Field Lovers

Published in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel:

I am completely astounded and dumbfounded by your remarks (David Whitley, 'House That Ruth Built' is long gone, July 15). I am a devoted Yankees fan. When I was young, I had aspirations of either playing at Yankee Stadium or even going to see a game in the Bronx. Unfortunately, neither of those dreams is going to come true. . . . At such a young age, I knew what importance that team and that stadium meant not only to the history of baseball, but to its future as well. Some thirty years later, I have my own son and we have followed in the same suit. . . . I think about the rich history that that stadium has housed throughout the century. It makes me wonder, why do people like you question it? . . . Please, don't even try to compare the uniqueness of Tropicana Field to Yankee Stadium. . . . Just because your Rays have had a good first half of the season does not give you the authority to claim that people shouldn't shed a tear when the lights go down at Yankee Stadium for the final time. Anyone who knows anything about the history of the greatest American game knows that as the sun sets on Yankee Stadium, we are seeing an end to one of the most extraordinary venues in baseball and American history.

DAVE RITZ

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.