With all the magnificent things to see in the City of New York, the best place to visit on a cold Sunday, January morning, has to be Yankee Stadium. On Jan. 27, 45 Great Neck residents traveled to "The House that Ruth Built" to take a guided tour of the 85-year-old ball park, which will be replaced with a new Yankee Stadium in 2009. The group consisted of members of our Great Neck Weekend Softball League and family members, many decked out in Yankee gear from head to toe.

The tour has been running for many years, but its days are somewhat numbered. Although the field will become part of a large park in the area, the structure of Yankee Stadium is slated to come down. So this was the group's last chance to see the inner workings of the historic ball park. The tour began with a visit to the press box. The group sat in the seats and desks of the reporters and sports writers. From this vantage point they viewed the adjacent broadcasting booths. You could almost hear the echoes of Jon Sterling, Michael Kay, Mel Allen, Phil Rizzuto and the 59-year "Voice of Yankee Stadium," Bob Sheppard. All the major newspapers are represented by journalists in the press box. The guide pointed out the fictitious office right behind, the office of the Seinfeld character, George. That got a big laugh.

Next they went down a level to the Yankee Clubhouse, where the group saw the named open lockers of legends like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera. Mo has the distinction of being the longest tenured Yankee and therefore has a double locker in a prestigious location. Therman Munson's locker has remained closed since his tragic death in 1979.

The Yankee Clubhouse leads into the dugout. Everyone got the chance to sit on the same bench as all the Yankee players and to see the field the way that they see it, except there were 55,000 fewer people in the stands. After climbing out of the dugout, the group walked along the field's warning track to the bullpen entrance and entered Monument Park. There they saw the retired numbers and plaques of all the Yankee greats like Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Maris, Berra, Jackson, and Lake Success' Whitey Ford, just to name a few.

Through the gap between the stands and the bleachers you can see the new stadium on the rise. Someone asked the tour guide, "Why are they building a new stadium?" Everyone wanted to know why they wouldn't want to keep the old Yankee Stadium and just fix it up. It's such a landmark. The tour guide explained that because the stadium is so old, it costs many millions of dollars a year to maintain it. He added that the Yankees drew four million people in each of the past two seasons and the structure just wasn't designed to stand up to the wear and tear of such huge crowds on a consistent basis. Some expressed skepticism at this explanation and offered theories of their own.

All the Great Neck players agreed it was an unforgettable experience. Bob Widawsky said, "I'll forget ball games that I've seen here, but this I'll always remember." Rich Cupelli said, "I got chills walking on the field, touching the monuments and seeing Andy Pettite's uniform hanging in the clubhouse."

The Great Neck Weekend Softball League's season begins on April 5. If you would like to be part of it, send an e-mail at gnsoftball@aol.com.