Concrete placement schedules and construction worker recollections led New York Yankees management to stage a ceremonial slab demolition April 13 at the new Yankee Stadium site to recover an embedded jersey of rival baseball club, the Boston Red Sox
Sources: New York Post; The New York Times; CP staff
Concrete placement schedules and construction worker recollections led New York Yankees management to stage a ceremonial slab demolition April 13 at the new Yankee Stadium site to recover an embedded jersey of rival baseball club, the Boston Red Sox. Associated Press and New York Post reports in the two days prior prompted team officials and construction manager Turner Construction to investigate a worker’s claim that the jersey had been deposited in fresh concrete during his one-day, fall 2007 stint at the Bronx, N.Y., site. The Post identified the worker as a Red Sox-rooting, Bronx resident hoping to curse the stadium with a buried jersey of Boston slugger David Ortiz.
An April 14 New York Times report on the Yankees’ excavation ceremony noted how team officials located the jersey’s likely whereabouts by tracking site pours on the worker’s lone day and tips from two other crews. The event saw Turner workers jackhammer a small section of 30-in. slab–presumably placed on grade–to unearth the Ortiz jersey, which is now Boston-bound for an auction benefiting a Red Sox charity. The unusually thick slab is part of a stadium design that has the field placed 12 feet below street level. Adjacent to the club’s landmark venue, the 50,800-seat new Yankees Stadium is scheduled for a 2009 season opening. Key project suppliers include Bronx-based ready mixed supplier Jenna Concrete Corp., and Quebec precast/prestressed producer Beton Prefabriques Du Lac.