A Historic Day in the Big Apple as the Yankees open their new home

Babe Ruth was in the lineup the last time the Yankees opened a new ballpark. Here we are 86 years later and names like Jeter and Posada will be in the lineup for the opening of the new, $1.5 billion, Yankee Stadium.

This stadium figures to be like no other in baseball. Among the different amenites you will find...

• The Hard Rock Cafe and new steakhouse in the right-field corner
• The 67 suites ringing the field, and the three clubs and lounges for the spectators in the first nine rows around the infield.
• Players can drive their cars directly into the granite-and-limestone stadium, relax in the swimming pools or sauna when they arrive, then take batting practice in the spacious indoor cages off the dugout steps. Or they can e-mail from the laptops installed in each of their lockers.
• 'The Great Hall is an impressive open-air concourse between Gates 4 and 6. The 31,000-square-foot space features concessions and huge double-sided banners of 20 Yankee greats. A 24-foot-high-by-36-foot-wide HD video board greets fans who enter through the Great Hall.

As far as concessions are concerned, there are major upgrades there as well...

• Fans will be able to get steak sandwiches from a premium butcher, even in the bleachers.
• In the high-priced sections, fans will have a chance occasionally to watch marquee chefs like Masaharu Morimoto and April Bloomfield, as well as Food Network personalities, serving their specialties at more than 15 cooking stations in several dining rooms.
• After a nine-year drought, fans in Yankee Stadium’s bleachers will be able to buy beer, as well as wine. This should make for some really interesting games when the Red Sox are in town.
• The NYY Steak House above the Hard Rock Cafe, with a street entrance open all year.

In the old Yankee Stadium, only 14 percent of the food carts and concessions could cook. But now about 70 percent of the food stands will be grilling, frying and baking, including places like Brother Jimmy’s barbecue, Johnny Rockets burgers and shakes, Latin Corner with pressed Cuban sandwiches, and Soy Kitchen, a Bronx purveyor of Asian food.