Yankees set to move to new ballpark Friday

[January 23, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Friday is moving day in the Bronx and, no, the crates don't have pinstripes.

Eighty-six years after moving in, the New York Yankees are moving out.

The team's front office will move across the street Friday to the new $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, which is nearing completion and scheduled to open in April.

Belongings will be moved in orange plastic crates -- reusable, so as to be environmentally friendly, team spokesman Jason Latimer said Thursday.

There was no word on whether Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move It" -- a Yankee Stadium staple -- will be played on the public-address system.

The Yankees temporarily vacated the ballpark after the 1973 season while Yankee Stadium was remodeled, and the team spent two seasons at Shea Stadium in Queens before moving back in 1976.

A few departments will remain at the old ballpark for another month: the clubhouse staff, information technology, the ticket office and the switchboard. They tentatively are set to move on Feb. 27.

The Mets moved their office from Shea Stadium to $800 million Citi Field on Sept. 22 -- the final week of the regular season.

Both ballparks are scheduled to open with exhibition games on April 3 -- with the Yankees playing the Chicago Cubs and the Mets meeting the Boston Red Sox. In the regular-season openers, the Mets host San Diego on April 13 and the Yankees play Cleveland on April 16.

[Associated Press]

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