Yankee Stadium Opened in New York
On this day · 18 April 1923
On a spring afternoon in the Bronx, a record crowd packed a brand-new ballpark that Babe Ruth would soon make legendary.
On April 18, 1923, Yankee Stadium opened for Major League Baseball in the Bronx, with the New York Yankees hosting the Boston Red Sox. A crowd of roughly 74,000 filled the stands, the largest gathering in baseball history up to that point, with thousands more turned away at the gates.
The day belonged to Babe Ruth. In the third inning he launched a three-run home run, the first ever hit in the new park, and the Yankees rolled to a 4-1 victory. The blast helped cement the venue’s enduring nickname: the House That Ruth Built.
It was the most expensive and ambitious ballpark of its era, a triple-decked monument that reshaped what a stadium could be.
The Yankees had spent years as tenants of the rival Giants before building their own home across the Harlem River. The new stadium signaled the franchise’s rise, and within months the team would win its first World Series title there, beginning one of the most dominant runs in American sports.
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