A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from February 16, 2005
“The House That Ruth Built” (Yankee Stadium)
George Herman ("Babe") Ruth (1895-1948) played for the New York Yankees from 1920-1934. Some consider him the greatest baseball player ever.

Yankee Stadium opened in 1923. "The House That Jack Built" is a traditional nursery rhyme, and Yankee Stadium was dubbed "The House that (Babe) Ruth Built." The stadium's nickname was used until 2008, when the old Yankee Stadium was destroyed to make way for a new one.

"The House That Truth Built" was printed in The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, OR) on July 2, 1907, and the saying was used in many newspaper advertisements. "TO DEDICATE 'HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT'" was printed in the Holyoke (MA) Daily Transcript on October 10 1921, referring to a "Big Brother" house by the Knights of Columbus in Terra Haute, Indiana. "They should call the new home of the Yankees 'the house that Ruth built'" was printed in the Boston (MA) Herald "By Bob Dunbar" column in June 13, 1922. American sportswriter Fred Lieb (1888-1980) is said to have written "The House That Ruth Built" in the New York (NY) Evening Telegram immediately after Yankee Stadium's first game on April 18, 1923.

The right field bleachers -- where many of Ruth's home runs landed -- was nicknamed "Ruthville."

Boyle's Thirty Acres (1921 to 1927) in Jersey City, New Jersey, was a boxing arena that was called "The House That Tex Built." The third Madison Square Garden (1925-1968) is usually remembered today as "The House That Tex Built."

Other Yankee Stadium nicknames include
"Big Ball Orchard in the South Bronx," "Bronx Bandbox," "Bronx Toilet," "Cathedral of Baseball," "Coors Field East," "Home Office of Baseball" and "Launching Pad."


Wikipedia: Yankee Stadium (1923)
The original Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees, one of the city's Major League Baseball franchises, from 1923 to 2008, except for 1974–1975 when the stadium was renovated. It hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the home of the New York Giants National Football League (NFL) team from 1956 through September 1973. The stadium's nickname, "The House That Ruth Built", is derived from Babe Ruth, the baseball superstar whose prime years coincided with the stadium's opening and the beginning of the Yankees' winning history. It has often been referred to as "The Cathedral of Baseball".
(...)
1923–1973
Yankee Stadium officially opened on Wednesday, April 18, 1923, with the Yankees' first home game, against the Boston Red Sox. According to the New York Evening Telegram, "everything smelled of ... fresh paint, fresh plaster and fresh grass". At 3 pm, the composer-conductor John Philip Sousa led the Seventh ("Silk-Stocking") Regiment Band in playing The Star-Spangled Banner. After a parade of the players and dignitaries, Babe Ruth was presented with a case containing a symbolically big bat. New York Governor Al Smith threw out the first pitch directly into the glove of catcher Wally Schang rather than the customary couple of feet wide. The Yankees went on to defeat Ruth's former team, the Boston Red Sox, by a score of 4–1, with Ruth hitting a three-run home run into the right-field stands. Asked later for his opinion of the stadium, he replied, "Some ball yard."

Upon opening, Fred Lieb of the New York Evening Telegram dubbed it "The House That Ruth Built".

Ballparks of Baseball -- Yankee Stadium
Immediately the Yankees' owners began looking for land to build a new ballpark on. A 10 acre site, less than a mile from Polo Grounds in the Bronx was bought to build the stadium on. Designed by Osborn Engineering, originally the plan was for a triple-decked stadium, with grandstands circling the entire field. But because the stadium seemed to foreboding, the original plans were scaled back. Instead, the ballpark became the first to have three tiers of seating consisting of 58,000 seats. It was also the first ballpark to be called a stadium because of its enormous size. Construction of the stadium began on May 5, 1922. The stadium was built of mainly steel and concrete. The triple decked grandstand extended behind homeplate and up the base lines. The lower deck continued until it met the wooden bleachers behind the outfield fence. A 15-foot copper facade was erected to adorn the stadium's third deck, which became one of the stadium's most recognized and grandest features. The scoreboard was located beyond the bleachers in right field. Completed in only 284 days, opening day came on April 18, 1923. The ballpark was given the name Yankee Stadium. Original dimensions at Yankee Stadium were 295 ft. (right), 490 ft. (center), and 281 ft. (left). Centerfield became known as "Death Valley" because of its distance from homeplate.

Mother Goose Rhymes
"This is the house that Jack built..."
by Mother Goose

This is the house that Jack built.

This is the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

Newspapers.com
2 July 1907, The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, OR), pg. 7, col. 4 ad:
"The House That Truth Built."
A very expressive phrase, suggested no doubt by the children's play now on in the city.
(...)
REED-FRENCH PIANO CO.

a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116308960/the-house-that-truth-built-1916/">Newspapers.com
7 October 1916, Monroe (LA) News-Star, pg. 4, col. 3 ad:
The House That
Truth Built

(...)
The Monroe Furniture Co.

Newspapers.com
12 October 1916, Buffalo (NY) News, pg. 18, col. 5 ad:
King's 4TH BIRTHDAY SALE
The House That Truth Built


Newspapers.com
12 October 1916, Harrisburg (PA) Telegraph, pg. 7, col. 3 ad:
The House That Truth Built
(...)
BURNS & CO.

Newspapers.com
10 October 1921, The Evening Herald (Fall River, MA), pg. 9, col. 4:
DEDICATE "HOUSE THAT
BABE RUTH BUILT"
The house that Babe Ruth built was formally dedicated at Terra Haute last Sunday in the presence of 20,000 of Babe Ruth's fellow Knights of Columbus. The home is the Pere Gibault Home for Delinquent and Dependent Boys, equipped by the Indiana K. of C. as part of the K.C. Big Brother movement.

Newspapers.com
10 October 1921, Holyoke (MA) Daily Transcript, pg. 5, col. 1:
TO DEDICATE "HOUSE
THAT RUTH BUILT"
The house that Babe Ruth built was formally dedicated at Terra Haute last Sunday in the presence of 20,000 of Babe Ruth's fellow Knights of Columbus. The home is the Pere Gibault Home for Delinquent and Dependent Boys, equipped by the Indiana K. of C. as part of the K.C. Big Brother movement.

Newspapers.com
18 October 1921, The Citizen (Ottawa, ON), pg. 10, col. 4:
DEDICATED "HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT"
The house that Babe Ruth built was formally dedicated at Terra Haute last Sunday in the presence of 20,000 of Babe Ruth's fellow Knights of Columbus. The home is the Pere Gibault Home for Delinquent and Dependent Boys, equipped by the Indiana K. of C. as part of the K.C. Big Brother movement.

13 June 1922, Boston (MA) Herald, "By Bob Dunbar," pg. 14, col. 4:
They should call the new home of the Yankees "the house that Ruth built."

Newspapers.com
12 May 1923, Canandaigua (NY) Daily Messenger, pg. 1, col. 4:
Ringside, Yankee Stadium, New York, May 12.
(...)
At 2:30 o'clock, it was estimated that upwards of 50,000 persons were sweltering in the huge concrete cistern, otherwise known as the house that Ruth built.

Newspapers.com
29 July 1924, The Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH), "As We See 'Em," pg. 9, col. 2:
And there is the "House That Ruth Built," the greatest baseball stadium in the world to testify to the success and popularity of the new game.

9 November 1926, Sheboygan (WI) Press, pg. 12, col. 4:
"The House That Ruth Built" is an oft used expression in New York when referring to the Yankee stadium.
Posted by Barry Popik
New York CitySports/Games • Wednesday, February 16, 2005 • Permalink


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