The House That Ruth Built . . . Yawn

It is said that New York is unsentimental about its past — one of the reasons it has remained a vital, adaptive center of commerce over the years. Its character — build up, tear down, build up, tear down — can be contrasted with more static cities like Philadelphia and Boston. So in some ways it’s not surprising that the imminent demise of historic Yankee Stadium apparently bothers no one.

But can you imagine this callousness happening with Fenway Stadium or Wrigley Field? The Times reports:

Construction of the ballpark will mean the end of major league baseball at Yankee Stadium, where Mickey Mantle roamed center field, Don Larsen pitched the only World Series perfect game, popes visited and Joe Louis beat Billy Conn.

“We are standing at the cathedral of baseball,” Randy Levine, the Yankees’ president, said at a crowded news conference with team executives and elected officials sitting beneath the stained glass of the Stadium Club. “We love this place. We honor its memories.” But, he added: “This building is becoming nonfunctional. It can’t go on for another 40 years.”

Fenway is similarly “nonfunctional,” but Boston can’t seem to replace it.

Isn’t there anyone out there who wants to save The House That Ruth Built? Yes — about 20 people:

Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor, said he did not anticipate a fight over the stadium or a campaign like the ubiquitous one mounted by Cablevision against the proposed $2.2 billion Jets stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan that could have been the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics. The refusal by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last week doomed that project, forcing the city to look to Flushing in Queens.

“There’s a small group that doesn’t want everything to happen, wherever it is,” Doctoroff said.

That small group appears to be Friends of Yankee Stadium, whose membership of 20 has been “waiting for something to organize against,” said David Gratt, one of its members, who lives two blocks from the stadium.

The group has a Web site, yankeesstayhome.com.

“For 20 years, the Yankees have stated their desire for a new stadium, but never successfully stated a case for need,” he said. “The mayor and the Yankees say it’s approaching nonfunctionality, but it processed nearly four million people last year. I’m sure there are minor structural things to be addressed, but it’s not nonfunctional.”

Gratt said he would like to see the old stadium survive the way Fenway Park has.

It’s like the leasing office said after informing us they would be raising our rent an extortionate 9 percent: “We value good tenants but your apartment is below market.”

The metaphysical Daily News headline: “New York to Everything That Moves: Drop Dead!”