Wonderful newsreel footage (with sound!) of opening day at Yankee Stadium 1931

[mantlefan]

Outstanding. Thanks for posting it, Joe. The clarity was amazing. Loved the candor....Babe and his wife had to be coached on their interview. The first ball was tossed out by NYC Mayor Jimmy Walker. He was a real crook!

The Yanks won 6-3 that day. Attendance was 70,000! I enjoyed seeing the fans crammed into the stands, The men all wore hats. Everyone was smoking. The game started at 3:00 PM so that everyone could attend and it would get dark early in April. Notice the pace of the game. They finished in 1:55.

[Jason Carota]

I could watch that video over and over! Thanks for posting! The "Dec 7, 1929 - Driving Through Broadway At Daytime, NYC" is great, too.

[insidethewrapper]

The outfield dimensions are great . Left Field is very short ( under 300 ft ?) , left center was a Mile ! and Center Field is about 500 feet. I believe Right Field was under 300 feet but I didn't see it in the video. Anyone know the dimensions in 1931 ?

Great Video, thanks.

Interesting seeing a fielder picking up his glove at 12:52 for the next inning. Back in the day they didn't take their gloves back with them to the dugout but left them in the field.

[Snapolit1]

Wow wow wow. Just incredible.

[Donscards]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

The outfield dimensions are great . Left Field is very short ( under 300 ft ?) , left center was a Mile ! and Center Field is about 500 feet. I believe Right Field was under 300 feet but I didn't see it in the video. Anyone know the dimensions in 1931 ?

Great Video, thanks.

Interesting seeing a fielder picking up his glove at 12:52 for the next inning. Back in the day they didn't take their gloves back with them to the dugout but left them in the field.

Mike I also noticed the dimensions, wow, todays players would whine if they had to hit in that stadium--and yet Babe and Lou hit shots there---left/center and center field was deep and huge.

[pokerplyr80]

Great stuff. I might have to start watching more footage of old games.

[obcbeatle]

Thanks for posting the link to this 1931 film (I love the banter between the Babe and Claire :-) ... plus the link to the USC video archive. Some cool film in there!

[irv]

Great video, thanks for sharing.

I noticed, at the 7:50 mark, the cameraman (seemed?) focused on 2 black gentlemen in the stands. The cameraman didn't move/pan away until the one black gentleman began to stare at the cameraman.

With Jackie not debuting until 1946, I also thought blacks had to sit in their own segregated areas while attending ball games and a whole other bunch of stuff. (back of the bus, etc)

I assume this was only certain states/ball diamonds?

History is funny, and I guess it all depends on who tells it, but I did find that surprising, those 2 gentlemen sitting there, among white people, all the way back in 1931.

[DVCARDS]

Outstanding film. Always love watching these. Thanks for posting.

[Rickyy]

got me charged up for the new season!

Ricky Y

[OldSchoolBaseball]

That was awesome....

I noticed the flag at half staff (why?)
I loved how the train stopped during anthem
Never see this again - hats and wool suits
and what a huge ball park from that 1st base vantage point

Thanks for sharing!