Members of the 1998 Yanks’ & some teens move home plate dirt to the new Yankee Stadium.

November 8, 2008 by Kevin Rozell

With the help of a few legendary players and Bronx teenagers, the Yankees carried pailfuls of dirt from their home plate and pitchers’ mound from their old home to a new one Saturday.

Under a steady rain, 15-year-old Gabriel Nieves shoveled about five pounds of dirt from Yankee Stadium’s home plate into a blue and white pail, while his mother, Audrey, watched with tears streaming down her face.

Nieves joined Yankee legends David Cone, Paul O’Neill, Scott Brosius and Jeff Nelson to move pieces of history from the original ballpark to the new one being built across 161st Street. Nieves, one of dozens of Bronx High School students in a Yankees-affiliated engineering and architecture program, walked the dirt from one mound to another, while construction workers carried the home plate and pitcher’s rubber coverings.

Cone, a 1998 World Series champion who pitched a perfect game from the pitchers’ mound a year later, stared Saturday at the hole in the ground after a worker pulled up the rubber covering.

The played their final game Sept. 21 at the 85-year-old stadium, a 7-3 triumph over the Baltimore Orioles. The new, $1.3 billion stadium is set to open next April.

At the new stadium, the 15-year-old Nieves helped set the new home plate down

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“This is just awesome,” Audrey Nieves said. “This is a big deal. This is the end of an era.”

“This piece of rubber is special, because this is how we made our living, on this piece of rubber,” said Cone, 45. He said he was also attached to the original bleachers. “That’s where the ‘Bleacher Creatures’ would yell our names, and the bleachers shook during games,” he said.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s something you remember forever,” he said. “And maybe I’ll help build the next Yankee Stadium.”

from The Lohud Yankees Blog:

In a dual-Stadium ceremony today, local Bronx high school youth groups were joined by Scott Brosius, David Cone, Jeff Nelson and Paul O’Neill of the Yankees’ 1998 World Championship team and Yankees Vice Chairperson Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal in removing home plate, the pitcher’s rubber and pails of dirt from the original Yankee Stadium, then installing them in the new Yankee Stadium across the street.

“This is a special and symbolic day for the New York Yankees and our community,” said Yankees Vice Chairperson Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal. “The Yankees commend these students for their participation and dedication, and are pleased to recognize their great achievements as we look forward to our future together in the Bronx.”

A group of the 1998 Yankees and high school students helped carry dirt form the old stadium to the new Yankee Stadium. Definitely a special moment for those kids. We are all going to miss the old ballpark, but at least now there is some old dirt in the new stadium. haha