New ballfields break ground on site of demolished Yankee Stadium

Heritage Field, the 11-acre ballfields project on the site of the demolished former Yankee Stadium, officially broke ground yesterday as Borough President Ruben Diaz, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, president Randy Levine and pitcher Joba Chamberlain looked on. Heritage Field, which will pay tribute to the old stadium with commemorative details and is slated for completion in 2011, is intended to replace the park space taken away when the Yankees built their new stadium. The project includes three baseball fields, bleachers and track-and-field space, but it has been plagued by delays and dogged by critics who say the plans don’t measure up to what the community lost when the new Yankee Stadium gobbled up five fields’ worth of park space. The city has also opened a skateboard park, a track and several smaller parks surrounding the new stadium over the past year. [NYDN]