The Bronx
Borough and county in New York, United States
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City borough of Manhattan is across the Harlem River; and to its south and east is the borough of Queens, across the East River. The Bronx, the only New York City borough not primarily located on an island, has a land area of and a population of 1,472,654 at the 2020 census. It has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density of the boroughs.
The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, and a flatter eastern section. East and west street names are divided by Jerome Avenue. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County (modern-day Manhattan) in 1914. About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old and is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city. These open spaces are primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan. The Bronx is also home to Yankee Stadium of Major League Baseball.
The word "Bronx" originated with Swedish-born (or Faroese-born) Jonas Bronck, who established the first European settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639. European settlers displaced the native Lenape after 1643. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bronx received many immigrant and migrant groups as it was transformed into an urban community, first from European countries particularly Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe, and later from the Caribbean region (particularly Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Haiti, Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic), and immigrants from West Africa (particularly from Ghana and Nigeria), African American migrants from the Southern United States, Panamanians, Hondurans, and South Asians.
The Bronx contains the poorest congressional district in the United States, New York's 15th. The borough also features upper- and middle-income neighborhoods, such as Riverdale, Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, Schuylerville, Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Morris Park, and Country Club. Parts of the Bronx saw a steep decline in population, livable housing, and quality of life starting from the mid-to-late 1960s, continuing throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, ultimately culminating in a wave of arson in the late 1970s, a period when hip hop music evolved. The South Bronx, in particular, experienced severe urban decay. The borough began experiencing new population growth starting in the late 1990s and continuing to the present day.
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Etymology and naming.
Early names.
The Bronx was called "" by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape (also known historically as "the Delawares"), while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as "Keskeskeck". It was divided by the Aquahung River (now known in English as the Bronx River).
The Bronx was named after Jonas Bronck (c. 1600–1643), a European settler whose precise origins are disputed. Documents indicate he was a Swedish-born immigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the present-day Bronx and built a farm named "Emmaus" close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in Mott Haven. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement of New Haarlem (on Manhattan Island), and bought additional tracts from the local tribes. He eventually accumulated between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which became known as "Bronck's River" or "the Bronx [River]". Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as "Bronck's Land". The American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, probably Jonas Bronck's nephew or cousin, as there was an age difference of 16 years. Much work on the Swedish claim has been undertaken by Brian G. Andersson, former Commissioner of New York City's Department of Records, who helped organize a 375th Anniversary celebration in Bronck's hometown in 2014.
Use of definite article.
The Bronx is referred to with the definite article as "the Bronx" or "The Bronx", both legally and colloquially. The "County of the Bronx" also takes "the" immediately before "Bronx" in formal references, like the coextensive "Borough of the Bronx". The United States Postal Service uses "Bronx, NY" for mailing addresses. The region was apparently named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the "Annexed District of The Bronx", created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County. It was continued in the "Borough of The Bronx", created in 1898, which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1895. The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers. A time-worn story purportedly explaining the use of the definite article in the borough's name says it stems from the phrase "visiting the Broncks", referring to the settler's family.
The capitalization of the borough's name is sometimes disputed. Generally, the definite article is lowercase in place names ("the Bronx") except in some official references. The definite article is capitalized ("The Bronx") at the beginning of a sentence or in any other situation when a normally lowercase word would be capitalized. However, some people and groups refer to the borough with a capital letter at all times, such as Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan, The Bronx County Historical Society, and the Bronx-based organization Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, arguing the definite article is part of the proper name. In particular, the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx is leading efforts to make the city refer to the borough with an uppercase definite article in all uses, comparing the lowercase article in the Bronx's name to "not capitalizing the 's' in 'Staten Island'".
History.
European colonization of the Bronx began in 1639. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County, but it was ceded to New York County in two major parts (West Bronx, 1874 and East Bronx, 1895) before it became Bronx County. Originally, the area was part of the Lenape's Lenapehoking territory inhabited by Siwanoy of the Wappinger Confederacy. Over time, European colonists converted the borough into farmlands.
Before 1914.
The Bronx's development is directly connected to its strategic location between New England and New York (Manhattan). Control over the bridges across the Harlem River plagued the period of British colonial rule. The King's Bridge, built in 1693 where Broadway reached the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, was a possession of Frederick Philipse, lord of Philipse Manor. Local farmers on both sides of the creek resented the tolls, and in 1759, Jacobus Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer led them in building a free bridge across the Harlem River. After the American Revolutionary War, the King's Bridge toll was abolished.
The territory now contained within Bronx County was originally part of Westchester County, one of the 12 original counties of the English Province of New York. The present Bronx County was contained in the town of Westchester and parts of the towns in Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846, a new town was created by division of Westchester, called West Farms. The town of Morrisania was created, in turn, from West Farms in 1855. In 1873, the town of Kingsbridge was established within the former borders of the town of Yonkers, roughly corresponding to the modern Bronx neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, and Woodlawn Heights, and included Woodlawn Cemetery.
Among the famous people who settled in the Bronx during the 19th and early 20th centuries were author Willa Cather, tobacco merchant Pierre Lorillard, and inventor Jordan L. Mott, who established Mott Haven to house the workers at his iron works.
The consolidation of the Bronx into New York City proceeded in two stages. In 1873, the state legislature annexed Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania to New York, effective in 1874; the three towns were soon abolished in the process.
The whole territory east of the Bronx River was annexed to the city in 1895, three years before New York's consolidation with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. This included the Town of Westchester (which had voted against consolidation in 1894) and parts of Eastchester and Pelham. The maritime community of City Island voted to join the city in 1896.
Following these two annexations, the Bronx's territory had moved from Westchester County into New York County, which already included Manhattan and the rest of pre-1874 New York City.
On January 1, 1898, the consolidated City of New York was born, including the Bronx as one of the five distinct boroughs. However, it remained part of New York County until Bronx County was created in 1914.
On April 19, 1912, those parts of New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County in previous decades were newly constituted as Bronx County, the 62nd and last county to be created by the state, effective in 1914. Bronx County's courts opened for business on January 2, 1914 (the same day that John P. Mitchel started work as Mayor of New York City). Marble Hill, Manhattan, was now connected to the Bronx by filling in the former waterway, but it is not part of the borough or county.
After 1914.
The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods: a boom period during 1900–1929, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression and post World War II years saw a slowing of growth leading into an eventual decline. The mid to late century were hard times, as the Bronx changed during 1950–1985 from a predominantly moderate-income to a predominantly lower-income area with high rates of violent crime and poverty in some areas. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.
New York City expands.
The Bronx was a mostly rural area for many generations, with small farms supplying the city markets. In the late 19th century, however, it grew into a railroad suburb. Faster transportation enabled rapid population growth in the late 19th century, involving the move from horse-drawn street cars to elevated railways and the subway system, which linked to Manhattan in 1904.
The South Bronx was a manufacturing center for many years and was noted as a center of piano manufacturing in the early part of the 20th century. In 1919, the Bronx was the site of 63 piano factories employing more than 5,000 workers.
At the end of World War I, the Bronx hosted the rather small 1918 World's Fair at 177th Street and DeVoe Avenue.
The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of the New York City Subway contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants came to the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction. Among these groups, many Irish Americans, Italian Americans, and especially Jewish Americans settled here. In addition, French, German, Polish, and other immigrants moved into the borough. As evidence of the change in population, by 1937, 592,185 Jews lived in the Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population), while only 54,000 Jews lived in the borough in 2011. Many synagogues still stand in the Bronx, but most have been converted to other uses.
Change.
Bootleggers and gangs were active in the Bronx during Prohibition (1920–1933). Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Polish gangs smuggled in most of the illegal whiskey, and the oldest sections of the borough became poverty-stricken. Police Commissioner Richard Enright said that speakeasies provided a place for "the vicious elements, bootleggers, gamblers and their friends in all walks of life" to cooperate and to "evade the law, escape punishment for their crimes, [and] to deter the police from doing their duty".
Between 1930 and 1960, moderate and upper income Bronxites (predominantly non-Hispanic Whites) began to relocate from the borough's southwestern neighborhoods. This migration has left a mostly poor African American and Hispanic (largely Puerto Rican) population in the West Bronx. One significant factor that shifted the racial and economic demographics was the construction of Co-op City, built to house middle-class residents in family-sized apartments. The high-rise complex played a significant role in draining middle-class residents from older tenement buildings in the borough's southern and western fringes. Most predominantly non-Hispanic White communities today are in the eastern and northwestern sections of the borough.
From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, the quality of life changed for some Bronx residents. Historians and social scientists have suggested many factors, including the theory that Robert Moses' Cross Bronx Expressway destroyed existing residential neighborhoods and created instant slums, as put forward in Robert Caro's biography "The Power Broker". Another factor in the Bronx's decline may have been the development of high-rise housing projects, particularly in the South Bronx. Yet another factor may have been a reduction in the real estate listings and property-related financial services offered in some areas of the Bronx, such as mortgage loans or insurance policies—a process known as redlining. Others have suggested a "planned shrinkage" of municipal services, such as fire-fighting. There was also much debate as to whether rent control laws had made it less profitable (or more costly) for landlords to maintain existing buildings with their existing tenants than to abandon or destroy those buildings.
In the 1970s, parts of the Bronx were plagued by a wave of arson. The burning of buildings was predominantly in the poorest communities, such as the South Bronx. One explanation of this event was that landlords decided to burn their low property-value buildings and take the insurance money, as it was easier for them to get insurance money than to try to refurbish a dilapidated building or sell a building in a severely distressed area. The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx. There were cases where tenants set fire to the building they lived in so they could qualify for emergency relocations by city social service agencies to better residences, sometimes being relocated to other parts of the city.
Out of 289 census tracts in the Bronx borough, 7 tracts lost more than 97% of their buildings to arson and abandonment between 1970 and 1980; another 44 tracts had more than 50% of their buildings meet the same fate. By the early 1980s, the Bronx was considered the most blighted urban area in the country, particularly the South Bronx which experienced a loss of 60% of the population and 40% of housing units. However, starting in the 1990s, many of the burned-out and run-down tenements were replaced by new housing units.
In May 1984, New York Supreme Court justice Peter J. McQuillan ruled that Marble Hill, Manhattan, was simultaneously part of the Borough of Manhattan (not the Borough of the Bronx) and part of Bronx County (not New York County) and the matter was definitively settled later that year when the New York Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan and made this clarification retroactive to 1938, as reflected on the official maps of the city.
Revitalization.
Since the late 1980s, significant development has occurred in the Bronx, first stimulated by the city's "Ten-Year Housing Plan" and community members working to rebuild the social, economic and environmental infrastructure by creating affordable housing. Groups affiliated with churches in the South Bronx erected the Nehemiah Homes with about 1,000 units. The grass roots organization Nos Quedamos' endeavor known as Melrose Commons began to rebuild areas in the South Bronx. The IRT White Plains Road Line ( 2 and  5 trains) began to show an increase in riders. Chains such as Marshalls, Staples, and Target opened stores in the Bronx. More bank branches opened in the Bronx as a whole (rising from 106 in 1997 to 149 in 2007), although not primarily in poor or minority neighborhoods, while the Bronx still has fewer branches per person than other boroughs.
In 1997, the Bronx was designated an "All America City" by the National Civic League, acknowledging its comeback from the decline of the mid-century. In 2006, "The New York Times" reported that "construction cranes have become the borough's new visual metaphor, replacing the window decals of the 1980s in which pictures of potted plants and drawn curtains were placed in the windows of abandoned buildings." The borough has experienced substantial new building construction since 2002. Between 2002 and June 2007, 33,687 new units of housing were built or were under way and $4.8 billion has been invested in new housing. In the first six months of 2007 alone total investment in new residential development was $965 million and 5,187 residential units were scheduled to be completed. Much of the new development is springing up in formerly vacant lots across the South Bronx.
In addition there came a revitalization of the existing housing market in areas such as Hunts Point, the Lower Concourse, and the neighborhoods surrounding the Third Avenue Bridge as people buy apartments and renovate them. Several boutique and chain hotels opened in the 2010s in the South Bronx.
New developments are underway. The Bronx General Post Office on the corner of the Grand Concourse and East 149th Street is being converted into a market place, boutiques, restaurants and office space with a USPS concession. The Kingsbridge Armory, often cited as the largest armory in the world, is currently slated for redevelopment.
Under consideration for future development is the construction of a platform over the New York City Subway's Concourse Yard adjacent to Lehman College. The construction permitted approximately of development and cost US$.
Despite significant investment compared to the post war period, many exacerbated social problems remain including high rates of violent crime, substance abuse, overcrowding, and substandard housing conditions. The Bronx has the highest rate of poverty in New York City, and the greater South Bronx is the poorest area.
Geography.
Location and physical features.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bronx County has a total area of , of which is land and (27%) is water.
The Bronx is New York City's northernmost borough, New York State's southernmost mainland county and the only part of New York City that is almost entirely on the North American mainland, unlike the other four boroughs that are either islands or located on islands. The bedrock of the West Bronx is primarily "Fordham gneiss", a high-grade heavily banded metamorphic rock containing significant amounts of pink feldspar. Marble Hill – politically part of Manhattan but now physically attached to the Bronx – is so-called because of the formation of Inwood marble there as well as in Inwood, Manhattan, and parts of the Bronx and Westchester County.
The Hudson River separates the Bronx on the west from Alpine, Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, New Jersey; the Harlem River separates it from the island of Manhattan to the southwest; the East River separates it from Queens to the southeast; and to the east, Long Island Sound separates it from Nassau County in western Long Island. Directly north of the Bronx are (from west to east) the adjoining Westchester County communities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. There is also a short southern land boundary with Marble Hill in the Borough of Manhattan, over the filled-in former course of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek; Marble Hill's postal ZIP code, telephonic area codes and fire service, however, are shared with the Bronx and not Manhattan.
The Bronx River flows south from Westchester County through the borough, emptying into the East River; it is the only entirely freshwater river in New York City. It separates the West Bronx from the schist of the East Bronx. A smaller river, the Hutchinson River (named after the religious leader Anne Hutchinson, killed along its banks in 1641), passes through the East Bronx and empties into Eastchester Bay.
The Bronx also includes several small islands in the East River and Long Island Sound, such as City Island and Hart Island. Rikers Island in the East River, home to the large jail complex for the entire city, is also part of the Bronx.
The Bronx's highest elevation at is in the northwest corner, west of Van Cortlandt Park and in the Chapel Farm area near the Riverdale Country School. The opposite (southeastern) side of the Bronx has four large low peninsulas or "necks" of low-lying land that jut into the waters of the East River and were once salt marsh: Hunt's Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck and Throggs Neck. Further up the coastline, Rodman's Neck lies between Pelham Bay Park in the northeast and City Island. The Bronx's irregular shoreline extends for .
Parks and open space.
Although Bronx County was the third most densely populated county in the United States in 2022 (after Manhattan and Brooklyn), of the Bronx—about one fifth of the Bronx's area, and one quarter of its land area—is given over to parkland. The vision of a system of major Bronx parks connected by park-like thoroughfares is usually attributed to John Mullaly.
Woodlawn Cemetery, located on and one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, sits on the western bank of the Bronx River near Yonkers. It opened in 1863, in what was then the town of Yonkers, at the time a rural area. Since the first burial in 1865, more than 300,000 people have been interred there.
The borough's northern side includes the largest park in New York City—Pelham Bay Park, which includes Orchard Beach—and the third-largest, Van Cortlandt Park, which is west of Woodlawn Cemetery and borders Yonkers. Also in the northern Bronx, Wave Hill, the former estate of George W. Perkins—known for a historic house, gardens, changing site-specific art installations and concerts—overlooks the New Jersey Palisades from a promontory on the Hudson in Riverdale. Nearer the borough's center, and along the Bronx River, is Bronx Park; its northern end houses the New York Botanical Gardens, which preserve the last patch of the original hemlock forest that once covered the county, and its southern end the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoological gardens in the United States. In 1904 the Chestnut Blight pathogen ("Cryphonectria parasitica") was found for the first time outside of Asia, at the Bronx Zoo. Over the next 40 years it spread throughout eastern North America and killed back essentially every American Chestnut ("Castanea dentata"), causing ecological and economic devastation.
Just south of Van Cortlandt Park is the Jerome Park Reservoir, surrounded by of stone walls and bordering several small parks in the Bedford Park neighborhood; the reservoir was built in the 1890s on the site of the former Jerome Park Racetrack. Further south is Crotona Park, home to a lake, 28 species of trees, and a large swimming pool. The land for these parks, and many others, was bought by New York City in 1888, while land was still open and inexpensive, in anticipation of future needs and future pressures for development.
Some of the acquired land was set aside for the Grand Concourse and Pelham Parkway, the first of a series of boulevards and parkways (thoroughfares lined with trees, vegetation and greenery). Later projects included the Bronx River Parkway, which developed a road while restoring the riverbank and reducing pollution, Mosholu Parkway and the Henry Hudson Parkway.
In 2006, a five-year, $220-million program of capital improvements and natural restoration in 70 Bronx parks was begun (financed by water and sewer revenues) as part of an agreement that allowed a water filtration plant under Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park. One major focus is on opening more of the Bronx River's banks and restoring them to a natural state.
Adjacent counties.
The Bronx adjoins:
Divisions of the Bronx.
Regional divisions.
There are two primary systems for dividing the Bronx into regions, which do not necessarily agree with one another. One system is based on the Bronx River, while the other strictly separates South Bronx from the rest of the borough.
The Bronx River divides the borough nearly in half, putting the earlier-settled, more urban, and hillier sections in the western lobe and the newer, more suburban coastal sections in the eastern lobe. It is an accurate reflection on the Bronx's history considering that the towns that existed in the area prior to annexation to the City of New York generally did not straddle the Bronx River. In addition, what is today the Bronx was annexed to New York City in two stages: areas west of the Bronx River were annexed in 1874 while areas to the east of the river were annexed in 1895.
Under this system, the Bronx can be further divided into the following regions:
A second system divides the borough first and foremost into the following sections:
Neighborhoods.
The number, locations, and boundaries of the Bronx's neighborhoods (many of them sitting on the sites of 19th-century villages) have become unclear with time and successive waves of newcomers. Even city officials do not necessarily agree. In a 2006 article for "The New York Times", Manny Fernandez described the disagreement:
According to a Department of City Planning map of the city's neighborhoods, the Bronx has 49. The map publisher Hagstrom identifies 69. The borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., says 61. The Mayor's Community Assistance Unit, in a listing of the borough's community boards, names 68.
Major neighborhoods of the Bronx include the following.
East Bronx.
East of the Bronx River, the borough is relatively flat and includes four large low peninsulas, or 'necks,' of low-lying land which jut into the waters of the East River and were once saltmarsh: Hunts Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck (Castle Hill Point) and Throgs Neck. The East Bronx has older tenement buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multifamily homes, as well as single family homes. It includes New York City's largest park: Pelham Bay Park along the Westchester-Bronx border.
Neighborhoods include: Clason's Point, Harding Park, Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester "(Community District 9)"; Throggs Neck, Country Club, City Island, Pelham Bay, Edgewater Park, Co-op City "(Community District 10)"; Westchester Square, Van Nest, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park "(Community District 11)"; Williamsbridge, Eastchester, Baychester, Edenwald and Wakefield "(Community District 12)".
City Island and Hart Island.
City Island is east of Pelham Bay Park in Long Island Sound and is known for its seafood restaurants and private waterfront homes. City Island's single shopping street, City Island Avenue, is reminiscent of a small New England town. It is connected to Rodman's Neck on the mainland by the City Island Bridge.
East of City Island is Hart Island, which is uninhabited and not open to the public. It once served as a prison and now houses New York City's potter's field for unclaimed bodies.
West Bronx.
The western parts of the Bronx are hillier and are dominated by a series of parallel ridges, running south to north. The West Bronx has older apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, multifamily homes in its lower income areas as well as larger single family homes in more affluent areas such as Riverdale and Fieldston. It includes New York City's third-largest park: Van Cortlandt Park along the Westchester-Bronx border. The Grand Concourse, a wide boulevard, runs through it, north to south.
Northwestern Bronx.
Neighborhoods include: Fordham-Bedford, Bedford Park, Norwood, Kingsbridge Heights "(Community District 7)", Kingsbridge, Riverdale "(Community District 8)", and Woodlawn Heights "(Community District 12)".
South Bronx.
Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the South Bronx has no official boundaries. The name has been used to represent poverty in the Bronx and is applied to progressively more northern places so that by the 2000s, Fordham Road was often used as a northern limit. The Bronx River more consistently forms an eastern boundary. The South Bronx has many high-density apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multi-unit homes. The South Bronx is home to the Bronx County Courthouse, Borough Hall, and other government buildings, as well as Yankee Stadium. The Cross Bronx Expressway bisects it, east to west. The South Bronx has some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, as well as very high crime areas.
Neighborhoods include: The Hub (a retail district at Third Avenue and East 149th Street), Port Morris, Mott Haven "(Community District 1)", Melrose "(Community District 1 & Community District 3)", Morrisania, East Morrisania [also known as Crotona Park East] "(Community District 3)", Hunts Point, Longwood "(Community District 2)", Highbridge, Concourse "(Community District 4)", West Farms, Belmont, East Tremont "(Community District 6)", Tremont, Morris Heights "(Community District 5)", University Heights. "(Community District 5 & Community District 7)".
Demographics.
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Race, ethnicity, language, and immigration.
2018 estimates.
The borough's most populous racial group, White, declined from 99.3% in 1920 to 14.9% in 2018.
The Bronx has 532,487 housing units, with a median value of $371,800, and with an owner-occupancy rate of 19.7%, the lowest of the five boroughs. There are 495,356 households, with 2.85 persons per household. 59.3% of residents speak a language besides English at home, the highest rate of the five boroughs.
In the Bronx, the population is 7.2% under 5, 17.6% 6–18, 62.4% 19–64, and 12.8% over 65. 52.9% of the population is female. 35.3% of residents are foreign born.
The per capita income is $19,721, while the median household income is $36,593, both being the lowest of the five boroughs. 27.9% of residents live below the poverty line, the highest of the five boroughs.
2010 census.
According to the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race); 30.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.9% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 3.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 1.2% of two or more races (non-Hispanic), and 0.6% from some other race (non-Hispanic).
As of 2010, 46.29% (584,463) of Bronx residents aged five and older spoke Spanish at home, while 44.02% (555,767) spoke English, 2.48% (31,361) African languages, 0.91% (11,455) French, 0.90% (11,355) Italian, 0.87% (10,946) various Indic languages, 0.70% (8,836) other Indo-European languages, and Chinese was spoken at home by 0.50% (6,610) of the population over the age of five. In total, 55.98% (706,783) of the Bronx's population age five and older spoke a language at home other than English. A Garifuna-speaking community from Honduras and Guatemala also makes the Bronx its home.
2009 community survey.
The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a Hispanic majority, many of whom are Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. According to the 2009 American Community Survey, Black Americans were the second largest racial/ethnic group in the Bronx. Black people of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-third (35.4%) of the Bronx's population. Black people of non-Hispanic origin made up 30.8% of the population. Over 495,200 Black people resided in the borough, of whom 87% were non-Hispanic. Over 61,000 people identified themselves as Sub-Saharan African in the survey, making up 4.4% of the population.
Multiracial Americans are also a sizable minority in the Bronx. People of multiracial heritage number over 41,800 individuals and represent 3.0% of the population. People of mixed African American and European American heritage number over 6,850 members and form 0.5% of the population. People of mixed Native American and European heritage number over 2,450 members and form 0.2% of the population. People of mixed Asian and European heritage number over 880 members and form 0.1% of the population. People of mixed African American and Native American heritage number over 1,220 members and form 0.1% of the population.
Out of all five boroughs, the Bronx has the lowest number and proportion of white residents. As of 2009, White Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-fifth (22.9%) of the Bronx's population, or 320,640 people. Non-Hispanic White people accounted for one-eighth of the population (12.1%, or 168,570 12.1%). This is in contrast to a century ago, when almost all Bronx residents were white (99.3% in 1920). That share fell to about one-third by 1980 (34.4%). As of 2009, White Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented one-fifth (22.9%) of the Bronx's population, but counting non-Hispanic White people the proportion was under one-eighth (12.1%). The majority of the non-Hispanic European American population is of Italian and Irish descent. People of Italian descent numbered over 55,000 individuals and made up 3.9% of the population. People of Irish descent numbered over 43,500 individuals and made up 3.1% of the population. German Americans and Polish Americans made up 1.4% and 0.8% of the population respectively. The Bronx has the largest Albanian community in the United States. As of 2018, non-Hispanic White people account for about one in seven residents (14.9% in 2018).
Older estimates.
The census of 1930 counted only 1.0% (12,930) of the Bronx's population as Negro (while making no distinct counts of Hispanic or Spanish-surname residents).
Population and housing.
As of the 2010 census, there were 1,385,108 people living in the Bronx, a 3.9% increase since 2000.
As of the 2000 United States census, there were 1,332,650 people, 463,212 households, and 314,984 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 490,659 housing units at an average density of . Census estimates place total population of Bronx county at 1,392,002 as of 2012.
There were 463,212 households, out of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.4% were married couples living together, 30.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.37.
The age distribution of the population in the Bronx were as follows: 29.8% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.0 males.
Individual and household income.
The 1999 median income for a household in the borough was $27,611, and the median family income was $30,682. Men had a median income of $31,178 versus $29,429 for women. The per capita income for the borough was $13,959. About 28.0% of families and 30.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.5% of those under age 18 and 21.3% of those age 65 or over. More than half of the neighborhoods in the Bronx are high poverty or extreme poverty areas.
From 2015 census data, the median income for a household was (in 2015 dollars) $34,299. Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2015 dollars): $18,456 with persons in poverty at 30.3%. Per the 2016 Census data, the median income for a household was $35,302. Per capita income was cited at $18,896.
Culture and institutions.
Sports.
The Bronx is the home of the New York Yankees—nicknamed "the Bronx Bombers"—of Major League Baseball. The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles, more than any other team, and their roster has featured players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle.
When the team's original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, it was the largest baseball park. The field also hosted college football games, and was the home of two National Football League teams, the New York Yankees (1926–1929) and the New York Giants (1956–1973). In 2008, the park was replaced with the current Yankee Stadium.
The Bronx additionally hosts the only Major League Soccer team in the five boroughs, the New York City FC, which also plays in Yankee Stadium. Part of the New York City Marathon travels through the Bronx, including the notoriously difficult Mile 20. From 1889 to 1904, the borough used to have a horse racing facility, the Morris Park Racecourse. In its later years, the course was used for motor racing: a new land speed record was reached on the track. College teams in the Bronx include the Fordham Rams and the Lehman Lightning.
Music.
The Bronx has had a long association with music. In the early 20th century, it was a center for the evolution of Latin jazz. The Bronx Opera was established in 1967.
In the 1970s, The Bronx was strongly associated with the development of hip hop music. One of the genre's pioneers, DJ Kool Herc, held parties in the community room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where he experimented with turntablist techniques such as mixing and scratching of funk records, as well as rapping during extended instrumentals. Other significant Bronx DJs from this period include Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. In addition, The Bronx was important for drill culture by raising rappers such as Kay Flock, Sha EK and many others.
Off-Off-Broadway.
The Bronx is home to several Off-Off-Broadway theaters, many staging new works by immigrant playwrights from Latin America and Africa. The Pregones Theater, which produces Latin American work, opened a new 130-seat theater in 2005 on Walton Avenue in the South Bronx. Some artists from elsewhere in New York City have begun to converge on the area, and housing prices have nearly quadrupled in the area since 2002. However, rising prices directly correlate to a housing shortage across the city and the entire metro area.
Arts.
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, founded in 1998 by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez, provides dance, theatre and art workshops, festivals and performances focusing on contemporary and modern art in relation to race, gender and sexuality. It is home to the Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, a contemporary dance company, and the Bronx Dance Coalition. The academy was formerly in the American Bank Note Company Building before relocating to a venue on the grounds of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, founded in 1971, exhibits 20th century and contemporary art through its central museum space and of galleries. Many of its exhibitions are on themes of special interest to the Bronx. Its permanent collection features more than 800 works of art, primarily by artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and mixed media. The museum was temporarily closed in 2006 while it underwent an expansion designed by the architectural firm Arquitectonica that would double the museum's size to .
The Bronx has also become home to a peculiar poetic tribute in the form of the "Heinrich Heine Memorial", better known as the Lorelei Fountain. After Heine's German birthplace of Düsseldorf had rejected, allegedly for antisemitic motives, a centennial monument to the radical German-Jewish poet (1797–1856), his incensed German-American admirers, including Carl Schurz, started a movement to place one instead in Midtown Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. However, this intention was thwarted by a combination of ethnic antagonism, aesthetic controversy and political struggles over the institutional control of public art. In 1899, the memorial by Ernst Gustav Herter was placed in Joyce Kilmer Park, near the Yankee Stadium. In 1999, it was moved to 161st Street and the Concourse.
Maritime heritage.
The peninsular borough's maritime heritage is acknowledged in several ways. The City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum occupies a former public school designed by the New York City school system's turn-of-the-last-century master architect C. B. J. Snyder. The state's Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (on the southeastern shore) houses the Maritime Industry Museum. In addition, the Harlem River is reemerging as "Scullers' Row" due in large part to the efforts of the Bronx River Restoration Project, a joint public-private endeavor of the city's parks department. Canoeing and kayaking on the borough's namesake river have been promoted by the Bronx River Alliance. The river is also straddled by the New York Botanical Gardens, its neighbor, the Bronx Zoo, and a little further south, on the west shore, Bronx River Art Center.
Community celebrations.
"Bronx Week", traditionally held in May, began as a one-day celebration. Begun by Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan and supported by then borough president Robert Abrams, the original one-day program was based on the "Bronx Borough Day" festival which took place in the 1920s. The following year, at the height of the decade's civil unrest, the festival was extended to a one-week event. In the 1980s the key event, the "Bronx Ball", was launched. The week includes the Bronx Week Parade as well as inductions into the "Bronx Walk of Fame".
Various Bronx neighborhoods conduct their own community celebrations. The Arthur Avenue "Little Italy" neighborhood conducts an annual Autumn Ferragosto Festival that celebrates Italian culture. Hunts Point hosts an annual "Fish Parade and Summer Festival" at the start of summer. Edgewater Park hosts an annual "Ragamuffin" children's walk in November. There are several events to honor the borough's veterans. Albanian Independence Day is also observed.
There are also parades to celebrate Dominican, Italian, and Irish heritage.
Press and broadcasting.
The Bronx is home to several local newspapers and radio and television studios.
Newspapers.
The Bronx has several local newspapers, including The Bronx Daily, "The Bronx News", "Parkchester News", "City News", "The Norwood News", "The Riverdale Press", "Riverdale Review", "The Bronx Times Reporter", and "Co-op City Times". Four non-profit news outlets, "Norwood News", "Mount Hope Monitor", "Mott Haven Herald" and "The Hunts Point Express" serve the borough's poorer communities. The editor and co-publisher of "The Riverdale Press", Bernard Stein, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his editorials about Bronx and New York City issues in 1998. (Stein graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1959.)
The Bronx once had its own daily newspaper, "The Bronx Home News", which started publishing on January 20, 1907, and merged into the "New York Post" in 1948. It became a special section of the "Post", sold only in the Bronx, and eventually disappeared from view.
Radio and television.
One of New York City's major non-commercial radio broadcasters is WFUV, a National Public Radio-affiliated 50,000-watt station broadcasting from Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The radio station's antenna was relocated to the top of an apartment building owned by Montefiore Medical Center, which expanded the reach of the station's signal.
The City of New York has an official television station run by NYC Media and broadcasting from Bronx Community College, and Cablevision operates News 12 The Bronx, both of which feature programming based in the Bronx. Co-op City was the first area in the Bronx, and the first in New York beyond Manhattan, to have its own cable television provider. The local public-access television station BronxNet originates from Herbert H. Lehman College, the borough's only four year CUNY school, and provides government-access television (GATV) public affairs programming in addition to programming produced by Bronx residents.
Economy.
Shopping malls and markets in the Bronx include:
Shopping districts.
Prominent shopping areas in the Bronx include Fordham Road, Bay Plaza in Co-op City, The Hub, the Riverdale/Kingsbridge shopping center, and Bruckner Boulevard. Shops are also concentrated on streets aligned underneath elevated railroad lines, including Westchester Avenue, White Plains Road, Jerome Avenue, Southern Boulevard, and Broadway. The Bronx Terminal Market contains several big-box stores, which opened in 2009 south of Yankee Stadium.
The Bronx has three primary shopping centers: The Hub, Gateway Center and Southern Boulevard. The Hub–Third Avenue Business Improvement District (B.I.D.), in The Hub, is the retail heart of the South Bronx, where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues. It is primarily inside the neighborhood of Melrose but also lines the northern border of Mott Haven. The Hub has been called "the Broadway of the Bronx", being likened to the real Broadway in Manhattan and the northwestern Bronx. It is the site of both maximum traffic and architectural density. In configuration, it resembles a miniature Times Square, a spatial "bow-tie" created by the geometry of the street. The Hub is part of Bronx Community Board 1.
The Bronx Terminal Market, in the West Bronx, formerly known as Gateway Center, is a shopping center that encompasses less than one million square feet of retail space, built on a site that formerly held a wholesale fruit and vegetable market also named Bronx Terminal Market as well as the former Bronx House of Detention, south of Yankee Stadium. The $500 million shopping center, which was completed in 2009, saw the construction of new buildings and two smaller buildings, one new and the other a renovation of an existing building that was part of the original market. The two main buildings are linked by a six-level garage for 2,600 cars. The center's design has earned it a LEED "Silver" designation.
Government and politics.
Local government.
Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, the New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor–council system has governed the Bronx. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in the Bronx.
The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.
Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations.
Until March 1, 2009, the Borough President of the Bronx was Adolfo Carrión Jr., elected as a Democrat in 2001 and 2005 before retiring early to direct the White House Office of Urban Affairs Policy. His successor, Democratic New York State Assembly member Rubén Díaz, Jr. — after winning a special election on April 21, 2009, by a vote of 86.3% (29,420) on the "Bronx Unity" line to 13.3% (4,646) for the Republican district leader Anthony Ribustello on the "People First" line, — became Borough President on May 1, 2009. In 2021, Rubén Díaz's Democratic successor, Vanessa Gibson was elected (to begin serving in 2022) with 79.9% of the vote against 13.4% for Janell King (Republican) and 6.5% for Sammy Ravelo (Conservative).
All of the Bronx's currently elected public officials have first won the nomination of the Democratic Party (in addition to any other endorsements). Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. Controversial political issues in the Bronx include environmental issues, the cost of housing, and annexation of parkland for new Yankee Stadium.
Since its separation from New York County on January 1, 1914, the Bronx, has had, like each of the other 61 counties of New York State, its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Darcel D. Clark has been the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016. Her predecessor was Robert T. Johnson, the District Attorney from 1989 to 2015. He was the first African-American District Attorney in New York State.
The Bronx also has twelve Community Boards, appointed bodies that advise on land use and municipal facilities and services for local residents, businesses and institutions.
Politics.
After becoming a separate county in 1914, the Bronx has supported only two Republican presidential candidates. It voted heavily for the winning Republican Warren G. Harding in 1920, but much more narrowly on a split vote for his victorious Republican successor Calvin Coolidge in 1924 (Coolidge 79,562; John W. Davis, Dem., 72,834; Robert La Follette, 62,202 equally divided between the Progressive and Socialist lines).
Since then, the Bronx has always supported the Democratic Party's nominee for president, starting with a vote of 2–1 for the unsuccessful Al Smith in 1928, followed by four 2–1 votes for the successful Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Both had been Governors of New York, but Republican former Gov. Thomas E. Dewey won only 28% of the Bronx's vote in 1948 against 55% for Pres. Harry Truman, the winning Democrat, and 17% for Henry A. Wallace of the Progressives. It was only 32 years earlier, by contrast, that another Republican former Governor who narrowly lost the Presidency, Charles Evans Hughes, had won 42.6% of the Bronx's 1916 vote against Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's 49.8% and Socialist candidate Allan Benson's 7.3%.) Donald Trump improved on the Republican Party's performance from a historic low of 8% in 2012 to 27% in 2024 over the course of his three runs for president, the highest for Republicans since 1984.
Federal Representatives.
As of 2025, four Democrats represented the Bronx in the United States House of Representatives:
Elections for Mayor of New York.
The Bronx has often shown striking differences from other boroughs in elections for Mayor. The only Republican to carry the Bronx since 1914 was Fiorello La Guardia in 1933, 1937, and 1941 (and in the latter two elections, only because his 30% to 32% vote on the American Labor Party line was added to 22% to 23% as a Republican). The Bronx was thus the only borough not carried by the successful Republican re-election campaigns of Mayors Rudy Giuliani in 1997 and Michael Bloomberg in 2005. The anti-war Socialist campaign of Morris Hillquit in the 1917 mayoral election won over 31% of the Bronx's vote, putting him second and well ahead of the 20% won by the incumbent pro-war Fusion Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, who came in second (ahead of Hillquit) everywhere else and outpolled Hillquit citywide by 23.2% to 21.7%.
Education.
Education in the Bronx is provided by a large number of public and private institutions, many of which draw students who live beyond the Bronx. The New York City Department of Education manages the borough's public noncharter schools. In 2000, public schools enrolled nearly 280,000 of the Bronx's residents over three years old (out of 333,100 enrolled in all pre-college schools). There are also several public charter schools. Private schools range from elite independent schools to religiously affiliated schools run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Jewish organizations.
A small portion of land between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park, with 35 houses, is a part of the Bronx, but is cut off from the rest of the borough due to the county boundaries; the New York City government pays for the residents' children to go to Pelham Union Free School District schools, including Pelham Memorial High School, since that is more cost effective than sending school buses to take the students to New York City schools. This arrangement has been in place since 1948.
Educational attainment.
In 2000, according to the United States census, out of the nearly 800,000 people in the Bronx who were then at least 25 years old, 62.3% had graduated from high school and 14.6% held a bachelor's or higher college degree. These percentages were lower than those for New York's other boroughs, which ranged from 68.8% (Brooklyn) to 82.6% (Staten Island) for high school graduates over 24, and from 21.8% (Brooklyn) to 49.4% (Manhattan) for college graduates. (The respective state and national percentages were "[NY]" 79.1% & 27.4% and "[US]" 80.4% & 24.4%.)
High schools.
In the 2000 Census, 79,240 of the nearly 95,000 Bronx residents enrolled in high school attended public schools.
Many public high schools are in the borough including the elite Bronx High School of Science, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, DeWitt Clinton High School, High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx Leadership Academy 2, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, the Morris Academy for Collaborative Study, Wings Academy for young adults, The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, Validus Preparatory Academy, The Eagle Academy For Young Men, Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School, Bronx Academy of Letters, Herbert H. Lehman High School and High School of American Studies. The Bronx is also home to three of New York City's most prestigious private, secular schools: Fieldston, Horace Mann, and Riverdale Country School.
High schools linked to the Catholic Church include: St. Raymond Academy for Girls, All Hallows High School, Fordham Preparatory School, Monsignor Scanlan High School, St. Raymond High School for Boys, Cardinal Hayes High School, Cardinal Spellman High School, The Academy of Mount Saint Ursula, Aquinas High School, Preston High School, St. Catharine Academy, Mount Saint Michael Academy, and St. Barnabas High School.
The SAR Academy and SAR High School are Modern Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva coeducational day schools in Riverdale, with roots in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
In the 1990s, New York City began closing the large, public high schools in the Bronx and replacing them with small high schools. Among the reasons cited for the changes were poor graduation rates and concerns about safety. Schools that have been closed or reduced in size include John F. Kennedy, James Monroe, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Evander Childs, Christopher Columbus, Morris, Walton, and South Bronx High Schools.
Colleges and universities.
In 2000, 49,442 (57.5%) of the 86,014 Bronx residents seeking college, graduate or professional degrees attended public institutions.
Several colleges and universities are in the Bronx.
Fordham University was founded as St. John's College in 1841 by the Diocese of New York as the first Catholic institution of higher education in the northeast. It is now officially an independent institution, but strongly embraces its Jesuit heritage. The Bronx campus, known as Rose Hill, is the main campus of the university, and is among the largest within the city (other Fordham campuses are in Manhattan and Westchester County).
Three campuses of the City University of New York are in the Bronx: Hostos Community College, Bronx Community College (occupying the former University Heights Campus of New York University) and Herbert H. Lehman College (formerly the uptown campus of Hunter College), which offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
The College of Mount Saint Vincent is a Catholic liberal arts college in Riverdale under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of New York. Founded in 1847 as a school for girls, the academy became a degree-granting college in 1911 and began admitting men in 1974. The school serves 1,600 students. Its campus is also home to the Academy for Jewish Religion, a transdenominational rabbinical and cantorial school.
Manhattan University is a Catholic college in Riverdale which offers undergraduate programs in the arts, business, education, engineering, and science. It also offers graduate programs in education and engineering.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of the Montefiore Medical Center, is in Morris Park.
The coeducational and non-sectarian Mercy University—with its main campus in Dobbs Ferry—has a Bronx campus near Westchester Square.
The State University of New York Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (Throggs Neck)—at the far southeastern tip of the Bronx—is the national leader in maritime education and houses the Maritime Industry Museum. (Directly across Long Island Sound is Kings Point, Long Island, home of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the American Merchant Marine Museum.) As of 2017, graduates from the university earned an average annual salary of $144,000, the highest of any university graduates in the United States.
In addition, the private, proprietary Monroe College, focused on preparation for business and the professions, started in the Bronx in 1933 and now has a campus in New Rochelle (Westchester County) as well the Bronx's Fordham neighborhood.
Transportation.
Roads and streets.
Surface streets.
The Bronx street grid is irregular. Like the northernmost part of upper Manhattan, the West Bronx's hilly terrain leaves a relatively free-style street grid. Much of the West Bronx's street numbering carries over from upper Manhattan, but does not match it exactly; East 132nd Street is the lowest numbered street in the Bronx. This dates from the mid-19th century when the southwestern area of Westchester County west of the Bronx River, was incorporated into New York City and known as the Northside.
The East Bronx is considerably flatter, and the street layout tends to be more regular. Only the Wakefield neighborhood picks up the street numbering, albeit at a misalignment due to Tremont Avenue's layout. At the same diagonal latitude, West 262nd Street in Riverdale matches East 237th Street in Wakefield.
Three major north–south thoroughfares run between Manhattan and the Bronx: Third Avenue, Park Avenue, and Broadway. Other major north–south roads include the Grand Concourse, Jerome Avenue, Sedgwick Avenue, Webster Avenue, and White Plains Road. Major east-west thoroughfares include Mosholu Parkway, Gun Hill Road, Fordham Road, Pelham Parkway, and Tremont Avenue.
Most east–west streets are prefixed with either "East" or "West", to indicate on which side of Jerome Avenue they lie (continuing the similar system in Manhattan, which uses Fifth Avenue as the dividing line).
The historic Boston Post Road, part of the long pre-revolutionary road connecting Boston with other northeastern cities, runs east–west in some places, and sometimes northeast–southwest.
Mosholu and Pelham Parkways, with Bronx Park between them, Van Cortlandt Park to the west and Pelham Bay Park to the east, are also linked by bridle paths.
As of the 2000 Census, approximately 61.6% of all Bronx households do not have access to a car. Citywide, the percentage of autoless households is 55%.
Highways.
Several major limited access highways traverse the Bronx. These include:
Bridges and tunnels.
Thirteen bridges and three tunnels connect the Bronx to Manhattan, and three bridges connect the Bronx to Queens. These are, from west to east:
"To Manhattan:" the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Broadway Bridge, the University Heights Bridge, the Washington Bridge, the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, the High Bridge, the Concourse Tunnel, the Macombs Dam Bridge, the 145th Street Bridge, the 149th Street Tunnel, the Madison Avenue Bridge, the Park Avenue Bridge, the Lexington Avenue Tunnel, the Third Avenue Bridge (southbound traffic only), and the Willis Avenue Bridge (northbound traffic only).
"To both Manhattan and Queens:" the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, formerly known as the Triborough Bridge.
"To Queens:" the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge.
Mass transit.
The Bronx is served by seven New York City Subway services along six physical lines, with 70 stations in the Bronx:
There are also many MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes in the Bronx. This includes local and express routes as well as Bee-Line Bus System routes.
Two Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines (the Harlem Line and the Hudson Line) serve 11 stations in the Bronx. (Marble Hill, between the Spuyten Duyvil and University Heights stations, is actually in the only part of Manhattan connected to the mainland.) In addition, some trains serving the New Haven Line stop at Fordham Plaza. As part of Penn Station Access, the 2018 MTA budget funded construction of four new stops along the New Haven Line to serve Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park, and Co-op City.
In 2018, NYC Ferry's Soundview line opened, connecting the Soundview landing in Clason Point Park to three East River locations in Manhattan. On December 28, 2021; the Throgs Neck Ferry landing at Ferry Point Park in Throgs Neck was opened providing an additional stop on the Soundview line. The ferry is operated by Hornblower Cruises.
In popular culture.
Film and television.
Mid-20th century.
Mid-20th century movies set in the Bronx portrayed densely settled, working-class, urban culture. "From This Day Forward" (1946), set in Highbridge, occasionally delved into Bronx life. The most notable examinations of working class Bronx life were Paddy Chayefsky's Academy Award-winning "Marty" and his 1956 film "The Catered Affair." Other films that portrayed life in the Bronx are: the 1993 Robert De Niro/Chazz Palminteri film, "A Bronx Tale", Spike Lee's 1999 movie "Summer of Sam", which focused on an Italian-American Bronx community in the 1970s, 1994's "I Like It Like That" which takes place in the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood of the South Bronx, and "Doughboys", the story of two Italian-American brothers in danger of losing their bakery thanks to one brother's gambling debts.
The Bronx's gritty urban life had worked its way into the movies even earlier, with depictions of the "Bronx cheer", a loud flatulent-like sound of disapproval, allegedly first made by New York Yankees fans. The sound can be heard, for example, on the Spike Jones and His City Slickers recording of "Der Fuehrer's Face" (from the 1942 Disney animated film of the same name), repeatedly lambasting Adolf Hitler with: "We'll Heil! (Bronx cheer) Heil! (Bronx cheer) Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!"
Symbolism.
Starting in the 1970s, the Bronx often symbolized violence, decay, and urban ruin. The wave of arson in the South Bronx in the 1960s and 1970s inspired the observation that "The Bronx is burning": in 1974 it was the title of both an editorial in "The New York Times" and a BBC documentary film. The line entered the pop-consciousness with Game Two of the 1977 World Series, when a fire broke out near Yankee Stadium as the team was playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. As the fire was captured on live television, announcer Howard Cosell is wrongly remembered to have said something like, "There it is, ladies and gentlemen: the Bronx is burning". Historians of New York City often point to Cosell's remark as an acknowledgement of both the city and the borough's decline. A feature-length documentary film by Edwin Pagán called "Bronx Burning" chronicled what led up to the many arson-for-insurance fraud fires of the 1970s in the borough.
Bronx gang life was depicted in the 1974 novel "The Wanderers" by Bronx native Richard Price and the 1979 movie of the same name. They are set in the heart of the Bronx, showing apartment life and the then-landmark Krums ice cream parlor. In the 1979 film "The Warriors", the eponymous gang go to a meeting in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and have to fight their way out of the borough and get back to Coney Island in Brooklyn. "A Bronx Tale" (1993) depicts gang activities in the Belmont "Little Italy" section of the Bronx. The 2005 video game adaptation features levels called Pelham, Tremont, and "Gunhill" (a play off the name Gun Hill Road). This theme lends itself to the title of "The Bronx Is Burning", an eight-part ESPN TV mini-series (2007) about the New York Yankees' drive to winning baseball's 1977 World Series. The TV series emphasizes the team's boisterous nature, led by manager Billy Martin, catcher Thurman Munson and outfielder Reggie Jackson, as well as the malaise of the Bronx and New York City in general during that time, such as the blackout, the city's serious financial woes and near bankruptcy, the arson for insurance payments, and the election of Ed Koch as mayor.
The 1981 film "Fort Apache, The Bronx" is another film that used the Bronx's gritty image for its storyline. The movie's title is from the nickname for the 41st Police Precinct in the South Bronx which was nicknamed "Fort Apache". Also from 1981 is the horror film "Wolfen" making use of the rubble of the Bronx as a home for werewolf type creatures. "Knights of the South Bronx", a true story of a teacher who worked with disadvantaged children, is another film also set in the Bronx released in 2005. The Bronx was the setting for the 1983 film "Fuga dal Bronx", also known as "Bronx Warriors 2" and "Escape 2000", an Italian B-movie best known for its appearance on the television series "Mystery Science Theater 3000". The plot revolves around a sinister construction corporation's plans to depopulate, destroy and redevelop the Bronx, and a band of rebels who are out to expose the corporation's murderous ways and save their homes. The film is memorable for its almost incessant use of the phrase, "Leave the Bronx!" Many of the movie's scenes were filmed in Queens, substituting as the Bronx. "Rumble in the Bronx", filmed in Vancouver, was a 1995 Jackie Chan kung-fu film, another which popularized the Bronx to international audiences. "Last Bronx", a 1996 Sega game played on the bad reputation of the Bronx to lend its name to an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where crime and gang warfare is rampant. The 2016 Netflix series "The Get Down" is based on the development of hip hop in 1977 in the South Bronx.
Literature.
Books.
The Bronx has been featured significantly in fiction literature. All of the characters in Herman Wouk's (1948) live in the Bronx, and about half of the action is set there. Kate Simon's "Bronx Primitive: Portraits of a Childhood" (1982) is directly autobiographical, a warm account of a Polish-Jewish girl in an immigrant family growing up before World War II, and living near Arthur Avenue and Tremont Avenue. In Jacob M. Appel's short story, "The Grand Concourse" (2007), a woman who grew up in the iconic Lewis Morris Building returns to the Morrisania neighborhood with her adult daughter. Similarly, in Avery Corman's book "The Old Neighborhood" (1980), an upper-middle class white protagonist returns to his birth neighborhood (Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse), and learns that even though the folks are poor, Hispanic and African-American, they are good people.
By contrast, Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1987) portrays a wealthy, white protagonist, Sherman McCoy, getting lost off the Bruckner Expressway in the South Bronx and having an altercation with locals. A substantial piece of the last part of the book is set in the resulting riotous trial at the Bronx County Courthouse. However, times change, and in 2007, "The New York Times" reported that "the Bronx neighborhoods near the site of Sherman's accident are now dotted with townhouses and apartments." In the same article, the Reverend Al Sharpton (whose fictional analogue in the novel is "Reverend Bacon") asserts that "twenty years later, the cynicism of "The Bonfire of the Vanities" is as out of style as Tom Wolfe's wardrobe."
Don DeLillo's "Underworld" (1997) is also set in the Bronx and offers a perspective on the area from the 1950s onward.
Poetry.
In poetry, the Bronx has been immortalized by one of the world's shortest couplets:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">The Bronx?
No Thonx
 Ogden Nash, "The New Yorker", 1931</poem>
Nash repented 33 years after his calumny, penning the following poem to the dean of faculty at Bronx Community College in 1964:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">
I wrote those lines, "The Bronx? No thonx";
I shudder to confess them.
Now I'm an older, wiser man
I cry, "The Bronx? God bless them!"</poem>
In 2016, W. R. Rodriguez published "Bronx Trilogy"—consisting of "the shoe shine parlor poems et al.", "concrete pastures of the beautiful bronx", and "from the banks of brook avenue". The trilogy celebrates Bronx people, places, and events. DeWitt Clinton High School, St. Mary's Park, and Brook Avenue are a few of the schools, parks, and streets Rodriguez uses as subjects for his poems.
Nash's couplet "The Bronx? No Thonx" and his subsequent blessing are mentioned in "Bronx Accent: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough", edited by Lloyd Ultan and Barbara Unger and published in 2000. The book, which includes the work of Yiddish poets, offers a selection from Allen Ginsberg's "Kaddish", as his Aunt Elanor and his mother, Naomi, lived near Woodlawn Cemetery. Also featured is Ruth Lisa Schecther's poem, "Bronx", which is described as a celebration of the borough's landmarks. There is a selection of works from poets such as Sandra María Esteves, Milton Kessler, Joan Murray, W. R. Rodriguez, Myra Shapiro, Gayl Teller, and Terence Wynch.
"Bronx Migrations" by Michelle M. Tokarczyk is a collection that spans five decades of Tokarczyk's life in the Bronx, from her exodus in 1962 to her return in search of her childhood tenement.
Bronx Memoir Project.
"" is a published anthology by the Bronx Council on the Arts and brought forth through a series of workshops meant to empower Bronx residents and shed the stigma on the Bronx's burning past. The Bronx Memoir Project was created as an ongoing collaboration between the Bronx Council on the Arts and other cultural institutions, including the Bronx Documentary Center, the Bronx Library Center, the (Edgar Allan) Poe Park Visitor Center, Mindbuilders, and other institutions and funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The goal was to develop and refine memoir fragments written by people of all walks of life that share a common bond residing within the Bronx.
Theater.
Clifford Odets's play "Awake and Sing!" is set in 1933 in the Bronx. The play, first produced at the Belasco Theater in 1935, concerns a poor family living in small quarters, the struggles of the controlling parents and the aspirations of their children.
René Marqués' "The Oxcart" (1959) concerns a rural Puerto Rican family who immigrate to the Bronx for a better life.
"A Bronx Tale" is an autobiographical one-man show written and performed by Chazz Palminteri. It is a coming-of-age story set in the Bronx. It premiered in Los Angeles in the 1980s and then played on Off-Broadway. After a film version involving Palminteri and Robert De Niro, Palminteri performed his one-man show on Broadway and on tour in 2007.
References.
Citations.
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Jorge Posada
Puerto Rican baseball player (born 1970)
Jorge Rafael Posada Villeta (born August 17, 1970) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Posada recorded a .273 batting average, 275 home runs, and 1,065 runs batted in (RBIs) during his career. A switch hitter, Posada was a five-time All-Star, won five Silver Slugger Awards, and was on the roster for four World Series championship teams.
Drafted by the Yankees in 1990, Posada was originally an infielder before moving to catcher during his minor league career. He debuted in the major leagues in 1995, but it was not until 1998 that he found regular playing time. A solid-hitting catcher, Posada established himself as a mainstay in the Yankees lineup and as one of the "Core Four" players who contributed to the Yankees' winning seasons. In 2003, he finished third in voting for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award and became only the second Yankees catcher after Yogi Berra to hit 30 home runs in a season. Posada added one of his best seasons in 2007 at age 37 when he batted .338. Following a stint as designated hitter in 2011, he retired.
Posada is only the fifth MLB catcher with at least 1,500 hits, 350 doubles, 275 home runs, and 1,000 RBIs in a career. From 2000 to 2011, he compiled more RBIs and home runs than any other catcher in baseball. He is the only MLB catcher to ever bat .330 or better with 40 doubles, 20 home runs, and 90 RBIs in a single season. Away from baseball, Posada is the founder of the Jorge Posada Foundation, which is involved with research for craniosynostosis, a birth defect that impacts his son.
Early life and education.
Jorge Posada was born on August 17, 1970, in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Cuban father and a Dominican mother. He attended Alejandrino High School in San Juan, where he participated in several sports, including baseball. He was named to the all-star team in 1988–89 as a shortstop. He also umpired for the girls' softball team.
Posada's SAT scores were not high enough for him to enroll in a four-year college. Fred Frickie, the head coach of the college baseball team at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, recruited Posada without scouting him in 1991. Posada accepted the scholarship at Calhoun without visiting the school. He made friends on the team quickly. Posada has also spoken about the racism he encountered from classmates at the school. He was voted best hitter (1990), co-captain (1991), and selected all-conference (1991). He was inducted in the Alabama Community College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 and Calhoun retired his number (#6).
Professional career.
Draft and minor leagues (1990–1996).
Posada was drafted by the Yankees in the 24th round of the 1990 Major League Baseball draft as an infielder. Yankees scout Leon Wurth followed Posada as he played for Calhoun, and rated his bat and attitude highly. Posada signed with the Yankees for a signing bonus close to $30,000. The team agreed to keep him in their system for three years. Posada played second base in his first season with the Oneonta Yankees in the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, in which he had a .235 batting average and four home runs in 71 games played. As the Yankees felt that Posada lacked the speed to remain an infielder, they began to transition Posada into a catcher in 1992. Though Posada initially resisted the position change, as he didn't feel able to catch full-time, he agreed. That year, he played for the Greensboro Hornets of the Class A South Atlantic League. He finished the season with a .277 batting average, 38 extra-base hits, including 12 home runs and 58 runs batted in (RBIs). He caught Andy Pettitte for the first time while they were teammates at Greensboro.
A full-time catcher in 1993, Posada started the season with the Prince William Cannons of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League. After he hit 17 home runs and recorded 61 RBIs in 118 games for the Cannons, he was promoted to the Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Class AA Eastern League. He earned Carolina League mid-season and post-season All-Star honors. Still working on his defense, Posada committed 38 passed balls in the 1993 season, the most in the Carolina League.
The Yankees promoted Posada to the Columbus Clippers of the Class AAA International League in 1994. He batted .240 with 11 home runs on the year. His left leg was broken and ankle was dislocated in a home plate collision, prematurely ending his season. After recovering from the injury, Posada played for the Clippers for the majority of the 1995 season, batting .255 with eight home runs and 51 RBIs. The Yankees included Posada in trade discussions with the Seattle Mariners in their attempts to acquire Tino Martinez. Three weeks later, the Yankees attempted to trade Posada and Mariano Rivera to the Cincinnati Reds for David Wells, but that trade was not accepted. Returning to Columbus in 1996, Posada batted .271. He appeared in the 1996 Triple-A All-Star Game.
New York Yankees (1995–2011).
1995–1999.
Posada made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 1995, replacing Jim Leyritz in the ninth inning of a game on September 4, 1995. Despite his appearing in only one game during the regular season, the Yankees included Posada on their postseason roster, and he appeared in Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series (ALDS) as a pinch runner, scoring a run. The Yankees lost the division series in five games to the Seattle Mariners.
Posada began the 1996 season with Columbus, but was promoted to the Yankees late in the season. He appeared in eight games, making his first start on September 25, 1996. Posada appeared in eight games in 1996, recording one hit and one walk. Posada did not appear in the postseason but the Yankees still succeeded as they defeated the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 World Series. Despite not being on the 1996 World Series or any Postseason rosters for the Yankees, Posada still received a 1996 World Series Championship ring from the Yankees.
Posada succeeded Leyritz in 1997 as the backup catcher to Joe Girardi, with Girardi serving as a mentor to Posada. Posada was expected to appear in approximately 40 games in 1997; he started in 52. Posada appeared in 60 games during the 1997 season and batted .250 with six home runs and 25 RBIs. The Yankees made the postseason again, but the team lost in the 1997 ALDS to the Cleveland Indians. After the 1997 season, the Yankees offered Posada and Mike Lowell to the Montreal Expos for Pedro Martínez; the Expos traded Martínez to the Boston Red Sox, instead.
During the offseason, Posada hired a personal trainer and running coach, who helped improve his physical conditioning. Going into the 1998 season, Posada pushed the Yankees to increase his playing time. Posada caught David Wells' perfect game on May 17, 1998. Overall, Posada batted .268 with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs over 111 games in the 1998 season. The Yankees reached the postseason for the fourth consecutive year and the team won the 1998 World Series in four games against the San Diego Padres.
The Yankees renewed Posada's contract for $350,000 for the 1999 season, less than the $650,000 he requested. Posada struggled in April, batting .146 and striking out 15 times in 46 appearances. After batting .210 at the All-Star Break, he batted .285 for the remainder of the season, ending the year with a .245 batting average, 12 home runs, and 57 RBIs. He also committed 17 passed balls. Posada played in 112 games with 379 at-bats, while Girardi played in 65 games with 209 at-bats. While Girardi began the 1999 postseason as the regular catcher, Posada saw increased playing time. The Yankees entered the postseason once again and won the 1999 World Series against the Braves in only four games.
2000–2006.
Girardi left the Yankees as a free agent after the 1999 season, and the Yankees entrusted Posada with the everyday catching job. Yankees' manager Joe Torre selected Posada for his first All-Star Game appearance that season. During the 2000 season, Posada batted .287 with 28 homers, 86 RBIs, 107 walks, and 151 strikeouts. The Yankees reached the postseason once again, and they won the 2000 World Series against the New York Mets. Posada won the Silver Slugger Award for catcher in 2000.
Posada appeared in the 2001 MLB All-Star Game. For the season, Posada batted .277 with 22 home runs and 95 RBIs, but led the league in passed balls and errors among catchers. The Yankees entered the postseason for another shot to win a championship, but lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series in seven games. Posada won his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award in 2001. Posada started the 2002 MLB All-Star Game. He batted .268 with 20 home runs and 99 RBIs, and grounded into an AL-leading 23 double plays. He again led all catchers in errors. The Yankees entered the postseason again but lost in the 2002 ALDS to the Anaheim Angels. Posada won a Silver Slugger Award for a third consecutive season. Posada again started at catcher in the 2003 All-Star Game. For the season, he hit 30 home runs and drove in 101 runs, both career highs. He batted .281 and was also fifth in the league in OBP (.405), and sixth in the league in walks (93; walking 17.5% of the time, a career high). He tied Yogi Berra's record for most home runs by a Yankee catcher. The Yankees again reached the postseason but lost to the Florida Marlins in the 2003 World Series. After the season, Posada won his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger Award. He finished third in the MVP voting, behind Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Delgado.
In 2004, Posada grounded into 24 double plays, which tied for the most in the AL, but batted .272 with 21 home runs and 81 RBIs. After defeating the Minnesota Twins in the 2004 ALDS, the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS despite leading the series three games to none. In 2005, Posada batted .262 with 19 home runs and 71 RBIs. The Yankees reached the postseason again, but lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 2005 ALDS.
In 2006, Posada posted his highest batting average and home run total since 2003. He also led the major leagues with 20 pinch hits. In addition, work with new first base coach Tony Peña, a former catcher, helped him improve his percentage of runners thrown out stealing second almost 60 points above his career average. However, he again led the league in passed balls. He batted .277 and had 23 home runs with 93 RBIs. On May 16, Posada led the Yankees to a victory despite falling behind by nine runs, matching the largest deficit the Yankees overcame for a victory in franchise history. He registered a +0.93 win probability added in that game, the highest of his career.
2007–2010.
Posada batted .338, with 20 home runs, 90 RBIs, and career highs in hits (171) and doubles (42) during the 2007 season. He joined Iván Rodríguez as the only two catchers in MLB history to record at least 40 doubles in two separate seasons. He finished the season third in the AL in on-base percentage (.426), fourth in batting average, sixth in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (.970), and eighth in doubles and slugging percentage (.543). He finished sixth in MVP voting for the season, and won his fifth Silver Slugger Award. Posada and Jason Kendall were the only catchers to catch at least 120 games per season from 2000 through 2007. Posada became a free agent after the 2007 season. He signed a four-year, $52 million contract to remain with the Yankees. Posada was represented in negotiations by Sam and Seth Levinson of ACES Inc.
On July 21, 2008, Posada was placed on the disabled list (DL), the first time he was placed on the DL in his career. Posada intended to recover from this injury in order to perform as designated hitter or first baseman. However, the team decided to acquire Xavier Nady in order to allow him enough time to operate. Posada underwent surgery to repair a glenoid labrum in his right shoulder and was placed on the DL for the remainder of the 2008 season. He batted .268 with three home runs and 22 RBIs in 51 games prior to the injury. During his absence, the Yankees finished with an 89–73 record, third place in AL East behind the wild-card winning Boston Red Sox. It was the first and only season the Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention during Posada's career.
Posada hit the first regular-season home run in the new Yankee Stadium on April 16, 2009, against Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians. During a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on September 15, 2009, Posada took exception to a pitch that was thrown behind him by Jesse Carlson. Posada walked and later scored on an RBI single by Brett Gardner. After Posada crossed home plate, he bumped into Carlson and was then ejected after taunting Carlson. Posada then charged at Carlson, igniting a bench-clearing brawl. Posada and Carlson were each suspended for three games for their roles in the brawl. Posada finished the 2009 season with a .285 batting average, 22 home runs, and 81 RBIs. During the 2009 postseason, Posada had a .276 batting average and two home runs. The Yankees won the 2009 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
In an interleague series against the Houston Astros in June 2010, Posada became the first Yankee since Bill Dickey in 1937 to hit a grand slam in back-to-back games. On July 23, 2010, Posada recorded his 1,000th career RBI against the Kansas City Royals. Posada finished the 2010 year batting .248 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs. The Yankees went into the postseason again but lost to the Texas Rangers in the 2010 ALCS.
2011.
Following the 2010 season, Posada underwent arthroscopic surgery in his left knee to repair a torn meniscus. Posada was shifted to designated hitter for the 2011 season due to his declining defensive performance, while Russell Martin became the new everyday catcher. After starting the 2011 season in a slump, Posada was moved to ninth in the batting order for a May 14 game against the Boston Red Sox. Posada asked to be removed from the lineup. Posada told reporters that he needed time to "clear [his] head" and also mentioned some "stiffness" in his back as the reasons for his request.
Posada hit .382 in June, but was removed from the everyday lineup in August due to his .230 season batting average. On August 13, 2011, his first start since being benched, in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Posada went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs. His grand slam was the tenth of his career, moving him past Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle for sixth place on the Yankees' all-time list. On August 25, 2011, he played second base for the first time in his major league career during the ninth inning of the Yankees' 22–9 victory over the Oakland Athletics; Posada recorded the final out by fielding a grounder. On September 10, 2011, Posada played as a catcher for the first time of the season due to injuries of Russell Martin and Francisco Cervelli. Posada finished the regular season with a .235 batting average, 14 home runs, and 44 RBIs.
In the 2011 ALDS, Posada recorded six hits, including a triple, four runs, and four walks in 14 at-bats as the starting DH, for a .429 batting average and a .579 on-base percentage. The Yankees lost the series to the Detroit Tigers in five games.
Retirement.
When asked by reporters after the 2011 ALDS if he had considered that he might have played for the final time with the Yankees, Posada said, "I don't want to look at it like that. We lost, and we'll see what happens in the off-season." As the interview session went on, he eventually became emotional and left the clubhouse area to compose himself. Girardi said, "This guy, when you look at what he did in this series, he was awesome. He's had a tremendous career, and I'm sure he's going to continue to play, and I don't know what's going to happen." Girardi added, "But you talk about being proud of players—what he went through this year and what he gave us in the postseason, I don't think there's a prouder moment that I've had of Jorge."
By November 2011, Posada received interest from "five or six teams", but not the Yankees. He remained undecided on whether or not he wanted to keep playing. In January 2012, Posada decided to retire. The Yankees held a press conference officially announcing his retirement from baseball on January 24, 2012. He rejoined the Yankees as a guest instructor during spring training in 2013.
The Yankees retired Posada's jersey number 20 on August 22, 2015.
Posada became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, but he received only 3.8% of the vote and was dropped off the ballot.
Personal life.
Posada's mother is Dominican and his father, Jorge Posada Sr., is Cuban, but fled to Puerto Rico to escape Fidel Castro's regime. Posada Sr. worked as a scout for the Colorado Rockies.
Major League pitcher Bruce Brubaker married Posada's mother's sister, Leda, making him Posada's uncle. Leo Posada, who played for the Kansas City Athletics in the early 1960s, is commonly believed to have been Jorge Posada's uncle. They did enjoy a close relationship and worked together on Jorge's game over the years. However, they were at most distant kin (Leo had just one sister; Jorge Sr. was not his brother).
Posada met Laura (née Mendez) at a party in 1997, soon recognizing her as the pitcher of the softball team in games he umpired. They were married on January 21, 2000. Laura, a former model and actress, works as an attorney. They have two children, Jorge Luis and Paulina. Derek Jeter served as best man at the wedding.
Posada's son, Jorge Luis, suffers from craniosynostosis, which he was diagnosed with 10 days after he was born. Posada established the Jorge Posada Foundation, which helps fund research and offers family support. Jorge released a charity wine in 2008 called Jorge Cabernet to raise funds for his foundation. In June 2011, his son underwent what Posada hoped would be the final surgery for the condition.
Posada wrote a children's book entitled "Play Ball!" that was published in 2006. He and his wife co-wrote "Fit Home Team", a family health manual, and an autobiography titled "The Beauty of Love: A Memoir of Miracles, Hope, and Healing", which describes their personal ordeals and how they dealt with them after learning of their son's birth condition in 1999.
After Hurricane Maria had devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, Posada launched a relief fundraiser. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and wife, Wanda, also started a GoFundMe campaign for victims of the hurricane on September 21, 2017. By December, the fund had raised over $500,000.
Posada is a dedicated Catholic.
See also.
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Yankee Stadium
Baseball stadium in the Bronx, New York City
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the original Yankee Stadium that operated from 1923 to 2008; it is situated on the former site of Macombs Dam Park, one block north of the original stadium's site. The new Yankee Stadium replicates design elements of the original Yankee Stadium, including its exterior and trademark frieze, while incorporating larger spaces and modern amenities. It has the sixth-largest seating capacity among the 30 stadiums of Major League Baseball.
Construction on the stadium began in August 2006, and the project spanned many years and faced many controversies, including the high public cost and the loss of public park land. The $2.3 billion stadium was built with $1.2 billion in public subsidies and is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.
Yankee Stadium hosted the 2009 and 2024 World Series. Yankee Stadium became the home field of the MLS expansion club New York City FC in 2014, which is owned by City Football Group and the Yankees. It will be an interim venue for the club until Etihad Park is constructed in Willets Point and opens in 2027. It has also occasionally hosted college football games, including the annual Pinstripe Bowl, concerts, and other athletic and entertainment events.
History.
Planning.
New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner began campaigning for a new stadium in the early 1980s, just a few years after the remodeled Yankee Stadium opened. Steinbrenner at the time was reportedly considering a move to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean in 1984 authorized the use of land for a new baseball stadium in the Meadowlands, but the state legislature did not provide financing for the stadium. In a statewide referendum in 1987, New Jersey taxpayers rejected $185 million in public financing for a baseball stadium for the Yankees. Despite the rejection from New Jersey, Steinbrenner frequently threatened to move as leverage in negotiations with New York City.
In 1988, Mayor Ed Koch agreed to have city taxpayers spend $90 million on a second renovation of Yankee Stadium that included luxury boxes and restaurants inside the stadium and parking garages and traffic improvements outside. Steinbrenner agreed in principle, but then backed out of the deal. In 1993, Mayor David Dinkins expanded on Koch's proposal by offering his Bronx Center vision for the neighborhood, including new housing, a new courthouse, and relocating the Police Academy nearby.
In 1993, New York Governor Mario Cuomo proposed using the West Side Yard, a rail yard along the West Side of Manhattan and owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as the location for a new stadium for the Yankees. However, Cuomo lost his re-election bid a few months later. By 1995, Steinbrenner had rejected 13 proposals to keep the Yankees in the Bronx.
In 1998, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer proposed spending $600 million in public money to add dozens of luxury boxes to the stadium, to improve highway and public transportation access, and to create a Yankee Village, with shops, restaurants, and a museum. Steinbrenner rejected this as well. That same year, Mayor Rudy Giuliani unveiled a plan to relocate the Yankees to the West Side Yard for a $1 billion stadium. However, with most of the funding coming from taxpayers, Giuliani tabled the proposal, fearing rejection in a citywide referendum. The West Side Stadium plan resurfaced in December 2001, and by January 2002, months after the September 11 attacks, Giuliani announced "tentative agreements" for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets to build new stadiums. He estimated that both stadiums would cost $2 billion, with city and state taxpayers contributing $1.2 billion.
Michael Bloomberg, who succeeded Giuliani as mayor in 2002, called the former mayor's agreements "corporate welfare" and exercised the escape clause in the agreements to back out of both deals, saying that the city could not afford to build new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets. Bloomberg said that Giuliani had inserted a clause in this deal that loosened the teams' leases with the city and would allow the Yankees and Mets to leave the city on 60 days' notice to find a new home elsewhere if the city backed out of the agreement. At the time, Bloomberg said that publicly funded stadiums were a poor investment. Bloomberg's blueprint for the stadium was unveiled in 2004, at the same time as the plan for the Mets' new stadium, Citi Field. The final cost for the two stadiums was more than $3.1 billion; taxpayer subsidies accounted for $1.8 billion.
Construction.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the stadium took place on August 16, 2006, the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth's death, with Steinbrenner, Bloomberg, and then-Governor of New York George Pataki among the notables donning Yankees hard hats and wielding ceremonial shovels to mark the occasion. The Yankees continued to play in the previous Yankee Stadium during the 2007 and 2008 seasons while their new home stadium was built across the street. The community was left without parkland for five years.
During construction of the new stadium, a construction worker and avid Boston Red Sox fan buried a replica jersey of Red Sox player David Ortiz underneath the visitors' dugout with the objective of placing a "hex" on the Yankees, much like the "Curse of the Bambino" that had allegedly plagued the Red Sox long after trading Ruth to the Yankees. After the worker was exposed by co-workers, he was forced to help exhume the jersey. The Yankees organization then donated the retrieved jersey to the Jimmy Fund, a charity started in 1948 by the Red Sox' National League rivals, the Boston Braves, but long championed by the Red Sox and particularly associated with Ted Williams. The worker has since claimed to have buried a 2004 American League Championship Series program/scorecard, but has not said where he placed it. These attempts did not have much effect upon the home team, though: the Yankees went on to win the 2009 World Series at the end of their first MLB season in the new stadium.
Features.
The new stadium is meant to evoke elements of the original Yankee Stadium, both in its original 1923 state and its post-renovation state in 1976. The exterior resembles the original look of the 1923 Yankee Stadium. The interior, a modern ballpark with greater space and increased amenities, features a playing field that closely mimics the 1988–2008 dimensions of the old stadium. The current stadium features 4,300 club seats and 68 luxury suites.
Design and layout.
The stadium was designed by the architectural firm Populous. The exterior was made from 11,000 pieces of Indiana limestone, along with granite and pre-cast concrete. The limestone is from the same quarry that produced the limestone for the Empire State Building. It features the building's name V-cut and gold-leaf lettered above each gate. The interior of the stadium is adorned with hundreds of photographs capturing the history of the Yankees. The "New York Daily News" newspaper partnered with the Yankees for the exhibition "The Glory of the Yankees Photo Collection", which was selected from the "Daily News"' collection of over 2,000 photographs. Sports & The Arts was hired by the Yankees to curate the nearly 1,300 photographs that adorn the building from sources including the "Daily News", Getty Images, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball.
The seats are laid out similar to the original Yankee Stadium's stands, with grandstand seating that stretches beyond the foul poles, as well as bleacher seats beyond the outfield fences. The Field Level and Main Level constitute the lower bowl, with suites on the H&R Block Level, and the Upper Level and Grandstand Level constituting the upper bowl. Approximately <templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" />2⁄3 of the stadium's seating is in the lower bowl, the inverse from the original Yankee Stadium. 50,287 fans can be seated, with a standing room capacity of 52,325. The new stadium's seating is spaced outward in a bowl, unlike the stacked-tiers design at the old stadium. This design places most fans farther back but lower to the field, by about an average of . Over 56 suites are located within the ballpark, triple the amount from the previous stadium. Seats are wide, up from the previous stadium's wide seats, while there is of leg room, up from of leg room in the previous stadium. Many lower-level seats are cushioned, while all seats are equipped with cupholders. To allow for the extra seating space, the stadium's capacity is reduced by more than 4,000 seats in comparison to the previous stadium.
Many design elements of the ballpark's interior are inspired by the original Yankee Stadium. The roof of the new facility features a replica of the frieze that was a trademark of the previous ballpark. In the original Yankee Stadium, a copper frieze originally lined the roof of the upper deck stands, but it was torn down during the 1974–75 renovations and replicated atop the wall beyond the bleachers. The new stadium replicates the frieze in its original location along the upper deck stands. Made of steel coated with zinc for rust protection, it is part of the support system for the cantilevers holding up the top deck and the lighting on the roof. The wall beyond the bleacher seats is "cut out" to reveal the 4 subway trains as they pass by, like they were in the original facility. A manually operated auxiliary scoreboard was built into the left and right field fences, in the same locations it existed in the pre-renovation iteration of the original Yankee Stadium. They were removed in favor of digital advertising signage prior to the 2022 season.
Between the exterior perimeter wall and interior of the stadium is the "Great Hall", a large open air concourse that runs between Gates 4 and 6. With seven-story ceilings, the Great Hall is the largest open air public entry way at any sports venue in the world and features more than of retail space and is lined with 20 banners of past and present Yankees superstars. The Great Hall features a LED (light-emitting diode) ribbon display as well as a 25' by 36' LED video display above the entrance to the ballpark from Daktronics, a company in Brookings, South Dakota.
Monument Park, which features the Yankees' retired numbers, as well as monuments and plaques dedicated to distinguished Yankees, has been moved from its location beyond the left field fences in the original Yankee Stadium to its new location beyond the center field fences at the new facility. Monument Park is now situated under the sports bar; black shades cover the monuments on the back wall during games to prevent interference with the vision of the batter. The new location of the monuments is meant to mirror their original placement in center field at the original pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, albeit when they were on the playing field. The transfer of Monument Park from the old stadium to the new stadium began on November 10, 2008. The first monuments were put in place on February 23, 2009. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera requested that the Yankees reposition the team's bullpen, as well as add a door to connect the Yankees' bullpen to Monument Park, in order to allow access to it by Yankee relievers. The organization complied with his request.
Field dimensions and playing surface.
The field dimensions for the large outfield fences have the same distance markers as the original facility prior to closing yet the dimensions are not identical. Due to the design of the right-field stands and the inclusion of an embedded manual scoreboard, the right-field wall is an average of closer to home plate. Overall, the fences measure to left field, to left-center field, to center field, to right-center field, and to right field. At the old Yankee Stadium, the right field wall curved from the right-field corner to straightaway center, while at the new ballpark the fence takes a sharp, almost entirely straight angle. This results in a difference at certain points between the right field markers of as much as . The dimensions in left field are substantially the same despite the presence of an embedded auxiliary scoreboard there as well. All these differences make the current Yankee Stadium more hitter-friendly to right field than the original one.
The outfield fences measure high from the left-field foul pole until the Yankees' bullpen, when the fences begin to gradually descend in height until the right field foul pole, where they are tall. This also marks a decrease from the previous Yankee Stadium, where the right field wall stood at a height of approximately . The distance from home plate to the backstop is , a reduction of from the previous facility. The field is made up of Kentucky bluegrass, the same surface as the previous stadium, which is grown on a farm in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The grass is equipped with a drainage system (featuring over of pipe) that makes the field playable an hour after taking of rain.
Comparison with the 1923 stadium.
"Source:" New York Yankees
Amenities and facilities.
Yankee Stadium features a wide array of amenities. It contains 63% more space, more in total, than the previous stadium, with wider concourses and open sight lines on concourses. Along with of wired Ethernet cable, the building has sufficient fiber-optic cable wiring that Cisco Vice President and Treasurer David Holland calls the building "future proof". Over 1,100 HD video monitors are placed within the stadium and approximately $10 million worth of baseball merchandise is housed within the ballpark.
The center field scoreboard, manufactured by Mitsubishi Diamond Vision, measures 59 x and offers of viewing area. It was the third-largest HD scoreboard in the world when it opened (behind the board at newly renovated Kauffman Stadium and the new board at the renovated Tokyo Racecourse). Since then, it has also been surpassed by what was the world's largest scoreboard at AT&T Stadium and the new scoreboard at the Philadelphia Phillies' Citizens Bank Park. Displaying of video, the scoreboard can display four 1080p HD images simultaneously.
The Yankees clubhouse features 30,000 square feet (2,880 m2) of space, over 2.5 times the space of the clubhouse from the previous facility. The dressing area alone features of space, with each locker equipped with a safety deposit box and touch-screen computer. The Yankees clubhouse features a weight room, training room, video room, and lounge area, while both teams' clubhouses have their own indoor batting cages. The Yankees' therapy room features a hydrotherapy pool with an underwater treadmill. The Yankees are believed to be the first team to chemically treat their uniforms, as well as the showering surfaces with an anti-bacterial agent that reduces the risk of infection.
The New York Yankees Museum, located on the lower level at Gate 6, displays a wide range of Yankees' memorabilia. A "Ball Wall" features hundreds of balls autographed by past and present Yankees, and there are plans to eventually add autographs for every living player who has played for the Yankees. The centerpiece of the museum is a tribute to Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, with a commemorative home plate in the floor and statues of Larsen pitching to Yogi Berra. Along with a facsimile of a current locker from the Yankees' clubhouse, fans can view the locker of the late Thurman Munson, which sat unoccupied in the previous stadium's Yankee clubhouse in honor of Munson.
Food At The Stadium.
The ballpark offers a wide choice of restaurants. There are 25 fixed concessions stands, along with 112 movable ones. A Hard Rock Cafe is located within the ballpark, but it is open to anyone at the 161st St. and River Ave. entrance year round. The Hard Rock Cafe at Yankee Stadium officially opened on March 30, 2009, and an opening ceremony took place on April 2, 2009. A steakhouse called NYY Steak is located beyond right field..Celebrity chefs will occasionally make appearances at the ballpark's restaurants and help prepare food for fans in premium seating over the course of the season. Above Monument Park is the Center Field Sports Bar, whose tinted black glass acts as the ballpark's batter's eye. The MasterCard Batters Eye Deck which is located above centerfield serves as a large space that can hold 250 guests. This location is the perfect spot for a variety of actives such as picnics, brunches, and autographing sessions while there is an amazing view of the stadium,
Partners.
Yankee stadium has a variety of different returning partners who help to supply the fans with the best experience possible for food. These partners consist of;
There are new partners for the stadium such as;
The operations for food at the stadium are ran by Legends Hospitality, which is operated by the Executive Chef Robert Flowers who is currently in his second year running the stadium menu. At all of the restaurants or "Main Plates" you will be able to find a variety of traditional and signature dishes to the stadium. There are a lot of options for everybody at the stadium with some of the options being burgers and sandwiches, halal, BBQ, Italian food, deserts and more. The stadium also offers vegetarian options. Yankee stadium was ranked the 7th best ball park to eat at and overall 9/10 in comparison to the other stadiums in the MLB. Next is a list of some of the signature food items offered at yankee stadium and where to find them;
Public opinion.
Opening and public perception.
Although Yankee Stadium has been praised for its amenities, it also has been widely criticized for high ticket prices. Seats within the first eight rows in the lower bowl, called the "Legends Suite", are among the highest-priced tickets in professional sports. Tickets cost $510 on average; the most expensive tickets cost $2,600 each. Legends Suite Seats have been regularly empty, with many ticket holders in this section having given up their tickets, and others remaining unsold, despite most other seats in the ballpark selling out. This has created an embarrassing image on television of the seats behind home plate being almost completely vacant. Consequently, a surplus of tickets for Legends Seats have emerged in the secondary market, and with supply exceeding demand, resale prices have dropped. Empty seats in the Legends Suite could even be seen during the 2009 playoffs, including World Series games. Even though all playoff games were sellouts, Legends Suite ticket holders were in the lounges and the restaurant underneath instead of their seats. Overall, the average ticket price is $63, the highest in baseball.
Legends Suite seats are also separate from the other lower bowl seating and are vigorously patrolled by stadium security, with the divider being described as a "concrete moat." Fans who do not have tickets within this premium section in the front rows are not allowed in the section. This includes standing behind the dugouts during batting practice and to seek autographs. The least expensive seats, the bleachers, initially left many fans disappointed, as the indoor club seating area in center field obstructed the views from bleacher seats on both sides in sections 201 and 239. These severely obstructed sections would ultimately be removed during the 2016–2017 off-season in favor of outdoor bars and patio called Franks Red Hot Terrace in left center and Toyota Terrace in right center. These new areas are complete with standing terraces accessible to all ticket holders, in addition to replacing the seating on top of the center field club with standing terraces, drastically reducing the number of obstructed views from center field in the process.
The Yankee Stadium staff was also criticized for an incident during a May 4, 2009 game, which was interrupted by a rain delay. Fans were told by some staff members that the game was unlikely to resume and consequently, many fans exited the stadium, only for the game to eventually resume play. The fans that left the ballpark were not permitted to re-enter, per the stadium's re-entry policy, and many subsequently got into arguments with stadium personnel. In response to the backlash the Yankees received for the incident, the staff members were required to sign a gag order preventing them from speaking to media, but they did indicate that communication for rain delays would be improved.
Late in the stadium's first season, cracks were seen on the concrete ramps of the Stadium. The Yankees are trying to determine whether there was something wrong with the concrete, or the ramps' installation or design. The company involved in inspecting the concrete was indicted on charges that its employees either faked or failed to perform some required tests and falsified the results of others.
The stadium has also been criticized for its lack of fan noise. During a "Sunday Night Baseball" telecast in 2012, commentator and former Red Sox manager Terry Francona spoke about the different atmospheres in the old and new stadiums saying that "As a visiting team, especially for the Red Sox, by the time the (national) anthem was over, you couldn't wait to get back in the dugout. Now (there is) a little different (kind) of fan sitting around down there by the dugout." Games at the new stadium do not feature the same deafening crowd moments and often sound eerily silent. The lack of fan noise was noticeable in the 2012 playoffs as well, with thousands of unsold seats for Game 5 of the ALDS and Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS. "This is a very easy place to play now," said Quintin Berry of the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees' ALCS opponents. "Coming from Oakland, the fans there were so rowdy. It was easier to come here." In his autobiography "The Closer", the Yankees' longtime relief pitcher Mariano Rivera wrote about the new stadium's atmosphere: "It doesn't hold noise, or home-team fervor, anywhere near the way the old place did. The old Stadium was our 10th man—a loud and frenzied cauldron of pinstriped passion, with a lot of lifers in the stands. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's hard to see that the new place can ever quite duplicate that." Derek Jeter echoed this sentiment in a September 2014 article in "New York" magazine, in which he said he missed the original Yankee Stadium: "It was a different feel. The new stadium, its second to none—all the amenities. For the players, it really doesn't get any better. The old stadium, if you were at the stadium, in the stands, the only place you could see the game was in your seat. Now there's so many suites and places people can go. So a lot of times it looks like it's empty, but it's really not. The old stadium, it was more intimidating. The fans were right on top of you."
Starting in 2017, the new stadium began to sound like the old stadium especially during the 2017 American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros. In Game 4 specifically, the stadium was raucous and loud where the Yankees rallied and won 6–4. The crowd noise and atmosphere may have even caused an Astros miscue in the eighth inning. After the game, several Yankees commented on the crowd noise and the atmosphere it created. In a "New York Times" article following the game, CC Sabathia said "It felt like the old stadium tonight" and "This is as loud as I’ve ever heard it". Aaron Judge said "Deafening, just deafening." He went on to say "You try to talk to the person next to you, but you can’t hear a thing. It was crazy." Todd Frazier said "We still felt confident, and the crowd played a huge part in it." and Brett Gardner, a Yankee since 2008, said "Tonight was about as loud as it gets."
Early propensity for home runs.
In its first season, Yankee Stadium quickly acquired a reputation as a "bandbox" and a "launching pad" because of the high number of home runs hit at the new ballpark. Through its first 23 games, 87 home runs were hit at the venue, easily besting Enron Field's (now called Daikin Park) previous record set in 2000. Early in the season, Yankee Stadium was on pace to break Coors Field's 1999 single-season record of 303 home runs allowed, and the hometown "Daily News" (using the back-page headline "HOMERS ODYSSEY") started publishing a daily graphic comparing each stadium's home run totals through a similar number of games.
ESPN commentator Peter Gammons denounced the new facility as "one of the biggest jokes in baseball" during an appearance on "Mike and Mike in the Morning", and concluded that "[it] was not a very well-planned ballpark". Likewise, Gammons' ESPN colleague Buster Olney described the stadium as "a veritable wind tunnel" and likened it to his childhood Wiffle-ball park. "Newsday" columnist Wallace Matthews joined in the criticism, labeling the stadium "ridiculous" and accused "the franchise that took ownership of the home run" of cheapening it. He suggested that Babe Ruth could have potentially hit 120 or more homers if he played in the new Stadium. For his column, Matthews interviewed former Yankee Reggie Jackson, who termed the park "too small" to contain current player Alex Rodriguez. Jackson estimated that the park might enable the third baseman to hit 75 home runs in a season.
A variety of theories have been posited to account for the dramatic increase in home runs at the new Yankee Stadium over the original stadium, foremost among these the sharper angles of the outfield walls and the speculated presence of a wind tunnel. During construction of the new ballpark, engineers commissioned a wind study, the results of which indicated there would be no noticeable difference between the two stadiums. The franchise planned a second study, but Major League rules prohibit a team from making any changes to the playing field until the off-season.
An independent study by the weather service provider AccuWeather in June 2009 concluded that the shape and height of the right field wall, rather than the wind, is responsible for the proliferation of home runs at the stadium. AccuWeather's analysis found that roughly 20% of the home runs hit at the new ballpark would not have been home runs at the old ballpark due to the gentle curve of its right field corner, and its wall height. Nothing was observed in wind speeds and patterns that would account for the increase.
The number of home runs hit at the new stadium slowed significantly as the season progressed, but a new single-season record for most home runs hit at a Yankee home ballpark was nonetheless set in the Yankees' 73rd home game of 2009 when Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hit the 216th home run of the season at the venue, surpassing the previous record of 215 set at the original Yankee Stadium in 2005. However, the Yankees offense, as in previous years, had employed many home run hitters in 2009. The Yankees hit 108 home runs while playing on the road, the second most in baseball behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
In 2010, the early rate of home runs were markedly less through May 15, 2010, with 35 home runs hit in 14 games for 2.5 per game (a projection of 205—in 2009, the stadium finished at 2.93 per game for a total of 237). Even though the stadium's home run rate decreased slightly for the 2010 season to 2.73 per game, it was still the highest figure in the majors. However, the prolific home run rate of April and May 2009 that drew criticism has not sustained itself over any season thus far, and while through the first two months of the 2011 season the Yankees hit far more homers than any other team in the majors, Yankee Stadium was not the top home run park.
Stadium firsts.
Before the official Opening Day against the Cleveland Indians on April 16, 2009, the Yankees hosted a two-game exhibition series at the stadium in early April against the Chicago Cubs. The Yankees lost the stadium's first regular-season game to the Indians and 2008 Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee by a score of 10–2. Before the Yankees went to bat for the first time, the bat that Babe Ruth used to hit his first home run at the old Yankee Stadium in 1923 was placed momentarily on home plate. In the bottom of the fifth inning of the same game, Jorge Posada hit the first Yankee home run in the new ballpark off of Lee, which also served as New York's first run at the new venue. Later in that game, Grady Sizemore of the Indians hit the first grand slam at the stadium, doing so off of Yankee relief pitcher Dámaso Marte in the top of the seventh inning. On July 2, 2009, Russell Branyan of the Seattle Mariners became the first player to hit a home run off of the Mohegan Sun Restaurant in center field.
Like its predecessor, the new Yankee Stadium hosted the World Series in its very first season. The first World Series game at the venue was a 6–1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on October 28, 2009; coincidentally, Phillies starter Cliff Lee, who won the first regular season game at the venue with the Indians prior to being traded to Philadelphia, was the winning pitcher in Game 1. The Yankees, however, rallied to win four of the next five, defeating the Phillies four games to two to win their 27th World Series championship. With the series-clinching 7–3 New York victory in Game 6 on November 4, 2009, Yankee Stadium also became the latest stadium to host a World Series-clinching victory by its home team in the venue's first season (after the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series at Busch Stadium in 2006). The Yankees also became the only team to inaugurate two stadiums with World Series wins and also appeared in the 1976 World Series following the refurbishment of the original Yankee Stadium, losing to the Big Red Machine in a four-game sweep. On October 6, 2011, the Detroit Tigers defeated the Yankees 3–2 in Game 5 of the ALDS to become the first team to eliminate the Yankees at the new stadium in the postseason. On October 30, 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first visiting team to win a World Series at the venue when they erased a 5–0 deficit to defeat the Yankees 7–6 in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
Many historic milestones and records have been achieved at Yankee Stadium. In 2009, Derek Jeter became the Yankees all-time hits leader with his 2,722nd hit, surpassing Lou Gehrig's 72-year record. The following season, Alex Rodriguez hit his 600th home run at the Stadium, becoming the youngest player to accomplish the feat. In 2011, three significant milestones were achieved at the stadium. In July, Jeter became the first Yankee to join the 3,000 hit club and collect all 3,000 hits with the franchise. The following month, the Yankees became the first team in history to hit three grand slams in a single game. As the regular season drew to a close, Mariano Rivera became the all-time leader in regular season saves, when he earned his 602nd save.
On April 20, 2016, the Oakland Athletics' Kendall Graveman became the first starting pitcher to bat at Yankee Stadium.
Due to the lack of games scheduled for teams not in the own league, San Diego Padres in the NL West was the final team to visit the Yankee Stadium in its new configuration on May 27, 2019. Yankees amassed a record of 24–5 for homes games against every opposing teams' first games visiting the current Yankee Stadium.
On June 25, 2022, new Yankee Stadium witnessed its first no-hitter when three Houston Astros pitchers (Cristian Javier, Héctor Neris, and Ryan Pressly) combine to no-hit the Yankees in a 3–0 win. The Astros were also the last team to no-hit the Yankees at the original Yankee Stadium in 2003.
Accessibility and transportation.
The stadium is reachable via the 161st Street – Yankee Stadium station complex, the same that served the old Yankee Stadium, by the 4 , B , and  D trains of the New York City Subway. It is also served by the Yankees – East 153rd Street station of the Metro-North Railroad, opened on May 23, 2009; this station routinely features Hudson Line train service, but on game days, Harlem Line and New Haven Line trains from upstate New York and Connecticut—as well as shuttle trains from Grand Central Terminal--also stop there. The stadium is also served by the Bx1, Bx2, Bx6, Bx6 SBS, and Bx13 New York City Bus routes.
Yankee Stadium is accessible by car via the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87), with connections to the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95), Bruckner Expressway (I-278), and other highways and roads. Aside from existing parking lots and garages serving the stadium, construction for additional parking garages is planned. The New York State Legislature agreed to $70 million in subsidies for a $320 million parking garage project. On October 9, 2007, the New York City Industrial Development Agency approved $225 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance construction of three new parking garages that will have 3,600 new parking spaces, and renovation of the existing 5,569 parking spaces nearby. Plans initially called for a fourth new garage, but this was eliminated before the final approval. The garages will be built (and renovated) by the Community Initiatives Development Corporation of Hudson, a nonprofit entity that will use the parking revenue to repay the bonds and pay a $3 million yearly land lease to the City of New York. Parking is expected to cost $25 per game. To enhance security and expedite entry, Yankee Stadium implemented a clear bag policy, allowing only transparent bags of specific dimensions for easier inspection and quicker access.
Non-baseball uses.
Soccer.
As part of the 2012 World Football Challenge, Chelsea played Paris Saint-Germain on July 22, 2012, in the first soccer match at Yankee Stadium, the match ended in a 1–1 tie, before a crowd of 38,202. The Stadium hosted another soccer match between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid on August 8, 2012. Real Madrid won 5–1, before a crowd of 49,474. Chelsea also played Manchester City there on May 25, 2013, which ended in a 5–3 win for City. On June 11, 2013, Spain defeated the Republic of Ireland 2–0 in a friendly match at the stadium.
On April 21, 2014, it was announced that New York City FC, a Major League Soccer expansion team owned jointly by the New York Yankees and Manchester City, would play in Yankee Stadium from 2015 until Etihad Park is completed in 2027. NYCFC played their first game at Yankee Stadium on March 15, 2015. Because of the unique dimensions of the Yankee Stadium field, the playing surface of the soccer pitch is 110 yards (100 m) long by 70 yards (64 m) wide—the smallest field in all of Major League Soccer, and close to the smallest allowed by International Football Association Board guidelines.
Despite having soccer matches played in Yankee Stadium, it is not approved for CONCACAF matches, most notability for the CONCACAF Champions League, meaning that any CONCACAF match that has New York City FC playing in it would be required to be played at another stadium.
College football.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish played a college football game at Yankee Stadium against The Army Black Knights on November 20, 2010, with the Irish defeating the Black Knights 27–3. This marked the two teams' first meeting in the Bronx since 1969. Army played Rutgers in 2011 (Rutgers defeated Army 27–12), and played against Connecticut in 2014. Also in 2014, Lehigh and Lafayette played the 150th edition of their college football rivalry game at Yankee Stadium on November 22, 2014. Both teams played to a sold out stadium; Lafayette winning, 27–7. On November 12, 2016, Fordham University beat Holy Cross 54–14 in the 53rd meeting of the Ram–Crusader Cup.
Since 2010, Yankee Stadium has hosted the Pinstripe Bowl, an annual college football bowl game. The inaugural bowl pitted Syracuse (3rd place Big East) against Kansas State (7th place Big 12) on December 30, 2010. Syracuse defeated Kansas State 36–34 in a shootout, before a crowd of 38,274.
The stadium was intended to host a game between Rutgers and Maryland on November 4, 2017. The game was moved back to Rutgers' home stadium due to potential conflicts with the Yankees' postseason.
Ice hockey.
In 2014, the National Hockey League (NHL) hosted two outdoor games at Yankee Stadium known as the NHL Stadium Series, with the New Jersey Devils hosting the New York Rangers on January 26, 2014, and the New York Islanders hosting the Rangers on January 29, 2014. The Devils and Islanders had never played an outdoor game before this series. The Rangers were the designated away team in both games to maintain the tax-exempt status of their home arena, Madison Square Garden; if either the Rangers or the New York Knicks "cease playing" home games at the Garden, the venue would lose its tax exemption and be subject to penalties.
Boxing.
The promotional tour for the Manny Pacquiao–Miguel Cotto fight began with an event at Yankee Stadium on September 10, 2009.
On June 5, 2010, Yuri Foreman fought Cotto in the first boxing match in The Bronx since 1976. The fight was referred to as the "Stadium Slugfest". Cotto defeated Foreman with a TKO in the ninth round. Cotto captured the WBA super welterweight title and his fourth world title, before a crowd of 20,272.
Other events.
The first non-baseball event at the current version of Yankee Stadium took place on the evening of Saturday, April 25, 2009, when Senior Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church held what was dubbed as a "Historic Night of Hope" Christian prayer service.
A New York University graduation ceremony took place on May 13, 2009, with the address being delivered by U.S. Secretary of State and former New York Senator Hillary Clinton. The 2010 NYU ceremony featured alumnus Alec Baldwin as a speaker. President Bill Clinton spoke at the 2011 ceremony. Taylor Swift received her honorary doctorate in fine arts at the 2022 ceremony.
In 2014, Yankee Stadium became the home of the Double A and Triple A New York City High School Public School Athletic League Championship. In 2011, it became home to the PSAL Football City Conference Championship.
Ticket policy.
Effective 2016, printed electronic tickets cannot be used at New York Yankees and New York City FC matches at Yankee Stadium. Only traditional hard-stock tickets, and those issued via a mobile ticketing system, are accepted. The team justified the decision by stating that it was meant to combat fraud associated with printed digital tickets. However, it was also believed that the team was trying to specifically hinder the ticket resale service StubHub, which competed against an official resale service run by TicketMaster known as the Yankees Ticket Exchange. The YTE is subject to a price flooring policy, meaning that tickets may only be discounted up to a certain amount. Although StubHub was the official ticket resale partner of Major League Baseball at the time, the Yankees, as well as the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs, had opted out of this agreement.
Owing to the Yankees' ownership of the team, New York City FC announced on March 11, 2016, that its matches would also be subject to this policy. At the team's March 13, 2016 home opener, although the team stated that they would be phasing in mobile ticketing by introducing additional verification steps for printed tickets before the policy takes full effect in April, reports indicated that the stadium was turning away fans with printed tickets, leading to long queue lines, as well as few attendees inside the stadium itself. In an interview with WFAN radio, Yankees COO Lonn Trost explained that the measures were to help combat ticket resale, arguing that the team did not want fans to purchase "premium" seats at bargain prices, because they would be filled by "someone who has never sat in a premium location [before]".
On April 3, 2016, an episode of the HBO news-comedy series "Last Week Tonight" aired, where host John Oliver responded to Trost's remarks, arguing that he was "saying that rich people couldn't bear to sit next to people who aren't as rich." As a further satire of Trost's arguments against discounted resale, Oliver then announced a contest in which viewers were invited to send photos of themselves dressed as if they had "never sat in a premium location before", with winners offered the ability to purchase a pair of Legends Seats from one of the first three home games of the season for 25 cents. The stunt was successful, leading to the presence of several costumed attendees in Legends Seats during the opening games. Team president Randy Levine responded positively to the stunt, thanking Oliver for having bought tickets to begin with, and remarked that everyone was welcome at Yankee Stadium.
On June 27, 2016, the Yankees announced that it had reached a deal with StubHub for it to become its new official ticket resale partner beginning on July 7, 2016, and allow season ticket holders to sell electronic tickets, rather than mail physical tickets to the buyer. The service will still be subject to a price flooring policy, but the team stated that the new arrangement would provide a "superior, more secure, [and] better experience".
References.
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External links.
Events and tenants
 2009–present
 2010–present
 2015–present