Yankee Stadium ‘definitely felt’ earthquake ahead of home opener: ‘The field was shaking’
At least something made Yankee Stadium shake during the home opener in The Bronx.
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the tri-state area was felt in the ballpark Friday morning before the Yankees’ 3-0 loss to Toronto.
It happened as the Yankees were taking batting practice, before the Blue Jays players had taken the field or fans were allowed in the stadium.
“The field was shaking,” said Austin Wells, who could be seen reacting to the tremors as they occurred. “We definitely felt it.”
Gleyber Torres was taking BP during the incident and continued to take his pregame cuts, while most Yankees weren’t sure what was going on.
“I thought it was actually the [stadium] sound system,” said Aaron Boone, who was watching BP from behind the batting cage on the field during the tremor, which lasted approximately 30 seconds.
Boone, a native of southern California, laughed and said, “I’m used to it.”
Follow The Post’s coverage on the NYC and tri-state earthquake
After the game, the manager noted that when he felt the quake, he was chatting with former Yankee and current YES broadcaster, John Flaherty.
“We heard [the epicenter was near] Tewksbury, N.J.,” Boone said. “We were talking about [former MLB pitcher] Bob Tewksbury. You can’t make it up.”
Not everyone was on the field when they were impacted by the quake, which did not delay the start of the game which began on time at 1:05 p.m.
“Oh yeah I felt it,” said Marcus Stroman, who was making his Yankee Stadium home debut. “I was in the clubhouse, just at my locker. We all felt it.”
The Long Island native knows how rare earthquakes are in the New York City area.
“It was just one of those things that was more shocking,” Stroman said. “We were just asking around, like, ‘What was that?’ We thought it was maybe somebody pushing something up on the concourse. No one really knew.”
“I felt that pregame,” Aaron Judge said. “Usually you feel a couple rumbles in this stadium pregame, but that one was a little different.”
It’s already the second time this season the Yankees have been impacted by the elements.
They were initially scheduled to host the Marlins at 2:05 p.m. on Monday during the solar eclipse, but that was changed to a 6:05 p.m. start after consulting with MLB.
