It's simply known as ‘The Stadium.'

The place where history has been made, replayed and made again. It's the place where the Bronx Bombers launched their assault. It's the place where names like Ruth, Mantle, Berra, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Jackson, Jeter and Rodriguez came to make a living.

It's American history in its greatest form, and it's closing its gates for good on Sept. 21.

Barring an improbable run by the Yankees -- who, as I write this, stand 8 ½ games back of the Boston Red Sox for the American League Wildcard - the Stadium will shamefully bow out against the Baltimore Orioles in a meaningless regular season game.

Historians of the game -- or just your common fan-- will tell you that a playoff-less final season at Yankee Stadium will be one of the great disappointments in American sporting history.

Twenty-six times the Yankees have celebrated hanging World Championship banners in The Stadium. Yet this final year, the grand goodbye will be on a boring and rather pointless day in late September - a time that should be reserved for the Yankees to start resting up for a lengthy playoff run.

Until the Yankees - by that I mean the Steinbrenners - can swallow their pride, their downfall will continue.

The hallowed grounds on 161st Street in the Bronx has been known as ‘The House That Ruth Built' for as long as it has stood.

Babe Ruth truly built The Stadium much like the Yankees built Major League Baseball. His fame was mythical even in his playing days. His contracts were as unheard of as the stats he produced on a daily basis.

And so it seems, in a rather somber September in the Bronx, that money built The Stadium, and money will disgracefully tear it down.

Since 1973, the Yankees have been under the ownership of no-nonsense billionaire George Steinbrenner.

From the day he bought the club for a cheap $10 million, he has used his money to bring in big name players from all over the league -- looking for success at the snap of a finger.

From Reggie Jackson to Dave Winfield, and even now with Alex Rodriguez, Steinbrenner has frequently made players the highest paid in baseball. The New York Yankees payroll has dwarfed the competition since ‘The Boss' took over.

And to Steinbrenner's credit, he found the success he so willingly paid for. The latest Yankees dynasty in the Steinbrenner era began with the 1996 World Series. The Yanks continued with championships in '98, '99 and 2000. Yet it seemed in 2001 that the dynasty had reached an epically abrupt end.

The Yankees rode a roller coaster of emotion to a World Series matchup with the underdog Arizona Diamondbacks on the heels of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The Diamondbacks prevailed in an exciting series and it seems the Yankees have never been the same.

Baseball has revolutionized into a new youthful league full of speed and manufactured runs from players brought up through the minors, yet the Yankees continually search for the next big name to add to their lineup.

The greatest successor of this new style of baseball has been the Yankees storied rivals, the Boston Red Sox, with two championships since 2004.

Now teams like the Florida Marlins, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Diamondbacks have bought into the speedy game of modern-day Major League small ball (at a tenth of the price).

Players half as famous and playing for half the salaries have their teams standing at the top of the division and the Yankees, with their star-studded lineup, find themselves on the outside looking in.

A new set of Steinbrenners, sons Hank and Hal now control sports' most storied franchise, yet they seem less willing to buy into baseball's new found success than their mentor father.

The rumor mills now say Manny Ramirez could sign with the Yankees at season's end, but will it really matter? ‘Manny-being-Manny' will be just another pinstripe drama better suited for the back page of New York's tabloid press.

Until the Yankees - by that I mean the Steinbrenners - can swallow their pride, their downfall will continue, and it's a long fall from the top when you're sitting on 26 World Series trophies.

The Yankees' money-reigning empire will continue to fail, and sadly, so will the franchise.

Money and pride certainly built the world's most famous stadium, and money and pride will shamefully tear it down -- for better, or for worse.