The most famous sports ground in America hosted its final game on Sunday night. After 85 years Yankee Stadium, home to the New York Yankees baseball team, is being replaced. This report from Matthew Wells:

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Fans had hoped to be celebrating the end of this era, and their beloved stadium, late next month. But the team's early exit has not dampened the sense of nostalgia around the ground.

Yankee Stadium's been much more than just a baseball ground, hosting boxing title fights, football games, and papal masses. The new Yankee Stadium is almost finished, right next door. But in the next few hours, 60,000 fans will be trying to grab whatever they can inside the old stadium, as a memento of the final game.

Matthew Wells BBC News, New York

Listen to the words

bitter-sweet
a combination of happy and sad

venue
special location or building where events happen

World Series
a baseball competition held in the US

struggling
performing poorly

era
historic period of time

beloved
much loved

dampened
weakened

sense of nostalgia
feeling of emotional connection to the past

papal masses
religious ceremonies perfomed by the Pope, the head of the Catholic church

a memento
a souvenir, something that reminds you of a particular place

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