Mark Lennihan / AP file

Yankee Stadium has been host to 100 World Series games, two popes, Nelson Mandela and countless memories.

Joe DiMaggio owned center field back then, when the original markers were in play behind him. A couple of years later, the Babe leaned on a bat and, in a hushed voice, said so long to the House that Ruth Built. After that, Mantle came along.

At his museum in Montclair, N.J., Berra keeps six nicked-up seats — three pale green, three blue — from the stadium before it was remodeled in 1974-75.

“They’re falling apart,” the Hall of Famer said. “They’re getting pretty old.”

Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914) predate Yankee Stadium, which the Yanks built out of necessity.

They’d been at Hilltop Park — hence, the previous nickname of Highlanders — before moving into the Polo Grounds in 1913. John McGraw and the New York Giants got tired of sharing the park, especially after Ruth and the Yankees became more popular, and told them to leave.

With a capacity of more than 80,000 and outfield distances nearing 500 feet, Yankee Stadium was so colossal that some said it was the first arena in America specifically named a “stadium.”

For many years, it was called “the Yankee Stadium.” That’s how it shows up in the 1928 silent film “Speedy,” where Ruth plays himself and — in words printed on a panel — tells taxi driver Harold Lloyd to take him there in a hurry.

The Yankees shifted to Shea for two years in the mid-1970s while their stadium was remodeled. The monuments to Ruth, Gehrig and Miller Huggins and the flagpole were moved out of center field. The fences were shortened, the facade was redone and plastic seats replaced wooden ones.

Since then, the stadium has held up fairly well. The only glitch came in 1998 when a 500-pound steel beam fell from the underside of the upper deck into the mezzanine section. Fortunately, the accident occurred a few hours before game time and no one was injured.

Over the years, the playing surface has been lowered and moved around. No matter where Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle actually stood, Gossage will be sad to see the ballpark close.

“I just can’t imagine not standing on that hallowed ground,” he said.

A year in advance, the Yankees are planning to take much of their history with them.

The empty locker where Munson’s catching gear hangs will certainly move into the new home clubhouse. And they surely want 90-something Bob Sheppard, who started the public-address duties in 1951 on the day Mantle made his debut, to man the microphone.

The city will decide what ultimately happens to the old stadium. There has been talk the upper deck and mezzanine will be demolished, and that the lower deck and field will be left intact for youth games.

Hall of Famer Bob Feller is disappointed that the wrecking ball is on its way. He pitched 3 2-3 scoreless innings in the 1939 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, then threw one of his three no-hitters at the park in 1946.

“I’ll miss it. It’s too bad that they’re going to tear it down,” he said. “In Europe, they take care of historical places, turn them into monuments. And here we bulldoze them to make room for something new. I’m not sure that’s what you would call progress.”

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