They really are closing the place down
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- September
- 19
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You know that feeling when you move out of a home or apartment and you take that one last look around and can’t believe how different the place looks without your stuff?
That’s what it’s like at Yankee Stadium these days.
The photographs of old players and writers that used to line the walls of the press workroom downstairs have been stripped away, leaving empty hooks in their place. The clubhouse is full of boxes as the players pack their things to be shipped home or over to the new Stadium.
The place seems colder, somehow less friendly. The little touches that said “This is Yankee Stadium” are being taken away, one by one.
When I’m an old man, I suspect one of the great memories I have will be of watching the Yankees play in this park and feeling the place come alive night after night. Now that it’s coming to an end, I feel almost like I need to look at everything twice to make sure I never forget it.
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I’ll be doing a live video chat on LoHud.com on Monday at 1 p.m. to talk about the final game at the Stadium and whatever other subjects you come up with. This is our first venture into live chat, so hopefully you’ll take part.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 3:16 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
How long will the live chat be on for Pete? Also, will it be posted here when it’s done?
This post is really sad…
Simple Cold Sadness, no other way to describe the closing of the House that Ruth built.
Sweeney was just being honest— I don’t see anything wrong with him. If you guys have turned against him too, then I really don’t know what to tell you. Clearly some people can’t handle objectivity.
Why is everyone who is trying to be objective considered a ‘hater’? You people complain about Pete, Sherman, Kay and YES, George King, Madden, Heyman, Rosnethal, Davidoff, Olney, Gammons, Harper etc. Is there ANYBODY who you like?
Just because they are not saying what we want to hear, doesn’t mean they are wrong. And we are in the midst of a miserable season, what exactly is there that is positive to say?
“When I’m an old man, I suspect one of the great memories I have will be of watching the Yankees play in this park and feeling the place come alive night after night. Now that it’s coming to an end, I feel almost like I need to look at everything twice to make sure I never forget it.”
And how lucky you have been to have been there for all those games.
COL 88
September 19th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Sweeney was just being honest— I don’t see anything wrong with him. If you guys have turned against him too, then I really don’t know what to tell you. Clearly some people can’t handle objectivity.
Why is everyone who is trying to be objective considered a ‘hater’? You people complain about Pete, Sherman, Kay and YES, George King, Madden, Heyman, Rosnethal, Davidoff, Olney, Gammons, Harper etc. Is there ANYBODY who you like?
Just because they are not saying what we want to hear, doesn’t mean they are wrong. And we are in the midst of a miserable season, what exactly is there that is positive to say?
Kenny Singleton is someone everyone always appreciates and respects.
It’s sad that this is how the stadium is going out, with no playoffs and the players feeling miserable. And not only did Cashman/Hal put an inferior product on the field this year, but the celebrations and festivities, sans the Allstar Game, were less than spectacular. Not even close to what you would expect for the cathedral of sports in NYC to receive.
Yankee Stadium deserved much better than this.
Hmmm, I might try to participate in the live chat from a golf course up near Lake Tahoe — just don’t make fun of my ridiculous backswing.
I’m getting weepy.
video chat? so i should reserve the conference room with the video conferencing equipment?
Nice post, Pete. The live chat should be neat, too.
They’re stripping the stuff away so that it doesn’t walk away!
I still can’t believe this is happening…
I really hope Andy can out-pitch Charles Walters (who?) on Sunday.
…
Wow is what it has come to?
The product they put on the field wasn’t inferior. Their performance was inferior. Big difference.
Its not like they sold off the entire team, Marlins-style, and left us with a team of AAA players.
Bottom line, the players didn’t play well enough this year to merit a playoff berth. That’s on the players as much as anybody since they play the game.
Charlie Walters–some lefty rookie pitcher—
not like we’ve had any trouble with those types this year….
I have one of the last two $5 seats ever sold at the stadium, and it’s unused.
It might have been sometime in June when I went to the box office to get a couple pairs of $5 tickets to any of the remaining games they had left for the cheap seat deal. I got one pair for one evening game (don’t remember the date) for my cousin and I … we always go to the games together. We weren’t even sitting in the same section. I asked the guy at the ticket window for ANY other $5 seats for the rest of the year. He looked & looked and said there wasn’t a single one left all season.
When he handed them to me I looked at those two tickets a little differently for a minute, sort of with a similar perspective you’re describing how you’re looking at the stadium right now Pete. I know it’s a very small, cheap souvenir to have. It’s just a ticket. But it’s the last souvenir I’ll ever take home from the old stadium.
We thought the game was going to be rained, so we never went. They still played, so our tickets will remain unused.
Big Z is the Big Adios. Cubbies down 8-0 in the 3rd.
“The product they put on the field wasn’t inferior. Their performance was inferior. Big difference.”
True dat.
I’m so sad…you guys that get to go to the final games this weekend are lucky, I live in TX. I was in the Bronx in December, only the stadium gift shop was open (imagine that)! I do look forward to the new stadium and going to as many games as I can! It SUCKS that there won’t be Yankee baseball in October but my favorite memory has to be Aaron bleeping Boone hittin’ that bomb to eliminate the Sox, baby!!!
It’s the house that Ruth built, but it’s the house that Jeter owns.
“Big Z is the Big Adios. Cubbies down 8-0 in the 3rd.”
ahh, that’s the Big Z i remember before dropping him from my fantasy team. not the one that helped the other guy knock me out of the playoffs after he picked him up off of waivers
COL 88
Well said. I guess in an era of “new media” people care more about opinions than reality and facts. Objectivity is a dying idea. What Pete, Kay, Olney, ect…say are viewed by some as agenda driven stories/opinion. Not the observations of reporters who have been around a situation long enough to make an honest, truthful assessment of a situation. Its a shame really.
Some of the product was inferior too. Think Aruban.
Nick,
The “Big A” got here because of injuries.
A team put together that has Jeter, Arod, Posada, Wang, Cano, Giambi, Abreu, Pettitte, Rivera, Moose, and Damon etc. isn’t putting together an inferior product.
That’s over 40% of the roster. Teams would KILL to have that “inferior product” take the field.
Unfortunately, they didn’t play well, injuries took place to some key players, and the season didn’t turn out well.
However, going into the season, I don’t remember folks saying Cashman and the Steinbrenners put together an “inferior product”.
I still can’t get over how many games that we scored 3 runs or less. I don’t need to know the exact #s, but that’s the story right there. And I think part of the reason why Cashman didn’t rush out to acquire pitching.
I have a feeling there are gonna be the same amount of cops around Sunday night that the Yankees had the first home game after 9/11. The smallest thing you’ll probably be able to steal will be a paint chip.
“However, going into the season, I don’t remember folks saying Cashman and the Steinbrenners put together an “inferior productâ€.”
Correct. I don’t remember anyone saying this either. The only question was whether the rotation was good enough without Santana.
Even the bench looked great when the season started. Sometimes you just get a lot of bad breaks.
Geez Pete, you don’t think that the new stadium will “come alive night after night”? I’ll politely disagree, in fact, I don’t think people really understand what is about to occur and what kind of impact it is going to have on the Yankees.
My favorite Stadium moment has to be Aaron bleepin Boone’s homer in the 7th game of the 2003 ALCS.
Just thought I’d mention that.
my favorite moment at the original Yankee Stadium (not the renovated piece of doo doo they have been playing in since 1976) was seeing Thurman Munson in his rookie year on a terrible team. Ron Bloomburg and I believe Bobby Murcer were still around. Got to meet a bunch of the players after the game in the clubhouse (my mom’s cousin worked security at the stadium for 25 years).
I will never forget it.
My favorite moment was when Johnn Damon hit the grand slammer in Game 7.
I lived on Long Island until I was about 12 years old in 1992, and although the team wasn’t that good back then, I have great memories of going to games with my Dad and watching my favorite player Donnie Baseball. I remember being at Old Timers Day with Mickey, Whitey, and DiMaggio there… my Dad was holding me up and yelling “Wesley, you cannot forget that you saw this!” I haven’t and I never will.
I didn’t see a game in the Bronx for 15 years, but I was lucky enough to be working in Manhattan last year.
My first week there, I took the 4 train up to the Bronx and scalped a ticket during the 3rd inning. That night I got to see Joba in his first Bronx appearance, Mariano pitch the 9th, and as the crowd chanted his name, Derek hit a little dribbler that scored Melky and won the game in the bottom of the 9th. The stadium shook, I high fived strangers, and thought how lucky I was to be there. After the game I sat there and stared out at the field for 15 minutes or so, taking it all in and making sure I would never forget that place or that feeling.
I know that when I look back on my life, those moments will be some of my greatest memories. To me, that’s really what being a Yankee fan is all about.
I thought I was going to be able to go visit YS for a last time, but that was before I found out that only those with tickets are allowed into Monument Park. I’m depressed.
This Sunday will be a very sad and a great day for Yankee fans. As much as I am looking forward to the new stadium, this one will definitely be missed. So many memories. The show must go on. Trust me..the future is bright..and I’m sure the New Yankee Stadium will have great memories as well.
Kevin
I’ve never made it to the Stadium as many times as I would like. I haven’t lived in the New York area since I was a kid and I’ve only been back a couple of times as an adult (and both times, I went to the Stadium). I remember getting back there in 1999, the last time being 1990 before that. And what a difference a Jeter, Williams, Pettite, and O’Neill make in the feel of the place. Pedro Martinez struck out 17 Yankees in that game I went to in 1999 but the place felt different than the Barfield/Andy Hawkins era when I last saw the stadium. Sure the Stadium smells funny in some places, has some antiquated facilities, etc. etc., but I will always have a special place for the Stadium in my heart because the Yankees have given me pleasure in good times and in bad.