What does Yankee Stadium mean to you?
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- September
- 21
Well, here we are. It’s Sept. 21 and they’ll play baseball at Yankee Stadium for the last time tonight.
Here’s your chance: What does this place mean to you? I’ll leave this post atop the blog for a while with the idea being that this is the place for your memories, best stories or just an opinion about the Stadium.
As for me, I first came here in 1986 when two friends and I blew off classes for a day at UMass and drove down for a game against Cleveland. But not until 1999, when I started working in New York, that the Stadium really meant something to me.
I was a backup baseball writer then, filling in to cover the Mets and Yankees when the regular beat writers were getting a day off. I had covered a lot of important events to that point in my career including the Final Four a bunch of times, the 1996 Olympics and a few NFL playoff games. But it wasn’t until I sat down in the press box at Yankee Stadium that I felt like I really had accomplished something.
This was New York. This was baseball. These were the Yankees and there spread out in front of me was Yankee Stadium. What could be better for somebody in my profession? To this day, I feel the same way every time I sit down in the press box.
I wrote my first story for a newspaper when I was 17, it was a high school soccer game between Westport High School and Diman Vocational High School and my father drove me to the game, which was played in a steady drizzle. I called my dad from the Yankee Stadium press box that morning and said, “Guess where I am?” and we both celebrated a little. To this day, I think he gets as big a kick out of this as I do.
I’ve covered games of all sorts in 39 states and eight countries since I was 16. The single best place I have ever come to work is Yankee Stadium. This is the big leagues in every way.
I’ve been inside the new Stadium and it’s amazing. Everything will be more comfortable and accommodating. But I’ll never sit there and feel the same way I do here.
UPDATE, 11:36 a.m.: We have some good writers in the crowd based on the responses so far. I’d encourage you to read them. Lots of emotion flowing through those words.
UPDATE, 2:21 p.m.: Thanks to everybody who is contributing to this post. This is really some great stuff. I’ll be back in a bit with the lineups. At the moment, lots of people walking the warning track here, some in tears. It’s very touching.
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on Sunday, September 21st, 2008 at 2:42 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Let’s be honest. It’s a pretty crappy stadium except for the field and what happens on that field.
Lovely win yesterday, by the way (but for the getting shut out by a 6.00 ERA pitcher through seven for the umpteenth time). Saw it from Row X. Can’t make it up there tomorrow, alas. Will watch from Row Y.
What Yankee Stadium means to me? Sitting in the left field upper deck – Tino homers off Kim in the 2001 WS.
…can’t wait to set foot in the new Stadium; but nothing will ever equal my feeling that night.
Pete,
To me Yankee Stadium has so many meanings. For one it is the only thing that virtually all of my family have a memory. Growing up in a Yankee family, I have visited the Stadium to watch games more then 25 times. For you as a beat writer that may not sound like a lot but it brings about many vivid memories from the past.
This Stadium allowed me to witness Game 2 of the 98′ World Series with El Deque on the mound. It has let me see the Subway Series during the regular season, Sox-Yanks games. Even when the game would end in a loss, it was always a gift to be able to come to the Bronx, home to where my parents were raised and catch a game.
The Stadium itself does not have all of the modern specs its replacement will provide but it has history, a history which was shared not only by world figures but also other sports greats like the Giants, NY Metro Soccer, Mohammad Ali, and the list goes on.
Like many others I will be sad to see Yankee Stadium close. Hopefully they will have a good send off ceremony later in the year. Memories can stay with me which will always be nice to have when it will be even harder to score a ticket in the smaller capacity Yankee Stadium.
Pete,
As a 21 year old trying to now break into the same business you’re in, I have alot of emotions.
I’m in college and writing about my “home” team, but I was at the Stadium today, and will be there tomorrow, and I see 100 places where, “This would be a great story…” but I don’t want to do anything but sit and take the surroundings in. I believe it’s to deep for me. How many playoff games have I been to in my life time? (2, both losses.)
But when I walk out tomorrow I feel I will lose a little bit of myself. Maybe not myself but those who have walked in, and walked out before me. I’m excited for the New Stadium, but tomorrow is the end of an era. It’s the end of more than I can understand.
All I can hope for is 4 more wins, the Sox losing 3 of 4 to Cleveland, and my Yankees go into Boston next weekend with a chance to tie with a sweep. And the playoff tickets go on sale and the games are agonized over again. This place can not close. It’s Yankee Stadium.
Favorite moment: Charlie Hayes catching the final out in ‘96.
My uncle and I got in on fake tickets we bought down the block, down the alley next to Stan’s (we didn’t know they were fake at the time).
Fortunately (for us) this was prior to Scan-a-tron technology. We got in, walked around for 2 hours – back and forth between the foul lines – at field level. Then, watched in awe as Luis Polonia (of all people; all 5′ 2″ of him no less) fought off, pitch after pitch off of Wetteland.
Then, a high pop-up. In a moment, life took a very surreal turn. People hugging, Boggs riding the horse, The House That Ruth Built, shook like I have never seen it. And with a heavy heart, know I will never see it shake like that again.
Yankee stadium is the hands down mecca of sports venues. Amenities aside, easily the most hollowed ground one could visit. As a westerner and lifelong fan of the Yankees, a trip to the east coast was not cheap, but I was fortunate to be able to make the trek for 7 games (five regular season and 2 postseason).
The first game in 1995 is the best memory because it’s the first memory. Upper deck seats and coming up that ramp to see all that green grass on a perfect summer day will always be burned into my memory.
The playoff games… both game 2’s in the ALDS (2003 & 2004 versus the Twins), both victories. Big game Pettitte in 2003, Jeter scoring the winning run in the 12th in 2004.
Mix in a stadium tour where you and very few others are the only ones in the entire stadium for about an hour and I feel fortunate to have some awesome memories from the Stadium. My final visit just three weeks ago today versus the Blue Jays wasn’t the victory I had hoped for, but it’s a memory with my wife I will always treasure.
Thanks for the blog Pete. Your passion for the game and for covering the best franchise in sports history comes through on a daily basis and it’s great nightly reading for a guy living in Utah.
One question… do you think the final game would have been as special had it been a non series-ending game, where the Yankees take the road and don’t know if they will be returning for another game? I’d prefer the playoffs, but it makes me wonder if the true finality would be as attainable as it will be tonight. That said, how about if Jeter blasts a game winner in the bottom of the eighth and Mo closes it out in the 9th… that would be the perfect script. Hope everyone enjoys it.
I have 3 favorite memories from Yankee Stadium. The first is July 1, 2004. The Yankees beat the Red Sox in 13 innings. Derek Jeter goes flying into the stands. Greatest game I’ve ever seen. It was also my little sister’s 16th birthday, and she was excited because we put her name up on the tv screen. There is still a photo of her name on the board hanging in my parents house.
The second is August 15, 1994. It was the last game before the strike, and it was the only time I ever caught any sort of baseball during a game (caught a ball thrown up by a Blue Jay during batting practice in the bleachers). I remember standing in the bleachers, crying because for the first time in my life, the Yankees were in playoff contention, and suddenly baseball was canceled. That was the first and last time baseball broke my heart.
And then there was the first game I ever went to at Yankee Stadium.
I wrote this awhile back for an old blog, after I had found the boxscore for the first game I ever went to at Yankee Stadium.
My Dad had raised me to be a Yankee fan since birth, but the first game I had ever went to was at that sad excuse of a stadium in Queens (I hold no ill will towards the Mets, unless they are playing the Yanks of course, but that poor excuse of a Stadium is abysmal. Who’s the genius who decided to place a baseball stadium next to an airport?) Anyway, a guy my Dad works with had season tickets back then, and would always give my dad some. I don’t remember the game at all, all I remember is crying non-stop from the 7th inning on.
The next summer, my Dad decided it was time to take me to a Yankee game. It wasn’t a good time to be a Yankee fan. Good old Steinbrenner had decided it was time to attempt to run the Yankees into the ground. But I didn’t care. They had Don Mattingly. He could do no wrong.
So my Dad and I, along with his brother, and my two cousins, went to my first Yankee game. It was an late season game against the Oakland Athletics, who, in less than two months, would win the American League Championship, but lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers, in what would be a World Series for the ages. The Athletics had a great team, with a young Mark McGuire, along with future convict Jose Conseco, leading the team to Major League success.
Yankees manager Lou Pinella was sending veteran pitcher John Candaleria up against Dave Stewart. Candaleria only lasted an inning, as the Athletics took an early 2-0 lead. They made it 3-0 in the second, and held that lead until the the third inning, as Rickey Henderson, who as we all know, refuses to give up, and scores, making it 3-1 going into the 4th. The Athletics won’t score again until the 5th, making it 4-1 Athletics, and my Uncle was getting restless.
Y’see, my Uncle is one of those guys who always in a race with traffic. No matter where he is, he insists on beating traffic. He could have seats on the 50 yard line for the Super Bowl, and insist on leaving in the the 3rd quarter, just to beat the dreaded beast known as traffic.
So, my Uncle, who drove us to the game, decides that he’s seen enough, and tells us its time to go, we gotta beat that traffic. So we leave Yankee stadium behind, pile into his Nissan, and begin the trek home. But that evil traffic got the jump on us, as we hit it right outside the stadium. We sat in traffic, with the Stadium in sight, listening to the game continue. The Athletics went on to score 2 runs in the top of the 9th, and my Uncle was satisfied that we didn’t have to witness the Yanks making asses out of the themselves. With the game seemingly in the bag, Oakland manager Tony LaRussa sends Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersly to the mound, to do what he does best, get the last three outs, and send everybody home.
I vivdly remember what happened next. We sat in traffic, stadium still in sight, as Eck took the mound. Centerfielder Claudell Washington stepped up to the plate and singled on the 1-1 pitch. Mattingly was up next, and he came through, hitting a single that moved Washington to third. With men on the corners, nobody out, Ken Phelps walked up to the plate.
“Who’s Ken Phelps?”, you might ask.
Remember the episode of Seinfeld when George decides to go on vacation, and leaves his car in the Yankee stadium parking lot, thinking he can get one over on Steinbrenner, who would think George would be at work everyday, as long as Kramer remembers to clean the restaurant menus from the windshield wiper everyday? Of course Kramer fails, and Steinbrenner comes to the conclusion that George is dead. So he goes to tell Mr. and Mrs. Costanza the bad news, and all Mr. Costanza can say is:
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TRADE JAY BUHNER FOR?!? HE HAD 30 HOME RUNS, OVER 100 RBIS LAST YEAR, HE’S GOT A ROCKET FOR AN ARM, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU’RE DOIN’!!”
and Steinbrenner responds:
“Well, Buhner was a good prospect, no question about it. But my baseball people love Ken Phelps’ bat. They kept saying ‘Ken Phelps , Ken Phelps’.”
That’s Ken Phelps.
In the end, Ken Phelps will most likely be remembered as a Seinfeld punchline.
But not to me.
Ken Phelps stepped up to the plate, and on the first pitch from Eck, he smacks that ball out of the park, bringing Washington and Mattingly home, scoring 3 runs, and brings the tying run to the plate. All with no one out.
My Uncles smirk of self-satisfaction disapeared, as I started to tear up.
And while all this was happening, our car had not moved. It was like time had stopped everwhere, except inside of our car, and on the field of Yankee Stadium.
My arch-enemy Dave Winfield was up next, and I just knew he was going to screw it all up, but suprisingly, he came through in the clutch, and singles. LaRussa pulls Eckersly out of the game, but the damage was done, and the tying run was on first.
And the car does not move.
Pinella sends in Gary Ward to pinch hit for third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, and he singles, again putting men on the corners with no outs. The Athletics make another pitching change, sending in Gene Nelson to replace Greg Cadaret.
And the car does not move.
Catcher Don Slaught gets into the batter’s box, takes a swing, and ground a ball to the second baseman for an easy double play.
But it was too late, Dave Winfield had scored. The Yankees had scored 4 runs in the bottom of the night to tie the game at 5.
And the car does not move.
And I began to cry like I never cried before.
My Uncle was sure they were going to blow it. They had 2 men out, nobody on base, and nobody left in the bullpen for the extra innings. Unless somehow, by some miracle, they score one run before the third out of the ninth inning.
Backup second baseman Luis Aguayo, who replaced Randy Valarde in the seventh, singles on the second pitch, putting the go ahead run on first, with two men out.
Shortstop Rafael Santana singles on the third pitch, putting men on the corners for the third time in the ninth inning.
With the go-ahead run in scoring position, Pinella sends future Hall Of Famer Rickey Henderson to the plate to get the job done. He watches the first pitch from Nelson go by for a 1-0 count. Henderson hits the next ball that comes at him out to left fielder Luis Polonia, who is unable to field it. As Henderson rounds first, Aguayo scores.
And the New York Yankees, who would finish the 1988 season with an 85-76 fourth place season, have scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth to come back and beat the 1988 AL Champs Oakland Athletics 6-5.
And I was sitting in a car, the House That Ruth Built behind me, and miles of traffic in front of me, crying like an cancer ridden orphan at Micheal Jackson’s house.
The car ride home would be silent the rest of the way. Well, silent, except for the non-stop crying emanating from my mouth. As we arrived home for dinner, I entered my house, stopped in the first corner I found, and just stood there and cried. My Mom and my Aunt were confused. Didn’t I watch what might have been the best game of the entire 1988 Yankees season? My Dad broke them the news, and I continued to cry. My Dad promised to make it up to me. I took his word for it, and stopped.
The next day, my dad drove me out to a baseball card store up in Rye, New York, and bought me the 1985 Topps Don Mattingly baseball card.
To this day, no matter what happens, I do not leave a baseball game until a winner has officially been declared.
And I never talk to my Dad’s side of the family.
***I just want to add that the Mr. Costanza/George Steinbrenner conversation (which is from the Sue Ellen Mishke bra episode) is followed by what might be the funniest line from Seinfeld ever:
“Jerry, it’s Frank Costanza, Mr. Steinbrenner is here, George is dead, call me back!”
-Steve!
Pete,
That’s a great story about you and your dad. I’m sure he’s very proud of you.
I haven’t been to the stadium, so the only images I have are from the tv and what people have shared here.
A lot of complaints, but I can also gather snippets of history, trivia, and real connections. But mostly I can feel the love. For the players, for the team, and for the stadium.
When I look at pictures or video of the empty stadium, it’s just a ballpark. It could be a AA or AAA ballpark from the looks of it. All of that ugly signage and thousands of empty seats.
But fill it up with 56,000 people, most of whom are wearing the interlocking NY insignia and, boy, does she come alive. When the camera pans the crowds, you see that Yankee fans come in all shapes and sizes. The most beautiful sight is when they show the kids.
When I think of Yankee Stadium, I think mostly of the old Yankee heroes and the magical moments they gave us. They can knock down the building, but they can’t bury the memories.
Looking forward to the new stadium filled with tens of thousands of fans wearing the interlocking NY. For generations of young fans. For the new memories. And most of all, Yankee magic.
Best moment considering I’m just 21 and wasn’t to too many games was Posada’s 2 run walk-off HR that elevate the Yankees from a 13-12 loss to a 14-13 win and also the game that we scored 6 runs in the 9th inning including a Walk-off HR by A-Rod off Ex-Indians Closer Joe Borowski.
pretty simple. the place where I grew up, and it gave me some of the best moments of ‘pure joy’ in my life.
Wo steve thats one great story of yours,
I started playing softball in 1990 when I was 10. My Mom went to every game, and it was about this time she started watching the Yankees on MSG so she could understand all the rules of the game better. After the first season she was hooked (even though they were awful!) and would watch every game with my brothers and I. Every year she and Dad would also make sure to take us to a couple games at the stadium. We saw a lot of great games there. Win or lose, those were very happy days.
My mom got cancer in 2002. Despite aggressive treatment, it was caught too late and she got sicker and sicker. In August of 2003 she went to her last game. I have a picture of her and my Dad with their friends sitting in the box seats on the first base side. She looks extremely happy, though I remember she was so sick that morning they almost decided not to go (she wouldn’t hear of it). She was a loyal fan until the end, and it makes me feel close to her in some ways now to follow the team every game, in good times and in bad. And every time I go to a game I think of her and imagine her there, somehow, taking in the view and rooting for her team.
My first game there- Blue Jays vs. Yankees, June 1986. I remember how amazing it was to actually be there rather than seeing it on Channel 11. I was 8 years old at the time. We lost that game against the Blue Jays but there were several more games as a kid and a couple as an adult. But it was a nice sunny day with my father.
I moved to California during middle school and lived here since then. So, there are so many games at the Stadium that I missed and could only see on ESPN. But in the few times I’ve gone back, I smell the pretzels on River Ave. and when I actually see the stands and the field, I get goosebumps. I was able to take the tour and walk on the field and sit in the dugout. I was overcome with joy. The monuments. The players. The retired numbers. Remembering when Mattingly, Guidry, and Billy Martin. The frieze. It’s a religious experience being in that ballpark.
I like to tell people that in my 30 years of life, the Yankees are among the few things that make me genuinely happy.
I refuse to get all weepy about the fact that the Yankees are gonna put up a new place and charge everybody $600 to go see a ballgame. Think about it, people. It kinda takes the sentimentality right out of it.
I’ve only been to the Stadium twice but the first time will always be memorable.
I went with 3 friends, one of which had seat tickets along with tickets to the Stadium Club. Once we entered the Club, we went straight to the bar. Seeing those bartenders wearing black vests with the interlocking NY embroidered on the front was really cool.
In the stands, we sat near 3rd base. In front of us, there was a older guy who was with his son, the son’s girlfriend, and the son’s friend, who was quite inebriated. He kept saying that if Mattingly hit a home run, he was going to go out and shake his hand. Sure enough, Mattingly hits one out of the park and this kook jumps up, tears off his t-shirt, and goes over the dugout roof. He didn’t get much further than there, being tackled by two cops.
My father taking me at the age of six in 1968 to hopefully see the Mick play. Mick had hit 2 HR (the last 2 HR game of his career) the day before. It was getaway day, and Mick didn’t play. The next day Mick hit #532 out on the west coast. But during the game, my dad took me to the top row in RF’s upper deck and had me look up to the facade then down to home plate while telling me how close Mickey came to hitting one completely out. To this day I look at that spot every time I go to the Stadium and remember my dad, who was there for Larsen’s perfect game and the 1958 NFL Championship Game.
Being there the next year, on July 20, 1969, and seeing the game stopped and the place go crazy when Bob Sheppard announced that the Eagle has landed on the moon.
Being there for the “Who’s Your Daddy” Game 2 of the 2004 ALCS.
Being there in 1993 when someone else pulled a “Jeffrey Maier” with a Don Mattingly HR in a game the Yanks won 1-0…and yes, that too was against Baltimore. Seeing Morganna run out to pitcher’s mound during that game (ha ha).
There are many more memories I share with friends, and hearing the stories of these friends…some friends who were at Wells’ perfect game and others who were at Cone’s. Hearing a friend describe Chad Curtis’ walkoff World Series HR in 1999 because he was there then.
Father, friends, special times, sharing and the memories of a place that made it all happen.
I will remember Yankee Stadium as the meeting place. Since declaring a day off starting in the mid-80’s meeting friends at the bat, Stan’s, Billy’s, Yankee Tavern, or otherwise. Before cell phones and blackberries, wasting many an hour circling the bat looking for our friend or ticketholder, only to find them a foot away, doing the same looking for us along with a sea of people.
Staying up late in 4th grade, watching Reggie’s home runs. Most incredible moments at the stadium from probably 400 visits over the years include Brosius’ bottom of the 9th HR in the ‘01 WS (picture 50,000 believers still raw after 9/11, tears in the eyes believing in this city and this country, literally jumping up and down wildly yelling holy s in disbelief…got chills again just writing that)…well, I don’t think anything will ever top that.
Other unforgettables include Wells’ perfect game accompanied by my 18 month daughter — her 1st game and just wanted that ridiculous beanie baby –; Game 2 of the subway series — sorry, Roger was a clear embarassment even that night –; Jeffrey Maier game — sat in the upper deck of right field, never left my seat, ticked at Jeter’s routine fly; Beating world beaters Seattle and chanting “Sayonara” as Ichiro struck out; Leyritz HR — wife made me leave early for that one –; many, many others.
Thanks for making me think about this. The new Stadium is progress and will be great, but it will never be the cathedral.
It’s home to an era of winning that will never be duplicated. The new place may look nice and shiny but it has no chance to be as interesting.
I was definitely sad as I was leaving the Stadium for the last time on Wednesday night, and I am very sad as I read through these posts.
Yankee Stadium holds so many memories near and dear to my heart. Not to mention all of the amazing games and amazing (and not so amazing) players. But my favorite memories have little to do with the game actually being played at the time. First, is the day it rained Reggie bars. I was a 10 year Yankee Fan and the Yankees were opening up after winning the World Series. Opening Day – they hand our these (disgusting, as I look back now) orange wrapped chocolate bars to the adults as they walk into the Stadium. (Not to the kids!). First at bat, Reggie Jackson hits a home run and NY fans being who they are immediately begin throwing their Reggie bars on to the field. Now, I know that everyone involved in the game was pretty upset, but to a 10 year, that was just the funniest thing ever!
But, more significantly, Yankee Stadium was the place where me and Dad went. Every year for opening day after they re-opened the Stadium, until we moved out of NY when I was 13, we went to the Stadium. I got out of school, and Dad found a nice person who was willing to part with his tickets, and we watched the game. Things have often been rough with my dad, but this is a memory I have that always brings smiles to my face.
My husband and I have a season plan now, so we have seats to call “ours.” I think of that as a small measure of “success.” And we’ll have similar seats in the new place. But, I suspect, it will not have the same sense of accomplishment for me as these do.
This last homestand has been great to watch, seemingly seeped in tradition. Aura and mystique have returned for the final homestand. I will be watching from home tonight (unfortunately). And I’m letting my kids stay up to watch too.
Thanks for letting me share, Pete.
- Lori
I saw more games in this version than in the first. I a not living in NYC now and when I come back I feel as if I am home. Sitting on the right field side and seeing the hugh expanse in front of me is just a great feeling. I went to a game against Seattle in August 03 and it felt like a playoff game when all the fans rose after Mo’s second strike on a hitter in the 9th. Mo finished the strike out and the Yanks won the game.
One last thing – thanks Peter for giving us this space.
I don’t have the words to express how I feel about Yankeee Stadium. Yes, it is not the true original Stadium, but the history of that site is remarkable. There will never be another baseball site that was home to so many Hall of Famers and hosted so many World Series games. I’ve been to Wrigley Field and its a remarkable place to see a game, but Wrigley Field and Fenway Park will never have the history behind it that this Stadium has.
I’m going to the game today (from PA) and I don’t know what to expect. I haven’t been up since early July (due to illness) and knew there was no way I was going to miss this game. Today isn’t about the game, its a celebration of 85 years (well truly 83 years) of joy and sadness due to the events taking place on the southside of 161st Street and River Ave. I’ve never been to the original Yankeee Stadium, this is the location where I saw my first game back in 1983. I remember going once a year back then and each year it being my highlight of the summer. As the years passed, I remember all the playoff games – Tino’s Grand Slam, Bernie’s game winning home run in the 1999 playoffs off of Rod Beck, Chad Curtis’ game in 1999 World Series, the 2000 World Series, Mr Novmember in the 2001 World Series. I also remember sitting through losses, whether heartbreakers or blow outs.
There may be another event in November, but this is the true good bye to our friend and host, the Yankee Stadium on the southside of 161st Street and River Ave. The Stadium on the northside of 161st and River will be incredible, but no Martini Bars or Luxury Boxes will be able to match the 85 years of joy and sadness and players who called this Yankee Stadium home.
My short memory of Yankee Stadium spans back to my first game July 10, 1997. Yanks beat the Tigers, and Tino sent everyone home happy with a homerun. However, the BEST game I’ve ever seen in person has to be the May 16, 2006 game against the Rangers. This is the game that the Yanks were down 10-1 by the middle of the 3rd. Chacone got rocked for 1.1 innings of 8 run ball, followed by 4.1 innings of Aaron Small.
This was the week of Sheff and Matsui both goin on the DL. All hopes were lost. To add insult to injury, what seemed like a Posada in his decline was batting cleanup. While this was the last game I ever saw with Bernie playing the outfield, Posada was the story of the game. In the middle innings with Teixeira on 2nd a ball was smacked to the outfield. A strong relay throw by Melky in left to Jeter to Posada resulted in the hardest collision at home plate I’ve ever seen. Teixeira leveled Posada, who just sat there for about 2 minutes in a daze. It saved one run from scoring. In a game that was 10-1 by the 3rd, this didnt seem like a lot at the time, but the Yankees started to chip. Following a 6-run 6th innings, led by Jeter’s HR, they were back in the game! They actually tied it 12-12 in the 7th. I’ve never see the stadium shake so much—THIS WAS HAPPENING. But leave it to Mo in a tie game to make it interesting. He let up a run in the top of the 9th. All seemed to be lost.
Enter Jorge Posada. With Damon on base, 2 outs bottom of the 9th, Posada showed exactly why he was batting cleanup that day. He sent one over the rightfielders head to the bleachers. Walk off home run. I can still remember just laying across rows of seats basking in what I had just seen.
Sure, it wasnt boston. Sure, it wasnt the playoffs. However, it was Jeter going 4-5 with a HR, and Posada becoming the hero. Hip-Hip-JORGE!
Yankee Stadium to me is the place where me and my father had our first outing and meaningful connection.
This was back in 1995 and the day before the game we were sitting at home watching a game on TV, one where Rubén Sierra blasted an upper deck homerun. He just turned to me and said ” Want to go to a game?”
The next day we headed over to The Stadium and it was amazing. I don’t remember the score or who the Yankees even played, but I remember sitting with my father in the bleachers, having him explain the ins-and-outs of the game.
I’m a little older, so to me the real Stadium was torn down in 1973. I wish YES would broadcast some classic games from the old stadium, so I could see the old auxilliary scoreboards in front of the bleacher walls, the old bullpens in right and left center, the ‘real’ Death Valley in left center where 440 ft. clouts were many times caught, and the monuments were actually on the field. Having said that, I do have great memories of the current stadium too. Chambliss’s pennant winning homer in 76, Reggie’s 3 homer night in game 6 in 77. I was at the Pine Tar game in 83, and also at the game in 85 when Bobby Meacham and Dale berra were tagged out at home by carlton Fisk on Rickey Henderson’s booming double. Who could ever forget Bobby Murcer’s memorable night in 79 after Munson’s funeral, and of course all the World Championship teams of the late 90s.
Thanks for all the memories Yankee Stadium, and I look forward to a great new era in the new ballpark.
I might have been sentimental about it, but the Yankees organization doesn’t seem to care now that they are going to be minting money with their new stadium. The city doesn’t care, they are going to rip it down, Take it from someone who has seen the collosium in Rome, they should have had a plan to keep the stadium open for people to visit for years. The building was once hallowed ground in my mind, but now it is just a victim of business. Everything is for sale……
What I will always remember is being with my Dad who worked a short time as a youth selling Hotdogs in the 50’s and remembering his stories He took the time to take me and my brother and sisters to a game atleast once a year.
Seing The Mick in 1967 (at Age
get a Standing Ovation for pinch hiting in the ninth and then the booing when the Orioles gave him an intentional walk. Then another standing O when they took him out for a pinch hitter. Things you dont see in a boxscore.
But most of all I will remember the bond of the Yankee Fans and that when you see that field of green at 161st and River Ave… Dreams become Reality.
ARO,
Some historians say that the Collosium in Rome that they found was actually the New Collosium, and not they original Collosium which was actually 63% smaller than the original.
They tore down the original because they wanted to make room for the Elephants and Tigers as well as to install luxury boxes for the new Ceasar and his paid off Senators.
Every thing has always been forsale.
I grew up in the Bronx, just 10 subway stops from the Stadium. So I spent a lot of afternoons as a teenager (some of which should have been spent in school) at the ballpark. I was there on Mickey Mantle Day, and on the last day before the ballpark was renovated.
But my best memory was Game 5 of the 2001 WS. I was with my wife and a friend in the upper deck on the third base side. Two outs, ninth inning, Jorge Posada on base, Scott Brosius at the plate. I had my jacket on, standing up, ready to leave. I looked at my friend and said “this can’t possibly happen two nights in a row.” And then, Brosius launches one to deep left. From our vantage point, we never saw the ball reach the stands, but the reaction of the crowd was electric. I have NEVER felt the Stadium rock like that. The most unbelievable feeling. And then when Alfonso Soriano drove in Chuck Knoblauch with the winning run in the twelfth inning, the feeling of euphoria among the fans was incredible. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.
lots of fun. memories of course. my first game was Bat Day in 1967; though that was a much different Stadium, the new one actually looks more like it.
I like buildings, first of all — I like old buildings that I have never even been inside. Old urban architecture a special interest. And I live in a very old house — well over a century and a half old. So I know all the disadvantages, as well as the charms, of old structures, and I’m still in mine. So you’d think I’d be a sucker for all the sentimentality over the Stadium.
But you know what? I’ve realized that the whole thing is about people for me. I wouldn’t care a thing about the Stadium without the team in it, and when the team moves across the street, all my feelings about Yankee Stadium will move in with them. The continuity comes down through the hands of people.
That’s why I can’t get into this ‘enemies’ thing about Joe Torre. You know what — the continuity comes down from him to Girardi, who once served as his bench coach and who spoke movingly of him as ‘my coach’ when he left. Who are we to invent a false choice between the two, when continuity says both are part of the history of our team, and when their respect and friendship has been plain?
Human continuity will make the new building ‘The Stadium’, and Aura and Mystique will move in along with the present incumbents of our team.
Every time was like the first time when at the Stadium.
The first glance of the field after passing through the turnstiles can swallow any fan up.
Even those with ice in their blood will get consumed with how much history has taken place on the hallowed ground.
I have always loved going to Yankee Stadium. There’s a certain feeling that goes through you as you enter this “cathedral of baseball”.
Memories are flooding back to me of attending many games with family and friends, but especially memories of going to games with my father,who passed away last year.
Well I don’t remember the exact date of my first game, I do know it was in the early 80’s with Winfield in right, Nettles at 3rd and Guidry and Goose on the mound.
My favorite moment at the Stadium has to be the 95′ ALDS, sitting in the leftfield bleachers for to home games, the first time I had the opportunity to see playoff baseball.
I will remember Mattingly hitting that homer to right, his first playoff homer and thinking that the place was going to explode.
I remember heckling Vince Colmen for his firework antics “Firecracker..Firecracker..Vince Colmen Sucks!” trying to heckle Junior but he would have none of that, but recall when hit his homer later in the game as he rounded second looking at us and smirking as if to say “I’m Junior Griffey…the best player on the field”.
But what I remember most of that game is Leyrtiz hitting the homer in the light rain in extra innings and me running around the Stadium with my shirt off like some lunatic yelling “Sweep!…Sweep!”
I have so many other memories and can’t right them all down, but what I will always remember will be Sunday afternoons at my Grandfather’s house and listening/watching Bill White and Scooter call a game…those memories will be with me for ever. Also, being able to take my four-year to a game at the Stadium will be special too…I hope he will think so too.
So in closing, no matter where the Yankees play, our memories will always be with us.
I would also hope to think, that the fans would have something to do with making the new Yankee Stadium as good of a place as the old Yankee Stadium.
When I was 6, I watched Roger Maris hit his 61st HR on a little black and white TV with my Dad.
When I was 9, the Mick, my idol still hit that World Series walk off against the Cards.
When I was 16, in I’d took the F and D trains for a doubleheader, when Bobby Mercer hit four consecutive HR’s and Thurman was throwing guys out from his knees.
When I was 21, I took my 11 year old godson to the opening of the New stadium. That October, Chris Chambliss ended a 12 year drought and we ran on the field, like kids.
October 18,1977, three days after I got married, my wife and I watch Reggie’s three homers from section 10, row 5 upper deck. We cheered!
The night of Thurman’s funeral- we had to be there- Bobby drives in 5 to bear the Orioles. We cried.
In, 89, I sat behind the first base dugout the night Donnie Baseball broke the record for grand slams in a season.
In 95, I moved to Miami. Been to a few games with my kids over the years. I’ve definetely rubbed off on them, except we’ve had to share most of their big moments on the tube.
Tonight, one last time in the big ballpark in the Bronx, we’ll do it again. My guess is, it’ll be fun but it won’t be easy.
I’m reading all of these through tears. I feel like I’m living through every one of them. No time to bore you with mine as I’m heading to the Bronx, but maybe Pete will have a “last day at the Stadium feelings” blog later.
God bless us all on this amazingly historic day. I’m there with everyone in spirit.
GO YANKEES!
I was there with my Dad the night Doc Gooden pitched a no-hitter. There was only about 35,000 people there, but when that game ended it sounded like double that many. The place went absolutely bonkers and I’ll never forget it.
Stick a fork in it!!! On to the new place with some better younger players.
Did anyone else get tears in their eyes after yesterday’s game when YES went to highlights and they played Frank Sinatra’s “There Used To Be A Ballpark”? Thats when it really hit me that the Stadium is really gonna be no more after tonight.
While this version of the Stadium is far from being the one that is in my heart and mind, it still is a sad day seeing the magestic stadium hosting its last game.
I am glad I got to go to the Stadium in the 50’s and 60’s. Pre-rebuild. Yes, it had a lot of bad sight lines. The upper deck made you feel as though you were going to fall over it was so steep. Yet, it was the place where I first held hands with a girl. The first place I got to sing in front of a large group of people, singing the Star Spangled Banner.
My favorite player, the one who won my heart and made me a life- long Yankee fan, Mickey Mantle.
Watching tremendous home runs flying off his bat. My heart breaking as I watched him in his decline and could hardly run.
It just serves to remind us that life goes on, things will change, yet the memories will remain, the stories can be passed on. Be proud of being a fan of such a club as this. Be fortunate that you got to witness some of todays great players playing in that great Stadium.
Remember, while the Stadium was the venue, and a grand one at that, it was more the players that built the myths and magic. The batton is passed, and its up to the future HOF Yankee players to make the new Stadium every bit as meaningful as the old one was.
As I am from Vienna, Austria, Europe, I have only been to Yankee Stadium one time. It was Tuesday, September 7th, 2004. A blowout win against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Jon Lieber was pitching, Bernie (and maybe a few others) homered.
At the time, I knew nothing except some basic rules about baseball. But since that day I have been hooked. When I returned home, I immediately got MLB.TV and I have watched almost every Yankee game ever since.
So since I started watching and rooting for the Yankees, they are on a steady decline. I started watching at the 2004 postseason. OUCH.
I have been to many other baseball games since then, all on the west coast though. Giants, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres. But that one night at Yankee Stadium will always be my favorite memory.
I was supposed to see the Yankees one other time, opening day 2007 in Oakland. I already had great tickets, but STUPID AIR FRANCE (never fly with those mofos, always troubles) made me miss my flight to San Francisco and I missed the game…
I came close to being married on the pitchers mound at the Stadium. It was cleared through the PR Department but then got a return phone call saying the day we had planned was scheduled for the then annual football game of Grambling vs. Morgan State.
The date had to be firm so disappointment followed.
The first game I went to was a double-header against the Orioles in 1977. I was 7 years old, sitting second deck on the first base line. Chambliss, Randolph, Bucky, and Nettles in the infield, Roy White, Mickey Rivers, and Reggie in the outfield. Catfish pitched one game, Thurman caught both. Eddie Murray, Belanger, and YES’s own Ken Singleton among the Orioles. Yanks split the DH, but at least Catfish won his game.
The last game I went to was 1999, David Cone’s next start after his perfect game. It was against the Indians. Cone predictably had a tough outing. Jeter had a miserable game–0 for 4 or 5, but came to bat in extra innings with the winning run on base. Of course, he hit a walk off double, I thought surely the Stadium would come down as we were leaving, it was rocking so hard.
It means alot, way too many memories. Now I like to crunch numbers and here is a vague not exact way to look at the salaries for this year and next. With an outline to make the most feared team in the league. Well the most feared lineup anyway. And all doing it without trading away youth.
2008 Total Team Salary: 207,108,489
Jason Giambi 23,428,571 – Don’t resign
Andy Pettitte 16,000,000 – Don’t resign
Bobby Abreu 16,000,000 – Don’t resign
Hideki Matsui 13,000,000 – Trade for anything, salary dump.
Mike Mussina 11,071,029 – resign
Carl Pavano 11,000,000 – don’t resign
Total Team Salary: 116,088,889
CC Sabathia 22,000,000 for 6 years -132,000,000
Mark Teixeira 20,000,000 for 10 years – 200,000,000
Manny Ramirez 20,000,000 for 3 years with Team Option for 4th – 60,000,000
Mike Mussina 12,000,000 for 1 year with Option for 2nd – 12,000,000
Total Team Salary: 190,008,889
Lineup
LF – Damon
SS – Jeter
DH – Manny
1B – Teixeira
3B – Arod
RF – Nady
2B – Cano
C – Posada
CF – Gardiner
Rotation
1. Sabathia
2. Wang
3. Joba
4. Mussina
5. Hughes or Aceves or Coke
Bullpen
CL – Rivera
RHP – Bruney
LHP – Marte
Any Combo of:
Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Humberto Sanchez, Rasner(Long Man), Acevas or Coke (If not in rotation)
Great question, Pete. Two for me …
The first is July 22, 2007, 3 days after my son’s 7th birthday my wife and I took him to his first Yankees game. He was lucky enough to see 2 games worth of offense in one day as the Yanks beat Tampa Bay 21-4 on the strength of 6 HRs, 2 by my son’s buddy Shelley Duncan.
Of all my other trips to the Stadium over the past 30 some years the other that sticks in my mind is a routine Sunday afternoon game on September 11, 1988. Al Leiter took the hill against Doyle Alexander and the Tigers. Some 6 hours later Matt Nokes scores on a Torey Lovullo single to CF in the top of the 18th inning, the first run scored in the game since the 7th inning. After Rickey Henderson leads off the bottom of the 18th with a walk, Claudell Washington crushes a Willie Hernandez pitch deep into the RCF bleachers sending me and the few thousand remaining fans home happy. Yea, I looked back for some of the details but can see Claudell hitting that home run to this day.
My earliest memories are of half-full Yankee stadium in the early 50’s. In those days, Mickey was hitting very long home runs and very long outs to dead center field – 461 feet to monuments that were on the field at the time. I got to meet him once – and was struck by his size – he was not some superhuman monster – actually a rather average size man, albeit with broad shoulders. In the 60’s I took my sibs to once game a year- long subway rides; seats in the upper grandstand and one hotdog a piece – all for ~$10! Then there were bat days – the place really shook – as all the kids pounded their bats. Those bats were used in our local little league – no (money for) metal bats back then. And I remember my brother hitting a home run with one of those bats. I think he slept with that bat for weeks to come!
I was at October 19, 2003. Every part of that game just puts together why Yankee Stadium is the greatest sporting venue on Earth. In case you don’t know, that is Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox.
I drove tractor trailer all over this country for nearly twenty years, litterally been in around or through every part of this country. I moved the over 50ft class of boats in and out of the Newyork boat show for 6 or 7 years. I’ve seen the stadium but never inside for any reason. I’m a home grown florida boy and frankly the city there scared me to death. For me its too big to many people and people living on top of each other. Oh! but how I love those Yankees. I’ve been known on more than one occasion to call in healthy when a game was to be televised.
1956 was the first year I played organized baseball and the first game I ever saw on t.v. was Larsens gem. I’m sort of retired now and for the last years thanks to the puter I haven’t missed many games. I was drafted in 1965 and was declard 4F by military standards, I didn’t go to the VietNam war. Happy, I think about that. But I know I missed a life altering or ending experience. I often think what life for me would have been or not if I had gone. I honestly don’t know why I never went to a game at the(I certainly had the means I do go to the games here) stadium but like Nam I sometimes feel I missed a life altering experience. My hat goes off to yous guys and gals who for ever it seems have allowed me to enjoy the yankees and their history vicariously. We have no choice but to usher in new times and millions of new memories thanks to the yankees and their new home. May the next 80 something years be every bit as historic as those in the old house. Who will get the credit for building this house in 2100. I wonder!
My first game was in 1953. Allie Reynolds pitching. I’ve seen a lot of great teams and players and a lot of up and down (mostly up) years.
The year was 1966, it was bat day. Back then they gave you real bats. I got a CLete Boyer bat. I can remember that day as if it was yesterday. I loved that bat.
Fast foward to this year ,I was part of the sound crew that did the opening for the Home Run Derby. I got to drive on the field on a mobile stage in front of a packed house. Unbeleivable! My son now has Yankee Stadium shortstop dirt on his bookcase. Just a couple of very cool memories I have of Yankee Stadium.
Much like everyone else I could write for ever about what the stadium means to me but I will narrow it down to two events… the first is my bachelor party, my last stand as a free man was spent on a May afternoon in 2006 watching the Yankees rout the Royals. Growing up in a baseball family with season tickets it is just one of the hundreds of games I have been too but being able to sit there with my closest friends was something I will never forget, i won’t forget about a $1000 worth of 8 dollar beers either!
My second memory was earlier this year during the heat wave that struck the city, once again the Yankees were playing the Royals and I was able to come to stadium with my wife. Sitting in the stadium watching the team I love with the woman I love is about as good as things get. (It was even better when Mo ran out of the bullpen and got the save)
Zach, I remember that day. It was my then Girlfriends birth day. It was the most nervous I had ever been, for two reasons–the yankee game and the fact that I was going to ask her to marry me that night.
We went out to a nice place to eat and the whole time she was ticked at me because I was distracted. She thought I was preoccupied thinking about the game. When I droped down to one knee asked her to marry me she said yes.
Having missed most of the game–dinner and all, we got back to my place I turned on the TV and like magic it was Boone’s at bat. Greatest Day of my life.
The 3 most memorable games I was at were 1)the final game of the 1999 world series as the Yankees won it all, 2) the Paul O’Neil game in game 5 of the 2001 world series and 3)last year when A Rod hit number 500 and I got in the scrum for the ball. Good thing I’ll always have my memories, they can’t knock those down with a wrecking ball.
The first game I saw there was the night Ron Guidry struck out 18 Angels and have been hooked ever since. Later in life, I used to live in Dallas but had one of those Sunday game ticket plans and would fly up early most Sunday mornings to watch games and then fly back that evening. I made it a point to bring my 5 year old daughter to a game this spring so that a fourth generation of my family could experience an afternoon to the Stadium.
Yankee Stadium means so much to me. So many of the best moments of my life have come at that very building.
When I was a young kid, around 9, I was sitting in the front row behind the White Sox dugout. My favorite player was Derek Jeter, well, he hit a foul ball that Willie Randolph picked up. He looked at me and saw the smile on my face and threw me the ball. It was a ball that was hit by my hero and given to me by my favorite coach. Something I will never forget.
Then there was the best day of my life to date. I was 13 and it was a gift for my Bar Mitzvah from a great family friend. He had some how gotten me to go into the dugout and then go into the tunnel and hang around outside the clubhouse, where any player that walked by was fair game. When I sat in the dugout, I was literally sitting next to Joe Torre. He was one of the nicest men I have ever met. Then I went into the tunnel and I met half of the the 2005 Yankee team. Cano, Girardi, Posada, Matsui, Mo, you name ‘em, I probably met him. Out of nowhere Derek Jeter walks by along with A-Rod and Sheff. A swarm of media came by so I knew I had no chance of getting to him to get an autograph and shake his hand. So I decided to talk to him. “Oh my god, it’s Derek Jeter!,” I screamed. Derek turned, looked at me and said, “Hey, what’s up buddy?” That was the coolest moment of my life, and nothing can top that.
Then are the memories from games, like the first game of the 2000 World Series, the time where I sat in George’s box and got to meet Reggie and Cashman, and see the actual check that sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
So many things have happened for me at this park that I can never forget, when I imagine it not being there, I get a little teary-eyed. But there is something that no construction worker can ever take away from me, the memories.
Yankee Stadium will always hold many memories for me but as for most memorable, I’d have to say its the events of June 18, 2005.
I was 13 at the time and it was my first game (yeah I know, I’m young and 13 is kinda late to being to your first game). Before I go on I have to tell you I am a fiend when it comes to Derek Jeter. Every wall of my room is plastered with posters and banners and frames of the cap’n. I just love him, how he plays the game and what he exemplifies. I could go all day but I won’t be saying anything new as I know many of, if not all, loooove Jetes and feel the exact same way I do.
Anywho,
One of my uncles was able to get 4 tickets to the game. He called my house at 8 in the morning to tell us about it. I could believe the seats; fourth row behind first base. I went with my mom, my cousin and him. We went for batting practice (1 ‘o clock game).
It was my first game. I had on my home Jeter Jersey, my ‘05 Jeter sneakers (you know, the sneaker kind of the cleats he wears on the field), two yankee rubberbands on each hand (a Jeter one and a Yankee one). Yeah, pretty much a mini Jeter.
So yeah, I remember I sat next to this annoying, immature Cubs fan that kept yelling things at Tino. Probably the reason he didn’t throw a ball to the seat in between innings and instead flung them towards the Yankee dugout. I know he was the reason I didn’t walk out the stadium with a souviner.
I remember sucking in everything I could. I marveled at every aspect of the ballpark. I took pictures of every hitter as he dug in for his first at bat of the game. I remember taking pictures of the Wanger as he wound up. Of every Yankees position player as they looked on at every pitch. Of the infield and the bleachers. Of everything basically. I remember how I jumped up for every fly ball thinking it was a homer instead of a weak fly ball. But, above all, I remember Jeter a little bit better.
I remember watching him jog back and forth from right behind second base to the foul line right in front of me. I remember yelling every time he jogged his way from the dugout to short and I swear he waved back a few times.
His first at bat, struck out (looking I believe, as good as my recollection of this day is I can’t seem to be certain). Second at bat, groundball to second. I remember shouting at him as he turn around 1st and headed back the dugout. Third at bat, pop fly to short right. Fourth at bat, with Robbie, Jorge and Bernie filling up the bases (forget who was on what base), BANG…granny. Left center. I remember watching Jetes running around the bases and getting congrats from his teammates as he touched home. I remember the crowd going crazy, asking for a curtain call to which the cap’n obliged to. I remember feeling….great.
I remember his hustle. And I also remember reading in his book something along the lines of ‘you never know who’s watching you for the fisrt time, or who’s at the game for their first time…you always have to hustle and play the game right ’cause you never know who’s watching you.’ I was watching him and he was and still is my idol. He made my first game great and unforgettable and that’s why that’s my fave memory of TOYS (the old yankee stadium).
Oh, and I almost forgot. He hit another homer in his next ab, this one to right center, finishing the day of 2-5, 2HR, 5RBI.
One of my earliest memories is going to a Bat Day doubleheader at Yankee Stadium with my father and younger brother. It must have been 1966 or -67. There was trouble with gnats even then, and they had to spray the Stadium the day before. I remember my father smoking cigars to keep the gnats away from us. I remember holding onto my Mickey Mantle Little League Louisville Slugger; my borhter got a Joe Pepitone model. I think they were playing the Athletics, but the details are foggy. We left about the 7th inning of the second game to beat traffic back to Brooklyn.
I’ve been to many games at the refurbished Stadium, saw some great baseball. My wife and I saw Alex hit No. 500. I will always remember the playing of “Enter Sandman” when Mariano came in.
I can’t really put into words what that old structure means to me.
I still have my Mickey Mantle model bat in my closet at home.
Let’s Go Yankees and win today. For the ghosts of all our memories.
My father came from Italy at a young age. In the 1950’s, he worked hard 51 weeks of the year, but for one week, he closed the grocery store and took the family, via train, from Burlington, VT to New York city. He always picked a week when the Yanks were home, so we went to a game nearly every day. He taught me how to keep score and I still have all those programs as well as the souvenirs (autographed balls, etc) in storage. When my son was a teenager, I used to bring him with me on business trips to the city. We’d go to a game at the Stadium and stay overnight in Ft. lee, NJ. This past summer, I was thrilled to attend a game not only with my son but also with his two sons, 7 and 4. I couldn’t help flash back to those days when I used to go to the Stadium with my father. Hopefully, my grandsons will remember that day, and someday will bring their children to the new Stadium and say, “My Dad and Pop-pop (that’s what they call me) brought me to the stadium when I was a little boy”.
The tradition continues……Amen
I agree with Travis I grew up at this Ballpark. So many fond memories, from my 1st game Tom Seavers 300th win and Scotter getting ran over by a cow, to Boone’s hr. There are just so many memories. I will there tonight. The new stadium will be great very expenisive but as a Yankee fan who grew up here the memories will not move over there so tonight is just one more game to soak it all in. Enjoy. Pete as always I look forward to your updates during the game.
At the stadium as a boy watching Harmon Killebrew hit a frozen rope over Mickey Mantle’s head in dead center bouncing maybe one time before getting landing behind the monuments which at that time were on the playing field in center, by the Mickey retrieved the ball and got it in Killebrew had scored.
Or taking 4 tickets no one else wanted for a Sunday afternoon game against Montreal and then to watch David Cone’s perfect game.
All the great games I saw in the 60s, 70s, Mickey, Roger, Yogi and Thurman. I’m down with the need for the new stadium, but it will be really tough to watch tonight’s game.
To Pat Kelly… I TOTALLY AGREE… This the team I emailed to my brother the other day…. Lets do it… Lets start the BringMannyHome fund right now !
I grew up here in the 80’s and witnessed many spectacular games in person in the 90’s and 00’s including David Cone’s perfect game, game 5 of the 2001 World Series and Roger Clemens 300th win. Today I’m on my way to see the final game with one request. I’m not asking for anything spectacular, just don’t get eliminated today. That’s all.
Thanks for the memories and here’s to one last one.
What The Stadium means to me is my Dad. You see I am only 40 years old but my father was 57 when I was born. He saw all the greats play. He was at Opening Day against the Red Sox in 1923. He told me he was about 10 feet from where Ruth hit his HR against the Red Sox that landed in the RF bleachers. He passed away in September of 1997 at the age of 86. I am grateful he got to see one more Championship before he passed. His favorite player was The Iron Horse. Whenever the movie Pride Of The Yankees came on and when the end of the film would was on the tube he would leave the room. He brought me to my first Yankee Stadium game that I could remember (my first game was at Shea a year earlier in May of ‘75 against the Orioles) at the new renovated Stadium in April or May of 1976. Catfish Hunter was pitching and we lost on a cold rainy day 6-2. Catfish did not look good that day. I wonder what my father is thinking right now about this being the last Yankee game at this Cathedral?
Some others moments that are fond are going to doubleheader games in ‘77 and ‘78 and seeing Guidry pitch at least 5 times live during that memorable 1978 season he had.
Last, I fondly remember a game on May 13, 1985 against the Twins when I was sitting in the first row behind the tarp on the first base side and Ed Whitson dug us a huge whole and we were down 8-0 after 2 innings. We kept chipping away and Donnie came to bat with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth and the score was 8-6. He drove a Ron Davis fastball into the RF seats for a walk off HR. That was the first time I actually heard the way the ball sounded against a bat and new it was gone from the get go. Sweet sound.
Oct 26, 1996
Sec 616
Row B
Seat 7
3-2, Yanks over Braves
Johnny W’s high wire act in the 9th. Still gives me goosebumps. Nuttin like being there
I’ll keep this as short as possible. Yankee Stadium is a place unlike any other I have visited. The Stadium brings people together like no other, fans and casuals alike to be able to enjoy the game on a level like no other. The atmosphere is just one to behold and being surrounded by a bunch of fans poking fun at the one guy wearing another team jersey is flat out fun. Just being there to see the players in real life may sound like a regular tidbit, but it really is that much better and knowing you’re there for it all makes it all the more special. Great memories, good food, and here’s to a future unlike any other!
I went to my first baseball game in Yankee Stadium in 1970. The Yankees lost and no memorable HR’s were hit but I still knew it was a great day. My mom told us that day that she used to take her vacation from work when she was young to coincide with Yankee homestands because a day at Yankee Stadium was better than a day at the beach. I think it was that same year that I went to my first Giant football game at Yankee Stadium.
My uncle had Yankee season tickets in the 70’s and 80’s and I went to the games often. I even had a chance to meet and speak with George Steinbrenner a few times and he was always very nice to me. My husband and I had season tickets in ‘95-’97 and getting to see the 1996 WS somehow made sitting through so many losing games in the 80’s worth it.
Life, children and lack of disposable income don’t allow me to get to the Stadium as often as I would like now. In a strange way, this blog has become a virtual Yankee Stadium for me. It’s a place that I can go to watch the games with other people who love the Yankees.
I’ve had the privilege of covering a handful of Yankee games when I was a sportswriter in CT. Walking into the Stadium, you really can feel the greats who walked there before you. It’s all the little things, like standing on the field during BP and listening to the sound of the ball hitting the bat and how the accoustics of the empty stands make it sound like an explosion. I got the opportunity on several occasions to watch Joe Torre hold court in the dugout pre-game, and the way he so deftly handled the media with grace. I got to do some of the things I’ve always wondered about (Is the padding on the dugout bench comfortable? Not really. What’s the Yankee clubhouse like? Impressive. clean. I got to look at Thurman Munson’s locker. Thurman was my favorite player as a kid. He played hurt and quietly did his job amid the chaos of the 77 and 78 champs. Seeing his locker was an honor.
It’s true as a sportswriter that when you are working, you don’t really care who wins (even with me being a Yankee fan). Essentially, you root for the story and a deadline that doesn’t cause your pancreas too much pain. But I’ve worked two major sports stadiums on a semi-regular basis: Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl, and I tried to remind myself every time that I walked in those places of what an honor it was to do so. I always took a moment to soak in where I was.
I will miss Yankee Stadium. The new place will be clean, comfortable and fun, but Yankee Stadium it will not be. Enjoy today and keep it in your heart, as I will.
Pete, can you sneak me in?
Tragically, my first baseball game was at Shea in 1976, Mets against the Big Red Machine.
I don’t remember a lot from the game(6 yrs old), but I distinctly remember a voice from the Reds dugout, and exactly what he was saying:
“Well, at first Perez over Gehrig is a no-brainer.
At second, well there is me over anybody the Yankees have ever put out there
At short, Concepcion is better than Rizzuto
Third base, Rose hands down.
Outfield of Foster, Gerinomo, Griffey no question beats Mantle, DiMaggio, and the fat man with little girl legs.
Our pitchers, well, nobody has ever heard of them, but in a big game, I’ll take them over anybody I can think of on the Yankees. So I would take our team in a sweep over an all time Yankee team”
I never could place that voice until ESPN started doing baseball!
Today as I sit reading the Sunday papers with the soundtrack of Field of Dreams in the background,I was thinking of my Dad.He,along with the Stadium,was born in 1923 & would often take me to the Stadium during my childhood in the 1960’s. We’d sit in the bleachers for a doubleheader against the Tigers or watch Mickey hit 2 HRs against the Twins & Jim Merritt or go to Opening Day or Bat Day (my Tom Tresh model).
But,as I think of my Dad,my real hero,I remember how he understood how a 15 year old boy could idolize Mickey Mantle and how he made sure that his son could be at Mickey Mantle Day in 1969. I was just thinking this morning how hard it must have been to get tickets and yet we were in the lower tier down the right field line watching Mickey drive all along the Stadium,waving at the fans. I was beaming & so was my Dad,just happy that he could make his son see his idol’s farewell.
My Dad wasn’t a huge baseball fan but he knew I was so it was important to him. Every night when he would come home from work,2 gloves & a ball were sitting on the porch waiting his arrival. And,in his shirt & tie,as soon as he came home,we would have a game of catch. My Dad passed on in 2003 but today a flood of memories of the Stadium & my Dad have overwhelmed me today. Mickey will always be my favorite baseball player but when I think of the Stadium,I’ll always think of my Dad & how he brought the black & white images on our TV to life,taking his son to his Field of Dreams,Yankee Stadium! I love you Dad!
Bat Day!!!!
1966, 1967 and 1968!!!
Blazing hot days..Newark NJ…Firemen…Policeman with their sons including some young Tony Soprano’s to be…queing onto the bus in front of the neighborhood bar, pumping out exhaust…while barrell chested men…lifted huge kegs into the magic coach parked at curbside looking down at the sidewalk below…the adrenalin…beer and soda…massive blocks of ice to keep em cool…the bench seat in the back of the bus…waiving at the cars behind as we cruise over the GWB…and pressing against the window to see “The Stadium!” Yes! There it is…Yankee Stadium…the H&B bseball bat…the incredible green grass…the Monuments in the field of play!!!
Elston Howard, Mel Stottlemyer, Joe Pepitone, Horace Clark, Gene Michael, Jerry Kenny, Jake Gibbs, Roy White, Bill Robinson, Tom Tresh, Al Downing, Stan Bahnsen, Lindy McDaniel, Steve Hamilton, Dooley Womack, Ralph Houk…Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer and MICKEY MANTLE!!!
The Bat Day Salute 60,000 fans on there feet raising bats on high…Mickey!!! Mickey !!! Mickey!!!
And The Mick bangs a screaming liner of the auxilary scoreboard in right field!!!
I remember my Dad taking be to bat day for my birthday every year. My brothers and sister couldn’t come and I got a yearbook, pennant, box seats and a brand new bat. Once I even got a Mickey Mantle bat, but usually it was Roy White, Horace Clarke or Tom Tresh.
I also remember asking my Dad why they buried three people in center field.
I was at the Mick’s last game, a nondescript loss to Cleveland on a September afternoon in 1968, and they let us ron on the field afterwards. I almost got Whitey Ford’s autograph and filled my pockets with dirt from the infield and grass from the outfield.
I got to go to Mickey Mantle day the next year. That was me in the RCF bleachers and The Mick waved right at me (I swear!).
I saw Ron Guidry whiff 15 and Reggie hit # 400 and Graig Nettles’ amazing plays in the first two games of the ‘81 World Series. That was the first time I took my wife to the city and she’s been hooked on NYC ever since.
But perhaps the greatest thing of all has been bringing my daughters to the Stadium just about every summer. Eventually they became big time Yankees fans and one day I’ll take their sons to the new place and tell them stories about the “real” Yankee Stadium.
I’ll be watching from 1,000 miles away as they close the old place tonight. I understand the need to have a more modern facility, but it’s still sad that one of my two favorite places on earth will soon be no more.
They aren’t going to build a new Central Park are they?
A lifetime of memories and many that I have already forgotten. Growing up in the Mid-Hudson Valley about 2 hours north of The Stadium, I played organized baseball from little league through high school. Each summer, my father and I took the bus to NYC for a weekend series in the Bronx. We stayed at the Manhattan Hotel, long since gone and ate at the auto mat.
My first weekend series was in 1958 with my favorites: Bobby Richardson, Ryan Duran (always threw one into the screen warming up), Whitey Ford and Bobby Shantz. The 61 team was my most memorable with Mickey, Roger, Elston, Yogi and still favorites Richardson and Boyer.
Though my short term memories are not as recoverable today nearing 60, listening to the radio broadcast of the 60 World Series Game 7 and a weak-hitting Bill Mazorowski hitting the winning HR over Yogi’s head in LF will stay with me forever. I still remember crying walking home from the school bus stop.
My last Stadium memory was of being in the nosebleed section of the upper deck behind home for the finale of the 1976 playoffs, when Chambliss hit his walk off HR against KC and the fans swarming the field.
I’ve since moved to SoCal but saw the Yankees lose 2 games last summer in SF beautiful new park. Amazing to watch fans arrive at the game by ferry from Oakland and the view of the SF Bay from the upper deck.
Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to go back to NY to catch a game at the “new” Yankee Stadium.
SoCalYankeeFan
In July of 1976, two friends and I jumped on a train in Toledo and headed for the Big Apple and two games in Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox. In the Friday night game, Doyle Alexander took a no-hitter into the ninth. Boston got three hits in the ninth, but the Yanks won 9 – 1.
The hitting stars for the Yanks were Graig Nettles, Fred Stanley, and Mickey Rivers. Ed Figueroa was the winner the next day, a Saturday day game.
Also attended the 1977 All Star Game, and Reggie threw a ball up our way which bounced off my brother’s hand….d’oh!
We played baseball every day, after school, all day on weekends, and always in the empty lot behind the auto dealership. We lived and breathed baseball and only knew about professional baseball as some distant fantasy of our fathers. Players were their gods, but soon to be ours. For boys then, a trip to Yankee stadium was more than exciting–it was, quite simply awe-inspiring! I distinctly remember my father telling me we were going to a game. My first concern was how my sandlot team would manage without me. But when we arrived at Yankee stadium, the sheer magnitutde of the place was overwhelming. The smell of peanuts, hot dogs, and beer will stay with me forever, reminding me of that first experience. But the most incredible memory I have was walking through the tunnel and opening up before me was a huge expanse of green–bright and beautiful. I tucked my glove firmly under my arm and followed my father to our seats. I watched the entire game as if in a trance. To this day, I have no idea who won the game, I barely remember the players, but the stadium was absolutely glorious! As parents go, my father was ok. But that one memory of Yankee stadium was so over-powering, I appreciate his efforts more and more as the years go by–and only hope that somewhere along the way, somehow, I’ve given my children a similar experience.
On July 1st, 2004 (a year that would be remembered for so many other things than what I’m about to describe) my sister, my godfather, his son, and an 18 year old version of myself sat in Tier 2, Row M, Seats 9-13, anxiously awaiting the first pitch of the game from Brad Halsey. We had no idea of what was about to transpire, but when Pedro Martinez drilled Gary Sheffield in the bottom of the first, causing him to point his bat at the long despised pitcher in frustration and disgust, we knew it would be something special…
Jeter’s Dive…Miguel Cairo’s triple leading off the 12th in a tie game (only to be squandered there)…Manny’s top of the 13th home run, that seemed to take the air out of the place…the comeback, down 4-3, all with 2 outs…Sierra, Cairo, and…Flaherty…
I’ll remember that day for the rollercoaster that it took my heart on, the complete disregard for safety that Derek Jeter (my favorite) showed for his body. Alex at SS. The unlikely heroes in the bottom of the 13th, pure beauty. The last time I ever got to chant “19-18†at the top of my lungs and have it mean something….
…But mostly, I’ll remember it as the last time, since that year, that I saw the famed “ghosts of the stadium†show up, and help our boys win one, and I’m thankful that I was there to see it.
What does Yankee Stadium mean to me? Its simple: pure joy, exhilaration, escape, and in the words of Johnny Drama….VICTORY.
God bless the Yankees. : – )
I just want to thank you all for sharing your stories with all of us. Some have been poignantly amusing (”still the car didn’t move”) and others simply very touching. What strikes me so much is how all your memories are intertwined with the people in your lives. And how those memories will always transcend time and place.
I have only been to the Stadium once. It was a weird time in my life, so I was not “into” it, sadly. I have a vague recollection of Paul O’Neill in right field, as we sat in right field. I don’t remember who won or lost. It was a beautiful, sunshiny, blue-sky day. I myself am anxious to get tickets to the new Stadium.
My husband was fortunate to go to a game in the playoff with Boston in 2004. He called me from the stadium to tell me how much the place was shaking and how incredible it was to be there. I was so happy that he got that opportunity, and very happy that he called me while he was there. Is it strange to say that I felt that even though I was at home watching and he was at the Stadium, that the phone call made it seem like we were together in both places?
Enjoy today everyone! May the baseball gods smile on the Yankees and their fans today.
I don’t have any spectacular game memories, but every moment at the Stadium was spectacular. Walking out of that tunnel to see the field in all it’s glory always took my breath away – the emerald green of the grass, the snowy whiteness of the bases and baselines. Does it get any more perfect than that? As a kid, I loved the Bat – it was the place that everyone met and it was a true landmark. I still love that Bat. To me, YS is a cathedral- and today is a very sentimental occasion for me. It’s the only stadium I’ve grown up with, so I’m very attached. I’m glad that the field will remain and be converted to parkland. I’m also glad that YS is not going to be demolished; that would break my heart.
Gamewise, for some reason, I will always remember my father catching a foul ball off the bat of O’s catcher, Doug DeCinces.
All this being said, I think the new YS will be wonderful and it will make its own memories. I hope fans give it a chance.
I also remember just watching on tv and listening to the antics of Scooter, Bill White and Frank Messer. Listening to them was the greatest memory I have of being a Yankee fan, that and listening to the Yankees theme on ch 11.I hope Bill White shows up today.
What could Yankee Stadium possibly mean to a 22 year old woman?
In 2001 I watched October. I watched October and November.
And I saw that, in the end, all that mattered wasn’t whether or not the Yankees won the game, but that they played at all. And I realized how spoiled I was, that I could call a team like the Yankees, my own.
Yankee Stadium has lots of meanings to me, and hopefully, this will be the home of the 2008 World Series Champions. There is still of a chance of the yankees making the playoffs, if they just keep winning and boston loses, we can actually beat them in the final series of the year
I have been a season ticket holder for 7 years now and have been going to the stadium for 25 years. I have many memories. I was there for Doc Goodens no hitter, Clemens 300th win and Tinos return the same game. Arods 3 HRS, world series game 2 in 03,playoff games. I was there when no one else was in the 80s and they were terrible but still loved it. I was there when Bobby Meacham and Dale berra got thrown out at home plate on the same play. My favorite player is Don Mattingly and all the great memories from him. I wasn’t there but just seeing him make the playoffs in 1995 was unreal. I can go on and on, i still get goosebumps evertime i step into the stadium which i did for the last time on Tuesday night and as great as the new stadium will be i dont think you can recreate those feelings. Lets just hope in 25 yrs we will have a lot more great memories. Goodbye Yankee Stadium you will be missed.
Pete,
Two BEST games I ever saw at the Stadium live: Game 2, 1995 ALDS against the Mariners. I was about 8 rows away from where Mattingly’s last home run of his career landed. I’ve never, ever, ever, ever felt the stadium that loud in my life, and never again. It was pure, raw emotion. The whole place shook: David Cone’s perfect game. What can I say, I actually feel priviledged to have been there. I saw something happen that has only happened what, 16 or 17 other times? That’s pretty darn special.
My favorite memory, however, is pretty obscure. I don’t remember the date exactly, but it was 1993, it was a day/night double header against the Tigers, and at that time it wasn’t exactly hard to get Yankee tickets:) Yanks won the first game easily, and my friends and I stayed for the second game, moving down to the “good seats” to watch that game. Mattingly was out, nursing a hand injury, and come the ninth inning, the Yanks were down by a run. By that time, there were maybe about 10,000 people in the stands, if that, and the Tigers (might have been Bolton) got one quick out. I don’t remember who the second batter of the inning was, but all I remember is that, while he stepped to the plate, out from the dugout, with a bat in his hand, came Don Mattingly to pinch hit. The whole place erupted. Everyone went CRAZY. 10,000 people easily sounded like 50,000. People were stomping, clapping wildly and chanting “Donnie Baseball.” The batter at the plate drew a walk, and as Bob Shepard announced Mattingly’s name to pinch hit, the place went even crazier. The first pitch was wild, runner now on second. The second pitch was (from what I could tell) a fastball down the middle, which Donnie LINED down the right field line for a single, scoring the tieing run. The place went bonkers and, as a kid who idolized Mattingly, it was a one of the greatest experiences of my life. The Yanks ended up going to extra innings and Wade Boggs hit a homer to win it in the 10th I believe, but I’ll always remember that moment, and it is my favorite Yankee Stadium memory.
My first memory of being at the stadium was at age 6, game 162 of the 1961 season. Of course at the time, I had no idea of the significance. My last memory, this year…. the final game against the Red Sox at The Stadium.
1. Wade Boggs riding on the horse
2. Jeffery Maier game – started our dynasty.
Hey everyone, yankees.com….they are showing some of the classic World Series games from Yankee Stadium for free. Airing right now is Game 4 2001 World Series (Mr. November Game). The game is in the 7th inning right now. No commercials! Just thought a few of you might want to check them out today.
I guess my favorite memory was my first game there. June 22, 1989 against the White Sox. I still have the ticket stub. My Dad and Grandfather picked me up from my last day of kindergarten. They had bought me a Yankees Jacket, the type they wear in the dugout and surprised me when they told me where we were going. When we got there I was just so thrilled and so completely blown away by how big it was. My Dad and Grandfather pointed out different things in the Stadium like the facade and the monuments. Mattingly hit a couple of homeruns and the Yanks won the game. Apparently I didn’t stop talking about the game for a couple of days. Since then I’ve probably seen more than 100 games there. But I’ll always remember that 1st one.
I still haven’t come to grips with the fact that YS is gone after tonight. All the memories, aura, ghosts, magic etc. are done with. The Yankees are not the Yankees without YS.
The emotion in that place will be surreal tonight, even though the game is meaningless in the standings, I have a feeling we will recreate some of the magic for the very last time this evening.
I did about three entries on my memories.
http://www.soxandpinstripes.com/
Feel free to read them I should be live blogging too.
In short, if you choose not to share them with me over there, Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter and a Jeter walk off in ‘96 over the Red Sox (overcoming 7-1 and 11-7 deficits)
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09212008/news/columnists/gazing_back_on_the_glory_days_130116.htm?&page=1
Not sure if George physically typed that article this morning or if it was Rubinstein, but a very nice recollection of the glory days from the Boss himself.
Donny Baseball homers in the playofs in 1995- been there for many of our big games since then, there was nothing quite like that-
Something else that came to mind:
For so many fans, baseball was simply a way to bond with a parent–a father, especially.
There’s some truth in that for me, but not in the sense that it is for most people.
See, Dad (and Mom) are not into sports. Okay, Mom will watch the Olympics, but that’s about it. It’s not that they have any intense hatred of spots, it’s just something that doesn’t interest them, like say Desperate Housewives doesn’t interest me.
Still, before Dan and I were old enough to take the train to New York by ourselves, Dad would get us tickets and go with us. Not because he wanted to, but because he knew that we wanted to go.
And every time I’m a little upset at Dad, I think of that.
I think of how he never complained, only rarely made us leave early (if it was a night game and we had school the next day), was willing to sit through two hours of traffic each way, how he even took us to Monument Park even though Dan, my brother, was still a little too young to understand what it meant.
The first game I remember was the Mattingly-Winfield batting title race. It was one of the last games of the year and the entire crowd was chanting MVP for Donnie Baseball every time he stepped to the plate.
I remember going to 100s of games as a kid with my dad, they seemingly always lost in the mid to late 80s and then into the 90s.
I remember the excitement of the 1994 season and then its sudden halt.
I remember my first playoff game in 1996, after waiting for what seemed like a lifetime for them to get back into the playoffs, which they finally did in 1995. My friend and I sat in the upper deck in the very top row. As the game winded down and went into the late innings, we moved down to the box seats and watched Dean Palmer throw the ball away for a Yankee win. I remember standing on top of our seats singing New York, New York at the top of our lungs and then walking out of the stadium chanting “Let’s Go Yankees.”
I always remember the stadium as a place where I went with my dad. As an expectant father in November, I hope the same holds true for the new stadium with my child.
My Uncle lived in the Bronx all of his life. He was born in 1933 and passed away in the Summer of 2006. Before he came to live with our family in the Fall of 2002, I got a chance to go to a Yankees game with him and I will never forget it. His legs were failing him and we needed to use a wheelchair for him to be able to enjoy the game. Our seats were between 3rd base and left field, but I wanted him to get a better view. I walked down to right behind home plate and asked the usher if we could move down there, in case the people in those seats did not show up. She said that would be totally fine. We got to stay there they whole game AND watch a Yankees victory over the Red Sox. It was one of my Uncle’s last days living in the Bronx after being there 69 years, and he loved every minute of being able to see a game from such a sweet spot. You could tell that he was going to miss his neighborhood and Yankee Stadium, as he was moving out to California to live with us and due to his failing health, he pretty much knew that he would not make another Yankees game in his life ( and Boy, oh boy, did he go to A LOT of them over those 69 years ! ). I was holding out hope that he would live to see the new Stadium open as I had heard that it was going to look like the Stadium that he first went to when he was a very small child. I was hoping to go to one more game in Yankee Stadium before they knocked it down, but it wasn’t in the cards. I know that one day I will make it to the new Yankees Stadium and when I do, I’ll know that my Uncle will be there with me in spirit and I’ll enjoy “taking” him to another game again..
i was at the game on friday night. it was one of those nights where i felt like i was exactly in the place i should’ve been. with the lights flashing every time jeter was up and then mo coming out of the pen in the 9th and derek doing one of his patented jump throws, it was just a perfect night. i love that place.
my all time favorite memory: donnie hr in 1995 alds vs. seattle.
Red Sox- 90-64
Yankees- 84-71
If the Red Sox go 1-7 they will be 91-71.
If we go 7-0, we will be 91-71.
That’s all we need. Well, of course we would like them to go 0-8 and they’d finish at 90-72, which means we would win the WC by 1 game.
We have the tiebreaker at YS. Wouldn’t that be something?
But to be realistic (if that even makes sense in this thread), we have to go 4-0 in the next four games. The Red Sox have to go 1-3.
Then, we will have destiny in our hands.
That folks, is semi-realistic.
Let’s hope the B Jays can defeat Mats and the Sox today. Hopefully this Richmond guy holds them in the game.
Then, the Sox have to go 1-3.
The Cliff Lee vs. Byrd matchup is in our favor.
Hell, the Carmona vs. Wakefield is in our favor too. Let’s just hope Carmona isn’t suspended this before this game.
If the Indians take those two games, we can afford a Sox win against either Zach Johnson or Jeremy Sowers.
For ourselves, let’s hope Pettitte can pitch well through his injury and we can beat Chris Waters. You don’t know what you’ll get out of Waters. The guy is liable to throw a gem (9 IP, 4H, 0 R against TOR last week, 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R against Halos first start) or not pitch well (28 ER in 35 IP sans the TOR and LAA games).
I for one, dread playing in TOR, but that’s just me. Hopefully we can get to cold-hearted Litsch on Tuesday (Hughes- please give me at least 5 solid). The Moose WILL beat Purcey. However, Pavano vs. Burnett gives me chills.
Then folks, we have DESTINY in our hands.
Hopefully Shawn/Aaron Aceves can out-pitch Matsuzaka, who’s due for a bad start. Let’s work out some walks against this guy and knock him out.
Game two features the Pet man against Josh Beckett. Don’t be deterred by the numbers, Beckett is a good pitcher. But we can get to this guy. Pet would be pitching his funking heart out in this game. If somehow it comes down to the last game, I will pay 1 grand (hopefully substantially less) to just be there. It’s technically supposed to be Hughes, but trust me, they’ll throw out Moosey to pitch against Wakefield.
I guess I’m like a woman/man who was just dumped by the man/woman who I was going out with and still like, but I believe …
It’s a dump, basically. There hasn’t been good baseball played here for a long time. It’s about the 20th nicest place to see a MLB game. Time to move on.
Pete, I was there for Chambliss is 1976, Reggie’s three homers, Seattle to clinch first world series in 1995, Bernie in extra innings against Baltimore in 1996, Wade Boggs on the horse, and many others. You know what makes me sad, I’ll never see those types of things again in the new stadium because quite honestly, I won’t be able to afford or get in with these seats all going corporate. That’s the sad part to me.
Goodbye old friend, thanks for letting me have a lifetime of memories sitting in your dirty old blue faded seats. There will never be another quite like you!
I just realized something… When you go to the baseball page on ESPN or Yahoo sports and look at the players’ splits for certain ballparks, there will be
Yankee Stadium (old)
Yankee Stadium (new)
Just like they have for Busch Stadium
As a kid in 1950s seeing the FACADE where it belonged, defining the Stadium, with Whitey,Yogi, Moose S, Tony K, Bobby R., Gil M, THE MICK, Hector (what a pair of Hands) L,
Hank B, Elston H, & Co., roaming the field, with Casey at the helm.
The hugest crowd in Stadium history for a REAL doubleheader against Detroit, I believe on the 4th of July, back when the Stadium had no black screen in the bleachers & seating was allowed everywhere & a horrible hitting backround for the batters.
Being there for the NYGiants- Green Bay Championship game with a horrendous wind chill factor.Horning, Star & Taylor beat Y.A. Tittle, Gifford, Huff & Webster 16-7 because they could run the ball & it was too windy for us to throw.
As a kid, with friends, taking the LIRR to Penn Station & then a couple of long subway rides to get to MECCA early for BP, & the Steep view down from the 3rd deck behind Home Plate as you walked in and the great panorama enveloped you.
I regularly went to the Stadium from the mid-fifties till I escaped NY in 1974, & will always cherish my time spent there. I still love seeing the “REMODELED” offspring on my
“EXTRA INNINGS” package as I continue to religiously follow my beloved Yankees, Rangers & Giants.
Also had the pleasure of attending the Polo Grounds before it was demolished.
Here is my favorite memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZlUYUFwch8&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS284US284&q=don+mattingly&o
From my first game in the upper deck in right at a July Subway series game, to Game One of the World Series in 2003 sitting next to Bruce Willis ten rows off the plate, nothing will beat being in that stadium with my Dad. My Dad did everything in his power to encourage and enable my love for baseball, and all it did was build my love for my Dad.
Yankee Stadium, thankyou for great memories.
I must confess that many of memories of Yankee stadium could be fodder for nightmares as the Yankees defeated the Sox time and time again over the years!! lol
But for today I am taking the liberty to be a Yankee fan. I recognize that for today all other teams pale in significance to the Yankees who have dominated in baseball.
It was moving for me to Rebecca’s description of her Dad taking her and her brother to the games. Thank you for sharing that with us.
For one day I am hoping that everything goes well in Yankee land, that Pettitte pitches well and that Mo comes in for the save! And Mel…if you read this…yes I will wear my pinstripe boxers today!!!!
Sitting in the upper deck in RF with a shoppong bag & my glove catching BP dingers from Mantle, Maris,Yogi, Pepitone…..Watching Frank Gifford on a cold windy day in Novemember…..Watching Derek Jeter make the perfect relay throw in Game 1 of the 2000 WS against the Mets…..But for me personally, was in July of 1970, getting two hits in an American Legion Sectional Playoff game…..The Staduim was breath taking as I dug in at the plate….The Monuments seemed like a 3 wood away……Team lost at Shea the next week……
I’ve been a bleeds-pinstripes-Yankee fan since I was born, but I’ve never lived anywhere near NYC. I grew up in a podunk town in Missouri, then moved to Austin, TX after college. About once a year I’d go watch the Yankees when they were in Kansas City, the one guy in navy blue in a sea of royal, but I always wanted to see a game in Yankee Stadium.
Last year, I got my chance. I took my then-girlfriend (now wife) to New York on a weekend getaway, with two tickets to the Stadium in hand. We sat about eight or ten rows off of the field by third base (Jay-Z sat in the first row). I fought tears, sitting there. I just pictured all the baseball history that had happened in that ballpark, and I loved every minute I was there. It helped that Rocket was pitching that day (bonus!), and if I remember correctly, Jorge hit the go-ahead homer sometime in the middle innings.
It was a perfect day, and I’ll always remember it. I couldn’t make it back to the Stadium this year, but as much as I’ll miss it (and I *will* miss it), I intend to open the new stadium next year. It is, after all, where the pinstripes (will) play.
To me Yankees Stadium means baseball. It is a place that has captured the hearts and minds of millions throughout the world for 85 years. In my mind it is the greatest remaining of the old ballpark, not because it has nice surroundings, not because it’s the biggest, it is because of the feeling you get when you walk through the entry gate. When you walk in your body tingles and gets goose bumps as it senses the greatness and history in the air, smell, and sights. Just looking at the field and reflecting for a brief moment makes what you feel indescribable. Yankee Stadium is a ballpark indeed, but it is also a class on the history of baseball. So many game changing events have happened, so many greats have donned the interlocking NY and taken the field at this sacred place. From Babe Ruth and his first homer, to Gehrig and his speech, to David Cone and his perfect game, it is a plethora of baseball history. Perhaps this history has played a role in the successes of so many teams and so many players. In the Stadium it feels as if this history lifts teams to the top with heroic events. It is as if the hundreds of former, and departed Yankees are on the field and helping the unthinkable be achieved. Think back to all the walk off hits and great postseason play in the Bronx, was it just fate, or was there outside forces acting upon it? Finally to me Yankees stadium is a place for everyone. For youth and elders, for rich and poor, for every race of peoples, it is a place where Yankees fans can congregate and unite. Yankees stadium forms a parish of fans who listen and watch intently as the baseball game preaches to them the New York Yankees.85 glorious years, hopefully more glory to come in the stadium.
ray: There need to be more baseball fans like you, that can just appreciate the game for what it is.
And you’re welcome.
Hey Ray, thanks for being a Yankee fan today. I hope they never tear down Fenway, but if they do, I’ll be wearing red that day.
To this day the most excited I have ever been was that day back in the early 80s when I was a kid and my uncle said to me that he was taking me to my first game at the Stadium.
I’ll never forget that feeling I got walking in for the first time and to this day it all comes back to me everytime I walked in there.
All those Subway Series with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants were special.
No Stadium will ever be able to say they had World Championships of 6 repeats, 3 three-peats, 2 four-peats, and 1 five-peats.
One-sixth of all World Series were played at the Stadium.
The Stadium was a sort of stomping ground for my brother and I from the time we were kids.
In the 1980’s during my youngest years, my father took me to games on a regular basis. During the 1990’s I did the same for Nick. From the age of 13 or 14, when Nick was 8 or 9, we would head up to the Stadium during the summer and fall months in time for the gates to open. We would take in batting practice, get autographs, wander around. While other kids were playing in backyards, we were exploring the depths of the most historic sports franchise on a regular basis. We saw some historic things in those days. Perfect games, ALCS clinchers, postseason heroics. The most important thing was that the Stadium was fun. The fans and employees were friendly and positive. Everything was expensive as in any other Stadium, but not completely unaffordable. It was a place that a teenager and a young boy could go to.
It is obvious that the Yankee Stadium experience changed over the years. The team won year in and year out and reclaimed the status as top dog in the sports world. As the money-making empire that George Steinbrenner had created grew, tickets became more expensive and more sought after. Even before 9/11, Stadium security had tightened and taken away some of the fun of wandering around the stadium, getting different vantage points. After those terrorist attacks, the atmosphere changed everywhere, and Yankee Stadium was not an exception. Getting into the Stadium became about as fun as going through airport security.
It wasn’t just the venue that changed – the people attending the games changed as well. This is all highly subjective and is absolutely generalizing the millions of people who have attended Yankee games in the past 5-8 years. However, from 2008 – 2008 Yankees fans in general devolved from triumphant to spoiled to entitled to nostalgic and have finally settled in with a mix of all of those things topped of with a huge case of bitterness.
Ray,
Coming from a Red Sox fan, those comments meant a lot to us Yankee fans. While the rivalry is alive and well, its nice to see for some fans, there are moments that transend the rivalry.
It makes me recall one of the classiest moves I saw of King George. In 2004 he allowed Red Sox fans to celebrate longer in the Stadium saying that they earned it. While it killed me as a Yankee fan, it showed that certain things do go beyond team alliances.
Welcome to the dark side
at least for a day.
I’m younger than most of you, and probably haven’t had as many memories, but I’ll always remember Aaron Boone hitting the home run against the Red Sox to send the Yankees to the World Series, and I’ll always remember my last game at the stadium, early this year on July 6th, when Brett Gardener hit a soft single into center that probably should have been caught by the Red Sox shortstop, but got through and the Yankees won the game…it was a game full of emotion–the Yankees were still in the race, barely, and had lost two in a row to Boston, but this game was special. I finally got to see Joba start. A-Rod passed Mickey on the home run list. I remember Girardi coming out of the dugout looking like Lou Piniella, argueing and being ejected. The Yankees just kept fighting all night. We rode back the subway and ate McDonalds at 2am…what a night.
Yankee Stadium means to me:
Watching Joe D walk out to the field for Old Timers in 1987.
It’s watching Donnie Baseball’s long years of no playoffs, games started by guys named LaPoint, Hawkins, Perez and Trout, while also getting to watch guys like Guidry, Tommy John and Jimmy Key.
It’s getting excited at the development of a new player like Sterling Hitchcock, it’s seeing Jim Abbott throw a no-hitter.
It’s the heartbreak of 1995 and knowing that Donnie wouldn’t get a ring of his own.
It’s sitting through rain delays with a couple of hundred other people, before it was fashionable to go there.
It’s watching Claudell Washington hit a game winning homerun in the bottom of the 18th inning.
It’s watching a rookie start fulltime at SS after Tony Fernandez gets injured and never giving the position up.
It’s the resurgence of winning in the ‘96.
The new heartbreak of ‘97.
It’s getting spoiled by winning in ‘98, ‘99 and 2000.
It’s that first pitch at Yankee Stadium after the Towers fell.
Yankee Stadium is the Cathedral, where me and mine worshipped the Gods of Baseball, whiled away our Saturdays and Sundays and enjoyed sights and sounds and smells of our National Passtime.
oh, and how could i forget Mariano striking out Manny pinch-hitting on three pitches in the eighth inning, the stadium was rocking.
With The Stadium closing, I have mixed feelings. I’m fortunate enough to have experienced the Stadium at its finest. But, it’s sad to see something that had such an impact on my life go away. It’s like a funeral. My first Yankee Stadium visit came when I was 3 or 4 years old. It was a birthday party in the Bleachers. They were playing the Indians. The party, including the birthday boy, left after the third inning. I left after the 7th. Yankee Stadium isn’t just a stadium. It’s a member of my family. It lives and dies with us. It hurts us. It consoles us. It experiences the good times, the bad times. Yankee Stadium is a symbol. It’s gotten my family through adversity. It’s always there. And now, as the Stadium closes its doors, I’m losing a friend, a family member. The New Stadium ,however gorgeous and modern, is like the black eye on the family. You want to ignore it, but it’s always there. The Yankees are the fifth member of my family. We can argue with them, we can disagree. But always we love them. And with the Stadium closing, a part of me dies inside. A part of my life that can never be revisited. I’m losing the Babe, the Mick and, Joe D. Yogi, Whitey, Scooter, and Thurman. Mattingly, Rivera, and Jeter. When I leave the Stadium tomorrow night, I will surely be crying. And I won’t have the Stadium, my Stadium, our Stadium, there to console me.
What Yankee Stadium means to me.
Being a 17 year old young adult (kid in some circles), I have not experienced losing as a Yankee fan. So for me (until this season), Yankee Stadium was the one safe haven, the one place where I feel nothing can go wrong. The place is magical, and the greatest experience of my life is walking through the tunnel out to where you can see the field.
I first went to a Yankee game on May 16, 1998, a Yankees win over the Minnesota Twins. It was the day before one of those great games ever played at the stadium, David Wells perfect game. I’ve been to 13 games total at Yankee Stadium, and the Yanks are 12-1 when I’m there.
My favorite moment was the one playoff game I’ve been to, Game 4 of the 2005 ALDS vs. the Los Angeles Angels. Shawn Chacon pitched a beauty of a game, and Rivera closed out the win to send it back to Cali. I remember being on my feet for the last three innings chanting Bernie Williams, because we all thought it could have been his last home game (until he came back last season).
Another special moment for me was going a game in the Yankees-Giants series a few years ago. My seats were up at the wall down the right field line (foul territory), and Barry Bonds hit a moonshot directly over my head into the upper decks. It’s probably the greatest home run I’ve ever witnessed in person. Of course, the Yankees still won the game, culminating when Rivera K’ed Bonds in the 9th.
Something magical always happens when a game is played at Yankee Stadium. I’ve been to Yankees-Mets, two Old Timers Day games, and numerous others. I caught one ball in my lifetime at Yankee Stadium, a foul ball off the bat of Oscar Gamble in one of the Old Timers games. No matter what, the new stadium will never replace the old stadium. This place will have a place in my heart for the rest of my life.
Without question 10/7/62 as a kid sitting way up top watching game 3 Yankees-Giants. Maris was the man that day two run single and scored the third run in a 3-2 win.
Cathedral Requiem ( Revised)
The Ghosts of Ruth and Gehrig sat
Up in Tier 35
And wiped tears from translucent cheeks
As the final anthem died.
DiMaggio brought the popcorn
The Mick supplied the beer
He bought it up in heaven
Cause it’s cheaper there than here.
“An epic gameâ€, the Babe enthused
“The best I ever sawâ€
he chowed down on some hot dogs
And looked around for more.
Gehrig glanced out at his bat
Atop the center pole
And wished to get it in his hands
And feel its weight once more.
“I had a streak in 41’ the longest in the gameâ€
Then DiMaggio fell silent and turned to watch the game
“I did my best in 56’â€Mantle then exclaimed
“I wonder what I could have been if both my legs were gameâ€
Mystique and Aura, Saucy things
Each dancing at a pole
As Derek with his broken hand
drove a single through the hole.
Pettite our left handed ace
Dealt his greatest game
Glaring out beneath his cap-
His hate for batters plain.
The autumn sky had turned to black
When Mo entered the game
The Sandman tune was soon drowned out
By the faithful who remain.
Robert Merrill sang, and then Kate Smith sang
Then Sinatra one last time
Singers for the requiem
Living need not apply!
The Ghosts of Ruth and Gehrig sat
Up in Tier 35
And wiped tears from translucent cheeks
As the music died
“I wonder if we’ll feel the pain
When they wield the wrecking ball
I wonder if our hearts will break
When they breech the wall.â€
“Fear not, dear friend, the Stadium’s end
For if steel and concrete fall
The Stadium lives in our hearts
Whenever we recall.â€
The fans left standing in the street
On River Avenue
These corporate types in Luxury suites
Have little thought for you
Our paradise is lost tonight
Our little patch of green
But what a life we lived in there
The greatness we have seen.
I was there at David Cone’s perfect game with my cousin.FRom the sixth inning on I never sat down.And that was my first game of baseball outside of Puerto Rico.Never been to a stadium that had so much energy.Before that every baseball game I have been to looked like a minor league game.
It pains to see this team the last 4 years because this is not the team I use too.Hopefully next year we get back to our feet.I mean we are the Evil Empire.In Star Wars there were two Death Stars so it’s fitting to stsrt in a new ball park (aka Death Star).
favorite memory was when Rivera got Piazza to fly out to Bernie for our 4th WS in 5 years.
Having grown up in Norwalk, CT, I saw my first game at the age of 4 and fell in love with the Stadium ever since, including 3 years as a season ticket holder in Section 37..some very memorable games and experiences out there in Right field from 2000-2002! One the best days for me was taking the train and subway for the first Subway series with the two games at both stadiums. The electricity in the air and excitement of people walking into the Stadium that night was unbelievable.
My absolute favorite memory from Yankee Stadium does not have to do with watching a baseball game. Back in ‘93, I got to see the U2 concert at the Stadium. My friends and I had seats on the outfield grass. At the end of the show, we had to walk out of the right field area. I made some security guards very unhappy. I was going back, I was at the wall…I leaped and did my best Winfield imitation of robbing some hitter of a home run! I got a great round of cheers from fans as security was “politely” escorting me out. No harm done, do arrest or anything, just had to live out that one dream. My only regret was that no picture was taken!
It was sad that my last game was a rain-delayed beating at the hands of the Orioles in May. I wanted to go out on a happier note than that, but it is with a heavy heart that I will be watching from 3,000 miles away tonight. Hoping that the 57,000 plus at the Stadium will see a better send off.
Macadamia
Indeed that was a classy move by Steinbrenner. I would just like to add that each year Steinbrenner makes a very sizeable donation to the Jimmy Fund.
The Jimmy Fund is a charitable cause of the Sox that sponsors research and programs for kids that have cancer.
Just another example of a class move by the Steinbrenner family that far too often Sox fans do not acknowledge.
Listen it’s simple. This is Yankee Stadium. There is no other venue it sports that as many legends have called home and the same great athletes have performed in. It was not just a Baseball Stadium it was a Sports Cathedral. No sports venue will ever be able to claim as many spectacular moments. The only other place I could consider is also in New York and that is Madison Square Garden.
The New Yankee Stadium will be wonderful, and if it stands for as long I am sure it will be considered one of the greatest venues of all time as well. The future greatest Yankee of All time will have made the transition from Old to New Stadium. The probable future Home Run King will be hitting 800 home runs for the first time in the History of the Game. And the way the Yankees are run Many more championships will won and played in the Bronx.
Alex Rodriquez 800 Home Run’s
Jeter 4,000 Hits
My first game was in the summer of 1984. I was a die hard Yankees fan but up till then it was a secret. It was prohibited to listen to games or follow the Yankees in my very religious home. I’d listen to games on a watch radio I’d bought in Chinatown.
The camp I went to when I was fourteen was not aware that some parents were opposed to The Yankees and baseball.
I had to pinch myself when I heard that we were going to the Yankees game. It was against the Twins, and I remember very well my first glimpse of the stadium when I walked out from the upper deck.
It was a very religious moment for me and I remained still not hearing anybody and being swept away by the grandeur in a moment that will remain with me for life.
(Rick Cerone hit into a triple play in the game.)
When I was younger, I went to two games, but I guess I was too young to appreciate it. Earlier this year, I missed school to go see the Yankees take on the Royals.
When I walked through the tunnel leading into the stands, I was im amazement. Speechless, I gazed artound in awe because the hundreds of games I had seen on television couldn’t prepare me for that day. I was filled with pure thrill and passion.
Though the Yankees lost that day, I took home not only the tickets with the “Final Season” emblem on it, but the memories that I can share with my children someday.
Pete.
Great post and good idea to have people repsond with their fondest Yankee Stadium memories. I enjoyed reading all of them. It will make watching the game more special this eve.
All. Have a great Sunday. Hope time goes lightly.
-dennis
I’m 17 and yet I feel like I’ve lived since the stadium’s opening. Everyone is aware of the history involved with this team and it’s ballpark. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the idea that this ballpark, which seems like so much more than just a ballpark, is about to close it’s doors.
The first game I ever went to was a day game against the Blue Jays on a rainy day in the Bronx. I was in 5th grade I believe. It was raining on and off so it wasn’t the greatest day for a game but I was still in amazement from the moment I entered the stadium. It felt majestic and something bigger than what it was. I don’t remember who won the game but I do remember seeing Bernie hit one out and the scoreboard reading: Bern Baby Bern.
I’m excited to see the new stadium, which already looks incredible, but watching the Yanks leave this one is still sad nonetheless.
It makes me recall one of the classiest moves I saw of King George. In 2004 he allowed Red Sox fans to celebrate longer in the Stadium saying that they earned it. While it killed me as a Yankee fan, it showed that certain things do go beyond team alliances.
***************************************
Such thing would never happen in classless Boston. It can be well imagined what those goofs up there will say and do if the Yankees do in fact throw a wrench into a division championship in helping the Rays later in the week.
yankee stadium= baseball.
My memory of yankee stadium…
Too many to count really, I’ve been many a time. But the first time I’d ever been to a baseball game was July 28th of 1996. I had inexplicably become a yankee fan at the age of four (seeing as I come from a family of mets fans) and was then seven sitting with my grandfather and cousins in left field. I bought a yankee cap that day which I wore until it literally fell off of my head. Darryl Strawberry hit a walk off home run against the Kansas City Royals, the yankees won and I became a fan for life.
Yesterday was my last trip to yankee stadium. I was in the bleachers behind the bullpen. I wore my late-father’s yankee hat and in a weird way I felt closer to him there wearing his hat in a place that we had shared many a saturday afternoon game while he was alive than I had in two years. Yesterday in the 9th inning Bobby Cano hit a walk off single to win the game in what was one of the best games I’d seen in a long time. It was an appropriate sendoff. I’m really sad about losing the stadium but I feel a bit better about it after yesterday’s game.
Everything.
Neil,
I truly feel sorry for you. On a day when Yankee fans and even some Sox fans are celebrating and remembering all that Yankee baseball means you are whining about the Sox!!!!
Tonight I will hoist a glass filled with my finest Scotch, and have myself a time of reflection. Tonight ends an era, generations of fans and foes will watch as the Stadium lights go out.
Tonight I hoist one to what might have been, to what has been, and to what will be.
Thank you, Yankee Stadium, THE Stadium, at least for me.
Ray, sadly there are fans who just don’t quite get it.
No offense Ray, but I hope the Red Sox lose again today and the Yankees win, just to keep hopes alive through this last day.
For the 1st 30 years of Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were 1 of 8 teams that played in the American League.
St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, and Boston.
No teams existed west of the Mississippi River or south of Washington.
The National League had teams in St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, New York, and Boston.
hobbie, that song adaptation is beautiful.
ray (sox fan but a Yankees fan for today!!)
September 21st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Neil,
I truly feel sorry for you. On a day when Yankee fans and even some Sox fans are celebrating and remembering all that Yankee baseball means you are whining about the Sox!!!!
****************************************
1) Never whining but forever laughing AT Boston.
2) Would never disgrace myself by ever posting on a Boston board but thanks for your envy.
Pete:
As a loyal Yankees fan back to the 50s, I grew up loving this team, reading everything I found about its history, players and moments. Yankee Stadium for me is a second home, a secret one, the place where I find familiar with all the images, places and angle shots.
I had a wounderful career as a baseball writer in Mexico, making a weekly baseball magazine in the 60s and later covering the Mexican League for years for Mexico City newspapers. I´m now a financial newspaper executive who enjoys writing a bit about baseball in meaningful moments as this.
From the first time that MLBTV offered games yo us outside the US, I´ve been a frequent subscriber.
In fact, I take my favourite seat at Yankee Stadium everyday through MLBTV.
Rarely I lose a game during March through October.
I love the place, although I´ve never been personally there. I´ll miss it very much, but I´m planning to visit the new place with my son (also Yankee fan) next year to see the starting of a new and promising Yankees generation..
I live in Mexico City.
Hey Pete,
Is there any chance Mattingly will be there tonight?
I know he’s with the Dodgers and all, but I can’t help but feel like he needs to be a part of this tonight.
Yankee Stadium connects me to my father.
His stories of meeting Stengel, Ford, Reynolds, Raschi, Lopat, Berra, Mantle in Penn Station – his memories of Mantle’s deep blasts, the green paint on the old wooden seats – everything he tells me with such passion and longing.
It’s brought us closer together.
We’ll be sitting together tonight 7 rows back from home plate. My gift to him, for all that he has shared with me about this great game, this great team, this great place… Yankee Stadium.
It’s a place I went to with my father, who passed away in 2001 and who I still miss and think of every day. My father and I had fun together at Yankee Stadium no matter how well or how poorly the Yankees played, and we saw games there from 1968 all the way to the last run of World Series champions.
On one occasion in the 80’s, I took my father there for Father’s Day, and it was one of those seasons when you could buy tickets right at the ticket booth in Yankee Stadium. The ticket salesman assured me our seats had a great view on the first base side. When we sat down, we were sitting directly behind the foul pole. I want to the Yankee management office to complain about what happened, and without hesitation, they put my father and I directly behind the visitor’s dugout. We had a great day together. I will miss all of those times I spent there with my father.
Late 70’s maybe 77 or 78 with my cousins from Jersey. One was a Met fan and one was a Yankee fan, but both were huge baseball fans. As was I, even at the young age of 9 or 10.
My cousins, who were twins, to me were larger than life. And when they took me to Yankee Stadium,for the first time I realized it (The Stadium), and the N.Y. Yankees were larger than life too. We entered behind home plate sat in the upper deck and when we walked through the little entrance I was in complete awe of Yankee stadium in all its glory. Old Comiskey didn’t have nothing on this place. And since that day I have been a Yankee fan, and everyday since I have lived,loved,laughed,and bled Yankee baseball.
Family friends and co-workers my entire life have never really understood it. They never will. And I think deep down I don’t want them too.
Living in Chicago my whole life, born on the south side, living walking distance from old comiskey, I have seen my share of white sox baseball. I have followed the Cubs as well. Although I have never been to Wrigley field. And this year its nice to see both teams doing well, but they ain’t the Yankees, and most of you know what I mean.
And I just got home from the 800 mile trip last week to see my Favorite team for one last time at the greatest venue in the history of sports. (and as a bonus they beat the Rays and white sox at the two games I attended). And for one night I was a bleacher creature joining in the roll call.
I was like a little kid again, as i pulled up to the stadium on Sunday I had goosebumps and butterfly’s……….it was like a little mini dream come true and it was hard to hold back my emotions even at the age of 40, which was extra special because my 40th birthday was Sunday the 14th of September, and I got to spend it in the one place in the world that I truly wanted to be.
So the memories of those days I will cherish FOREVER.
“Hello my friend We meet again
It’s been a while Where should we begin?
Feels like forever
Within my heart
Are memories Of perfect love that You gave to me
Oh, I remember
When you are with me I’m free, I’m careless
I believe
Above all the others We’ll fly
This brings tears
To my eyes…………..”
My Yankee Stadium.
Vince
Yankee fan in Chicago
Anybody watching ESPN right now? They were showing people trying to take pieces of the building with them by digging into the wall. I hope the police don’t see them.
As for my fave Stadium memory, it would of course be the first time I went there. But the moment that sent me into hysteria was when Boone hit that homerun in 2003. It was disappointing that we didn’t win the whole thing, but the sound that came out of that stadium when that ball left the yard is something I will never forget.
It was the field where Munson was the Captain,
Where Nettles was at 3rd and Lyle was the closer.
Where as a small child I got to see them without a screen.
It was the place that was threatened by the owner “we’re moving to New Jersey” and the place that roared when he was banned.
It was the grass so green that touched your soul on entry, because Babe was there, Lou was there, Joe D was there, Mick was there.
It was resurrected by guys named Jeter, Pettitte, Mo and Torre and now it is being destroyed by guys named Levine, Trost and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
It was the place I had season tickets from 1990 and will no more.
It will be gone, but not ever forgotten.
Yankee Stadium will be gone after today and I out of love for my child idols, I will never step foot in Steinbrenner Park, because he always wanted to be linked to this team forever and he finally found his way.
Maybe someday in the future, a wiser man may undo what crime has been done, and return the Stadium to its rightful place on the 161st Street and River.
That is what Yankee Stadium meant to me.
David Cone’s Labrum……Soak in every moment of tonight’s game…..Of all the wonderful memories shared today, your’s will stick with me….I’ll be thinking of this tonight as I watch the game from the other coast …..
So many great moments.
I first went to Yankee Stadium as a seven year old on September 10, 1976. Yanks beat the Brewers. Catfish got the win. Oscar Gamble hit a grand slam to win it.
I went to college in the Bronx, and spend countless nights in those bleachers or the cheap seats upstairs. When I started at Fordham, bleacher seats were still $1.50. My sophmore year they rose to $4.50.
So many great nights out there, even though the team was so bad.
I was the bleachers for games 1 and 2 of the ‘95 ALDS, and his homer landed about 4 rows in front of me.
By ‘96, we were able to buy a partial season plan so I had better seats for all those great playoff games in ‘96 and partied there half the night after the Hayes caught that pop.
I can’t forget Cone’s perfect game, Justice’s HR off Rhodes to nail down the 2000 pennant, the Subway Series, Bush’s ceremonial pitch at the 2001 Series and, of course, Boone’s walkoff.
What does the Stadium mean to me? Lots of fun, excitment and the ability to relieve the excitement of childhood every team I enter the Stadium.
Tom:
Sorry to disappoint you, but Piazza’s fly ball that ended the 2000 WS happened in Shea Stadium, not YS. But you can hold that thought until next week when the blog begins taking posts on favorite Shea Stadium memories.
Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS on ESPN classic right now. Good times.
So many great memories of Yankee stadium. I wouldn’t even know where to start.
My favorite Stadium memory is sitting behind homeplate during the 95 season. It was an August game and the Yanks had a come from behind win. I remember the ground shaking. Fans had waited so long for the Yanks to get back in the playoffs, and altough they won the series in 96, the 95 team brought the playoffs back to the Stadium, and the fans went nuts.
thank you whoever said that game 7 was on ESPN classic!
almost all memories of yankee stadium are intertwined with my father. he first took me there as a 6 year old in 1955. having spent of 6 years of my life in maine, i was overwhelmed by new york and the stadium. i had never seen so many people in my life.
i wanted another hot dog and my father sent me up to get one myself( times were different then). two hours later they found me. i i didn’t tell anyone i was lost, and i think was planning my new life in this new york place. i thought for sure i had seen the last of former life.
i remember another time my father pointing to ted williams in his last year playing and telling me to remember him because he was one of the greatest players ever even though he was a red sox player.
i remember,at another game with my father, seeing al kaline in mid air before he made a game saving last out catch as he broke his collarbone.
but most of all, i started to understand somewhere along the line of what it meant to be a yankee. many years, one of my favorite memories in life is working for two years as a bullpen catcher for a clete boyer managed team after being told i was only there for a day until the real catchers show up. i totally stunk by major league standard and i wouldn’t let a badly sprained thumb from that first day stop me from continuing . watching mantle and co taught me that pain was just something that yankees didn’t pay attention too. you didn’t talk about it or let it stop you. somehow i passed the clete test.
a month later when the season’s games started, i was in uniform on the field(mckecknie field) talking to my father in the front row of the stands when graig nettles and clete came walking by. my dad had on his always present yankee hat. i stopped them introduced them to my father. they didn’t even know my name ,but they played along and acted like i was their good friend as they greeted my father.
later my father said he couldn’t believe he was shaking hands with the two best yankee third basemen in history. clete is gone now . billy died that winter while i was on that team. no one talked in the clubhouse that day. dying is part of the deal with yankee tradition. my father is exactly yogi’s age and will not be here much longer. the stadium going down makes me think of that more than anything.
Yankee Stadium has been a second home to me. As an 18 year old growing up in New York City, the Yankees have been all I know. My first game was Game 6 of the 1996 World Series – ever since, my family has had season tickets. I can’t even begin to describe the moments Ive witnessed. An initial ranking of my favorite five moments
1) Aaron Boone Game
2) 2001 WS – Game 4
3)1999 WS – Game 4
4) Opening Day 2003 – Matsui’s first game (Grand Slam)
5) June, 7 2008 – Damon’s 6/6 Game as the Yankees come back to beat the Royals in extras
Word’s cant explain how much Yankee Stadium has meant to me, and I will always feel a bit empty now that the Stadium is gone. Heres to the new one, hopefully another 100 years of ghosts will fill its hallowed halls.
Games at Yankee Stadium are like Sundays in church; World Series games are like Midnight Mass.
In its worst days The Stadium was Camelot inside of Fort Apache; the new one is a resort on a Caribbean island.
Yankee Stadium is the crowded urban high school we all went to. I’m class of ‘76.
Most of all Yankee Stadium is a place about which I talk to my dad, about things past and present, allowing us to take the measure of each other and be assured that nothing much has changed.
C’mon G-Men !
A nice win today from across the Hudson to salute the final day of the Stadium from which you once played in.
Earlier, I wrote about Scott Brosius’ Game 5 2001 WS homerun as a favorite memory of mine.
But as I think about things, there are so many more things that are not “game specific.” First, let me say that when the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue, that first view of the field as you walk up the runway and into the upper deck just takes your breath away. There is no other view like that in baseball, and I’ll miss it once the new stadium opens.
Also, in the ten years that I’ve been a partial season ticket holder, I’ve made lots of friends in the seats around me. None of us knows where we’re going to be seated next year, so we basically said goodbye yesterday.
As the game ended, I just stood at my seat, surveying the beautiful green grass down below, the view of the county courthouse beyond centerfield and the old Concourse Plaza Hotel at the crest of 161st St. in the distance, and realized I’d never be inside this old building again. That’s when my emotions actually got the best of me. A friend in the next seat had a tear running down his cheek.
But the sadness was mixed with the euphoria of a Yankee victory, and being lucky enough to once again hear the strains of “Enter Sandman” as the bullpen door opened and the greatest closer in the history of baseball emerged to do what he does better than anyone–shut down the opposition with a perfect ninth inning.
I’d love to be there tonight, but I consider myself very blessed to have seen so many great moments in Yankee Stadium and to have been able to share them with all 55,000 of my best friends…and the best fans in baseball. Thanks for the memories.
Great stories Randy….By the way, I too was at the Detroit game when Kaline ( great ballplayer ) broke his collarbone….Shame they just keep the place open next year and conduct tours of the entire stadium……
David Cone’s perfect game. ‘Nuff said.
DiceK cruising again. Ughhhhhhhhhh.
I am trying to upload my pictures from yesterday.
I have them on photobucket but I have other pictures that I don’t want viewed. How can I block those and only allow certain ones to be viewed?
my most lasting memory is seeing a whole section of drunk off-duty cops being tossed from the game. left a nice impression on a nine year old.
jennifer: there should be a public/not public setting. I know there is on Flickr, anyway.
I wrote about this extensively on my blog:
ttp://dunford.tumblr.com/post/51116667/the-stadium
http://dunford.tumblr.com/post/51116667/the-stadium
Whoops.
Anyway…it’s all about the little moments, for me.
Thank you for leaving Pedro in Grady. Thank you
My entire album is set to private, but I only want the photos from yesterday to be able to be viewed.
I set up an album for yesterdays photos not previous ones.
Sa- I’m watching as well. Of course they skipped over Mike’s inning.
Grady Little: Yankees 2003 MVP
I know. I wish they showed Moose coming in to pitch. He was great that day.
I was home watching this game, when Boone hit that HR, I could hear screams of joy from all the place and one of our neighbors set off some fireworks.
I don’t think I slept that night. lol
Great game!
3-0 Boston!!!
Ortiz schooling Toronto’s AAA pitcher!
My favorite in-stadium moment…watching Aaron Boone’s homerun against Boston. I am getting chills just writing about it. I’ve never heard anything that loud before in my life. The upper-deck shaking…the partying out under the “El” after the game. Utterly unbelievable…the only other in-stadium moment that may compare for me is Tino’s Grand Slam against the Padres in Game 1 of the ‘98 Series.
As for watching at home…seeing as how I’m only 27, my moments are limited to the past 15 years. Mattingly’s homerun against Seattle in his first playoff series. That was absolutely unreal. My favorite player…finally getting what he deserved. As Gary Thorne said on TV “This one by Mattingly…hold onto the roof….”. The place just erupted and you could even feel it on TV.
Lastly, the chant for O’Neill in his final game at Yankee Stadium. He was always my favorite player during the streak. The attitude he had and passion for the game…I wish someone on the current Yankees would have that. But when the crowd chanted his name…absolutely unbelievable. The stadium will be missed.
Okay, if you all want to see another classics game, 2001 game 4 is on YES.
Two games that I was lucky enough to be at:
1) Alex’s 500th home run
2) Game 4 of the 2005 ALDS. Yeah, we ended up losing the series, but Game 4 was amazing. Down 2-0 in the 7th, then rallying for 3 runs, and Mo coming in to pitch the 8th and 9th, retiring all 6 Angels hitters in a row. I had never heard the stadium so loud before. The place was shaking, and I was just hoping that the upper decks weren’t going to collapse…
Think the place will be that loud tonight?
My first time at the Stadium was in August of 1988 – dark days for the Bombers. I went to a Sunday afternoon game against the lowly Mariners. I took the subway up and was unsure as to where to get off. I saw a guy with a Yankees shirt and binoculars and so I sheepishly asked him if he was going to the game. In typical NYNY fashion he replied:”No. What do you think I go to freakin’ church with binoculars?” We hit it off right away.
My new friend asked where i was from. I said “Calgary, Canada”. He was an Islanders fan, and so he knew a lot about my hometown. I told him I was unsure of where to get off the subway. He laughed and said “If you get off at the wrong stop in the Bronx, they won’t never see you in Canada again”. So, he helped me to the Stadium, went to the box office and helped me get the best seat. Took me to the monuments. Showed me to my seat. He didnt have to do any of that, but he was a proud New Yorker and an even prouder Yankee fan. His kindness was unreal, and I always have a soft spot for a good NY accent.
The game was a dud- the only highlight was Donnie Baseball at first. He got the team going a few times, but to no avail. But, I will never forget sitting wide eyed and taking it all in – a place so familiar to me from the hey-day of Reggie’s three homers, and the black and white TV images of my youth from before that. It was truly a highlight, and i am only sorry that we lost to the freakin’ Mariners. Oh, and the fans let the Pinstripers know how unhappy they were with it too, which is probably my fondest memory. No place like New York….
I think it will be a wee bit loud tonight no matter what happens.
Though there are so many memories of the stadium (being there or watching on TV), I think the best for me was Game 3 of last year’s ALDS, when I was able to buy my dad playoff tickets. I was living on my own for the first time, in New York for the first time, my first job, my first apartment… and I got to take the man who made me a Yankees fan to the Stadium for a playoff game. That’s priceless.
Is anyone at the stadium? What is going on?
Fans line up early for final game
by Lisa Kennelly/The Star-Ledger
Sunday September 21, 2008, 1:01 PM
Just arrived at Yankee Stadium (a mere 7.5 hours before first pitch) and hundreds of fans were lined up outside waiting for the gates to open. A stadium usher was on the steps pumping up the crowd. From 1 p.m.-4 p.m. today, fans will be able to walk on the field as well as in Monument Park.
From the looks of the already crowded subway, the streets around the stadium and the crush of people shoving through the gates, fans are making as much out of the final day as possible.
I have lived my whole life in Md and have been a Oriole fan. I was a bigger Mike Mussina fan. My oldest brother was always a Yankee fan. After he made his first trip to The Statium he spoke of it with complete reverance. Each year he would return and loved it everytime.
When Moose was getting close to free agency my brother would tease me and all his friends that Moose would look good in a Yankee uniform. My brother died right before Moose signed with the Yankees.
I made my first trip to The Statium on a Mussina fan club bus trip. When I entered The Statium I felt as close to my brother since he had died. I have made a few other trips and will miss the chance to see it again.
jen: My friend’s been there since one.
Says he was five feet from Harlan Chamberlain.
I am a life-long Yankee fan who lives in Louisiana. Yankee Stadium has been a constant in my life since 1953. Even though I discovered and learned to love THE Stadium via television, no one who saw it live everyday could love it more. Today, a family member will die and a large part of my infatuation with the game will die as well.
I did visit THE Stadium in person last year, and that visit will be a life time memory. My hopes are that the ghosts will cross the street to the new stadium, but I cannot envision the mystique, the tradition, the history of THE Stadium being present in the new edition. I shall never forgive the Steinbrenners for killing all of those feelings which can never be replicated.
Off Topic:
source:
Some speculation by Morosi: The Tigers need a shortstop and could swap Dontrelle Willis for Boston’s Julio Lugo. Both guys are signed through 2010, Willis making $22MM and Lugo making $18MM. The Red Sox have shown a willingness to take on reclamation projects in pitchers like Wade Miller and Bartolo Colon, so why not Dontrelle when they have a more favorable (and fan-friendly) option at shortstop in Jed Lowrie? The Tigers could also use the spare $4MM and the Red Sox could afford the risk.
if thay’s the case, why don’t the Yanks do that and let Dave Eiland fix him up. The Yanks will be in need of a lefty starter if failed to acquire CC or Pettitte doesn’t come back.
source: mlbtraderumors*
That home run montage was fairly emotional.
who were the two starters in the last world series game played at yankee stadium?
pat m-
green beret 7 told me a few weeks ago that that line drive was hit by elston howard. it’s amazing how something that happened almost fifty years ago is still in the mind’s eye so clearly.
i’m sure for you, as all of us back then , mantle was the man. no one represented more what it was to be a yankee than mantle. i can’t really separate yankee stadium from the players who made up all those great teams. the present yankees who get what it is to be a yankee will be taking that spirit to the new stadium.
that’s the silver lining in the closing of the stadium. i expect my father to make the trip from northern connecticut next spring to see the new yankee stadium for himself. he’s going to want to see it. the torch is passed in a lot of ways. he’ll be screaming at the tv , calling someone the equivalent of ground ball bernie or damn arod, and i still won’t talk to him much on days the red sox beat the yankees.
My very first game at the stadium was truly an unbelievable experience. I was 16 years old and had been a huge fan living in the Catskills the previous 8 years. I remember the goosebumps coming up through the tunnel and how huge the place looked. Then of course, I was lucky enough to witness one of the greatest games I’d ever seen to that point – Yankees v. Red Sox, Yanks down by 3 in the ninth and win it on a Mel Hall grand slam!
With my next 11 games down to the stadium over the next 3 years, I remained undefeated (12-0 with some less-than-spectacular teams) and thought I had some special powers. Then of course I got older and started bringing dates to the games and my luck quickly reversed (at least 3 loses for every win I got to see).
A few years later I proposed to my current wife at the stadium like the thousands of other fanatical dorks like me (she said yes thankfully) and I am fortunate to say that most everything in our lives has been wonderful – other than the Yankees not winning a championship since of course.
And now we have 2 young sons and I really can’t wait to bring them to the new stadium and hopefully rekindle some of that old magic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t10twK4BZoc
Best video I’ve seen so far.
Here you are, Jen.
http://photobucket.com/faq?catID=40&catSelected=f&topicID=670
You have to set that specific album only to public, I think.
Although I wasn’t there for any special moments like any of you have. I just I was lucky enough to be at Wang’s near perfection game against the Mariners last year.
I don’t know exactly how to describe what the stadium means to me. I’m at the Stadium right now by Bleachers 59. I just got finished walking on the field 2 mins ago. The chills that run through your body when you step onto the same ground as Babe, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and so many other Yankee greats played is nothing ever felt before. Its surreal. Today is litterally a once in a life event. Something that I will remember as long as I live.
You could add a guest password just to that album too. That might work – thats what I do. My whole album is private too.
What Yankee Stadium means to me is the only good memory I have of my father as a child.
The first time I stepped into the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium I was seven years old. At the time I can remember the excitement started the night before. It was one of those restless nights and I was having trouble sleeping. I was raised a Yankees fan by my father and more so, my grandfather. It’s funny to think back to childhood as I can remember one of the first things I ever saw myself wearing in a baby photo was a little Yankees cap.
Needless to say, from the day I learned I’d be going to the stadium I was excited.
My uncle was working for a company at the time and constantly was able to obtain tickets. Unfortunately, he hadn’t received many Yankees tickets in recent years. My father had gone to many more games more so due to the fact my uncle was working full time at the time. Now that he was only working part time, he didn’t have as much access. When the tickets became available, he gave them to my grandfather.
The first person my grandfather thought of was me. My grandma retold me the story not long ago at my engagement party.
Apparently, my grandfather came out and asked my father
“Have you taken Christopher to Yankee Stadium yet?”.
My Dad replied as expected.
“Not yet, Dad.”
That did it for my grandfather. He didn’t want me waiting any longer. He gave my father the tickets and told him that we’re going. I don’t think it mattered if my dad had work that day or not , we were going.
The trip down isn’t something I can remember very well, but I do remember walking through the tunnel after we arrived. There were so many people there and I had never been around this many people in my entire life. I was a little jealous, I had a little t-shirt that said “New York Yankees” and a hat and everyone around me had jerseys. I left the stadium that day with two hats though, as I was one of the lucky kids to come on hat day(which is by far my favorite giveaway day even in the present).
The most vivid memory I’ll ever have is walking into Yankee Stadium. We had pretty good seats in the lower level out near right field, perfectly settled just under the second level, so we were shaded from any heavy sun.
When you’re seven and you walk into a building that big, it takes you back a step. I remember being in awe of everything around me. The stadium was far from full that day, but there was something electric about the place. I was in heaven.
That feeling remains today. That first game was a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays and I have a good memory of a loud obnoxious Toronto fan spilling beer all over my father and I. The obnoxious woman aside, that day was the beginning for me.
Since that day, I’ve always felt as if you’re incomplete as a Yankees fan until you step into that stadium. It completes you. The history of the stadium takes you in, embraces you, and makes you a part of it.
If you’ve been to Yankee Stadium, you ARE a part of that history. If you’ve seen one win, one loss, one hit, or one out. If you’ve seen Derek Jeter, Paul O’ Neil, David Cone, Brett Gardner play a game in the Bronx, you’re forever indented into the history of that stadium.
And if you were so lucky as to see the legends of the past, the Mick, Bucky Dent, Goose Gossage, Joltin Joe, or Babe Ruth, then it’s likely you’ve had the chance to witness some sort of history.
I personally am proud to be one of the millions of fans whose stepped into Yankee Stadium. Today is the last day that the Yankees will play a game in the “House that Ruth Built” and each and every one of us who writes about our experience today, has been a part of something great. We can’t forget that and I encourage each and every one of you to embrace that fact.
Yankee Stadium can be knocked down, but it cannot die because we won’t let it. Every time you share your memory of the greatest cathedral in all of sports, it lives through you.
Yankee Stadium, thank you for the memories. Thank you for everything you’ve given me. For bringing me closer to my friends and family and for the moments I’ll treasure the rest of my life. You will never be forgotten and you’ll live on in our hearts forever.
good luck yanks on a great day of baseball. sad to see the last game for the stadium. yankee stadium is baseball. lets all enjoy the moment as BASEBALL fans!
Rebecca,
I agree. Thanks. My favorite now, too.
Stuck in line outside the Stadium right now. They’re actually not letting anyone in early anymore. It’s a mob scene of angry fans outside.
One of most unique experiences was back in the early 80’s in the bleachers, back when drinking was allowed and the fear instilled in your bones as you came out of the tunnel and you see the field and then you look back to the bleacher crowd. It was 1983 and I was only 5 years old and I was with my brother and my mom in the bleachers. A couple of guys were smoking a joint in the row behind us, not a big deal, but picture a mother with a 5 and a 8 year old at a baseball game. So, my mother goes to the cop and tells them about the pot smoking, and the cop escorts the two guys out of the ballpark. So, I’m thinking, okay, I got a good five years on this earth, at least I die and my last good thing I get out of this life is to be at Yankee Stadium b/c there is no chance we leave the Bronx alive. A couple of innings later, the Cop had the Yankees entire bullpen autograph two baseballs for myself and my brother.
The autograph baseball has Rich Gossage, Rudy May, Dale Murray, Jay Howell, Jeff Torberg, George Frazier, and Doyle Alexander.
Obviously, we made out of the Bronx alive and safely (somehow) home to Jersey.
Nice video, I agree.
I have to let everyone know and I’m proud to say this, as I wrote up my Yankees memory, it was really difficult for me. I admit, I can be emotional, but it’s hard not to shed a tear when you think of everything the stadium has meant to me personally.
Friends, family, I’ve shared moments with everyone important in my life there. Yankee Stadium had been a place where I felt I was with my grandfather every time I stepped into the building. That’s something the new stadium won’t be able to do for me.
I been to The Stadium a few times, but nothing special has ever happend. My best memory was back in 1998. I was in the bleacher and it was the bottom of the 8th. I look in to the Yankee bullpen and warming up was the greatest closer in Yankee history and probably baseball history. Just to see him take those warmup tosses was amazing.
Bill the last world series game was Pettite vs Beckett.
Rebecca glad you liked the poem- I got the idea the other night. My older brother and I were sitting up in Tier 35 and joking about the ghosts not being able to afford box seats.
Angel thanks!! I’ll try it
Rebecca I LOVE LOVE LOVE the last photo.
Mike why aren’t they letting anyone else in? That is BS they made special note of letting people walk on the field! How many people did they think were going to show up? 10? That sucks! I hope you get in.
Pete, I think you need to save this post in one of the links on the sidebar.
It’s got some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen from LoHud.
jennifer: I didn’t make the video. But yes, I agree.
I have to say the security guys that were hired are pretty nasty and rude. They are loving throwing their weight around.
I have to say the security guys that were hired are pretty nasty and rude. They are loving throwing their weight around.
I would have loved to be there for the last game, but part of me is glad I didn’t get tickets. Had a feeling today would be a zoo and am much happier having my memory of my last game just being a regular old game.
So many memories. The first game with my Dad will always be at the top. The first time I took my girlfriend (now my wife) was quite a thrill too. I’ll remember skipping school my senior year of high school in 94 and going to Opening Day with a couple of buddies. And skipping classes at UConn (too many to remember) and making the drive down to buy tickets from scalpers, sit in the upper deck and go crazy during the Fall of 96.
The thing that always hit me though were the colors of the Stadium. The grass is greener than any green I have ever seen. The blue on the outfield wall is bluer than any other blue. And the brown dirt is browner than anywhere else. Crayola should have put those in a box.
Goodbye, old friend.
I once heard Billy Crystal describe the feeling that you get when you walk from the concourse into the runway and then into the actual Stadium. The light of the field that at first seeps out and then as you walk down the runway and the whole field is there in front of you–it just takes your breath away for a moment.
I get that feeling every time I go. It never gets old. And I’ve been to many other ML stadiums, and I’ve never got that feeling.
As the Babe said after the game on April 18, 1923, “Some ballpark, huh?”
i think metallica is going to be at the stadium tonight playing in Mo.
The Yankees to me are more than my favorite team. They also connected me to my Dad. When I was young, my Dad was away from home for weeks at a time because of his job, and when he would call home at night to put me to bed, we would talk about what the Yankees had done that day. When he was home and we would go to games, the physical presence of both my Dad and the team that was a touchstone for us when we were apart made the world seem perfect.
I was so young when I first went to Yankee Stadium that I don’t remember it. The Stadium exists in my memory from a time before I can distinguish specific memories. But it still amazes me every time I come. When I walk out from the dingy concourses and see that grass so green that it redefines green for me every time I see it, and the players run out in those perfectly white, pinstriped uniforms, I have to catch my breath.
I love going to the Stadium because of all the things you can see that you don’t see on TV, like watching Jeter, Rodriguez and Cano do their post-Star Spangled Banner routine, watching the roll call, and feeling, not just hearing, Bob Sheppard’s voice.
The thing I will miss most about the Stadium is the feeling of being on top of the game, even in the upper deck (and maybe more so up there). Seeing the pictures of the two Stadiums next to each other from above, it looks like that will be lost for those who are in the upper deck (as those who can pay the most get closer). Hopefully we will discover something unexpected and new in the new Yankee Stadium that will compensate for that loss.
As a 20-year old Yankee fan, I can say with certainty that I have always been surrounded by Yankee Pinstripes, and Yankee Stadium. I’ve watched almost every game of every season for as long as I can remember, and the stadium is one of the fondest memories I have of my childhood.
R.I.P, Baseball’s Cathedral.
I’m with Rebecca.
Pete, this blog entry is a keeper
To me the Stadium will always remind me of my Grandfather. As a young boy he would regale me with stories of listening to games on the radio and the exploits of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Yogi, & Maris. Everything I know about baseball and my love of the Yankees comes directly from him. We saw our first game together when I was 12 and he was in his 60’s. It was one of those moments frozen in time that I will always cherish.
I really look forward to the new Stadium but it will never have the same feel. Yesterday I took a day trip from Atlanta to visit the Stadium one last time. The game was great and allowed me to leave the Stadium on a happy note.
I want to echo the sentiments of many of my fellow posters about this great blog and Pete’s analysis and humor all season. It allowed me to keep in touch with the greatest team ever from the heart of Dixie.
Pete,
My first game at the Stadium in August of 1994 is one that I won’t ever forget. It was Phil Rizzuto Day, the Yankees were playing Baltimore, I was ten years old and sharing the game with my grandfather, father and brother. It would be the only time in my life that I got to go to a game with my grandfather, who, in the 1930s, slung peanuts and Cracker Jacks up and down the steps of the Stadium. If only you could hear his stories. I won’t forget watching Jim Abbot throw and catch with only one hand. I won’t forget the smell of the grass and flowers circling the air in Monument Park. It’s a special place, and I will always miss it.
–Jim
Yankee Fan in Dixie,
I know how you feel. I think that is definitely the hardest part. So much of the stadium brought me back to the memory of my grandfather. The stories of the boys from the Bronx are ones I miss to this day.
I saw Mickey Mantle hit a homerun….Ok, it was 1973 at an an old timers game, but it was still pretty cool to a 15 year old kid.
June 1994. 8 years old. Saturday afternoon against the Orioles. Seeing the great Stadium for the first time live and in living color. Went with a couple friends. My dad, the reason why I am a Yankee fan and always will be, got a ticket to the game as well. It’s cliche, yes, but I’ll always remember the smells, the sounds, the green grass, the people who played there before. Hearing Bob Sheppard’s beautiful voice. Seeing my two baseball heroes, Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams, play. Watching the Yankees win, 5-4.
I was at Old Timers’ Day this year- last time I was ever at Stadium and said goodbye. Yanks won 8-2.
I am very thankful I went on a Yankee Stadium tour last July with my brother and saw Monument Park up close for the first time. Reading the monuments and plaques of Yankee legends, you feel history and greatness right in front of you.
Im looking forward to one day taking my son to the new Yankee Stadium.
My Grandfather took me to my first game at the Stadium when I was 7 years old. I had never seen so many people before in my life. Years later he said that I spent more time looking around at the crowd than at the field. He bought me a t-shirt with the Yankee top hat logo that came down to my knees… In 1997 my buddy and I became Friday night season ticket holders. We were there for Tino’s Slam in Game 1 vs San Diego in 1998, when Chad Curtis squeezed the last out of the sweep of Atlanta in 1999, the “I thought it was the ball” bizarre moment vs the Mets in Game 2 of the Subway Series in 2000, and for the Brosius homer vs Kim and the “Paul O’Neill” chant vs the D’backs in 2001. So many great memories. I just hope Mystique and Aura filled out a forwarding address card.
this is really someone else’s story but he won’t be telling it here , because he once hit .348 for the pirates with a.432 obp( what do you expect from someone who spent two years of sundays fishing with ted williams in the florida keys as 15-16 year old.
carl taylor had a 5 year mlb career cut short by circumstance of the 70’s. he came back to the game many years later and clete boyer took him to the yankees when he was in his late 40’s to be the yankees #1 bp pitcher and bullpen catcher. he threw to boggs, mattingly, etc for showalter for 5 years (and i think got a world series ring when the yankees won in 96). and became yankee video coordinator in a simpler day.
the funny story was that he was sleeping in the yankee training room for home games the first year, and one night i get a call at 2:30 am in sarasota, fla from carl calling from the yankee bullpen . he decided to take a walk on a beautiful night and thought who wouldn’t kill him if he called to share the moment of sitting in a vacant yankee stadium in the middle of the night looking at the beauty of it. his wife fell under “would kill” people.
the time with the yankees brought carl back to the game, and i’m sure that somewhere he’s thinking about all that he experienced there at yankee stadium and maybe even that crazy night when he called friends from the bullpen at 2:30 in the morning.
by the way, that was on the yankees bullpen phone. he figured a way to dial out on it.
Okay I think I got it. I hope.
password is yankees2008
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v484/jenn7878/Last%20Day%20game%20at%20Yankee%20Stadium/
jen: Great pictures! Love the Mo video!
This is a great idea.. To me, my visit to Yankee Stadium was such an amazing experience. I think the seats to my first game were in row X in the outfield of the tiers. I couldn’t really see to much, but it was just the aura of being there and being able to watch my first “real” baseball game.
I am 21 years old, so I unfortunately can’t say I was able to see some of the Yankee greats play, but this place really means so much to me because it broke back a game that I loved but lost interest in because of a horrible coach I had when I was younger.
I played softball every year since I was about 5 years old. It was my life. I lived playing and worked hours and hours a night, took private pitching lessons, and did all the she-bang. Unfortunately I had the coach from hell, who just drove the passion I had for the game right out of me. It was for the longest time I refused to even play ball or even watch it because of the whole situation.
There was an event for something, I think with my church, and they dragged me out to the game. I dont know what it was about Yankee Stadium, but I fell in love with the game again. Slowly it became my passion and is now something I love and that I live for. While I never did go back to playing softball, I really would love to and I wish I didn’t let that one coach tear me away from it. The yankees, as corny as it does sound, brought that passion back to me that I had when I was a kid. And I have been obsessed with all aspects of it since that day.
There is so much to baseball. It is more than just a game. There is the strategies and statistics, and just so many different aspects that make it the great game that it is. I will miss the stadium and will be disappointed because I dont think I will be able to afford tickets to new the stadium.
I have met so many people over the years while at Yankee stadium and the best part is the stories that you can hear. There is so much history, much that I never was able to experience, but being able to hear someones elses accounts are what makes the travel to the bronx well worth it. There are so many memories that I will never forget.
I’ve spent almost all of my years of Yankee fandom, being a fan from afar – but for one special day. I’ve seen them here in MN play countless times. My first and only trip to Yankee Stadium came on September 12, 2000 – I still have my ticket. We’d driven into to NY on the 11th and were hoping to go to a game that night, but as luck would have it it was sold out due to it being vs Red Sox – we went to visit the World Trade Center and Empire State instead (I still get chills thinking of that). So we got tickets for the next night vs the Blue Jays.
Walking through the tunnel and seeing Yankee Stadium larger than life – is a memory I won’t ever forget. Sometimes when you build things up in your mind before you actually see them they’re not like what you expect and are something of a letdown. Yankee stadium didn’t disappoint me – from roll call to the playing of New York, New York (they won 10-2) – it was everything (and more) that I thought it would be.
I traveled 9942.4 miles to see that one game and have that one experience… and I’d travel twice as far to do it all over again.
Sorry for the shaky video. I was sitting so high up and because I was on such a high zoom it just shook. Plus the place was insane!!
My first trip to the Stadium was forgettable. It was a 6-2 loss to the Angels in 1982, the first year after one of my childhood favorites, Reggie Jackson, left the team. We sat in the right-field nosebleeds, and I cheered for him but was sad when the Yanks lost. I was even sadder – darn near inconsolable, actually – when I realized I left a ballcap my parents had gotten for me at a rest area on the drive home.
I’ll never forget the last time I was there, though. I started my journalism career in the late 1990s at The Daily Star, a small paper in Oneonta, N.Y., which is also the home of utilityman extraordinaire Clay Bellinger. I worked in news, and our sports editor and reporter planned on covering the home opener of the 2000 season because Bellinger made the roster. He got me a press credential as a birthday present and told me that I really didn’t have to do anything for him. I decided to write a story, anyway.
Jorge Posada played in Oneonta on his way up the Yankees’ system, so I decided to do a piece on him because this was the first season he was the full-time catcher for the Yanks. What an amazing experience. Here are some of the highlights:
- Seeing Bernie Williams’ corner in the locker room, complete with a big amp and a banana-cream-pie-yellow Fender Strat. And having Bernie nod and say “Hi” to me without even being prompted.
- Watching Ramiro Mendoza doze on the clubhouse couch, then go out and dominate the Royals.
- Laughing (on the inside) while Paul O’Neill held court at his locker, shooting off one-liners and griping about a new pair of cleats.
- Being amazed by the cartoon-esque way in which all the reporters encircled Roger Clemens when he emerged from the trainers room (the trainers room and players lounge are off-limits to reporters).
- Laughing (on the inside, again) at how much taller I was than Chuck Knoblauch. And I’m only 5-10.
- Finally getting up the courage to talk to the players (Mike Stanton, David Cone, Posada, Derek Jeter), who were all as gracious as can be.
- Shaking the hands of everyone I interviewed, which I realize now isn’t the most commonplace thing to do. But what did I know? I was 25 and new to this stuff. Cone has a handshake like a cold fish. At least he did back then.
- After brimming with confidence, being blown off by Don Zimmer, who was on his way to a coaches meeting. The exchange went like this:
Me: Coach Zimmer?
Zim (hobbling along using a bat as a cane): Yeah?
Me: Could I ask you a few questions?
Zim: Not right now.
- My interview with Jeter. Probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life. He couldn’t have been nicer or more cooperative. I walked up to him, extended my hand and said, “Hey, Derek. I’m Doug Harris from The Daily Star.” He shook my hand and replied, “Hey, Doug Harris.” When I told Jeter I was writing a story about Posada and wanted to ask him a few questions about him, Jeter shot a glance at Posada, looked at me and said with a half-smirk, “I don’t want to talk about that guy.” He answered all my questions and gave me, a “reporter” from a Podunk paper, a good five minutes.
- Seeing Jim Leyritz stroll out of the shower area and drop his towel, exposing his rear end for all to see (this probably doesn’t belong in the “highlights” category).
- Walking through the bowels and reporters room and thinking, “Wow. This place really is outdated.”
- Standing in the dugout and looking out on that amazing field. Then, being able to walk on the field and watch the Yankees during warmups.
- Sitting in a heated press box – a godsend on a miserable, rainy day – and eating $1 hot dogs.
- Watching local-boy-done-good Bellinger boot a ground ball, which broke up a perfect game by Mendoza.
- Having one of the best seats in the house, and trying not to cheer in the press box, for a Yankees victory.
I moved to North Carolina in early 2001 and haven’t had a chance to get back to a game. But the microcassette that holds all those interviews is tucked away safely somewhere at my parents’ house in Syracuse, N.Y. Now that’s a helluva souvenir.
This is something I wrote earlier today when I started crying reading the retrospectives in the Times…
There’s such a contrast between the way they do it in the Bronx, and then everywhere else. I remember leaving Jacob’s Field in Cleveland after Game 2 of the ’07 ALDS; the bug game, if you will. I had to walk down a series of ramps from the upper deck to get out of the park that day, and to his day I can still hear the Cleveland fans yelling together on the way down, “Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck.â€
Two days later I found myself back from school in New York, sleeping on my sister’s couch for the night, just so I could catch a glimpse of the Bronx in its playoff splendor (turns out, it will be the last playoff game ever won there). After the game, I walked down a similar, albeit far more cramped, set of ramps to get out from the upper deck that night. My friend Jesse called on the walk down, but to this day I couldn’t tell you a word he said. There were fifty five thousand people, chanting in perfect unison, “Let’s Go Yankees…â€
At 161st and River Ave, it’s never about the other guy.
I remember my first trip to Yankee Stadium. Sam Milltello, as forgettable of a major leaguer as there ever was, threw 7 innings of one-hit ball that day in his major league debut, against the Red Sox no less. To this day, I thought that game was stopped due to a rain delay, and that’s why my dad pulled me into the corridor for 30 minutes. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, now I know my dad just didn’t want to sit outside in the rain.
My second trip to Yankee Stadium, I saw Bob Wickman start against the Brewers. My dad and I got to the park early that day to get autographs. Dad spotted Dante Bichette hanging out near the left field corner. I asked for his autograph, and he turned me down. My first sports enemy. I wonder if he knew the foul-mouthed, prone to getting kicked out of arenas, diehard fan that little kid would grow up to be if he would’ve rethought getting on my bad side so quickly.
I remember my last trip to the stadium. Yesterday. It will actually be my last trip to the Stadium until everyone’s last trip, today. My cousin Dylan came with me – over the last three seasons we’ve seen almost thirty games together. Dylan’s not the emotional type, but it took him twenty minutes to leave yesterday. I’ve told several folks it will take the National Guard to get me to walk out the door today. They think I’m kidding.
As the Yankees have gotten better, the fans have gotten more corporate. Fans who don’t get that when Mike Mussina has used 105 pitches to throw 7.2 innings of shutout baseball, and he’s got a full count on the batter he’s facing, you stand up and give him everything you’ve got – cause he’s done the exact same for the team that day. Moose struck that guy out, and while I was being berated from a few rows up for blocking a view of that final pitch, a bunch of fans in between told the offended party to be quiet and act like she knew what she was doing. Most fans still get it.
No matter how many suits take up the seats around me, I’m always reminded Yankee Stadium, more than anyone else in the world, is a place where you make your own memories as much as the team makes them for you. I’ve gone to games with every member of my immediate family, and several extended family members. My best friends from home, college, summer camp have seen games in the Bronx with me. Just seeing a game in person, you can understand the history and meaning of the building. See a great game, like the one yesterday, and you can feel it.
I’ve been fortunate to feel it so many times.
I remember Clemens vs. Pedro, two of the greatest of all time, both at their very best on the same night. 22 combined strikeouts, 2 complete games, and only 9 hits total. The only time I really forgot who I was rooting for and just enjoyed the show.
I remember back to back to back in the playoffs vs. the Indians.
I remember Josh Hamilton bringing Yankee stadium to his feet with his homerun derby display, and the only thing that could possibly top it the next night – a 15 inning all star game.
I remember the day Don Mattingly had his number retired and thinking I was old (I’m only 22 now, so I was much younger then). After all, he was my favorite player growing up.
I remember six Astros combining to no hit the Yankees for the first time in a half century.
I remember Josh Beckett in the greatest World Series pitching performance since Don Larson.
I remember watching Juan Gonzalez in Game 1 of the ’96 ALDS and thinking the Yankees had no shot.
I remember Bernie Williams getting revenge on the Diamondbacks in an ‘02 interleague game with a huge 8th inning homerun.
I remember not thinking we would need revenge when Scott Brosius hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the 9th in Game 5 of the 2001 World Series. Tino Martinez did the same thing the night before. When that ball left the park, I jumped about as high as I ever have, screamed about as loud as I ever have, and bear hugged my dad. It was the least I could do for the memories.
Tonight I’ll have 9 innings to take it all in one more time. I’ll probably think back to the Jeter jump passes, the Rivera entrances, the curtain calls, the roll calls, the clutch hits, the subway rides to and from, and the numerous people I’ve gotten to experience it all with.
More than anything, I’ll appreciate the present company. One of my best friends – a fellow Miami University man and the biggest Yankee fan I know next to myself – and my dad, who is responsible for every word I’ve written here. Not to mention Andy Pettite, one of the great clutch pitchers to ever don pinstripes toeing the rubber. And when the last out is recorded, I’ll probably cry, because no matter how similar the structure is across the street, they will be taking a wrecking ball to not only the world’s grandest sporting venue, but the place that, more than any I’ve ever known, has captured within its walls my greatest life experiences.
And I took all the separate pictures of the mural and put them in a collage with the full picture of it in the background. It came out really great.
I plan to take various other pictures and put them together like that and put my ticket in the frame.
Jennifer – thanks for sharing your pictures.
hars: That tape is an heirloom. Take good care of it.
Yankee fandom in my family started well before I was born. My grandma was a diehard and that got passed on to my dad, who then passed it on to me.
I don’t remember much of my first game except that there was a rain delay, and they played Looney Toons on the screen and me and my cousin Nick got extremely excited about that (What can I say? We were about 2. I did however learn that they were playing the A’s). The game I do remember, I was around 4 and they played the Oakland A’s (again). In fact, it was the same game that Steve wrote about earlier. I went with my parents and my grandma. I was so excited to go to the game that I hardly slept the night before. I remember walking in and I got a chill as soon as I saw the field. The colors were just so vibrant, unlike any I had seen before or since. I remember watching Donnie Baseball do his warmups, and I was in awe. My dad kept asking me if I was excited but I could barely talk, which was very rare for me. The game was absolutely awesome, but what I remember most about that game was that it was the only game I got to go to with my grandma. That was in 1988, she passed away in 2003, but there was never an opportunity for her to go after that game.
Since that game, I’ve been to Yankee Stadium more times than I can remember, with several memories that I’ll always cherish. Old Timer’s Day–three of them, including Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto’s last Old Timer’s Day apperances. I was there for Paul O’Neill’s last grand slam at the Stadium, that same day I also happened to catch a batting practice HR ball hit by him as well. Sitting in the Bleachers, an experience that is like no other. Opening Day 2007. And I can’t even begin to count how many Yanks/Red Sox games I’ve been to…I could go on and on.
That Stadium holds so many great memories for me that I’m just not ready to say good bye. It’s the only place where, no matter how many times I’ve been to, that I still get a chill like it’s my first time being there. I’m sure the new place will by nice, but it just won’t be the same.
First game: July 3, 1996 vs. the Boston Red Sox. I was seven years old and had gotten the tickets for Christmas the year before. My whole family was going. I lived in Long Beach (LI) at the time. It was kind a rainy day, and fifteen minutes from my house, as we were driving through Rockaway to get on the Van Wyck, they announced the postponement over the radio. I had waited six and a half months for the game; for a seven year old that’s a lifetime. I cried my eyes out and didn’t stop. My parents were devastated for me; we went to a Brewers game the next day instead. We won.
First spontaneous game: Mother’s Day, 1997, vs. the Orioles. My dad surprised me after a little league game and told me on the way home he had tix. I got ready in ten minutes and we went with my mom. Cal Ripken hit a HR, but we won the game. One of the happiest days of my life.
First loss: Summer of ‘98, vs. the Sox. The only game we got tix to in that historic year, and we lost 3-2.
First time without my dad: August of ‘02 with my sister’s boyfriend at the time. We took the train and subway. Everyone thought labor strife was gonna lead to another lost season after that weekend. I forget who we played; I know we won. All I remember is that EVERYONE in the stadium was pissed. The only time it was ever like that when I was there.
First game with my friends: April of 2003. We had saturday tickets in Section 39 all through HS and our freshman years of college. We barely see each other anymore (we’re at school all over the country). One of my friends has been very sick. Yankee Stadium, even watching on TV in Boston, always reminds me of home and those happy Saturdays.
First time I got goosebumps: Attending what everyone thought was Roger Clemens’ last home game before retirement in 2003. It was the first time I was in Yankee Stadium at its loudest.
Biggest Regret: Passing up the opportunity to buy tickets to game 7 of the 2003 ALCS the month before. I was playing football and didn’t want to be out until the early morning on a Thursday night. Plus I figured it’d be pointless to dish up so much money when the odds of a game 7 against the Sox were so low. I’ll never forgive myself.
Most impressive physical feat: I saw ARod hit a home run in 2005 or 2006 that went almost 500 feet. We could hear the crack of the bat from the RF bleachers over 55,000 screaming fans (Sheff had just hit a HR to put the game out of reach) screaming fans. The sweetest sound I ever heard at a game.
Best game I went to: late August of 2005, I wanna say it was vs. the A’s. Mo had been booed by some morons earlier that season because of the collapse the year before and had gone on to dominate the league all season and help carry us toward the playoffs. I think he had 30 something straight saves entering the game. The entire stadium went nuts when he came in, everyone was screaming out the lyrics of enter sandman. And then he blew the save. He was rescued in the bottom of the 10th by a 2 run hr off the bat of Bernie Williams. We all knew that it was probably Bernie’s last big moment. The ball landed about ten feet in front of me; the entire crowd stayed for another few minutes chanting his name. Nobody wanted to leave. I was shown on ESPNNews celebrating the HR.
Endearing memory of home: August 2, 2006. My last game before college. Me and two friends drove down because it was a $5 ticket night, but it turned out all those seats were sold long before we got there. The only ones left were selling for 60 bucks in monument park. I treated my friends; I didn’t tell them until they asked much later how much I’d paid. Definitely the coolest seats in the stadium (outside of section 39, of course). You’re on field level and can see through the plex-glass onto the field. You can almost reach out and touch the monuments. Mariano Rivera walks right past you to enter the game. It’s just awesome. The Yanks won that game against the Jays. There was a moment of silence for Thurman Munson during the game. Three weeks later, one of our own friends was dead in a car accident. Then I went off to school. That game was my last true HS day.
Most bittersweet moment: I got upper deck tickets for $90 each to watch the Yanks take on the Sox with my dad this July 4th. Twelve years to the day since he took me to my first game. We knew it’d be our last at the stadium. In the last twelve years, we’ve moved to Westchester, I’ve grown up and gone off to school, my dad has lost family and watched others get sick, and he’s aged quite a bit (he’s 61 now). The Yankees have always been there for us; they’re an excuse to call home from school without sounding homesick. They’re a conversation changer away from something depressing. And the Stadium has always been their home. My dad grew up the lone Yankees fan in a Brooklyn Dodgers family. He watched Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds come down long ago. Yankee Stadium had endured, even if he never liked its renovations. Appropriately, it rained this July 4th, we were losing, and we left the game early as the downpour forced an 8th inning delay and we fell far behind. It was like the weather reflected our feelings. I’ll never forget that one last look around the stadium before we went into the concourse and left it forever.
Why we needed a new more expensive stadium built when we consistently draw 4 million a year, I’ll never understand. I’ll miss this one forever.
They’re awesome. Thanks for sharing! No complaints about the video quality here – I lived vicariously through all of them.
Heh, no wonder you fried your battery, you were the Yankee Stadium paparazzi yesterday.
Yankee Stadium was baptism by fire for me. I started watching the Yanks on WPIX when I was about 5 years old – we’d pick up hoagies and watch the games on a black and white TV on the back porch of the Metuchen, NJ home I grew up in. A year later, my Dad took us to the stadium for the first time. I remember being beside myself as we walked to the stadium, and then feeling like I had stepped into the twilight zone once we entered the stadium and found our seats along the third base line. Just in front of me was my hero Graig Nettles. The same guy we imitated making diving catches in my back yard was there in the flesh just a few yards from my nose. We went to several games over the next few years, watching the championship teams of the late 70’s add to the rich history of the stadium. Munson, Puff, Guidry, Reggie, Sweet Lou, Mick the Quick, Catfish … the names and faces still draw out in my memory as if it were yesterday.
Just months after the death of Thurman, we moved from Metuchen to Lexington, KY. I still remember bawling my eyes out when the news of Munson’s tragic passing. His was my first vivid experience of death, years before I lost a family member or close friend. After we moved, I never wavered from my background as a Yankee fan. I passed through the dismal 80’s with allegiance and reveled in the renewed success of the 90’s with pride, as if another trip to the stadium were just around the corner.
I can still smell and taste the hot dogs. The crisp air on a game night, watching as the sun fell from the sky and the lights came on in the cathedral with authority. It was like church was in session. Looking over my game day program and clutching it tightly like a lifeline. The panoramic view from right field seats, screaming and waving at Reggie Jackson to get his attention. The noise of the crowd and the chills that I got while walking to our seats. The reverence for my childhood heroes spread out across the cavernous expanse of the field. Sitting with my glove in hopes of catching a ball. I never understood the chills and the hairs of my arms standing on in exhilaration until I was older. And now, in the twilight of the cathedral, I feel the chills again. Good, paradoxically warming, edifying chills.
I planned to visit the stadium this year and unfortunately never had the chance. But I will visit the new Yankee Stadium the first chance I get … to take part in the birth of new history. And look around and smile at the ghosts that have moved across the street to find their new home and welcome new ghosts.
My father gave me many gifts of the heart over the years before he passed away. But I will be eternally grateful to him for the gifts of taking me to Yankee Stadium.
harrs 44-
great storytelling.
Who remembers the Bullpen Car!
Rebecca, that was an awesome clip.
The saddest song that can be heard after the last pitch tonight is Frank Sinatra’s ” THERE USED TO BE A BALLPARK “.
The lyrics :
And there used to be a ballpark,
Where the field was warm and green,
And the people played their crazy game
with a joy I’d never seen.
And the air was such a wonder from the hot dogs and the beer,
Yes, there used to be a ballpark right here.
And there used to be rock candy and a great big Fourth of July,
With the fireworks exploding all across the summer sky,
And the people watched in wonder, how they’d laugh and how they’d cheer,
And there used to be a ballpark right here.
Now the children try to find it and they can’t believe their eyes,
‘Cause the old team just isn’t playing and the new team hardly tries,
And the sky has got so cloudy when it used to be so clear,
and the summer went so quickly this year,
Yes, there used to be a ballpark right here.
Thanks,
I wish I got closer shots, but those were the best seats I could get for the game.
And with the rude secuirty I couldn’t get any closer when the game was over.
Looks like we better win tonight or else we’re officially eliminated in the last game at the Stadium.
Although that would be kind of fitting I guess.
Guys, the replay of 2001 WS Game 4 is now up to the bottom of the ninth so if you turn now you can see Tino’s home run.
I guess I’ll tell my Yankee Stadium memories now.
One of my favorite memories wasn’t a win unfortunately. July 4th Wells against the Red Soxs. I was sitting two rows behind the dugout near first base. And you know how if the first baseman makes the last out he tosses the ball into the stands. Well Giambi made the last out, and tossed the ball to me. Well we all know well and good how well Giambi can throw, it went over my head to the guys sitting behind me. I kept asking Jason for a ball and he kept looking at me, like I already gave you one. Anyway, Well got smacked around that day. The Red Soxs were hitting tons of homeruns. David was taken out of the game, he threw his hat and glove into the stands. Now if you recall his glove was numbered, he was going to sell it for charity. Well the glove goes 2 sections away from me, and the hat 3. If only he had gone down the stairs closer to first I just might have had a chance to catch that. Than my cousin calls me. Her husband thought I caught Well’s hat. But it wasn’t me.
So close yet so far.
Hey guys.. this is wonderful stuff. today is gonna be a wonderful day.. yet i am college student at the university of wisconsin..soo i will not be able to receive pre game and post game interviews and insigght.. i was wondering if any one can post the videos or the interviews of the players tonight.. thanks that would be awesome..
anyways i love the stadium. and wish i could be there today.
today will be a sad day to a sad season.. but all great things must come to an end.
My first Yankee game was game 1 of the 1996 World Series. My father was a Met fan, and to this day he can’t explain why he felt compelled to take me to a Yankee game as my first game, immediately making me fall head over heels in love with the team. The magic of the stadium, the excitement of the people around me- even a lowly 14-2 loss to the Braves couldn’t take the mystique away.
We were back at the stadium for game 6. This time the results were better.
My second true baseball memory (the first being a Derek Jeter double in game 1 that solidified him as my childhood idol for the years to come), was at the end of Game 6, the clinching game of the 1996 World Series. With Mark Lemke at the plate and the bases loaded, I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. I told my dad, and he said- you’ve gotta be kidding me- just wait!!! But I was 6 years old, and when I had to go, I had to go.
But my dad, who to this day, I can’t thank more for this, refused to take me, and I stood up shaking back and forth as a pop-up fell into Charlie Hayes big big glove. Somehow, after that catch and the ensuing madness, I no longer had to use the bathroom.
It was the start of a love affair that has only solidified to this day between me and the Yankees.
There are few things I get as much genuine happiness then from watching a Yankee game, whether it be on my couch at home, or in person at the game.
Besides my personal connection to the stadium, today makes me sad because if the era of the Yanks I grew up with (Mo, Jeter, Tino, Andy, Paul…) wasn’t over 3 years ago, then it is definitely over now.
I was never lucky enough to go to any playoff or World Series games, but my favorite memory was going to a game in 2000 with my family and seeing my dad miss a foul ball that landed in his hat and bounced out (it was one of those adjustable ones with a plastic band), only to have Derek Jeter’s father – his parents were sitting two rows in front of us – turn around and tell my dad better luck next time, and that he needed a new hat!
My younger sister and I, quite smitten with Jeter at the time (oh, ok, fine, we’re still pretty smitten with him), just stared at each other with OH MY GOD looks on our faces. And of course, my dad got a nice fitted hat for his birthday that year.
I was really lucky this year and I got to go to many more games than I expected, and after every game I went to, I looked around, thinking it might be my last time in the place. Among other things this season, I got to see Moose pick up a win on my birthday, Brett Gardner hit a walk-off single against the Red Sox, and Xavier Nady almost single-handedly beat the Angels with 6 RBI. If nothing else, for me, the Stadium went out with style!
IN CASE ANYONE WANTS TO SEE MORE PICS……….
http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq140/THEVINCEBLACKSHOW/YANKEES%202008/
There are some high speed pics so some of it looks like it is repeating the same picture
I was born in The Bronx in 1949. The Stadium was one of the centerpieces of my childhood.
In September 1959 my father took me to the first game of a double header between the Yanks and Indians. The great Minnie Minoso played left for the Tribe that day. My dad had raised me to be a Yankee fan and anyone who rooted against our team was a secondary citizen.
As fate would have it a group of Yankee haters were seated near us down the left field line in the lower deck. They cheered every move Minoso made. This riled my father but good. His blood pressure rose as the scoreless game went into extra innings.
In the the top of the 11th when Cleveland pushed a run against Ryne Duren. Mionoso’s fan club was in ecstasy.
In the bottom of the inning Tony Kubeck singled off Jack Harshman and Mickey Mantle promptly deposited one 425 feet or so into the old visitors bullpen over the 402 ft. sign.
At this point my father yelled down to Minnie’s fans “Tell Minnie where he can stick that one!”.
Yankee Stadium means family to me. My father went to Yankee Stadium as a kid. When he grew older he worked as an electrician and was part of the renovation in the 70s. He passed away last year and didn’t get to see the stadium one last time before it went away.
Yankee Stadium will always remind me of my father. He was a Yankee fan from birth and as a boy, he lived not too far away. He claimed he could sneak in. I don’t know. Anyway, he made ME a Yankee fan from birth. One beautiful Sunday many years ago he took a seven year old me to the Stadium for the first time. It was a double header with the Chicago White Sox. I will never forget it. I think that the Yanks won both ends. To this day, I get goosebumps whenever I am there.
We’ve all heard this a million times today… “Yankee Stadium is the Mecca of the sports world.” I believe this to be true. I’m from North Carolina and I’ve been a Yankees fan since I was born. Each year since I was a little girl, me, my dad, and mom would make a pilgrimage up to New York to take in a week or two of Yankee games. I will never forget my first trip to Yankee Stadium. It was a rainy afternoon and the White Sox were in town. I’d never seen greener grass, a more kempt field. Even as a child, I got goosebumps just walking into the stadium. The history, sights, smell, electricity of the place, and of course the ghosts, you just cannot help but to be overcome with emotion when you enter Yankee Stadium. The Yankees lost my first game there, but I caught a Bernie Williams homerun ball, that remains atop my memoriblia shelf to this day. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to take in many games at Yankee Stadium and meet other great Yankees fans. It’s amazing how baseball – Yankees baseball, and a stadium can bring so many people together. I’ll always have fond memories of the stadium. This truly is Yankees Universe!
My maternal grandparents got married in 1927, in Manchester, NH. Lifelong Red Sox fans, and raised in very large and very poor families, they opted to spend their honeymoon in the Bronx, watching Babe Ruth and the Yankees at the Stadium. Even though they were far from Yankee fans, they knew that they were living in a truly great era of baseball, and that the Stadium was at its center. With very little money and a love of the game, they chose New York and the Yanks.
I was born and raised in Bergen County, NJ many years later. I am a lifelong Yankee fan. My first experience with loss of a loved one was my grandfather, who loved the Red Sox so dearly– he passed away the same summer as Thurman Munson. Virtually every game I watched at the Stadium was from the same set of seats on the third base side, mezzanine level. My dad would check every day at work to see if the standing Yankee tickets his office held had been given to a client, and if not, he’d request them for us. When I was a senior in high school, and had a few excused days for “college visits and interviews”, my dad took me to Yankee games instead, one a double header against the Royals. I now live in Seattle, WA, and I watch every game I can. This blog has allowed me a wonderful new way to connect with the game and with the Yankees. I’ll miss the Stadium. It’s truly part of my heritage. Thanks!
I first became a Yankees fan in 2000, when I was 7 years old. My dad, older brother, and uncle took me to my first Yankees game at the Stadium in July 2000. I remember I sat way up in the left field upper deck, near the foul pole, during a hot and humid day game against the Orioles. The Yanks won that day, I think 14-9, with homers from Derek, Bernie, and David Justice’s first as a Yank.
My next game at the Stadium came during October 2003, when the Yanks faced the Redsox in Game 6 of the ALCS. I was there with my 5th grade friend and his mom and dad. We left early that day around lunchtime, and got to the Stadium and went to Monument Park. It was my first time there and I loved it. The Yanks lost that night, but the next night I stayed up late on a school night to watch Aaron Boone’s shot into the left field seats.
The next game i went to was a few years back. It was a Yanks/Redsox game with my dad and uncle. This was the game the Sox won 17-0. I remember by the 9th inning I was the only Yankees fan left in my section, so we started booing and heckling the Sox fans left at the Stadium.
My final game, although I never thought it would be at the time, came in August 2006. My brother brought me tickets for my birthday and took me to an O’s/Yanks game on a Tuesday night. I remember calling my dad during the 7th/8th inning of the game while the Yanks were trailing, and Johnny Damon hit a 3 run homer to right during the phone call. I had so much fun that night and will never forget it.
I wish I could have gotten to the Stadium during this final year, but it just did not work out. I go to Baltimore with my dad every summer to catch a few games there. I am excited for the new Stadium, but I am very saddened that the current one is going. I have only gone to 4 games, but the place seems so magical to me. I love baseball now because of the Yankees and the Stadium. I will never ever forget those memories.
My first game at Yankee Stadium came in 1995, when I was just six years old. I remember going to a playoff game in the Stadium that same year. My favorite player, Wade Boggs (who was not known for his power) homered. I will never forget the rush you get when you walk out and get your first view of the field. Since that first game, I have attended dozens of games in Yankee Stadium. The most memorable came on a hot July afternoon in 1999 with David Cone on the mound. I’ve attended a few playoff games in the Stadium as well; most recently a loss to the Detroit Tigers. My last game at Yankee Stadium came in May. It was Darrell Rasner’s first start of the season. Rasner pitched great and the Yankees defeated the Mariners that day. It was so early in the season that I really didn’t think it would be my last game. I usually have tickets to the first home game of every post-season series. But it was my last game after all and I won’t forget it. As much as I would like the see more October baseball in this stadium, I’m very excited about the Yankees creating more history in the new Yankee Stadium next year.
I was born in the city but never made it to the Stadium with my father; he was more a football fan and we never had much money, so on the rare days he had a little extra, it was off to see the Giants or the Jets.
It was always freezing, and I remember watching those games as a pint bottle of Irish whiskey was passed in front of my face while my dad and his friends would try and stay warm.
My family moved to Arizona when I was eleven; my parents divorced nine years later and I moved to L.A. while my mom and siblings moved back to NYC and my dad stayed in Arizona. He passed away a few years later; he was 52.
Thus I was never again in the city with my father. I’ve been back many times since, and been to the Stadium on a number of occasions. Always fun, of course, even though I never saw any of the memorable games many of you have mentioned here today.
So my most memorable game at Yankee Stadium is the one that never happened, the one I never saw with my father.
Its funny, I thought my favorite Yankee Stadium moment would be something from Post Season like the 95 15 inning game against Seattle where we got a preview of Mo as he pitched 4 innings of relief that night. or Attending a WS game in 96, never mind it was a game 2 loss to Maddux. But really my best memory is my most recent one. It was the last game ever against the sox. I got to bring my Brother and 71 year old dad. We won. Mo won. And I got to say goodbye to the stadium surrounded by family. I was choked up throughout the game realising that a good chunk of my happy times during my 38 years were spent here at 161st and river.
ray: Bless your heart – you’re a good sport. I’m counting on your Yanks/Sox postseason prediction to come true in 2009 lol.
One of my favorite moments was during an Angels Yankee September 1990 game, my wife and I and brother and sister-in-law went up to the broadcast booth. We passed on a message to Phil Rizzuto, who knew my uncle, and he was nice enough to come out, leaving Tom Seaver in the booth, to talk to us for some 15 minutes. He was warm, funny and meeting him was a real highlight.
Growing up in PA it was closer to see games in Baltimore. One game in particular was in August of 1963[ if I remember correctly]. Mickey Mantle, my idol, came in to pinch hit, after being out with an injury. The Baltimore fans, who hated the Yankees as much as Boston, gave him a standing ovation. He hit a homerun, and got another raucous standing ovation, writing in his book that he had tears in his eyes while rounding the bases. I certainly did, and when I read his book, just months before he died, I realized that I was at that memorable game.
My mom grew up in the Bronx in the ’50s. She is still, at 72, a rabid Yankees fan. My dad grew up in Brooklyn, a Dodgers fan, but he disowned them when they headed to L.A. By the time I came along, dad didn’t follow baseball anymore. I watched Yankee games with my mom, channel 11 on the little kitchen TV, and sometimes in the livingroom if Dad was away on business. I loved it, especially Munson.
In 1977, my dad got sick and he was in the hospital, a lot. I was 12 when the World Series rolled around that year, and my mom and I watched every game when we’d get home from St. Vincent’s at night. It was such a bright spot, it gave us something to enjoy together when everything else was falling apart. My dad died the following June, two weeks before I turned 13.
I watched a ton of baseball that summer, cheering for Munson on TV. I remember packing boxes during the ‘78 World Series, and mom and I moved out of the city to live near my aunt and her family. The transition was tough, but I had the Yankees, even way upstate in Rockland County. The following summer, I was on my aunt’s patio with the transistor radio on when they announced that there had been a tragic plane crash. Thurman Munson had died. When I picture Yankee Stadium today, I remember that first game, after the funeral. I remember feeling so sorry for Rick Cerone, having to take Thurman’s place that night when everyone was missing him so much.
I’m all grown up now and I understand progress and all. But I still can’t believe it’s gone.
10. June 17, 1978 – Ron Guidry strikes out 18 California Angels. The beginning of fans clapping when an opponent had 2 strikes.
9. ALCS Game 3 – Yankees ruin another Red Sox post-season. Aaron Boone becomes aligned with Bucky Dent.
8. September 24, 2001 – Yankee Stadium is the site of an inter-faith memorial for the tragic occurrences of 9/11.
7. July 4, 1983 – Dave Righetti throws a 4th of July no-hitter against the Red Sox. It’s also George Steinbrenner’s birthday. Game ends when Rags strikes out Wade Boggs for the third time.
6. August 6, 1979 – Bobby Murcer drives in 5 runs for his fallen brother Thurman Munson on the day of the Captain’s funeral.
5. May 25, 1998 and July 18, 1999 – Perfect games by David Wells and David Cone.
4. 2001 Games 4 and 5 of the World Series – Unbelievable 9th inning comebacks on home runs by Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius.
3. 1996 World Series Game 6 – We finally had attained a World Series championship after 18 years.
2. 1977 World Series Game 6 – Reggie Jackson takes 3 swings and hits 3 home runs. The Yankees win their first World Series in 15 years.
1. 1976 ALCS Game 5 – Chris Chambliss finally gets us to the promised land with a dramatic home run.
What Yankee Stadium Means to Me
- Getting a beer shower in the upper deck during Don Mattingly’s first and only postseason homerun in Game 2 of the 1995 Division Series. The fans were so happy for Donnie Baseball.
- Staying till the wee hours of the morning to see Jim Leyritz hit a game-winning homer in Game 2 of the 1995 Division Series. My friends and I couldn’t see whether the ball went out because of where we were sitting in the upper deck. We waited for the crowd to roar for confirmation and then we went nuts. I’ll never forget, singing “New York, New York” with all of them after the game. We all had our arms around each other.
- Watching Joe DiMaggio throw out the first pitch of Game 1 of the 1996 World Series from way back in the left field bleachers. I remember being amazed at how many camera flashes had gone off.
- The 9th inning of Game 6 of the 1996 World Series. The anticipation had reached a fever pitch. I remember my friend had secured tickets for Game 6 but thought I’d never see a World Series clincher because they were down 0-2. But the Yanks on 3 in a row on the road and the rest was history. I’ll never forget standing on my tippy toes from my seats behind the left field wall to watch Charlies Hayes make that catch.
I am from Venezuela, and I don’t get to NY (much less Yankee Stadium) very often. But back in 1999 I finally was able to get in.
The first time I was in Yankee Stadium I didn’t even know how to get to the subway. That was the second time I was in NYC, and I was quite nervous because I didn’t know how to properly behave in a US baseball stadium, or any US stadium for that matter (any Venezuelan fan can tell you better).
I was quite happy to see Jeter hitting a double, and Venezuelan Luis Sojo hitting a game-winning home run. I got a Jeter shirt that I still have until now. After that, I have been in possibly every location (except bleachers) in the Stadium. Even nosebleeds.
I was in Yankee Stadium three months ago, for Joba’s first starting appearance. It was quite sentimental (although Yankees lost), and I definitely was sad to see the Stadium go. I definitely look forward to the new Stadium, and of course 80-something more years of success
They memory that sticks out in my head over all the times I’ve been there was May 17, 2002 where we sat in the rain, including a long rain delay, for 14 innings, until Giambi hit a grand slam to beat the Twins 13-12! That is the 1st time I’ve hugged perfect strangers! It as so cold and miserable, but we didn’t care! We yelled and screamed for an hour after the game. It was magical that night!
Great memories of the park. My favorite is when my dad took me to one of the games when Reggie had 399 home runs. My dadd had a friend who had a friend with access to a suite behind home plate over the netting. Reggie came up and flied out deep to center, a momentary thrill before Mickey Rivers (then playing for the Rangers) settled under it for an easy out. Next batter was Oscar Gamble, who fouled off a pitch the rolled right up the netting into my waiting arms. On the way out of the Stadium I ran into Phil Rizuto, who smiled as he signed the ball and flipped it back to me as he sprinted for the exits. I proudly display that ball in my living room to this day.
Then, after high school graduation, my buddies and I were lucky enough to be in the house when Dave Righetti threw his no hitter, striking out Wade Boggs to end it. We met at the Stadium again this year on the 4th for a relive our glory days. Rasner gave up a hit on the third pitch of the game.
Thanks.
Yankee Stadium is the home to my earliest baseball memories and the place where I fell in love with the game and the team. That love will endure after it’s gone, but I don’t know if anyplace else will ever feel like home in quite the same way.
Every trip there –from the subway ride to the game to the ride back home — was a special experience. It’s been a while since I’ve lived in New York, but visits back to the Stadium could make me feel like I’d never left.
In the end, it’s the team and the city I root for, not the architecture. But the memories of building and the place will always be intertwined with the memories of what took place there. So thank you, Yankee Stadium — I won’t forget you.
My Memories of the old stadium:
Lindy McDaniel’s “Folly Floater”.
Bill Robinson (Yes, he was a Yankee) making a running catch a falling into the low stands in right field.
Sparky Lyle as a Red Sox handing me back the program I dropped into their bullpen. He made me promise not to say bad things about them for the rest of the game (I didn’t).
Memories of the new stadium:
This year, my son flying in from Las Vegas and meeting us in NYC. Giambi’s homerun in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. It was one of the most thrilling moments I’ve ever witnessed in sports.
I remember back about 10 years when I was 8, my Grandpa sent my brother and I on a trip with a baseball camp being run from the place where he worked to go on a tour of Yankee Stadium. This was probably one of the top ten days of my life. We got there in the middle of the day on a warm weekday in July. It was beautiful day. We got there and entered through the players entrance. We got to go on the regular tour of the Stadium. We went out to Monument Park, the first time I had ever been out there. I took tons of pictures of the monuments and stayed as long as I could. Then we got to go onto the field. I remember being so dissapointed because they would only let us go on the warning track. We then made our way into the dugout. I was in awe. We even took some gatorade cups from next to the water cooler. I could not believe I was sitting in the same dugout that all the Yankees sat in every home game. Next we went up into the locker room. This was yet another thing that I was so amazed by. I took pictures of all the Yankees lockers with their items and clothes still in them. We next went up into the press box. The view from up there is like nothing you have ever seen before. I just remember wishing I could go up there and watch an actual game. You can see everything, its the perfect perspective for a baseball game. Looking down from there, seeing every inch of green grass is something dreams are made of. It really was the perfect day. It was something I will never forget as long as I live. The Stadium is something that will never die in my heart. There are countless magical moments and memories. There are probably more stories than behind it than anyone could imagine. It will not be the same when you go down Jerome Avenue, the Grand Concourse or the Deegan. Not seeing the Stadium where it belongs will hurt a little bit every time I go to a game. It just wont be the same experience.
So many memories. Went to my first game in 1977 and then 15 games in 1978. Saw Gator, Figgie and Catfish pitch, and Sparky and Goose coming out of the pen. One game that stands out was a 14 inning game against the Red Sox (it was June, I think), ending with a walk-off homer by Graig Nettles. I was at Fan Appreciation Day that year, seeing Ed Figeruoa become the first Puerto Rican native to win 20. The next year was quite different, of course, with Thurman’s death and no playoffs. I went to the last game of that season and remember Billy Martin sent Ron Guidry out to remove the pitcher from the game. Gator then jogged out to CF and relieved Bobby Murcer. Watching Ron Guidry play center was pretty cool.
My best Stadium experience is probably July 4, 1983. My best friend and I took the subway from the Bronx and watched history, as Dave Righetti shut out the Sox.
A lot of years went by after the 1994 strike before I went back, but now that I have a boy of my own, I’ve taken him a few times. To be able to say my son and I saw Derek Jeter homer at Yankee Stadium is pretty cool indeed. RIP Yankee Stadium. We’ll miss you.
So many memories. I went to my first game in 1977 and then 15 games in 1978. Saw Gator, Figgie and Catfish pitch, and Sparky and Goose coming out of the pen. One game that stands out was a 14 inning game against the Red Sox (it was June, I think), ending with a walk-off homer by Graig Nettles. I was at Fan Appreciation Day that year, seeing Ed Figeruoa become the first Puerto Rican native to win 20. The next year was quite different, of course, with Thurman’s death and no playoffs. I went to the last game of that season and remember Billy Martin sent Ron Guidry out to remove the pitcher from the game. Gator then jogged out to CF and relieved Bobby Murcer. Watching Ron Guidry play center was pretty cool.
My best Stadium experience is probably July 4, 1983. My best friend and I took the subway from the Bronx and watched history, as Dave Righetti shut out the Sox.
A lot of years went by after the 1994 strike before I went back, but now that I have a boy of my own, I’ve taken him a few times. To be able to say my son and I saw Derek Jeter homer at Yankee Stadium is pretty cool indeed. RIP Yankee Stadium. We’ll miss you.
A great game vs. Seattle in August 03 – of course Mo closes!
I’ve been a Yankee Fan everyday since I was 4 years old. My family and I had just moved back from London England and my dad was setting up the cable. Coincidentally, the Yankee game was on. “Who are those guys in the stripes?” I asked my dad. “Those are the NY Yankees” he replied. “Can those be my team dad?”. “Sure” he said with a grin.
Since that fateful day, I have been a huge fan of the bombers. I’ve seen so many fantastic things at the stadium and at home. My most vivid memories include going to the World Series in 2003 and seeing bernie (my favorite player of all time) hit a home run, going to bernie’s last game as a yankee with the thundering “BERNIE WILLIAMS” chants, seeing Aaron Boones walk off, getting a ball from williams, and watching what seems like thousands of games with my dad at home. not only have the yankees given me 12 great years of fandom, they have also created a bond that my dad and i will share for the rest of our lives. i will surely miss the stadium and all of the memories i have of it. tonight was such a great way to send it off though.
Goodbye Yankee Stadium. Its been a treat
I don’t have very good luck. I never have… But it always seems to lead to a very interesting life.
I’m only 26 but my love of the Yankees seems centuries old. In fact, my first game didn’t come until I was a junior in high school even though I grew up only 2 hours west of the city. My family were not baseball fans … I only had my uncle dick who turned me on to the pinstripes at a young age, and my best friends family to get together with and root for the Pat Kelly, Steve Sax, and Kevin Mass’ of the world.
Anyway, My first game was Joe DiMaggio day… Paul Simon, a monument dedication… of all days… this was my first day in the cathedral… it could not have been better…. except for the traffic on the George Washington… I can remember running down River Ave… my Mom yelling at me to slow down… and hearing Paul Simon sing Mrs. Robinson…
It’s a memory I’ll never forget… no… I wasn’t in the stadium to see him stand in center field and sing that song… I wasn’t in the stadium to hear Yogi give his speech… but I was in the stadium to see my team go into extras and have Bernie come up big in the bottom of the 11th.
There have been a few memories in the stadium since then… but none are more true to my life then that first one. It didn’t hit me untill tonight, but I think that commercial Yogi did will help me cope with not being able to go to the stadium any longer
“I won’t miss this place… because it’s inside me”-Yogi
Well put my friend.
I’ve been a Yankee fan for 50 years. I went to the Stadium for the first time on 8/12/58. I was 7 years old and sat with my Dad in the bleachers watching Mickey Mantle. Bleacher tickets were 75 cents and the usher let me in for free going under the turnstile. Those were the days. And yes, Mickey did hit one out. Is there anything better than going to the game with your dad and watching the Mick hit a home run ? Still one of the best days of my life.
I’ve been to the Stadium between 100 – 200 times even though for many years I lived fairly far away. The Stadium always feels like home. I had the opportunity to take the Stadium tour 2 weeks ago. Absolutely awesome, and the first time I had been on the field in a long time.
Too many highlights over the years to mention them all. Maris and Mantle chasing the Babe in ‘61. Reggie’s 3 homers in ‘77, return to greatness in ‘96, Aaron’s Boone’s homer in 2003 while I was working in Boston, ( maybe the most joyous moment of them all ), and watching Derek Jeter play every day.
I have not felt real nostalgic until tonight. Maybe it’s because they rebuilt the old Stadium after ‘73. But I loved the Yankee teams from the late 90’s probably most of all. It was great to see so many great players from the past tonight. And I’m sure the new Stadium will be great. But when the wrecking ball hits the old stadium eventually, I’ll probably feel the way a lot of Dodger fans felt when they tore down Ebbetts Field. The end of an era.
Lets hope the 2009 Yankees go all the way in the new ballpark. And regardless of your age, I hope all Yankee fans will keep their special memories of Yankee Stadium in their minds and in their hearts.
And thanks Pete, for doing a super job with your blog !
RIP Yankee Stadium, 1923-2008. Thank you!
So many awesome memories for me that I watched inside this place & watched take place on TV inside Yankee Stadium.
The around 35 games I went to in Yankee Stadium, each one just as special as the next.
The playoff games, the games vs the Red Sox, the other normal games.
The long days waiting until it was time to leave for Yankee Stadium.
The long days at school when I wasn’t in NYC, waiting all day for games to come.
The ferry rides to Manhattan, the subway rides all the way from the most southern tip of Manhattan all the way up to the Bronx with more & more Yankees fans on the train the closer you got to the Stadium.
The thousands of fans in the streets around Yankee Stadium.
The experience of games inside Yankee Stadium, a sports experience unmatched by any other sports games or places I’ve ever been to.
The atmosphere, indescribable.
The awesomeness of the fans, no more passionate fans anywhere.
The history of Yankee Stadium.
The awe you could feel just looking around the Stadium in amazement of everything that has taken place inside Yankee Stadium & all of the generations that have experienced it.
The joy of a Yankees win. The happiness in the air after a game.
The experience of going on a tour of Yankee Stadium with my dad & being able to walk on the field & sit in the dugout, amazing & awesome.
The experience of taking my dad to his 1st Yankees game. Taking someone I love so much to a place & team I love so much.
All of this and WAY more are all memories I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
One day when I take my kids to the new Yankee Stadium across the street I’ll be able to tell them stories of how years ago I watched the Yankees play in the old Stadium.
Thank you Yankee Stadium & thank you Yankees for all the memories.
RIP to Yankee Stadium, 1923-2008
To a kid growing up on LI in the ’50s, who lived, breathed, ate, and drank baseball and the Yankees, The Stadium…’the Big Ballpark’, as the ol’ redhead used to call it…it was home. The facade, the monuments and flagpole in cf (yes, I’m one who actually thought Huggins, Ruth, and Gehrig were buried there), Death Valley, it combined with the players and the team that gave this kid the sense of entitlement come October. It was Mantle and Maris, Jensen and Ford, Yogi and Whitey, Turley and Ditmar. But it was also DeMaestri and Shantz, Blanchard and Cerv, Lopez and Carey. It was the smell of stale popcorn and cigar smoke. It was that magic moment, walking though the tunnel and seeing that huge, magnificently green field, Mickey joking with the press by the batting cage before launching pitch after pitch into the upper deck in right. It was the down times, the cavernous outfield missing for years the idols of my youth…but I never wavered, I tuned in while Clarke and White and Stottlemyre and Bouton toiled as I waited for Reggie to come and bring them back to October, when the bunting draped across the walls in foul territory told me that the World Series was back. It’s the childhood memories that matter the most to me, though Jeter, O’Neill, Martinez, Williams, Rivera, Posada and the rest of the last championship teams that played there do matter. It won’t ever be the same; no matter that the new stadium will look more like the old one.
i only got to go to the stadium once. I’ve been a fan all my life but I live in New Hampshire. When I finally got the chance to go i almost missed it. My car wouldn’t start and I was stuck in Jersey. I finally made it at the beginning of the 6th inning. They almost didn’t let me in. but I got in and I was mesmorized. I will never forget how i felt looking down on the field for the first time. truly magical
For some reason 1968 stands out for me. Could be because I was 16 and had enough money to go many, many games – $1.50 to sit in the back of the upper deck behind home plate + 30 cents subway fare + maybe a buck for Cokes and peanuts.
I remember three games vividly and I still have the score cards. On May 30, Mantle went 5 for 5 with 2 homers & a double against the Washington Senators. Mick was a shadow of himself but not on that day! Later that year, on August 10, Mickey hit more against the Twins – both from the right side. I considered myself his good luck charm.
Also that year was the best game I have ever witnessed in person. It was August 24, a hot and hazy Saturday and the Tigers, who were running away with the AL that year were in town. Denny McLain, on his way to 31 wins and 25-4 coming into the game vs. Mel Stottlemyre who would win 21 games with a pretty mediocre team. Roy White hit a 2 run homer off McLain in the 1st (Horace Clarke on base) and Willie Horton hit a monster shot off Mel in the 7th and that was it. Yankees win 2-1! In front of about 29,000, which was HUGE crowd in 1968. Game time – 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Although that was the only game of the weekend series I attended, the Yankees swept 4 (all by one run) from the mighty Tigers, and sat at .500 for the 1st time since April of that year. Rocky Colavito was the winning pitcher in the 1st game of the Sunday doubleheader – saw that one on TV. The Yanks actually finished 4 games over .500 for the year, a huge accomplishment after finishing 9th in 67 and 10th (last) in 66.
Those were the days!
I’m lucky to have several very fond memories! My 1st would be sitting in the car on the Grand Concourse with my Mom and Dad as we turned toward the Stadium – it was the 1st time I saw those blue seats so high up in the air! #2 would be the night Gator struck out 18 Angels! As the game went on, the buzz grew – everybody was keeping a count, hoping and hoping for more. As usual that year, Guidry delivered. I was 7, sitting in the 3rd deck and 100% in heaven. 3rd memory came back in ‘91. I was working as an extra for ESPN and had on filed access. I wandred toward the batting cage…and who walks right up to me but Frank ‘Hondo’ Howard – all 6′8″ of him. He was as friendly as could be. I don’t even think I got the time correct. Anyway, like most of us, I’ve been blessed with many great times at Da Stadium.
I have so many fond memories of Yankee stadium, I was born in 1960, my dad and grandpa were die hard Yank fans and raised me that way as well, my grandpa use to say there is only 1 NY team, and being from the Bronx he’s say, they reside in the Bronx.
The stadium to me is a magical place, you can feel a presence at the games, one I have never felt in other ball parks, when the Yanks are down a run or something in the stadium, you just know the ghost’s are lurking for a special moment.
I sit here and wonder were will the spirits of Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, Maris, Murcer, Rizzuto, Munson, Hunter, Martin the lists goes on…were will they dwell….
I’m sad really sad….I know life goes on….
I’m a lifelong Yankees fan living in the Midwest (Iowa specifically) and have been lucky enough to attend a Yankees game every year of my life. I owe that to my parents who are both huge baseball fans and took me to game before I was even one year old in Minnesota. I’ve been to Yankee Stadium on two separate trips. One in 1995 (when tickets were plentiful due to the strike – I was 11) and another trip in 1999. In 1995 we went for a 3 game set against Baltimore and a 5 game set against Cleveland (including a DH) August 7-13th. We had great seats under the overhang and behind the Yankees dugout. I remember walking out the tunnel the first time and how awe-inspiring the green of the grass and the great white facade around the outfield were. Looking back now, the highlights of the trip were a pair of Yankees each hitting 3 HR in a game. One was Mike Stanley (who hit one to left, one to center and one to right) and the other was Ruben Sierra. I distinctly remember how loud the Stadium was when Ruben came up for a chance to hit his third HR. The Stadium was going nuts chanting “RUBEN!-RUBEN!-RUBEN!†and when he delivered the HR into the right-centerfield bleachers I thought the place was going to explode. I was high-fiving complete strangers in the rows around me and going nuts. Another interesting fact of the trip that meant little at the time but means a lot now is that I got to see a skinny right-hander start the first game of the double header. I’d never heard of him and neither had my dad. This skinny right-hander was none other than Mariano Rivera. I also remember standing by the players’ entrance before and after a few of the games. I saw Jack McDowell roll into the stadium wearing plaid shorts, a t-shirt and sandals when everybody else was rocking a collared shirt and jeans/khakis. I thought he looked like a bum. I also remember seeing Donnie Baseball walk out after the game with a kid on his shoulders and two more flanked beside him. Donnie was my idol growing up. I was lucky enough to get his autograph numerous times in Minnesota, Kansas City and Detroit. I was even shown on ESPN getting his autograph in KC when they ran a special on Donnie in ‘95. There was also a time in Detroit when I was just a little tyke of 8 and Donnie came over to sign for the fans. There was such a huge onslaught of fans coming to get his autograph that everyone behind me pushed forward and pinned me against the railing so that I could barely breathe. Donnie told everyone to back up, they were hurting me and proceeded to sign my ball and go back to taking grounders. Seeing him with his family after a game in NY was special. I don’t remember as much about the ‘99 trip. We did see the Yanks score 21 in a game against the Indians. I didn’t take it in and remember it as well as I should of on that trip. It wasn’t my first trip and I didn’t think it would be my last as it turned out being. The best part of that trip was taking the Stadium tour on one of the Yankees off days and getting to set in the Yankees dugout and see the clubhouse. Memories I’ll never forget. I really wish I could have made it out there this year, but circumstances just didn’t allow it. I’ll miss the old Stadium and cherish the memories that I have of it and watching all the great Yankees games there (both in person and on T.V.)
Truly the Mecca of Sports. Nothing is wrong about it. The greatest play there, the homely feel and the fans. This place will be demolished but not in my heart. Last night showed that Yankee Stadium is one of the greatest places in the world. They did a superb job commemorating it. YANKEE STADIUM I WILL MISS YOU!!!!
Here’s a story that I posted on my memories of my first game at the Stadium:
http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/bleacher-magic/