Tonight, our beloved Yankee Stadium will be no more. In just a few hours, the legendary sports shrine will see its last out, hear its last boo and shake with its last roar of approval.
After tonight's game against the Orioles, there will be no more walks to Memorial Park, no more impromptu subway trips to the Bronx after a long day's work, no more Rudy sitting next to the dugout as a reassurance that all is well in New York City.
I went to my first game at Yankee Stadium about 20 years ago, sometime in middle school. I remember being upset because we had some of those "partially blocked" seats - a nice way of saying that there's no way in hell you'll see half the game because of the big cement pillar in front of you. What I wouldn't give today to have one of those blocked seats, just to be a part of the last day in the stadium's 85-year history.
I met Don Larsen one day when I was living in the West Village and ran around the corner to pick up some Italian food. Apparently, he was a regular (as was I) and so the owner encouraged me to go talk to him. This was the man who pitched a no-hitter on my birthday in 1956, and I still have his autograph tucked away with my other memories.
I was lucky enough to be part of the House That Ruth Built's legend on October 30, 2001. Only weeks after the Twin Towers fell, despite not having the best record and despite the players mourning their own loss, somehow our Yankees showed up in the World Series that year. To this day, I cannot begin to explain the joy the Yanks brought to New York in a time of such sorrow - more than a team winning against the odds, it was a more like divine intervention. I remember reading a quote by Lou Pinella, when his record-setting Mariners were losing the ALCS in Yankee Stadium. He said he actually felt good for the fans, even when his team was getting their butts kicked. It was just that kind of experience.
I still don't know how it happened, but we ended up with tickets to Game 3 of the World Series - the first game back in New York after two in Arizona. Mom somehow got them from Harold Baines, and we were in the outfield with the "Bleacher Creatures" when President Bush helicoptered in to throw out the first pitch, an enormous U.S. flag was unfurled across the field, and the game got underway. It was a pitching duel, and Roger Clemens and the Yanks came through with a 2-1 victory.
The Yankees would win a few in that series in dramatic fashion - last minute heroics from players like Derek Jeter, who would be known afterwards as "Mr. November". That they ended up losing the series (ironically, my favorite former Pirate Jay Bell would score the Diamondbacks' winning run), would really make no difference. The Yankees gave hope to a city that had none, and we reveled in it for every last second.
It may be the house that Ruth built, but it's also the house of Gehrig, DiMaggio and Jackson, of Munson, Maris and Berra and of generations of New Yorkers. I have a feeling baseball will never be the same.
If you'd like to read more about those days, here's a column from today's New York Post that I think sums it up pretty well. http://www.nypost.com/seven/09212008/sports/yankees/2001_series_left_even_reggie_speechless_130028.htm?page=0
After tonight's game against the Orioles, there will be no more walks to Memorial Park, no more impromptu subway trips to the Bronx after a long day's work, no more Rudy sitting next to the dugout as a reassurance that all is well in New York City.
I went to my first game at Yankee Stadium about 20 years ago, sometime in middle school. I remember being upset because we had some of those "partially blocked" seats - a nice way of saying that there's no way in hell you'll see half the game because of the big cement pillar in front of you. What I wouldn't give today to have one of those blocked seats, just to be a part of the last day in the stadium's 85-year history.
I met Don Larsen one day when I was living in the West Village and ran around the corner to pick up some Italian food. Apparently, he was a regular (as was I) and so the owner encouraged me to go talk to him. This was the man who pitched a no-hitter on my birthday in 1956, and I still have his autograph tucked away with my other memories.
I was lucky enough to be part of the House That Ruth Built's legend on October 30, 2001. Only weeks after the Twin Towers fell, despite not having the best record and despite the players mourning their own loss, somehow our Yankees showed up in the World Series that year. To this day, I cannot begin to explain the joy the Yanks brought to New York in a time of such sorrow - more than a team winning against the odds, it was a more like divine intervention. I remember reading a quote by Lou Pinella, when his record-setting Mariners were losing the ALCS in Yankee Stadium. He said he actually felt good for the fans, even when his team was getting their butts kicked. It was just that kind of experience.
I still don't know how it happened, but we ended up with tickets to Game 3 of the World Series - the first game back in New York after two in Arizona. Mom somehow got them from Harold Baines, and we were in the outfield with the "Bleacher Creatures" when President Bush helicoptered in to throw out the first pitch, an enormous U.S. flag was unfurled across the field, and the game got underway. It was a pitching duel, and Roger Clemens and the Yanks came through with a 2-1 victory.
The Yankees would win a few in that series in dramatic fashion - last minute heroics from players like Derek Jeter, who would be known afterwards as "Mr. November". That they ended up losing the series (ironically, my favorite former Pirate Jay Bell would score the Diamondbacks' winning run), would really make no difference. The Yankees gave hope to a city that had none, and we reveled in it for every last second.
It may be the house that Ruth built, but it's also the house of Gehrig, DiMaggio and Jackson, of Munson, Maris and Berra and of generations of New Yorkers. I have a feeling baseball will never be the same.
If you'd like to read more about those days, here's a column from today's New York Post that I think sums it up pretty well. http://www.nypost.com/seven/09212008/sports/yankees/2001_series_left_even_reggie_speechless_130028.htm?page=0
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