Sunday, September 21, 2008
Yankee Stadium Farewell
Yankees 7, Orioles 3
Very classy night at Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth's 92-year-old daughter threw the ceremonial first pitch, & she enjoyed it, smiling & waving. Following the game, an Orioles player was on his knees on the mound collecting souvenir dirt.
John Sterling has announced every Yankee radio broadcast since 1989. It was very difficult for him to end his post game show tonight.
Johnny Damon's three-run homer in the third inning was caught by a Mets fan from Trenton at his first & only game at the old Stadium.
***
Tonight is the final game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately the Yankees will miss postseason this year for the first time since 1994, no Subway Series to close out Yankee & Shea Stadiums. Some blame pitching, others say it's underperformance, a few put it on manager Joe Girardi, but it could be punishment by the baseball gods for firing manager Joe Torre - who is taking the Dodgers, a weaker team, to the playoffs.
I wasn't much of a baseball fan as a kid. I was lousy at the game. My brother Jim was a big Yankees fan & a good ballplayer, my mom listened to Yankees games on the radio while she ironed, my dad coached winning Little League teams. We weren't a baseball family, none of the sentimental father-to-sons rituals. But Dad's company, M&T Chemical based in Rahway NJ, had season box seats on the third base side at The Stadium. Dad was sometimes able to get hold of tickets for a day game. They were great seats. So I found myself in old Yankee Stadium looking closeup at these guys who were household names, legends in their own time; Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford. The games didn't hold my interest, but I loved the atmosphere. I became something of a regular baseball fan in the 70's, Yankees by default until a friend convinced me I had a right to choose my own religion & I switched to The Mets. But it was impossible to develop anything stronger than indifference toward the Yanks. I listen to The Yankees on the radio. I like radio baseball. I went to some games at the renovated Yankee Stadium, saw Reggie Jackson hit a homerun ("Reggie Bar" opening day 1978). Saw Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Chris Chambliss, Gaylord Perry, Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage. I'm grateful that I've seen Yankee Stadium. It's been a long time since I had any desire to pay the inflated ticket prices & make the trip to the Bronx. Yet, the Yankees sell out game after game. You can't go to a Yankee game on impulse anymore, certainly not as a bargain. But sportswriter Moss Klein noted in the Star-Ledger that the Yankees averaged about 20,000 attendance in 1961, the season Maris & Mantle chased Ruth's home run record, with one of the greatest baseball teams ever.
There is no existing sports venue in America even close to Yankee Stadium in legend & significance. Inside, it hardly resembles The House that Ruth Built, but it's basically the same place. It's seen some of the greatest moments in baseball. Most memorable for me is probably the Chris Chambliss first pitch, walk off home run to win the 1976 American League Pennant, a classic TV sports event. Also boxing, football, Popes, & of course, a Billy Joel concert. I met a woman who claimed Pope John Paul II looked directly at her & sent her a telepathic message at Yankee Stadium; she wouldn't tell me the message. The Knute Rockne "win one for the Gipper" speech was at Yankee Stadium, one of many games Notre Dame & Army played there against each other & other teams.
The good news: the new Yankee Stadium is called "Yankee Stadium." & there will still be bleachers, if half as many.
Very classy night at Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth's 92-year-old daughter threw the ceremonial first pitch, & she enjoyed it, smiling & waving. Following the game, an Orioles player was on his knees on the mound collecting souvenir dirt.
John Sterling has announced every Yankee radio broadcast since 1989. It was very difficult for him to end his post game show tonight.
Johnny Damon's three-run homer in the third inning was caught by a Mets fan from Trenton at his first & only game at the old Stadium.
***
Tonight is the final game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately the Yankees will miss postseason this year for the first time since 1994, no Subway Series to close out Yankee & Shea Stadiums. Some blame pitching, others say it's underperformance, a few put it on manager Joe Girardi, but it could be punishment by the baseball gods for firing manager Joe Torre - who is taking the Dodgers, a weaker team, to the playoffs.
I wasn't much of a baseball fan as a kid. I was lousy at the game. My brother Jim was a big Yankees fan & a good ballplayer, my mom listened to Yankees games on the radio while she ironed, my dad coached winning Little League teams. We weren't a baseball family, none of the sentimental father-to-sons rituals. But Dad's company, M&T Chemical based in Rahway NJ, had season box seats on the third base side at The Stadium. Dad was sometimes able to get hold of tickets for a day game. They were great seats. So I found myself in old Yankee Stadium looking closeup at these guys who were household names, legends in their own time; Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford. The games didn't hold my interest, but I loved the atmosphere. I became something of a regular baseball fan in the 70's, Yankees by default until a friend convinced me I had a right to choose my own religion & I switched to The Mets. But it was impossible to develop anything stronger than indifference toward the Yanks. I listen to The Yankees on the radio. I like radio baseball. I went to some games at the renovated Yankee Stadium, saw Reggie Jackson hit a homerun ("Reggie Bar" opening day 1978). Saw Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Chris Chambliss, Gaylord Perry, Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage. I'm grateful that I've seen Yankee Stadium. It's been a long time since I had any desire to pay the inflated ticket prices & make the trip to the Bronx. Yet, the Yankees sell out game after game. You can't go to a Yankee game on impulse anymore, certainly not as a bargain. But sportswriter Moss Klein noted in the Star-Ledger that the Yankees averaged about 20,000 attendance in 1961, the season Maris & Mantle chased Ruth's home run record, with one of the greatest baseball teams ever.
There is no existing sports venue in America even close to Yankee Stadium in legend & significance. Inside, it hardly resembles The House that Ruth Built, but it's basically the same place. It's seen some of the greatest moments in baseball. Most memorable for me is probably the Chris Chambliss first pitch, walk off home run to win the 1976 American League Pennant, a classic TV sports event. Also boxing, football, Popes, & of course, a Billy Joel concert. I met a woman who claimed Pope John Paul II looked directly at her & sent her a telepathic message at Yankee Stadium; she wouldn't tell me the message. The Knute Rockne "win one for the Gipper" speech was at Yankee Stadium, one of many games Notre Dame & Army played there against each other & other teams.
The good news: the new Yankee Stadium is called "Yankee Stadium." & there will still be bleachers, if half as many.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
One of the reasons why I have become increasingly indifferent towards baseball is due to its schmaltzy oversentimentality to the point where it reminds me of legions of old church ladies getting into their novenas, scapulars and prayer books. I deliberately stayed away from the baseball media last week.
Since no one goes to church any more, but Yankee attendance has been setting record highs in reacent years - Cal Ripken, Lou Gerig and Derek Jeter have replaced the Litany of Saints of past generations.
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Since no one goes to church any more, but Yankee attendance has been setting record highs in reacent years - Cal Ripken, Lou Gerig and Derek Jeter have replaced the Litany of Saints of past generations.
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