The pitch was thrown by Mariano Rivera.
The ball was hit by Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles.
The ball was fielded by first baseman Cody Ransom.
The out was made by Rivera covering first base.
It was over.
The final out in the history of Yankee Stadium was made. In reality, the final score was irrelevant; a 7-3 Yankees win. This game was about more than that. As you looked around the old ballpark that night, anyone that was able to get a ticket looked at the history and soaked it all in. This would be the last time professional baseball will be played in this building.
In reality, it was not supposed to be “The End”. Initially, many thought that the final game at the old park would be in the postseason, sometime in October. For the Yankees, that will not happen this year, so this was it. A final goodbye. For me, it was an official goodbye. I made the trip on my birthday back in August to pay homage and it was the best present I could ever have. It is likely nothing will eclipse it.
But as we all said goodbye, we were given a chance to look back at all the memorable moments that have taken place here from it original 1923 opening. Babe Ruth christened the new (at the time) stadium with a blast. Here in 2008, Jose Molina would close it on Sunday night with a homerun.
You think about all of the events that have taken place in that cathedral; football, boxing, concerts, visits from the Pope, and of course the Yankees.
My first visit to Yankee Stadium came when I was four years old. Apparently, I didn’t know I was there until I saw a picture years later that show me, as a little pup in the upper deck with my aunt. Back in those days, the Yankees were not a very good team and plenty of good seats were available. That picture still resides in its black and white from in a picture book that will probably be able to keep at some point in the future. Though I would learn the nuances of baseball in later years, that day in the summer of 1987 was my first initial foray into baseball.
My parents didn’t care for baseball very much at all. So in my case, I was left to learn on my own. I watched the Yankees on TV as a kid. I saw the beautiful stadium and became a fan. During my visits back to New York, I would make it a point to take in a game at the Stadium. The team rarely sold out in those days, even when they were playing the Red Sox. It would be easy to look out in to the left field bleachers and see emptiness. The last tiers of the upper deck were usually empty unless it was Opening Day. In my bedroom, I keep a picture of Opening Day from the Yankees 1992 season against Boston. Every seat is filled. The billboards have changed. Let’s just say the Budweiser ads have grown up over the years.
Many of us didn’t really know how much the Stadium would rock. All most of us saw were old, grainy highlight videos. All of that changed a few seasons later. The Yankees finally returned to the postseason in 1995, the first time in 14 seasons. The Yankees mattered again.
Yankee Stadium mattered again.
When Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly went back-to-back with homeruns in Game 2 of the playoff series against Seattle, the Stadium roared, as it did in the 70’s.
One year later, with a chance to clinch a World Series for the first time in 18 years at home against the Atlanta Braves, the Stadium was jumping.
It was Game 6, leading 3-2 in the series in the bottom of the third inning. Paul O’Neill led off with a double and after Mariano Duncan grounded out, Joe Girardi came to the plate. When the ball left pitcher Greg Maddux’s hands, it found the bat of Girardi’s. The ball carried into right center field. It kept carrying and carrying and went over centerfielder Marquis Grissom and rolled to wall. O’Neill scored and here was Girardi racing for third base looking for a triple and made it safely.
The Yankees took the lead and the Stadium, as Girardi, and many teammates said afterward, they felt was shaking. It was a feeling that they never felt before.
The fans gave The Stadium its character. Without it, it would not be the same. Take all the other iconic stadiums that exist in baseball. Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and old Tiger Stadium…not one of them spits out more raw emotion than that of Yankee Stadium.
In “big games” in baseball, fans in stadiums across the league stand up with two strikes rooting for a strikeout. If you ask them where that originated from, I am willing to bet that no one would have any clue as to what the answer is.
Ask a Yankees fan, and we’ll you it started right inside Yankee Stadium the night Ron Guidry struck out 18 California Angels in 1978.
One of my personal favorite moments happened in 2001 after the tragic events of 9-11. It was Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against Seattle, and my dorm mate from college and I had tickets for the game to see the Yankees go to the World Series.
As we went to our seats out in the right field bleachers, we could feel the anticipation and excitement amongst everyone around us. We were ready for a celebration that night after everything that had gone on in the city. The Yankees were our way of giving us a distraction from what the real world were just miles down the road by where the World Trade Center once was.
The Yankees routed the Mariners that night to win and the last three innings became a party. Chants of “116! Don’t Mean Shit”, “Overrated” and “Sayonara Ichiro” cascaded throughout the building. It was a fun time. Perhaps the most fun I ever had at a Yankee game in my life.
Just one week later, the Stadium had three of most historic moments. You remember in Game 3 of the World Series and President Bush throwing out the first pitch and firing a strike to Jorge Posada.
One night later, in the ninth inning, set to trail the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Series three games to one, Tino Martinez hits a two out, two run game tying homerun. I remember Paul O'Neill pumping his fists as he is rounding the bases. The fans out in the right field bleachers jumping for joy. An inning later, Derek Jeter completes the miracle win with the opposite field homerun into the short right field porch.
Those two nights were great. It seemed as if there was no possible encore for what we had seen. Yet, here we were again in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing by two runs again. This time Scott Brosius was the hero. As his homerun left the bat, I remember being in my dorm room watching and seeing the builiding shake again like it did in 1996.
Who could forget that memorable Game 7 of the ALCS against the Red Sox. Trailing by three runs, the Yankees get within one run and Jorge Posada come to the plate looking to tie the game. He had a shallow blooper off Pedro Martinez into centerfield that scored two runs to tie the game. As Hideki Matsui is coming around third, you can see all the Yankee fans in the stands jumping, screaming and cheering him home. It was pandemonium.
Three innings later, Aaron Boone shook the building with a walk-off homerun to win the American League Pennant. If you watch the replays from when the ball hits Boone’s bat, you can see the entire Stadium rise with hands in the air in celebration. For that night, it was another one of those “Stadium Moments”. For anyone there that night, it was a moment they all will be able to cherish forever.
Maybe there really were “ghosts” in the Stadium. There was a sign in the crowd during the 2001 World Series that read the following:
“Mystique and Aura: Appearing Nightly”
Little did I know when I left the Stadium after Game 2 of the 2003 World Series against Florida that it would be the last World Series I would ever see in that building. After I came back from Miami for the middle three games of the Series, I was fully expecting the Yankees to force a Game 7 and to be there in person to watch a potential championship celebration. Unfortunately, for me, it did not happen. Josh Beckett of the Marlins pitched a complete game shutout to win the World Series for Florida. Now that the Stadium is leaving, the lasting World Series moment will be when Beckett tagged out Jorge Posada running up the first base line and the Marlins celebrating on the Yankees diamond.
In 2005, plans were outlined for a new Yankee Stadium. Never did I really think this could possibly happen, but it is a sign of the times. Luxury boxes were needed. Additional concessions and all of the other amenities that a lot of the great new ballparks have was something that was going to happen eventually. While it was going to be sad to say goodbye, I think we all could conclude that it was for the best.
This year, reality began to set in. Our days with Yankee Stadium were numbered. It didn’t help that out in right center field, you would see a board displaying the amount of regular season games remaining. During the middle of the game, an announcement would come signifying that another game had been taken off the ledger and the countdown to the end was coming. When I was there in August, the amount of games left had reached 21.
Now here we are. The count has reached zero. Next April, a new history of the Yankees will begin inside a new home. It will hold as many people and for some, it may look a little too corporate. Perhaps it will feel like an amusement park than a baseball stadium. Adjusting to new surroundings is going to be very unusual. It is definitely going to take a while to get used to the new park.
Let’s just hope we can bring the past along with us across the street.
Random Yankee Stadium Thoughts
This time, I will give you my top 10 moments of Yankee Stadium that I grew up with. If I was 60, I would breakdown the 1959 NFL Championship between the Colts and the Giants, but I cannot. This will have to do.
10. Jim Abbott’s no hitter against Cleveland in 1993.
9. David Wells perfect game against Minnesota in 1998.
8. David Cone’s perfect game on Old Timer’s Day against Montreal in 1999.
7. Tino Martinez’s grand slam in the seventh inning in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.
6. Tino Martinez’s game tying homerun in the ninth inning of World Series Game 4 in 2001.
5. Game 1 of the 2000 World Series.
No one really believed that a Subway World Series would ever happen. When the possibility suddenly presented itself during the ALCS and NLCS, in some ways each fan base began to partially root for the other to make it to set up this matchup. When Game 1 commenced on that Saturday night, a lot of dreams were realized. Older fans that used to see the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees battle yearly in the World Series now were able to relive it almost 45 years later.
4. Scott Brosius’ game tying two-run homerun in Game 5 of the 2001 World Series in the ninth inning.
After watching Tino’s homerun the night before and somehow coming back to win, surely there was no chance of it happening two nights in a row, could they? But it did. Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim threw a hanging slider and when Brosius hit it, the Stadium erupted. Within 24 hours of each other, the Yankees had pulled off another miracle.
3. Aaron Boone’s American League Pennant winning homerun in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.
Had the Yankees went on to win the World Series that year, Boone’s homerun would have been a fixture forever. However, for that one night, Boone became our generations Chris Chambliss. Boston has been beaten again in dramatic fashion and the Red Sox were left to pick up the pieces of the Babe, Bucky, Buckner and now Boone.
2. Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly bring Yankee Stadium to life in Game 2 of the AL Division Series in 1995.
Most Yankee fans were too young to remember past Yankees playoffs in the late 1970’s, and finally got their chance to see one for themselves. When Paul O’Neill went deep, the place was ecstatic. But when Mattingly hit one out, the decibel level exploded. It was a classic moment
1. Joe Girardi’s triple in Game 6 of the 1996 World Series.
With a chance to win the World Series, the crowd had been in frenzy for hours. When Girardi drove the ball into right center field, he was only looking for a sacrifice fly. The ball carried over Marquis Grissom’s head. As O’Neill scored, the crowd roared for Girardi (never with the fastest speed) to make it to third for a triple. He made it safely and the crowd could not be contained. It was Yankee Stadium’s finest moment.
Three innings later, Aaron Boone shook the building with a walk-off homerun to win the American League Pennant. If you watch the replays from when the ball hits Boone’s bat, you can see the entire Stadium rise with hands in the air in celebration. For that night, it was another one of those “Stadium Moments”. For anyone there that night, it was a moment they all will be able to cherish forever.
Maybe there really were “ghosts” in the Stadium. There was a sign in the crowd during the 2001 World Series that read the following:
“Mystique and Aura: Appearing Nightly”
Little did I know when I left the Stadium after Game 2 of the 2003 World Series against Florida that it would be the last World Series I would ever see in that building. After I came back from Miami for the middle three games of the Series, I was fully expecting the Yankees to force a Game 7 and to be there in person to watch a potential championship celebration. Unfortunately, for me, it did not happen. Josh Beckett of the Marlins pitched a complete game shutout to win the World Series for Florida. Now that the Stadium is leaving, the lasting World Series moment will be when Beckett tagged out Jorge Posada running up the first base line and the Marlins celebrating on the Yankees diamond.
In 2005, plans were outlined for a new Yankee Stadium. Never did I really think this could possibly happen, but it is a sign of the times. Luxury boxes were needed. Additional concessions and all of the other amenities that a lot of the great new ballparks have was something that was going to happen eventually. While it was going to be sad to say goodbye, I think we all could conclude that it was for the best.
This year, reality began to set in. Our days with Yankee Stadium were numbered. It didn’t help that out in right center field, you would see a board displaying the amount of regular season games remaining. During the middle of the game, an announcement would come signifying that another game had been taken off the ledger and the countdown to the end was coming. When I was there in August, the amount of games left had reached 21.
Now here we are. The count has reached zero. Next April, a new history of the Yankees will begin inside a new home. It will hold as many people and for some, it may look a little too corporate. Perhaps it will feel like an amusement park than a baseball stadium. Adjusting to new surroundings is going to be very unusual. It is definitely going to take a while to get used to the new park.
Let’s just hope we can bring the past along with us across the street.
Random Yankee Stadium Thoughts
This time, I will give you my top 10 moments of Yankee Stadium that I grew up with. If I was 60, I would breakdown the 1959 NFL Championship between the Colts and the Giants, but I cannot. This will have to do.
10. Jim Abbott’s no hitter against Cleveland in 1993.
9. David Wells perfect game against Minnesota in 1998.
8. David Cone’s perfect game on Old Timer’s Day against Montreal in 1999.
7. Tino Martinez’s grand slam in the seventh inning in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.
6. Tino Martinez’s game tying homerun in the ninth inning of World Series Game 4 in 2001.
5. Game 1 of the 2000 World Series.
No one really believed that a Subway World Series would ever happen. When the possibility suddenly presented itself during the ALCS and NLCS, in some ways each fan base began to partially root for the other to make it to set up this matchup. When Game 1 commenced on that Saturday night, a lot of dreams were realized. Older fans that used to see the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees battle yearly in the World Series now were able to relive it almost 45 years later.
4. Scott Brosius’ game tying two-run homerun in Game 5 of the 2001 World Series in the ninth inning.
After watching Tino’s homerun the night before and somehow coming back to win, surely there was no chance of it happening two nights in a row, could they? But it did. Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim threw a hanging slider and when Brosius hit it, the Stadium erupted. Within 24 hours of each other, the Yankees had pulled off another miracle.
3. Aaron Boone’s American League Pennant winning homerun in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.
Had the Yankees went on to win the World Series that year, Boone’s homerun would have been a fixture forever. However, for that one night, Boone became our generations Chris Chambliss. Boston has been beaten again in dramatic fashion and the Red Sox were left to pick up the pieces of the Babe, Bucky, Buckner and now Boone.
2. Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly bring Yankee Stadium to life in Game 2 of the AL Division Series in 1995.
Most Yankee fans were too young to remember past Yankees playoffs in the late 1970’s, and finally got their chance to see one for themselves. When Paul O’Neill went deep, the place was ecstatic. But when Mattingly hit one out, the decibel level exploded. It was a classic moment
1. Joe Girardi’s triple in Game 6 of the 1996 World Series.
With a chance to win the World Series, the crowd had been in frenzy for hours. When Girardi drove the ball into right center field, he was only looking for a sacrifice fly. The ball carried over Marquis Grissom’s head. As O’Neill scored, the crowd roared for Girardi (never with the fastest speed) to make it to third for a triple. He made it safely and the crowd could not be contained. It was Yankee Stadium’s finest moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment