Posted by
Richard on Monday, September 22, 2008 5:58:23 AM
Dear Reader;
As you all probably know I now live in a small city in Kentucky, but it wasn't always so. I am a former New Yorker and am still a rabid NY Yankees fan. Yesterday they played their final game in the famed " house that Ruth built" and it moved and saddened me at the same time.
The game itself had no real value as they have no hopes of making the playoffs this year, (the first time in over a decade), but after the final out, the team showed its loyalty to its fans by coming out and taking a lap around the field waving their caps in appreciation to all the support over the years from the greatest fans in sports history.
I am looking forward to them playing in the new stadium next year, and I hope to get back perhaps next summer to see it for myself. And yet out of all the memories I have taken with me to my new adoptive home state Yankee stadium most certainly stands amongst the top the top of the list.
I remember my dad taking me to so many games over the years and we always brought our own lunch and drinks, (in a time when you could without having to wait to have your bag check inside and out), and we'd sit in the cheap seats most of the time. In fact, I do believe that general admission was a whopping 0.75 cents. The bleachers were a half dollar. I'd would bring my glove all the time even though I probably knew deep inside I'd' not catch a foul ball or a homer, but it was something you thought about when taking the IRT subway line to "the stadium".
The last game my dad and I attended together was somewhere around the mid 70's. I honestly cannot recall if it had been prior to or after the renovations, where the Yankees were forced to play at Shea for two seasons. For me in retrospect it is now a sad memory, for during that time I was as most of my peers a rebel of sorts and at odds with my dad on a number of current issues of the day. However, I was slowly coming around to see his point of view and it is to him that I attribute my beginning of a conservative stance in life. But I digress.
My personal favorite memories of Yankee Stadium were the "Bat days". Back then you got a real bat, (not like those current little things they give away now) with a current player's name etched in at the top. I had two of them; one Bobby Richardson, the other Tom Tresh. I can still hear those bats being pounded on the floor of the stadium during times when a rally was needed, or the last out was about to occur. It literally rocked the place as you could feel the vibrations from some 50,000 bats hitting the concrete in unison. Sadly, for me both bats, over the years succumbed to several moves and were lost.
Over the last couple of years, I had taken my youngest to see a couple of games and she too is now a Yankee fan. And while I must say it is doubtful that she will ever be as big a fan as I have been, she still enjoyed going to the big show. As such, I know I have created some memories for her to have as she gets older.
I know that there are many of you reading this that have very similar memories of Yankee Stadium and I invite you to share them with not only me but the rest of the readers as well.
The YES network has a wonderful series that they have put together containing comments by various people about their memories of Yankee Stadium. I invite all of you to click on the link, and relive some of your own greatest recollections of one of baseball's most historic and hallowed places.
Finally I extend my thanks to the NY Yankees for being a wonderful part of my childhood, and to having continually brought so many emotions; joy, frustration, sadness, and excitement, into my life and for this I will be ever grateful.
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