Your memories of Yankee Stadium

Haven't downloaded or listened yet, but appropriate for this thread:
http://nilslofgren.com/YankeeStadium.html

 

First trips to the stadium were in 1977 as an 8-year-old in Field or Main level box seats on the first baseline my dad got through his job. He took my younger brother and I to a few games that year. No specific memories of the games, but just being in awe of the stadium and being there for batting practice.

Dad took us to a few games the following year as well. That year my brother and I were down by the field during Orioles BP. A grounder comes in our direction, it glances off my brother's glove right to Eddie Murray who throws it to a teammate instead of tossing it back to my brother. Yankees won that game.

While taking my brother, myself and a friend to a game in '79 or '80 the clutch on my dad's car went. This is on the way to the game - can't remember if it went while on 80/95 or if it went while we were on the Cross Bronx. But it was a rough ride the rest of the way to the stadium and all the way home with no clutch.

In the mid-80s and early 90s went to a couple of games on my own, a few with friends but didn't make it every season as college and then work got in the way. One of the more memorable ones was going to Old Timers' Day and getting scalping tickets about 12 rows behind the plate for under face value.

Went to one or two regular season games during the return to glory in the mid-90s/early 00s. But my most memorable game was Game 5 of the 2000 World Series against the D-backs. Had seats in the left field bleachers and it was just an insane atmosphere. Also sat out there the next season for Game 1 of the ALDS vs. the Angels, but the atmosphere couldn't compare to the World Series.

I also went to three games this season. First time didn't get there in time for Monument Park. Second time got there 20 minutes after the gates opened and was told that the line for Monument Park was already too long and had been closed off. Third and final time was the charm as my friend and I got there before the gates opened and made the dash for Monument Park and I got to see it for the first time in a long time. All three games were good, close games.

 

First time was 1983, can't remember who they played, but I took pics, still have them.
The best game was Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS, Leyritz's homer in the bottom of the 15th, 1:22 a.m., in a drizzle. I sat in the left field bleachers.
That game was also Mattingly's last HR (well, at least at the Stadium). People were tossing their beers in the air when he hit that one.
I scored the game, ran out of room (since the scorecard only went to 12 innings), used the margins for the final 3.
My grandfather used to go from the 1920s to the 60s, I wish I could have went to a game with him but he died when I was 3.
For me though, the Stadium "died" in 1973, this was the "New Stadium."
I hope to get to see a game in the "New, New" one.

 

Sadly, my memory will always be that I didn't get to have a memory. This is really bumming me out this week, especially with the photos crossing the wire and the SI cover.

 

First place I saw Yogi Berra naked.

 

There was a second?

 

2001 World Series. Back to back nights with two-out, 9th inning home runs and walkoff wins. Brosius' HR in game 5 was amazing. Before it happened, we were all thinking, "It can't happen again, can it?" It didn't seem possible. It certainly was against the odds. But it happened, and we knew it right off the bat. The place felt like it was bouncing with joy. It was straight rapture. I was sure that when I left, the stadium was going to be a few yards down the block, kinda the way you discover your bed has relocated after a really good romp in the hay. Rapture baby.

In a strange way, my other great memories are back during the '88-'93 era, when my buddies and I could just head down on the spur of the moment knowing there were good seats available, and that the people around us were also true-blue fans.

 

Only went to a single game, this year. Had great seats, saw them play the Reds. It started raining torrentially, the group I was with - not really sports fans, though one purchased a Yankees hat that day for some reason - wanted to leave for a while. We went to the bar/bowling alley across the street, then when the raisn died we tried to get back in, only to find there was no re-entry. I must have missed all the large signs that said so when I was moving through the crowd . . . .

Still, neat-looking ballpark. Glad I had a chance to see it before it closed. Definitely could feel the history oozing from the walls.

 

I grew up an hour away from the city, so I was fortunate to see a whole lot, despite how big of a dump it was. I was there for Jim Abbott's no-hitter, Don Mattingly's jersey retirement, Joe Dimaggio Day right after he passed and they unveiled his monument and Paul Simon sang in centerfield, and I was there for both Game 1 and Game 6 of the '96 Series, alternately the best and worst games I ever attended. Going to the Bronx and to Madison Square Garden for college hoops games were the real bonding experiences I had with my father growing up. I miss it, and the Stadium going away makes me realize once again how lucky I was that he valued that time with me.

 

I saw my first baseball game there, in either 1976 or 1977. I feel like the Yankees played the Tigers and Mark Fidrych pitched, but I'm really not sure. I know it was a Sunday day game and I went with my parents, both of whom were born in the Bronx and who grew up within walking distance of the Stadium. My mom was the bigger baseball fan of the two and after that first game at the Stadium with both my parents, I went to almost every other game there with just my mom. The last game I went to there was in 2004. The tickets, which I ended up getting through a player (I'm not a journalist, so no conflict), were supposed to have been a birthday present for my mom and we were supposed to have a mother-daughter outing, but my mom asked me to get another ticket so that my dad could go, too. I guess it's fitting that I went to my first and last games at the Stadium with my parents.

My dad was never a baseball fan, but when he was a kid, some of his father's customers used to give him free tickets to Yankees games. At one game, he caught a ball, but he had to throw it back, because it was during WWII and they were rationing everything, including baseballs, I guess.

The next story is my mom's and it doesn't involve the Stadium, but this is as good as any place to post it. As I said, my mom grew up near the Stadium. At the time, a lot of players and coaches lived at the Concourse Plaza Hotel. One afternoon when my mom was about 10, she was standing outside her apartment building, when she saw Frank Crosetti and Bill Dickey (when they were coaches) coming down the street. She had never asked for an autograph before, but she loved the Yankees and was excited to see these guys walking down her block (the fact that she even recognized them - before her family had a TV, although I don't even know if games were televised then - still amazes me). She says she went up to them - a little girl with long braided pigtails - and asked for their autographs. AND THEY TOTALLY BLEW HER OFF. They pushed right past her. She never asked for another autograph again, although she remains to this day, a diehard Yankees fan. I really wanted to take her to a game this season -- as much as for me as for her, but I just never got around to getting tickets. I'll probably always regret that.

 

Bob Sheppard, whose voice is synonymous with the Yankees and Yankee Stadium, will not be in the Bronx tomorrow night.

 

It makes me very sad that Bob Sheppard can't be there tomorrow.