Your memories of Yankee Stadium

You think it's hard to believe? I still haven't gotten over it.

 

There were also countless summer days in the 60s when we'd take the bus from NJ and the subway from the Port Authority (A train to 59th St., D train to 161st St.) and pay a buck-fifty to sit in GA seats in the upper deck.
The best part was working our way down as the game went on until by the 7th inning or so we were in the vacated box seats behind the Yankees dugout .. and the ushers didn't care because there was no Steinbrenner gestapo in those days.

 

This is usually a learned skill, but I think it's an ingrained trait -- it takes a certain type of baseball fan to sneak into the box seats, a certain audacity. It's like stealing second base. Most people choose to sit in the seat on their tickets (and some are so anal as to insist on rearranging until everyone. is. in. their. proper. seat. Ugh.) But those with baseball in their blood ... you can tell.

I'm convinced of it.

 

It also is something you can not do anymore, Buck, at least not in NY.

 

Nor can you do it at Dodger Stadium or New Comiskey. Sad times.

 

In fact, wehn we went to Yankee Stadium last year, we had upper deck seats. We couldn't even walk out through the lower deck to look at the field 2 hours before the game. You go where yoour seats are and you stay there.

Back in the 60s (yeah, yeah, good old days shit) we used to buy oour upper deck general admission tickets and walk directly down to the railing along the foul lines during BP. When BP ended, they'd chase us back to our "real" seats...while why were scoping out where there might be vacancies to sneak down to later.

I'll tell you my Shea Stadium opening day 1965 story next week when the dump in Queens gets flushed for good.

 

Mine's not very cool at all, but I'll share anyway.

I went one time and in a way it was a big letdown. The stadium was ugly, I stood in line trying to buy a hot dog for nearly a full inning and I had to watch the Devil Rays in a day game.

There was no life in the Stadium, plus it was YMCA day or something. There were millions of little kids there, who obviously didn't care about the game.

July 2, 2001.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200107020.shtml

I do remember thinking how cool Monument Park was and my brother getting his picture next to the Mantle plaque (he's named after the Mick). But it was just a letdown of a game. I always wanted to attend a night game and sit on the first base line, just because I always thought home runs to right field looked majestic on TV and I wanted to see one in person.

Instead, I sat about 30 rows above third base - which was occupied by Luis Sojo that day - and while I did see two home runs (Chuck Knoblauch 3-run homer and Soriano a solo shot) it wasn't the same.

The field and everything was perfect, though. I do remember that. I also remember not being able to walk around. We wanted pictures in the bleachers and they wouldn't let us out there. That was BS.

I'm glad I got to go, but compared to Wrigley (where I saw Tony Gwynn homer in 1993) it wasn't nearly as cool, but like I said it might have been the circumstances.

 

Last year, I covered a Red Sox-Yankees series at The Stadium. I had been to The Stadium previously, but never really experienced it. During that series, I was able to walk around the warning track and sneak into Monument Park hours before the doors opened. In one of sports' cathedrals, I felt the history: Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, Joe Lewis fights, papal visits, the pre-Giants Stadium New York Giants.

It was a very humbling experience.

 

I remember going to games in Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium on the same day a few years ago. Then I remember a bunch of eulogies to Yankee Stadium on its final weekend but none to Shea.

Shea Stadium -- We Try Just As Hard!

 

Went to NYC along with my mom to watch my sister in some sort of dance competition deal. Basically, I skipped out of watching all the dancing and, as an 18-year old fresh out of high school, roamed the city alone. I didn't have much money, so going to a game was out of the question...but I did take in a tour of the stadium. I could walk Monument Park at my own pace. I could sit in the Yankees' dugout. I could take as many pictures as a battery would allow. But, it was so incomplete without having an actual game.

So earlier this season, I made a Memorial Day weekend trip to see Yankee and Shea Stadiums just once with real, live ball games.

Well, we got there early to see Monument Park and I've never felt more like cattle than when they opened that left field gate and rounded us up onto a ramp. But seeing it again was worth it.

We were in the upper deck, about six rows up behind home plate, so once we had checked out the monuments, we were sent upstairs.

I think the one big advancement in ballparks is the walkable concourses where you can see the field. That was certainly what was missing at Yankee Stadium. I just remember sitting in my seat in the upper deck for an hour waiting for the game to start...baking in the sun, which seemed to only be about 25 feet above me.

The game itself was a horribly played contest against Seattle. The Yankees eventually won as J.J. Putz lost any hope of winning the Gold Glove as a reliever and Ichiro horribly misjudged a flyball.

At least in my section, it was very enjoyable listening to the fans around me. They weren't obnoxious...ok, one was, but in an arrogant way, not a drunk way. All others, mostly season ticket folks, were just there to watch the game and couldn't care less about anything going on around them. Some voiced displeasure over the increased number of out of town folks who were there to see the stadium one last time (or one first time)...but I can understand that. I'm a lifelong Cubs' fan who actually hates going to Wrigley for all of its tourism charm.

For the first few innings, it was just such a surreal setting...especially from my seat, which had a perfect view of the entire field. You know how you get that "I've seen this so many times on TV, I can't believe I'm here feeling" (well, maybe not, but I do)...I got that feeling multiplied by 100 sitting there that afternoon.

It was great to sit in my seat and watch a ballgame...but all else about the place sucked. The bathrooms were gross. The food was even more overpriced than any other stadium. I didn't even bother taking out a loan to buy a beer. Trying to move around in the concourse was amazingly difficult. The concrete in our section was noticably chipping away.

Having said all of that, it's a moment in life I'll never forget and I can't wait to tell my children and grandchildren.

 

Never got to go.

 

Twice . . . thirty years apart.

It's time to let it go. What's good about it will come along for the ride . . . what's bad (the ridiculously-narrow concourses, etc.) can't be abandoned, quickly enough.

Given the current ticket-price status, the soul was sold, years ago.

For now, the Yankees are NOT October.