Well as most of you know I'm a Yankees fan. It seems since Noah came along, I've been less of a fan but not really. I think he has just helped put things in perspective for me. I love baseball. It is my favorite sport measured on a bar that nothing else even registers upon. I like football. I keep up with basketball but they don't even get notches on the yardstick to measure against baseball. Tonight Melissa called me and asked what I was doing. I said 'You're kidding right.' I guess the whole world didn't know Yankee Stadium hosted its last game ever tonight. When I told her the first thing she said was "I'm so sorry for calling. Call me tomorrow." She didn't know it was closing tonight but she knows what a big deal it was for me because she meant it and there was nothing but sincerity in her apology. I talked to her anyways and I told her about the pre-game ceremonies and how nice they were. It made me want to write a post about it. She also asked me if I cried any and I of course would never admit to the answer. I know the majority of you guys really don't care to hear me talk about the Yankees and that's okay but this is the only voice I have at times and I'm going to write it anyways. If you don't want to read the post then skip the rest of this. I really don't mind. However, I know Jeff and Nick will read this so I'm going to write it for at least them. In fact, I'm kind of addressing it to them for reasons I'll flush out later.
The YES (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) channel have had so many documentaries on Yankee Stadium this year I can't even count them-and yes the Yankees have their own 24-hr channel, it's on 622 on DirecTV. They haven't been very good though, because they were produced by a channel owned by the Yankees. Not exactly unbiased reporting. That's what made the entire day on ESPN so good. Those documentaries are unbiased and it really demonstrated how much Yankee Stadium is a part of American history. It's not as important as most things, but it is part of the fabric of this country. The Babe, Joe D, Yogi, and the Mick are American icons not just baseball icons.
The pre-game coverage on YES showed all of the ceremonies before the game and I know most-if not all- of you guys didn't see them. The 2 highlights were Bobby Murcer's family and Bernie Baseball. They introduced all of the living Yankees that aren't currently playing somewhere else or otherwise committed. Before you ask, Mattingly was not there. I guess he thought his coaching position with the Dodgers was more important. The man lacks priorities :) Bobby Murcer died a few months ago and he is one of the most beloved figures around the organization. He was a fine player but he covered the Yankees for many years as a broadcaster and you could just tell he was a good guy listening to him. Kind of the anti-thesis of Michael Kay who I like but I don't know if I'd buy a used car from him. Anyways, they had dozens of players on the field at their positions and they introduced Bobby's wife, son, and daughter. The Stadium chanted "Bobb-y" for about 3 minutes while his widow and teenage kids waved to the fans. The wife was sobbing and it was a great moment. Not quite as good as Bernie coming home. In case you guys didn't know, Bernie hasn't been back to the stadium since the Yank's didn't renew his contract. I give him credit for retiring like Mattingly did instead of putting on another uniform. I just couldn't imagine him in anything other than pinstripes. When he was introduced the place almost came down. You know those playoff images where a player hits a home run and the place is so loud the camera shakes (Think the Jeter walk-off HR the night after Bush threw out the first pitch after 9/11 ). It was like that. The cameras were literally shaking the place was so loud. He was the last one introduced and noboby-not Yogi, Paul O'Neil, David Wells, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, etc-came close to the ovation he got. It was awesome.
I enjoyed the telecast. Joe Morgan and Jon Miller had a lot of guests in the booth throughout the game and the Yankees won so it was good. It's hilarious that with all the storied moments and tradition, Jose Molina hit the final HR in Yankee stadium. I was really pulling for Jeter in the 7th when he batted with the bases loaded. I know Jeter doesn't need anything more to cement his legacy in Yankee lore but it would have been amazing if he'd connected. Instead he took strike 3, but I don't feel bad for him. I'm sure he'll have plenty of supermodels willing to cheer him up.
I hope you guys didn't miss Jeter speak after the game. He addressed the fans over the PA and he spoke really well. He had a great line, "...we'd still have the moments but without the fans it wouldn't mean anything at all."
I got a little sad tonight too. Not because the stadium closed down, but because I could hear Randy Lyons' voice griping about closing the stadium. We had a yearly talk about a week before the season would start and talk about the Yankees. I know the Razorbacks were his first love but he loved the Yankees too. The past few opening days just haven't been the same since he's been gone. I know he would liked the game tonight but I also know (don't ask me how) he would have been against the whole new stadium thing and I swear I know what he would have said and I could literally hear our 'conversation' in my head. In the end we would have agreed to disagree-well I would have agreed to that-he would have just conceded I was wrong :) I miss that man.
I guess the night was perfect. After the game players from Baltimore were scooping dirt into jars from the field. The Yankee players walked around the stadium waving. Flashbulbs were going off everywhere. Strangely I'm glad the Yankees aren't going to the playoffs this year. With so many players-Mattingly, Bernie, Paulie to name a few-we didn't know which game was going to be the 'last' so there was no '...for the last time.' If the Yankee's had gone to the playoffs, unless they went to a Game 7 in the World Series, we would have never known which night would have been the last game until afterwards. So we get closure and a lot of smiles and even a few admitted tears.
The YES (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) channel have had so many documentaries on Yankee Stadium this year I can't even count them-and yes the Yankees have their own 24-hr channel, it's on 622 on DirecTV. They haven't been very good though, because they were produced by a channel owned by the Yankees. Not exactly unbiased reporting. That's what made the entire day on ESPN so good. Those documentaries are unbiased and it really demonstrated how much Yankee Stadium is a part of American history. It's not as important as most things, but it is part of the fabric of this country. The Babe, Joe D, Yogi, and the Mick are American icons not just baseball icons.
The pre-game coverage on YES showed all of the ceremonies before the game and I know most-if not all- of you guys didn't see them. The 2 highlights were Bobby Murcer's family and Bernie Baseball. They introduced all of the living Yankees that aren't currently playing somewhere else or otherwise committed. Before you ask, Mattingly was not there. I guess he thought his coaching position with the Dodgers was more important. The man lacks priorities :) Bobby Murcer died a few months ago and he is one of the most beloved figures around the organization. He was a fine player but he covered the Yankees for many years as a broadcaster and you could just tell he was a good guy listening to him. Kind of the anti-thesis of Michael Kay who I like but I don't know if I'd buy a used car from him. Anyways, they had dozens of players on the field at their positions and they introduced Bobby's wife, son, and daughter. The Stadium chanted "Bobb-y" for about 3 minutes while his widow and teenage kids waved to the fans. The wife was sobbing and it was a great moment. Not quite as good as Bernie coming home. In case you guys didn't know, Bernie hasn't been back to the stadium since the Yank's didn't renew his contract. I give him credit for retiring like Mattingly did instead of putting on another uniform. I just couldn't imagine him in anything other than pinstripes. When he was introduced the place almost came down. You know those playoff images where a player hits a home run and the place is so loud the camera shakes (Think the Jeter walk-off HR the night after Bush threw out the first pitch after 9/11 ). It was like that. The cameras were literally shaking the place was so loud. He was the last one introduced and noboby-not Yogi, Paul O'Neil, David Wells, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, etc-came close to the ovation he got. It was awesome.
I enjoyed the telecast. Joe Morgan and Jon Miller had a lot of guests in the booth throughout the game and the Yankees won so it was good. It's hilarious that with all the storied moments and tradition, Jose Molina hit the final HR in Yankee stadium. I was really pulling for Jeter in the 7th when he batted with the bases loaded. I know Jeter doesn't need anything more to cement his legacy in Yankee lore but it would have been amazing if he'd connected. Instead he took strike 3, but I don't feel bad for him. I'm sure he'll have plenty of supermodels willing to cheer him up.
I hope you guys didn't miss Jeter speak after the game. He addressed the fans over the PA and he spoke really well. He had a great line, "...we'd still have the moments but without the fans it wouldn't mean anything at all."
I got a little sad tonight too. Not because the stadium closed down, but because I could hear Randy Lyons' voice griping about closing the stadium. We had a yearly talk about a week before the season would start and talk about the Yankees. I know the Razorbacks were his first love but he loved the Yankees too. The past few opening days just haven't been the same since he's been gone. I know he would liked the game tonight but I also know (don't ask me how) he would have been against the whole new stadium thing and I swear I know what he would have said and I could literally hear our 'conversation' in my head. In the end we would have agreed to disagree-well I would have agreed to that-he would have just conceded I was wrong :) I miss that man.
I guess the night was perfect. After the game players from Baltimore were scooping dirt into jars from the field. The Yankee players walked around the stadium waving. Flashbulbs were going off everywhere. Strangely I'm glad the Yankees aren't going to the playoffs this year. With so many players-Mattingly, Bernie, Paulie to name a few-we didn't know which game was going to be the 'last' so there was no '...for the last time.' If the Yankee's had gone to the playoffs, unless they went to a Game 7 in the World Series, we would have never known which night would have been the last game until afterwards. So we get closure and a lot of smiles and even a few admitted tears.
