The Yankees Have Left The Building...

Change…sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s just change. This week, there will be a LOT of changing going on. Let me start with something that made me cry (yea we know I do that at the drop of a hat, because I’m a Pisces – not because I’m a girl thank you very much!) I went to Yankee Stadium yesterday for the final game.

OH MY GOD! The House That Ruth Built closed the doors for the final time last night. Over 54,000 fans watched our beloved Yankees beat the Orioles, 7-3. YEA!

Something that will never change about fans of the New York Yankees: pride, tradition and most of all, we are the greatest fans in the world.


The day started with fans having the ability to walk the grounds, which is unheard of. You actually had the opportunity to touch the walls, feel the dirt (just don’t take any), and look up into the stands and for a moment, imagine yourself as a player looking at all your fans. If you ever wanted to see a grown man cry, it was yesterday. The feeling of good-will was overwhelming.
The pre-game started with so many former players on hand, Bernie Williams (who received the loudest and longest ovation), Whitey Ford, Willie Randolph, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage just to name a few.

So many memories that are within these walls:
Babe Ruth’s 60th Homerun in 1927; Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmeling in 1938, Lou Gehrig’s memorialized speech in 1933; Sandy Amoros’s winning catch, and Jackie Robinson’s stealing home base in 1955; Pele played with the Cosomos in 1977; Reggie Jackson’s three homers in the 1977 World Series; David Wells perfect game 1998; A-Rod’s 500th in 2007. It's the place where Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, John Philip Sousa and Pink Floyd, Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi, Billy Graham, 3 Popes, Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy and a ton of others have stood in this park and made their mark in history.

Yankee Stadium isn't just a ballpark; it’s MY ballpark. Of course I had to share the last game with the number one man in my life. My dad ROCKS!! I often say I was his son, until they had one. Along with teaching me to be strong and independent, he also taught me to change the oil in my car, hit a baseball, shoot a basketball, he tired to teach me to fish however, I draw the line with worms real or plastic YUCK!! We also share a passion for all sports (even though he is a Mets Fan). We call each other during commercials; during the play-offs, the Superbowl, Dancing with the Stars, and sometimes it’s so often, my mom just says “Hi”, and then passes the phone to him. Yup…a daddy’s girl!! Of course as I was at the ballpark, I called to share this with him. Yes your final game T-Shirt is in the mail. ☺

The new stadium is right across the street and it’s ‘pretty’, but it has no real character yet. I know New Yorkers…we are a pretty tough bunch. We tend to run the spectrum of emotions, yet we are loyal to the end. No matter how much we balk, we are die-heard fans. However, I would suspect that it will take something pretty amazing to have us fall in love immediately with this new ‘house’, say a championship in 2009 – hint, hint.


As I said, this week will be a week of changes and where one door closes, I hope and pray a new one, a good one opens. I will miss the old Yankee Stadium and regret not going to enough games. I do look forward to a new chapter in their book; I’m sure it will add to the new chapter in mine.

GO YANKEES!!!