Last night on ESPN, I watched all the breathless coverage of the new ball orchard in the Bronx and I came away impressed. I mean, if you're going to spend $1.4 Billion dollars on a stadium, you better get results. And it seems that the Yankees did. It's gorgeous. But let's face it-the place just doesn't yet have the kind of historical memories of the original.
The original Yankee Stadium hosted baseball games for 85 years. More than 30 World Series were played there. Three popes said mass on the hollowed centerfield turf. This new place has been host to some fascinating and memorable events too. But I don't think 2 exhibition games with the Cubs and 1 1/2 regular season games quite match up.
Sure I was thrilled by C.C. Sabathia's 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball yesterday. But did you know that the only post-season no-hitter in baseball was a perfect game pitched by Don Larson in the Old Stadium? I mean...a perfect game! Who can forget the iconic film of a jubulant Yogi Berra leaping into Larson's arms after the last out was recorded? To be fair, Mr. Berra did an admirable job of throwing out the first pitch before yesterday's day game with the Tribe. But I'd say a World Series perfect game has that beat by more than a hair's breadth.
Yesterday was also very poignant. The elderly George M. Steinbrenner made a rare public appearance for the first game. That was touching. But it couldn't help but make me think of that July 4, 1938 speech where The Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig taught the world a lesson in humility and appreciation by looking beyond his fatal illness to say "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." (I know what you're thinking "But Steinbrenner was a character on Seinfeld! Well, I did some research and it turns out that Lou Gehrig had a whole movie made about him, and he was played by Oscar winning actor Gary Cooper.)
I don't want to bring out the big guns but it must also be said that Yankee Stadium was host to several concerts including more than one by Mr. Billy Joel.
Don't get me wrong. I was thrilled when Jorge Posada hit that solo shot in the fifth inning of yesterday's loss to Cleveland. But I don't think it was as thrilling as the fact that Babe Ruth hit hit his record setting 60th in the old Stadium. (Which by the way, he build in his spare time.) And not to run up the score but 34 years later in the very same spot, Roger Maris hit his 61st!
When the last game was played at Yankee Stadium in September of last year, sportswriter Wilfred Sheed said of Yankee Stadium "I once sneaked out to center field myself as a youth to see how things looked from Mickey Mantle's point of view and felt the same tingle some people get from Civil War battlefields." Now maybe some day the same will be said of the new stadium. But if it closed tomorrow, I think people would say. "Wow. That was a big waste of money."
Next Week's Topic: What's the Bigger Icon: The Colliseum in Rome or The Nassau County Veteran's Memorial Colliseum in Uniondale, New York?
The original Yankee Stadium hosted baseball games for 85 years. More than 30 World Series were played there. Three popes said mass on the hollowed centerfield turf. This new place has been host to some fascinating and memorable events too. But I don't think 2 exhibition games with the Cubs and 1 1/2 regular season games quite match up.
Sure I was thrilled by C.C. Sabathia's 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball yesterday. But did you know that the only post-season no-hitter in baseball was a perfect game pitched by Don Larson in the Old Stadium? I mean...a perfect game! Who can forget the iconic film of a jubulant Yogi Berra leaping into Larson's arms after the last out was recorded? To be fair, Mr. Berra did an admirable job of throwing out the first pitch before yesterday's day game with the Tribe. But I'd say a World Series perfect game has that beat by more than a hair's breadth.
Yesterday was also very poignant. The elderly George M. Steinbrenner made a rare public appearance for the first game. That was touching. But it couldn't help but make me think of that July 4, 1938 speech where The Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig taught the world a lesson in humility and appreciation by looking beyond his fatal illness to say "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth." (I know what you're thinking "But Steinbrenner was a character on Seinfeld! Well, I did some research and it turns out that Lou Gehrig had a whole movie made about him, and he was played by Oscar winning actor Gary Cooper.)
I don't want to bring out the big guns but it must also be said that Yankee Stadium was host to several concerts including more than one by Mr. Billy Joel.
Don't get me wrong. I was thrilled when Jorge Posada hit that solo shot in the fifth inning of yesterday's loss to Cleveland. But I don't think it was as thrilling as the fact that Babe Ruth hit hit his record setting 60th in the old Stadium. (Which by the way, he build in his spare time.) And not to run up the score but 34 years later in the very same spot, Roger Maris hit his 61st!
When the last game was played at Yankee Stadium in September of last year, sportswriter Wilfred Sheed said of Yankee Stadium "I once sneaked out to center field myself as a youth to see how things looked from Mickey Mantle's point of view and felt the same tingle some people get from Civil War battlefields." Now maybe some day the same will be said of the new stadium. But if it closed tomorrow, I think people would say. "Wow. That was a big waste of money."
Next Week's Topic: What's the Bigger Icon: The Colliseum in Rome or The Nassau County Veteran's Memorial Colliseum in Uniondale, New York?
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