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Ron lets us in on how he made it to Yankee Stadium before the wrecking ball swings.

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Yankee Stadium generated a lot of headlines recently when it hosted its last game. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the House that Ruth Built.





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I saw the Jays play the Yankees on August 29th. There were many things that stood out about watching a game in New York. Unlike in Toronto, the area surrounding the stadium was filled with people hours before the game. One street outside the stadium had a block full of Yankee-themed shops and bars. These shops had basically anything you could imagine, all with the Yankee logo on it, plus some anti-Red Sox shirts.

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Outside of watching the game, I was most excited about checking out Monument Park. I arrived at the stadium four hours before game time, and this proved to be a wise decision. Three hours before the game was scheduled to start, there were already well over 200 people lining up to see Monument Park. Being a crafty person, I entered the line from the side and cut in front of a lot of people. After a long wait, the gate opened and people were running towards the main entrance. Security wasn’t tight to get into the stadium (there were no metal detectors and I wasn’t even patted down), but once you were inside, the security was tight around Monument Park. After a first batch of people were allowed into the main gate, the rest had to go upstairs and take a loop back down. The heavy amount of security inside the stadium made sure nobody cut in line.

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I had seen Monument Park numerous times on television, but I was truly in awe once it was my time to enter. It was an endless row of Hall-of-Famers. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle.… Once you’re inside the Park, security doesn’t hurry you to leave. Everybody was able to get their pictures taken with the plaques. This is great for the people who were able to get inside, but it severely reduced the number of people who got in to Monument Park before it was closed for the game.

 

As I exited, the Jays were warming up by the outfield. I’m too grown-up to get star-struck, but it was cool to see Roy Halladay long-toss to Arnsberg a few feet away from me.

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(I have to say I was impressed with how much legroom Yankee Stadium’s seats had. There’s a lot more legroom in this creaky old ballpark than in the outfield seats at Rogers Centre.)

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The game was a pitchers’ duel between AJ Burnett and Carl Pavano, with the Yankees coming out on top 2-1. When the starting lineups were announced, I was stunned to hear that Travis Snider was batting ninth. I had no idea he had even been called up. I gave him big ovations before his first at bat, and when he got his first major league hit.

 

I’m not sure if this made it into the TV broadcast, but late in the game, some idiot ran onto the field and slid into second base. The number of cameras flashing rivaled those that flashed whenever Jeter stepped into the batter’s box.

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Yankee Stadium may be outdated compared to more modern ballparks, but very few of them can rival Yankee Stadium when it comes to history and famous moments. I watched the Jays play there, and I will never forget it.

 

Pinch Hit: My Experience at Yankee Stadium | 7 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Matthew E - Sunday, September 28 2008 @ 10:49 PM EDT (#192910) #
Thanks to Ron for his most welcome contribution. Anyone else who has a Pinch Hit, or even just an idea for one, please e-mail me. Especially now that the regular season's over!
Magpie - Monday, September 29 2008 @ 11:35 AM EDT (#192926) #
These are fabulous photos. Just fabulous.

Thanks for sharing!

Dave Rutt - Monday, September 29 2008 @ 12:26 PM EDT (#192931) #
Thanks, Ron. I also had the pleasure of visiting Yankee Stadium for the first time this year. It was unfortunately one of the least enjoyable games I've ever attended - the Orioles rolled a 7 in the first to knock Moose out, and the Yanks pretty much mailed it in after that. 12-2 final. Oh, and it was raining the whole time, but just lightly enough to play (not that I wanted them to call it off, it's Yankee Stadium!).

The best part of the game came when someone was beaned, or almost beaned or something. The benches cleared, though not much came of it. But the best part was watching from our outfield bleachers as both teams' relievers kinda sauntered out to the action, joking with each other the whole way.
Ron - Monday, September 29 2008 @ 01:43 PM EDT (#192937) #
One of the things I forgot to mention is that if you have bleacher seats (the cheapest tickets), you won't be allowed inside Monument Park. I was going to buy bleacher seats until I found out about this. The Yankees need to do a better job of letting people know this is the rule.

One area where the Rogers Centre has the edge over Yankee Stadium is the team store. The Yankees team store is tiny compared to the Jays.
92-93 - Monday, September 29 2008 @ 06:31 PM EDT (#192953) #
I too was at this game. That headfirst slide by the arrestee into second base was classic. The Jays could use his base-stealing ability.
Gerry - Tuesday, September 30 2008 @ 07:38 PM EDT (#192990) #
I also made my first trip to Yankee stadium this year although I don't have as good as camera as Ron.  We got there two and a half hours before game time and the momument park lineup was closed.  However a few schekels dropped to a security guy got us in there anyway, money talks in the big apple.  As Ron said monument park was impressive and the new stadium looks good too.
ahitisahit - Sunday, October 05 2008 @ 09:35 PM EDT (#193124) #

I was at this game too. I was rocking the Matt Stairs jersey, only to find out he had been traded that day. Monument Park was a big let down, if I had been at a different gate, I think I would have gotten in. They closed the darn thing pretty well as soon as it opened.

I don't like the Yankees at all, but I'll have to admit I got goosebumps while Rivera came in with "Enter Sandman" blasting. This game was also interesting beacuse it was the last time the Jays lost before they started their 10 game winning streak.

Pinch Hit: My Experience at Yankee Stadium | 7 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.