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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.)
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.
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.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080928162418651