Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Yesterday's game was the last the Red Sox will ever play at the first Yankee Stadium. It was also the last I'll ever see from the seating bowl of the old ballpark. I have two games remaining in the bleachers this season, including the Stadium's final game against the Orioles on September 21, but that final game will be overrun with hype, anxiety, and mixed emotions. In providing two other, more specific "last"s, yesterday's game provided me with a sense of personal closure regarding the old park.
Twenty years ago almost exactly, I saw my first game at Yankee Stadium from a seat in the front row of the upper deck in right field. The Yankees won that night on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth by Claudell Washington. Yesterday afternoon, I was a few rows higher behind home plate and the Yankees won on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth by Jason Giambi. I'll save my reminiscences of the games in between for another time, but I wanted to share a few of the photographs I took of yesterday's game.
(Above) "Boston Today" for the last time, as the dust from the construction of a new parking deck rises in the foreground.
"Bad Sign": You know things are bad when this is the best Freddy can come up with, but the fact that the Yankees' playoff hopes are all but officially dead actually increased my sense of closure.
The Yankees put the shift on against David Ortiz in the first inning, but the alignment wouldn't come into play until the eighth as Ortiz walked twice and struck out in his three at-bats against Mike Mussina. In the eighth, Robinson Cano (seen here in shallow right field) would range back toward his regular second base spot and make a strong cross-body throw to retire Ortiz, the only batter Damso Marte faced in the game.
Johnny Damon appears to have one foot out of the batters box, but it didn't help; he went 0-for-2 with a hit by pitch against Sox starter Jon Lester.
You can't see the ball in this photo of Mike Mussina pitching to Kevin Youkilis because it's lodged in Youkilis's hip. This was the top of the sixth. Damon got plunked in the bottom of the same frame and four batters were hit in total in the game, but nobody seemed to get upset about it.
The Yankees brought Ronan Tynan in to sing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch, a subtle acknowledgement of the significance of their final home game against the rival Red Sox in the old Stadium. Sadly, they continue to half-ass the remaining-games countdown. Yesterday a quartet of front office employees pulled the magic lever to switch the count from 14 to 13 games left. It's nice that the Yankees acknowledged the contributions of these four men, but they should have taken a turn earlier in the season when folks such as, I kid you not, "the Yankees's number-one fan from Rochester, New York" and a quintet of MetLife executives (MetLife sponsors the countdown) did the honors. With 13 games left, the Yankees should be bringing in All-Stars and Hall of Famers, not middle managers. To make matters worse, they didn't even put the names of the employees on the scoreboard when they were announced.
Incidentally, I looked around the upper deck during "God Bless America" and, though nearly every one was standing still, I saw a handful of fans returning from the concession stands and one vender hauling his wares, none of whom were stopped or harassed by Stadium security.
Speaking of scoreboards, here's a snapshot of a moment in the career of Cody Ransom from the second inning prior to his third at-bat as a Yankee. He was hit by a pitch in that at bat before finally making an out by striking out in the fifth. In his fifth plate appearance as a Yankee, he delivered a two-out double, driving Lester from the game and setting up Jason Giambi's game-tying pinch-hit home run off Hideki Okajima and the facing of the batters eye in dead center. Ransom is now hitting a mere .750/.800/2.500 as a Yankee with five RBIs and three runs scored in five plate appearances.
Given that performance from Ransom, it wasn't a complete no-brainer for Joe Girardi to leave Giambi, who hit for Jose Molina, in the game and replace Ransom, who had started at first base, with Ivan Rodriguez, but it was the right move. Giambi's next at-bat came in the bottom of the ninth with the bases juiced (the normally impatient Rodriguez had walked in Ransom's place) and the score still tied. Giambi took two pitches from Jonathan Papelbon, then singled up the middle to win the game. Being a bit of a superstitious fan, I left my camera in the case until pinch-runner Brett Gardner touched home, but here's some of the aftermath:
The team surrounding Giambi near first base (G-bombs himself is facing home and fist-bumping Hideki Matsui).
Giambi doing his post-game interview with the YES Network's Kim Jones.
The conquering hero (2 for 2 with a home run and all three Yankee RBIs, including the game-winner) waves to the crowd as he departs the field.
The last Yankee-Red Sox score this scoreboard will ever show.
All photographs (c) Clifford J. Corcoran, 2008; click on any photo for a larger view.
That series is very vivid in my mind because it was the most exciting four game series I had ever experienced to that point. You can't beat three games with walk-off HRs in one series. I also remember listending to the Friday and Sunday games on the radio because I didn't have cable (the Thursday game was on WPIX and the Saturday game was on NBC). I can still hear Hank Greenwald and Tommy Hutton (whom I loved) doing the play-by-play and Hank going nuts for the walk-offs. I think I have at least one of the re-cap shows on an audio tape somewhere.
Sadly, my first game ever was at Shea Stadium to see an epic Mets-Pirates battle sometime in 1983. From that game, all I remember are the Pirate's yellow uniforms and funny hats.
I'm not sure, but that might have been Reggie's first Old Timers' Day. The crowd gave quite the ovation for Mr. October.
I did however see a doubleheader against Cleveland where one Bobby Murcer hit 4 HRs in a row.
One game was Old Timers day, and it was cool because it was the FIRST year the announced DiMaggio second to last, and saved Mantle for last.
For 8th grade, I went to a private school in Darien, Ct. I was a bit of a math student then (about 1,823 bags of refer ago) and my math teacher, who was also a Yankee fan, motivated me to attend the 'slow 10th grade' geometry math class by promising to take me to a Yankee game if I had an 85 avg or better (though since I had skipped 7th grade, I was 3 years younger then everyone else and a bit indimidated).
Anyway, in this unlikely scenerio, I went to my 4th Yankees game on a class trip with a bunch of stoners from my geometry class. So on May 14, 1967, we boarded the school bus for the Bronx to see the Yankees play Baltimore. I don't remember a lot, except in the bottom of the 7th inning, Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run.
It was also hot as blazes, I had the early makings of a cold coming on, but I wasn't going to let that ruin the day!
My first game at Yankee Stadium was 1984 I think. Phil Neikro vs. the Jays, going for his 300th win. Could that be right? I don't think he got it that night, though he pitched well.
Even with the team fading now, the last 13 years have provided a lifetime of memories; we really can't complain as a group. And we'll be back next year, hopefully with some exciting FAs to add to our homegrown talent. I'll miss the smelly old building.
My first game at Shea was a blustery April affair against the Cubs in 1989 (http://tinyurl.com/5wqgt2), which I didn't realize until looking it up that it featured an up-and-coming spectacle-wearing pitcher who would go on to make quite a name for himself. What I remember more distinctly was that it was cold and that it was Passover, and that my grandfather's lady friend brought matzah and bananas to eat instead of a hot dog, which was quite a bummer.
[several minutes' delay]
Holy crap, it actually happened - July 2, 1978. Guidry improved to 13-0. Mick's run was scored a 2B and an error on a weird fan interference call. The Yankes swept a doubleheader -- a scheduled, one-admission doubleheader -- from Detroit.
Other days, man, other days. Gonna crawl off and feel old for a while now.
The first game I was there to watch and record every pitch however, was 4/27/82 when Reggie returned to the Stadium as a member of the Angels and homered off of Guidry in the 7th. The spontaneous "Steinbrenner Sucks" chant was not only a beautiful tribute to Reggie, but it showed an awareness and foresight that I no longer associate with Yankee Stadium denizens.
More important than Niekro though, the Yankees were battling with the Jays down the stretch and entered that 4-game series at the Stadium within striking distance. They drew closer in the opener after Ron Hassey hit a mammoth HR to spark a big comeback, but then lost the last three. After hitting that HR, I think one of the tabloids screamed Babe Hassey! Uhmm...not quite.
Funny - until I looked it up on retrosheet, I didn't remember that Balboni was on KC that year.
I remembered that Yankees won, but didn't know the score. Retrosheet is way cool.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B07150NYA1984.htm
I was perfect with games I attended until a BoSox game a couple years ago. Heck - I even saw one of those rare Pavano wins. I thought I was a lucky charm, lol.
August 7, 1982. Mike Morgan pitches a complete game, and the Burners hammer Frank Tanana for 9 runs. Side note: it's Bucky Dent's last game as a Yankee. He was traded the next day for Lee Mazzilli.
http://tinyurl.com/5dmlc5
Collins at first, Mumhprey in center, Roy Smalley at third.
9 runs, really?
I also remember a few of my brave teammates wandering to the very top of the empty right field upper deck. I watched them get escorted back down from the comforts of my seat on the 3rd base side under the overhang. I also have a picture of the scoreboard welcoming our team to the stadium. That blew me away. : )
I have some awesome shots from a game in June of this year. My zoom lens is something like 12x optical and I upped the shutter speed so I got the ball right out of Moose's hand.
Of course, this was a game that Mariano pulled one of his infamous "not a save situation" performances, and we left more than a little disappointed.
In retrospect, I think that might have been the best last game I coulda seen.
Shortly after that, I went to my first Yankee game vs. the Senators. I was very upset because I was sitting behind a pole, and my father had to ask to switch seats with someone so I could see. All I remember about the game was the Yanks won (rare in those days), and that Frank Howard hit a gargantuan home run well over the left center field wall (off Bill Monboquette?), and everyone gasped when he hit it. Must have been 500+ feet.
Oddly enough, I believe there were actually 2 separate Mickey Mantle days at the Stadium. Perhaps some of you historians can verify or clarify?
My first game was in August of 1976 against the Angels. Frank Tanana was dominating the Yanks. It was 8-0 after 8 innings. My parents decided we should beat the traffic. At age 7, I had no idea why we would leave YANKEE STADIUM before the game was over. Parents won that argument; we left. Yanks tied it up with 8 runs in the ninth. By the 11th I was in front of a TV watching Sparky Lyle give up three runs to lose, but nonetheless, I vowed never to leave a game early ever again (and I haven't). The following year I was at the stadium to see a game against the expansion Blue Jays. The Yankees were down something like 15-2 in the middle innings, but my parents knew I wasn't going anywhere until the final out was recorded. Final score: 18-3.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199009060.shtml
Jim Leyritz hits a homer that was called back. So he goes berserk and gets kicked out. Eric Plunk came on to pitch 7 innings in relief and the Yanks got the lead only to have the Angels tie it in the 9th. Games ends at close to midnight when Angels score 6 in the 11th.
Back then, you could move up and sit in the nicer seats. So my friends and I were right on top of 1st base by the middle of the game as fans started to leave.
Luis Polonia returned to Yankee Stadium as an Angel after leaving NY ignominiously with statutory rape charge. He was nice enough to wear the uniform number 18 when he returned with the Angels!
Needless to say we razzed him big time when he entered the game as a pinch runner for Winfield -- chants of "jailbait" and other such winners. He later got a basehit and gave us the finger when he got to first. It was pretty funny to the few fans that were left. At first, he was pissed but then later he started laughing when he saw that we were laughing as well.
Yanks gave free tix to the remaining fans at the end of the game. My free game also ended in extra innings which led to another free ticket but only a 9 inning game.
My first $10 spent on tix got me about 31 innings of baseball. Sweet.
Very moving.
I'm starting to get really sad.
It was an unforgettable thrill. As I recall, he hit it deep to left center, maybe in black. The real thrill came when the whole stadium rose to its feet to do the Reggie chant. And of course, the man himself gave a curtain call.
Wow!
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