By: Stan Randolph
A few weeks ago my wife and I were in New York City for a few days as part of an eleven day vacation through New England. Having been a baseball fan all of my life and a Yankee fan since the days of Mickey Mantle and reinforced with the addition of Willie Randolph (notice the last name) I couldn’t pass up a chance to see a game at Yankee Stadium. As luck would it have it they were playing our Seattle Mariners and Felix Hernandez was pitching for Seattle.
My wife and I were able to get two front row seats down the first base line near the left field corner.
We were staying near Central Park and hopped on the subway to the stadium. It was easy to know which subway it was just by following all of the people in Yankee gear. We met a great couple from Long Island that said they come into Manhattan for a weekend get-away and catch some Yankee games a few times a season. They were very helpful explaining that we need to check out Monument Park at the stadium as soon as we get there. It is evidently not open during the game.
I know it’s not the original Yankee Stadium but let’s face it, it is still YANKEE STADIUM. We saw a number of fans with Seattle gear which to a certain extent surprised me. Even though I am a Seattle Mariner fan I was a Yankee way before the Mariners even existed. I therefore had to purchase a Yankee cap and shirt to commemorate the occasion.
The Monument Park is very well laid out and to read information on all of these great Yankee players and managers was well worth the time. We met a man that was 87 years old and he said he saw Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play when he was a kid. Now that is living history.
The stadium was incredible and the day was perfect with mid 70 degree weather and the sun shining.
Felix pitched an incredible game and Seattle won. There was a group of fans in the upper level in left field that had the Felix yellow t-shirts and the yellow and black K signs that you see at Safeco when Felix pitches at home.
Across the row from us were two brothers from Brooklyn. One a Yankees fan and one a Mariners fan. It was fun watching them go back and forth as the close game progressed.
In the movie “For Love of the Game” the announcer says “The cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel.” For true baseball fans this is the cathedral of baseball. I have not visited every major league ballpark but I know that there is no park that can compare to Yankee Stadium for the history of the game with the multitude of names of some of the greatest players of all time.
The tickets were spendy but I could not be that close to Yankee Stadium with a game going on and not experience this. I don’t recall as much about the actual game as I usually do because I found myself just taking in the experience and enjoying the atmosphere of Yankee Stadium. I would love to make it to every Major League stadium but if I don’t, well I at least got to experience the baseball mecca.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. Maybe next time the Yankees will be playing the Mets or Red Sox. Now that would be an experience.