East 161st Street and River Avenue was the culmination of a long journey. There was no way the mountain was going to this Mohammed -- I was going to it. And when I got to Yankee Stadium I stayed and offered praise to the baseball gods that the dynasty would continue. And for one moment there as Aaron Boone sent that knuckleball into the stands in 2003, I thought that I was going to save my tickets and have them framed. I never got to save or frame my first pay slip anymore but this one -- it's a Yankee World Series title, baby. Only they didn't. They lost to the Marlins. Roger and Andy went west and I went home to Jersey heartbroken.
In 1923, the House That Ruth Built cost $2.3 million to construct. And in the years since then the Yankees won 20 World Series titles.
In 1976, they were tenants in Shea Stadium as the new Stadium was built to the tune of $167 million. But the pinstriped faithful saw the team win six more titles out of nine appearances in the Fall Classic.
Now on the site of the Macombs Dam Park just across the old field, the new stadium for the new millennium is being built to tune of $1.3 billion. And there's the Metro North Station that is being built for $91 million. Here's hoping we see another bunch of titles won in this stadium.
The 2008 season will be the last in the old park and the All-Star Game will be held there as a fitting send-off. I wasn't even born when Ebbets Field in Flatbush was demolished as the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. But Roger Kahn, Ken Burns, and Frank Sinatra lamented about the loss in their own way. I saw over a hundred games at the old stadium. I loved each and every trip from Jersey or the Upper West (where I stayed later on) to the Stadium. I have each and every ticket including the game where Boone dashed the Red Sox' dreams. I never thought about framing that first pay slip, but when the old stadium is gone, I'll frame my tickets, my game schedules (that I religiously collected every year), and my pictures inside the ball park.
I'll probably shed a tear or two as it was a fulfillment of a boyhood dream to watch a game in baseball's most hallowed cathedral, but after that as the saying goes about life going on, I'll be singing...
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."
photos by Benjamin Kabak
In 1923, the House That Ruth Built cost $2.3 million to construct. And in the years since then the Yankees won 20 World Series titles.
In 1976, they were tenants in Shea Stadium as the new Stadium was built to the tune of $167 million. But the pinstriped faithful saw the team win six more titles out of nine appearances in the Fall Classic.
Now on the site of the Macombs Dam Park just across the old field, the new stadium for the new millennium is being built to tune of $1.3 billion. And there's the Metro North Station that is being built for $91 million. Here's hoping we see another bunch of titles won in this stadium.
The 2008 season will be the last in the old park and the All-Star Game will be held there as a fitting send-off. I wasn't even born when Ebbets Field in Flatbush was demolished as the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. But Roger Kahn, Ken Burns, and Frank Sinatra lamented about the loss in their own way. I saw over a hundred games at the old stadium. I loved each and every trip from Jersey or the Upper West (where I stayed later on) to the Stadium. I have each and every ticket including the game where Boone dashed the Red Sox' dreams. I never thought about framing that first pay slip, but when the old stadium is gone, I'll frame my tickets, my game schedules (that I religiously collected every year), and my pictures inside the ball park.
I'll probably shed a tear or two as it was a fulfillment of a boyhood dream to watch a game in baseball's most hallowed cathedral, but after that as the saying goes about life going on, I'll be singing...
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."
photos by Benjamin Kabak
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