The new Yankee Stadium has been creating its own history of aura and mystique. Aside from winning a World Series in the first year it opened, well, there was today. On the day the Yankees and their supporters honored and paid respects to the departed owner George Steinbrenner and public address announcer Bob Sheppard who died three days apart, the game with the tough Tampa Bay Devil Rays well, brought a sense of deja vu all over again (and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra who first uttered that timeless phrase was in the house).
In 1979, after Yankee captain Thurman Munson was killed in an airplane accident, the team played a game at the old Yankee Stadium on the night they buried him. They were up against the Baltimore Orioles in that game. Munson's best friend on the team, Bobby Murcer (who passed away in 2008), smacked a home run and delivered the game winning hit in that match and whenever I see footage of that my hair stands up.
Against the Devil Rays, Nick Swisher also hit a home run and batted in the winning run at the bottom of the 9th. New York won 5-4 and went to 57-32 while the second place Tampa Bay team fell to 54-35.
Wow. Talk about lightning striking twice.
The Yankees wore two patches -- one for The Boss and the other for for Bob Sheppard. I didn't see Joe Girardi cry last year when NY won their 27th World Series. In an emotional roller coaster week that included him managing the American League side that lost the All-Star Game, he gave in to his emotions. Watching Mariano Rivera place those flowers on home plate and the two minute silence that followed... it was really touching.
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