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Sadly, the end is almost near. Favorite moments you saw?
Ben Shyman, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 10:58 AM on 09.19.08 |
->> Having been born and raised in the New York Metropolitan area, I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend hundreds of games at Yankees and Shea Stadium over the past 38 years. I just got off with the phone with my dad who was making a list to share with me of his most memorable moments he attended (front row at Mickey Mantle Day, Jim Bunning's perfect game versus the Mets on Fathers day 1964, a Ted Williams home run at a game he attended with his dad as a young boy).....so all this got me thinking that it would be fun to hear from you about some of the most memorable moments that you attended at either Yankees or Shea Stadiums.
Here are a few of mine:
My first game with my dad back in the 1970s.
Back-to-Back-to-Back home runs by Tim Raines, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill in the Division series in 1997.
Game Four of the 1999 WS, Yankees complete a sweep of the Braves. Sinatra's "New York, New York" never sounded better.
1998 WS, Yankees come back from a 5-2 deficit with a three-run home run by Chuck Knoblauch and a grand slam by Tino Martinez.
1999 LCS, Robin Ventura hits a walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 15th inning at Shea to beat the Braves. I attended the game with my sister and it drizzled all game....we were soaked and covered our heads with a soggy newspaper, but we stayed to the end. She was my hero that day!
Any Old Timers Day....
The first time I photographed a game at Shea. Unfortunately, I never was blessed with the chance to shoot a game at Yankees Stadium.
My last game at Yankees Stadium, several weeks ago. My eyes watered up as I walked out for the very last time. |
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Bill Ross, Photographer
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Colorado Springs | CO | USA | Posted: 11:49 AM on 09.19.08 |
->> My "favorite" from Yankee Stadium?
May 17, 1998 - David Wells pitches a perfect game against my TWINS! Bah... They always pick on the Twins. |
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Walter Calahan, Photographer
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Westminster | MD | USA | Posted: 11:54 AM on 09.19.08 |
->> My first pro baseball game ever was in Yankee stadium.
A doubleheader against the Tigers.
Got to see Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris play.
It was the 'old' stadium, before the seating and everything was upgraded.
We sat along the first base line, just above first base.
The two games went on forever. |
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William Maner, Photographer
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Biloxi | MS | USA | Posted: 12:04 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> I've never been to Yankee Stadium, but I've seen lots of telecasts from the stadium...
The thing that tugs at me the most is that Yankee Stadium and my mom would have shared the same lifespan, 1923-2008.. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 12:08 PM on 09.19.08 |
| ->> Be glad you have a team - here in Pittsburgh we seem to have a ball park without a team. The Pirates are finishing their 16th consecutive losing season, a record unequaled in any major league sport. |
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Tom Knier, Photographer
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Lancaster | PA | USA | Posted: 12:23 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> I was really thinking this was an Apocalyptical thread...
Very different than it's real meaning. |
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D. Ross Cameron, Photographer
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Oakland | CA | USA | Posted: 2:35 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> My favorite? My first-ever trip to "The House That Ruth Built," probably sometime in 1977. Who were the Yankees playing? I'm not sure, though I'd bet it was Baltimore, because... well, otherwise, why bother?
Anyway, I'm sure the Orioles beat the Yankees that day, but the thing I really remember was the idiot behind me, who got into a shouting match with the idiots behind *him*, who then threw their beer on him and managed in the process to splash me and my high school buddy. An NYC cop meandered over after idiot #1 practically subpoenaed him, and seemed extremely disinterested in making either a) arrests or b) peace.
I remember spending the rest of the game smelling of beer, and hating the Yankees and their Neanderthal fans.
So... yeah, a really sad day when Yankee Stadium finally closes. Will ESPN be featuring 24-hour coverage?
When Memorial Stadium closed, New Yorkers undoubtedly held a candlelight vigil,
DRC |
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Wesley R. Bush, Photographer
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Nashville | TN | U.S. | Posted: 3:16 PM on 09.19.08 |
| ->> Does anyone know if they are going to make any of the seats available for purchase? I'd like 2 or 3 for my man cave. |
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Jason Frizzelle, Photographer
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Wilmington | NC | USA | Posted: 4:15 PM on 09.19.08 |
| ->> I was watching the game last night on TV and I think I saw my SECOND fav moment televised the way all the other moments I've seen were. A guy peeling the paint off a foul pole and then pocketing the paint chip. A new version of Yankee stadium reminds me of futurama.......I'm waiting for the New Empire State Building, the New East Village, the new Madison Square Garden etc........ |
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Marc F. Henning, Photographer
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Bentonville | AR | USA | Posted: 5:21 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> I thought this post was in reference to the Large Hadron Collider's startup last week and all the impending "End of the World" news we've been reading and hearing about.
Whew!
marc |
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Joel Rosenbaum, Photographer
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Hercules | CA | USA | Posted: 9:07 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> My grandfather took me and my cousin to a game in 1978. It happened to be Old Timers day. It must have been after one of the times Billy Martin had been fired, because when he was announced he got the loudest and longest ovation of any of the players. I have only been there twice, I really wished I had visited the monuments.
-J |
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Kenneth Jacobson, Photographer, Assistant
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Merrimack | NH | USA | Posted: 9:17 PM on 09.19.08 |
| ->> I was at David Wells' perfect game in '98. A buddy of mine and I went on a whim and sat way up in left field. We both played ball in college and are both of the superstitious sort so, of course, you can't move or talk until your pitcher allows his first base runner, etc... suffice to say that at the end of the game a) my rear end was numb and b) my buddy and I hadn't said one word to each other. The other funny part was that it was 'beanie baby day'... full house of 5 to 10 year olds at the beginning of the game that all left after 3 innings. There were maybe 20,000 people left at the end after having a full house for the first pitch. I wonder how many dads wish they'd said 'no' when their kids asked to leave. |
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Gene Boyars, Photographer
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Matawan | NJ | United States | Posted: 10:39 PM on 09.19.08 |
->> My first visit to Yankee Stadium in 1981 to cover the then first place Orioles just before the strike, it was certainly different from Memorial Stadium where we had to kneel on field in foul ground.
Add to that, Doc Gooden's no hitter, Jim Abbott's no hitter, David Wells perfect game and David Cone's perfect game..It does not get too much better than that..well maybe covering the World Series there in '96 but honestly, that last game was a blur in my mind. |
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Pat Farrington, Photographer
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Ft. Collins | CO | USA | Posted: 11:07 PM on 09.19.08 |
| ->> I remember going to a game in 1981, Dave Winfield's first season with the Yankees and he was, at the time, the highest paid player in MLB. My father and I were sitting in the upper deck on the right field side and there were these guys at the railing yelling down to Winfield whenever the Yankees were on the field. They were jeering him about how much he was getting paid and for some reason they were throwing dollar bills down on to the field. That never made sense to me, if they thought he was overpaid why were they giving him their own money? |
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Lindy Dugger, Photographer
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Rome | Ga | | Posted: 2:51 AM on 09.20.08 |
| ->> 2007 Yankees-Pittsburg game. I went with my dad. See, my dad grew up poor in a very rural part of Florida, but he and his brother watched every Yankees game on the TV they could. They made a baseball diamond in PawPaw's cow pasture and called it Yankee Stadium (it still exists). He'd been dreaming of going to a real Yankees game since 1963, and in 2007 we booked a trip to NYC and he finally got to go. It was a hot and sticky afternoon, we were in the bleachers, it was a slow game and I was bored out of my mind. That big stupid grin he had on his face the entire time made it all worth it though. I've been to a couple other games, but that's my favorite. |
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Rich Pilling, Photographer
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New York | NY | U.S.A. | Posted: 8:17 AM on 09.20.08 |
->> 1974 to 2008. Way TOO many moments to share here.
But, Reggie Jackson's 3 home run performance in the World Series on October 18, 1977 (my birthday) probably tops the list.
Ar Pee
PS: I'll be with you tomorrow night old friend to say farewell. |
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Ben Shyman, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 9:38 AM on 09.20.08 |
->> This is all such great stuff. Keep the stories coming. I can't stop smiling reading them. But where are the Mets fans (and Yes there are lots of Mets fans and they are just as passionate as Yankees fans)? Anybody see the Pope at Yanks Stadium or perhaps The Beatles at Shea? Anybody attend a Yankee home game at Shea when the Stadium needed repair?
Rich seeing Reggie's three homers must have been amazing. I watched that on TV.
Ken, I loved your story.
Gene, I'll see you in a few hours at the Columbia vs Fordham game! As an alumnus I still hold out hope.... |
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William Bretzger, Photographer
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New Castle | DE | USA | Posted: 10:30 AM on 09.20.08 |
| ->> Asking an usher how to get to Monument Park and getting the Yankee Stadium equivalent answer to the same question about Carnegie Hall ("Practice, practice, practice") - only the usher has a well-worn "Hit 500 home runs or win 300 games" for you in response. |
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Chris Stanley, Photographer
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Lansdale | PA | USA | Posted: 11:17 AM on 09.20.08 |
->> - Mayor's Trophy (Yankees - Mets) game, my first major league game.
- 1977 Reggie Jackson three-HR World Series game...I was sitting behind third base (thanks, Dad!). I photographed the game with my Argus C-III.
Then I discovered Fenway Park...what can I say. |
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Ron Vesely, Photographer
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Chicago Area | IL | USA | Posted: 4:54 PM on 09.20.08 |
->> My first trip to Yankee Stadium was to cover the 1998 World Series between the Bronx Bombers and the San Diego Padres... I've been to many stadiums during my career (and as a fan), but to be inside Yankee Stadium for the 1st time, during a World Series, was VERY cool... seeing how may World CHAMPIONSHIPS (not just World Series appearances) posted on the message board in the outfield really set the tone.. Whoa... got me thinking about Reggie's 3 home run game, Mickey Mantle and the Yankees from the late 50's early 60's which I somehow liked second to my White Sox, even though they were the White Sox top nemesis during that period, monument park (which I was fortunate enough to visit personally during the 2000 World Series), being there for the start of the 2001 World Series after 9/11, seeing Billy Crystal eating pizza post game at the media party after a World Series game.. these are a few.
I'm really lucky to have had these experiences...
Have fun tomorrow night, Rich... Say "bye" for me too!
Ves |
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John Cordes, Photographer
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Lake Forest | CA | USA | Posted: 3:47 AM on 09.22.08 |
->> I have been twice. Both times when the Angels were playing the Yankees in the mid 1990s.
The thing that stood out the most for me was how different the fans are, Angels fans and Yankees fans are just so different from each other, to say the least.
I have know been to more ballparks that have been demolished then ballparks that are in service. Man I feel old.
Will never forget my time there and just so happy I got to go at all, almost a badge of honor to say that you have been to Yankee Stadium. Other then Wrigley and Fenway I have no other feelings about any ballparks like that. |
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Francis Specker, Photographer
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Riverside | CA | USA | Posted: 5:57 AM on 09.22.08 |
->> Yankee Stadium for me is the one before they renovated it in 1974.
My first game I saw in 1971 was one I will always remember. The monuments and flag pole were on the field in center. I sat in the center field bleachers watching Roy White. The seats were wooden. Mel Stottlemyre on the mound. This was before Steinbrenner, Reggie and the Bronx Zoo.
They ruined Yankee Stadium with the "renovation". Put in plastic seats and a faux facade around the park. Changed the dimensions. Took away the center field bleachers and made it into a hitter's black background.
Not really sorry to see Yankee Stadium II go. They got rid of the original Yankee Stadium over 30 years ago. |
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Jack McCoy, Photographer
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Baldwin | NY | USA | Posted: 12:34 PM on 09.22.08 |
->> My favorite shooting experience...
Right before the opening ceremonies of Mickey Mantle Day out in Monument Park getting a shot of Whitey Ford looking at the plaques.
Favorite game experience--
#1 Sitting with my cousin with the right field bleacher creatures when David Justice hit a home run and having the Yankees win the pennant and eventually beating the NY Mets in the World Series.
#2 Six nights ago having a beer with my dad for the last time in the stadium as they played the White sox. |
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Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 1:04 PM on 09.22.08 |
| ->> Matsui hitting a grand slam at his first home game during his rookie season. awesome. |
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Rich Pilling, Photographer
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New York | NY | U.S.A. | Posted: 4:04 PM on 09.22.08 |
->> One more memory. 2001 World Series, games 3, 4 and 5. Unbelievable comebacks in all three games! Brad, Ron and Paul. I have NEVER heard the crowd that LOUD, EVER!
Too bad they lost the Series in 7 to the D-Backs.
ar pee |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 2:48 PM on 09.23.08 |
| ->> Was great to watch this final game, even if it was from my living room in my eastern Idaho home. The whole night was really cool, even for a non-Yankee fan. - the team's win, the speeches, the team's lap around the field. I laughed my ass off at the enormous throng of backpeddling photographers taking the same photo of Derek Jeter and the incessant loop of Sinatra's "New York, New York." Very amusing, indeed. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 11:20 PM on 09.23.08 |
| ->> As an aside, someone did think to scoop up a fist full of home plate dirt didn't you? It'll work nicely with the photo of the last out hanging on the office wall. |
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