Another Last Game At Baseball's Cathedral

Last night the New York Yankees and their fans celebrated last game was played at the original Yankee Stadium.

Although it was refurbished between 1974 & 1976 the stadium where last night's final game was played was for all intents and purposes the same place that opened in 1923. Many great players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Yogi, Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, and Derek Jeter played on the same field over the course of it's 85 year history.

The event was marked with opening ceremonies worthy of what the Stadium represented to Major League Baseball and its history. Members of the Yankees' championship teams from 4 decades walked onto the field for the last time. The stadium didn't just means something to Yankees fans to millions of baseball fans it will always be considered Baseball's Cathedral.

I explained how attending the last game before the stadium's remodeling in the early 70's helped me become a Yankees fan in my September 11 post. Although I only got to watch this last game on TV it was still a memorable and emotional event. (As we watched my wife told me she'd wished I could have gotten the chance to go to the last game. I told her even if I could have gotten there the tickets were impossible to get. Thanks for caring Honey. That's one of the reasons I love you)

At the end of the game the Yankees team gathered on the pitcher's mound and Derek Jeter spoke words of salute to "the fans." I felt touched and honored by his words.

I also have another reason for feeling emotional about the closing of Yankees Stadium. It will mean a special memory of my dad will be gone as well. In 1968 my dad helped American League umpire, Charlie Berry align the pitcher's mound and home plate at Yankee Stadium prior to the season. Berry lived in our home town and my dad was a civil engineer. Because of those two things the umpire asked my dad to help him with the Stadium measurements. An image of the original statement sent to my dad from the American League office in Boston is at the top of this post.

I don't ever remember telling my dad how proud I was of the fact that he at one time stood on the same pitchers mound like so many great Yankee pitchers. Before the game last night Don Larsen, the only pitcher in history to pitch a perfect game in the World Series, scooped up some dirt from the Yankee Stadium pitcher's mound. Now in reality the dirt that was on that mound last night had no relationship to the dirt on which Larson had pitched his history making game. But it was symbolic of a time and a place that he wanted to cherish for the rest of his life.

Like millions of Yankee fans I wouldn't mind having a bit of the dirt from the Stadium's pitcher's mound myself. But my reason for wanting that dirt is a little more personal than most. With the closing of the stadium and it's eventual demolition I will no longer be able to watch on TV or go there in person and see the spot where I know my dad once stood. And although no one, other than those I share this bit of family history with, will know it ever happened. I will always have a memory of Yankee Stadium that will be all my own...Thanks Dad.