Throughout my life I have been able to travel to many different places around the world. Some of my favorite journeys have usually revolved around sports. I have been to several baseball stadiums from the east coast to the west coast. I have had the opportunity to visit many college football stadiums in the South, usually following the Dawgs around. I have watched one of Coach K’s practices and cheered with the Crazies at a game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. I have even had the chance to attend a Major League Soccer game in Denver, Colorado. All of these trips were great, but the one trip that I will take with me to my grave was seven years ago. A trip to a place that is a true ‘Field of Dreams.’
I can remember the trip like it was yesterday. My dad, my little brother and I decided we were going to take a ‘guy’ trip to New York City. Our main purpose was to see a couple of stadiums before they were torn down. One of the stadiums that we got to visit was the Met’s Shea Stadium. All the horror stories you have heard about the stadium are true! It was a dump! I am happy to say that we did get a chance to see the Mets play the Braves. We even got to hear the crowd chant, “Larry, Larry!”. Even better than hearing the chant was seeing “Larry” Chipper Jones hit a double off the left field fence! As fun as it was to see the Braves beating the Mets, this wasn’t the sole purpose of our trip! We were there to see one stadium. That stadium was the old Yankee stadium!
We actually were able to see the inside of the stadium twice. Our original plan was to watch the Yankees play on Friday night, and the Mets on Saturday. On Friday morning, we flew in to New York, visited all the typical tourist spots, and then got ready at our hotel for our first visit ever to the hallowed grounds in the Bronx. We arrived at the ‘house that Ruth built’ early to get the feel of all the sights and sounds. We purposely bought tickets in the bleachers. We ordered a hot dog and a coke (a tradition I have for every baseball park I visit). After scarfing down the hot dogs we waited patiently for the game to start. Only one problem… RAIN!
You would think that rain would put a damper on the situation. But for three boys from Georgia, just sitting in Yankee stadium was a dream come true! As we covered up in $7 ponchos, we were able to analyze every detail of the park. The game was eventually postponed after a 3 hour wait, but passing the time was well worth it. As we waited, I will never forget watching my dad, a former high school and college baseball player, sit in the stands watching the scoreboard as they played videos of Yankee legends. I will not forget in between the videos, my dad answering every Yankee trivia question that they could throw at him. I was amazed at his baseball history knowledge. What a night! No game, just a guy and his two sons in what some would call, ‘baseball Mecca’. You would think when the PA announcer came on the loudspeaker and said the game would be postponed we’d be disappointed, but we weren’t. Especially when the PA announcer told the crowd the game would be made up the next day!
The next morning, we were ‘up and at ‘em, bright and early’. We toured Times Square, ate New York pizza for the third time, looked over the city from the top of Rockefeller center, and so on and so on. We loved visiting all the neat places of New York, but we were ready to get back to Yankee stadium! As mentioned before, we did visit Shea that Saturday for the Mets/Braves game, but we were only there to watch just a few innings. We had to get back to that glorious place we had visited the night before.
Game time was set, so we left our seats in the dump they called Shea, jumped on the subway and rode it to the 161st station. A short walk across the street, a quick trip to see the front of the stadium and then we were back in the same seats from the night before.
You would think that my story would end here. You would think that we had experienced enough of everything from the previous night. You would be wrong. There was nothing in the world like being at a REAL game in THE Yankee stadium! We had a blast! I will never forget hearing the captain announced, “Now batting, #2, Derek Jeter, #2”. I won’t forget participating in the ‘roll call’ in which the Yankee fans in the stands chanted each players name until they acknowledged them. I will not forget throwing my hands in the air while the field crew drug the infield diamond as they sang ‘YMCA’. I will especially not forget the 7th inning rendition of ‘God Bless America’ that was sung. What a special night!
I honestly can’t remember who won the game that day. I can honestly tell you I don’t care. I was in the old Yankee stadium. I did everything that young boys who know anything about baseball dream about. I sat in a stadium where Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, and Mariano Rivera played. I got to sing ‘New York, New York’ at the end of the game with my little brother. I got to watch my Dad live out one of his childhood fantasies. I got to sit there, with my two best friends, my dad and my brother, as the ghost of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle helped me live out one of the greatest experiences of my life.
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