The Ending Of A 22 Year Relationhip

FIRST YANKEE GAME : Saturday, June 7th, 1986
Attended With: My brother Thomas & 4 of his drunken buddies
Against: Baltimore Orioles
Result: Baltimore 5 - Yankees 2
Lineup:
Ricky Henderson CF
Don Mattingly 1B
Dave Winfield RF
Mike Easler DH
Ron Hassey C
Dan Pasqua LF
Mike Pagliarulo 3B
Willie Randolph 2B
Bobby Meacham SS
Tommy John SP
LAST YANKEE GAME:
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Attended With: The Wife
Against: Baltimore Orioles
Result: Baltimore 3 - Yankees 7
Lineup:
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter 2B
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Xaver Nady LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jose Molina C
Andy Pettite SP

I ended a 22 year relationship on Sunday.

There was no dividing of the things, fighting over the kids or pre-nup agreements. It was simply just two people who loved each other...saying goodbye.

I know what you're thinking...a little over the top.

Maybe.

But, think about this, apart from your family...how many 20 year+ relationships can you have in one life?

Yankee Stadium has played a major role in my life. From my first game against the Orioles in '86 (bat day), to my final game against the Orioles in '08, The House That Ruth Built has been there for me...seen me through good times...bad times & sad times.....all the while, remaining a fixture, a sanctuary if you will, to millions in the Yankee Universe (we're a lot bigger & more successful than any other 'nation').

Thankfully, my position as a world class coupon salesman enabled the wife and I to get tickets a few rows behind home plate. Basically, the best seats in the house. (Yes...It doesn't hurt to have a very generous brother with great connections!!! - THANKS SEAN)

As I walked into The Stadium on Sunday, I had this awesome sense of awareness. I could suddenly remember every game I had ever attended. every seat I had ever sat in, every homerun I had ever witnessed & every great (and not so great) Yankee I had ever seen don the pinstripes.

Rickey Henderson was my sporting hero as a kid. Some of you are thinking...man....low standards...but...in that baseball age (the dead ball era), Rickey was the one person who made watching the Yanks exciting...Mattingly was a predictable big talent & Winfield, to me, was an oaf with a big looping swing.....But Rickey...Rickey was intriguing to watch. If he got on base...LOOK OUT!!!! You just knew he was going to steal 2nd...and maybe even 3rd. He was a complete package....he could hit...he could hit with power...steal bases @ will & still play a solid Center or Left Field (I used to try an emulate the Rickey "snap catch" every chance I could). I will never forgive the Yankees for the day they traded him back to the A's for Eric Plunk, Greg Cadaret & Luis Polonia.

As for my other favorite Yankee...you could not find a greater opposite to Rickey Henderson than that in the person of Hideki Matsui. Hideki came to the Yankees with a lot of fanfare, a media circus and tremendous expectations. He plays the game the right way...hustles for every ball...calculates each at bat with precision...and, most importantly, realizes the great honor it is to wear the uniform every time he takes the field. Something that is lacking from almost every member of today's current Yankee team (apart from the obvious Jeter, Posada, Pettite).

Both of these players, along with countless others, have made Yankee Stadium my home away from home in the Bronx. That's why it was so hard to say goodbye on Sunday. This place, this mecca of baseball & American sport, has often time served as my sanctuary when life outside of its walls was in upheaval.

I can distinctly remember a game against the Royals in 1991. My parents were getting divorced, I was getting ready to graduate & go on to high school. Life was moving a mile and minute and at 13, I didn't realize the impact that spring / summer would have on the rest of my life. When things were at their worst, Yankee Stadium was there. My sister & brother-in-law took me to a game to get away from the Brooklyn madness. It was early April (umbrella day), and we sat in the upper decks, 1st base line, 1st row of the break (bought from a scalper moments before the game started). The Yanks lost that day (as they did alot in those days), but it didn't matter. Those 3 hours of baseball, Yankee baseball, were just the distraction that I needed.

As the city tried to process and recover from the aftermath of 9/11, the Yankees, and Yankee Stadium were there to comfort the residents of New York in their greatest moment of need. Whether it was the memorial service held at The Stadium days after the attack, Yankee players visiting shelters to meet with people looking for lost family members, or the nights of the greatest World Series ever played...That Fall, the Yankees served as the distraction we all needed from the harsh realities we were all facing at Ground Zero. For at least 17 nights (number of Yankee playoff games in 2001), we New Yorkers were able to focus on something other than despair. That Yankee team, regardless of the result, will forever be my favorite of all time...truly...America's Team.

Having only attended one World Series game (2000, Game 5 vs. The Mutts @ Shea), the electricity & atmosphere at the final game was unlike anything I had ever witnessed at The Stadium. From the the pre-game festivities, the game on the field to Ronan Tynan singing God Bless America along with 55,000 New Yorkers, the stadium was buzzing! It was an unforgettable night. And, as the clock struck time on the ballpark in the Bronx, none of us wanted to leave. We all wanted one more inning, one more game, one more night to take it all in. But alas, the last one out did turn off the lights...ending a memory-filled relationship which, for over 22 years, has been a constant to me.

As I stood there, arm and arm with the wife, tears rolling down the cheek, I made a conscious decision that this would not be the end. In fact, this would be the beginning. The beginning of my new life as a Yankee fan. We promised each other to make great memories at the new Yankee Stadium, with our own family. Something I look forward to for years to come.

BC

PS...as an add-on to this story...I want to take a second to say thank you to my dad. While we haven't talked in a couple of years, it must be said that his influence on me as a Yankee fan was enormous. My father, an immigrant, didn't really quite get the game of baseball...and when he finally did get it, he couldn't understand why the heck I would be a Yankee fan...the Mets....they were the working man's team....blue-collar in every way.

Even with that, my dad made an effort to bring me to Yankee Stadium as much as his schedule and wallet allowed. I can remember one night my dad coming across tickets 15 rows behind the Yankee dugout...it was amazing! A woman even got up and mooned Don Mattingly...a site I, or the 10 year-old version of myself, will never forget.

For all of his faults, he never denied me the true pleasure I had every time we walked out of the tunnel to our seats...and I must thank him for that.