The Yankees
Although I never actually saw Yankee Stadium, I feel like something is just not right. Every time a piece of the past as big as this goes away, I wonder if it can ever be replaced. Sure the new stadium will rock, but in 85 years will it have that Yankee mystique. Will we look back and say it was the house that Chamberlain or Cano built. I not sure the Yankees can still be "The Yankees" now. You have to wonder if the outcome of this season was not the magical mystical powers of the legend that is Yankee Stadium quoting the great Yogi ""So I'm ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face."
I love the game so I will make it through this, but after Wrigley and Fenway go, we will have truly lost a great part of baseball history. That being said, one thing is for sure, The Cardinals will be back in the series next year. Go Cardinals.
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2 comments:
I don't pretend to have as much baseball anything as BigDog, but I am am avid Yankee fan and have been since the age of 7 when my buddy Joey and his dad and I would watch the games on the weekend with the aid of his sweet-ass 10 foot wide satellite dish.
I have a VERY biased view when it comes not only to the Yankees, but to the preservation of history. This country is infamous for getting rid of the old just to have something nice and new. What would happen if the Romans had decided that the Collesium was too old and worn down, or if the Egyptians had a "moment of clarity" and determined that the pyramids were just too much hassle to maintain (the Sphinx is looking a bit dated). I can think of one Great Wall that is old and in poor condition, or maybe a World War II ammunition depot in Greece that once was the great Parthenon, what if every society decided to not only destroy our history but the future history of our children?
My first instinct would be to question the intent of the organization that made the decision for the fans of the Yankees. Why does Yankee Stadium need to go? Why does this rare icon of our short American history need to be buried? The only answer I have is one that shows its face more often than I would like. Money. More people can fit in the new stadium, tickets can cost more (people will pay more if they think they are getting more), and most importantly the networks will pay more for the "privilege" of showing the fans the new stadium. I call Shenanigans.
I wish that people in this country were more focused on the future and on what it would mean for my son to go to a stadium that was 150 years old and to know that he was standing in the same spot that the Babe stood when he hit so many homers, or to sit in a seat and to know that he had the exact same view that Knute Rockne's wife had when Notre Dame beat Army after the "win one for the Gipper" speech. If the walls of Yankee Stadium could talk would they tell my son that Lou Gehrig thought he was the luckiest man in baseball? Would they recite the words "The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball" just as the Babe said them in his farewell speech? Would my son be able to see in his mind's eye Don Larsen's perfect game in the series, or watch the Colts beat the Giants in "the greatest football game ever played"? Could he pretend he was catching Maris' 61st home run, or pretend that he was Jeffrey Maier, or that he was watching David Cone's perfect game or helping Jeter out of the stands after making that selfless dive in '04? Would he be able to hear the fans chanting "REGG-IE, REGG-IE"? What about the famous "pine tar incident" with George Brett or the Mandela rally, or Ali beating Norton or Joe Louis beating Max Schmeling?
I am sad to see a bit of my own history go away, and sad that my son will only have stories and YouTube as his guidelines for memory with regards to Yankee Stadium. Mostly I am sad that this is just the way we live here, no one seems to care about preserving what little history our ancestors died to create. I am sure that 50 years from now a new stadium will be built, maybe on the site of the old one and my son will have the chance to be just as pissed of as I am.
Yea, what he said. Thanks Eric
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