Another ERA Passes

Date:   4/11/2006 10:39:42 PM ( 18 y ago)

MY Backyard--Yankee Stadium


I grew up only blocks from "the house that Ruth Built.

It was a privilage growing up so close to Yankke Stadium on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. I went to my firstagme and saw Micky Mantle plant a ball way out in the bleachers, and in 1969, I believe I saw Mickey Mantle Blast a Home Run in the upper deck in deep right field. I saw one of the greatest, if not thegreatest center fielder ever to play the game, and i was actually a Mets fan at the time...lol

In 1964 in an exhibition game a the Houston ,astrodome, Mickey Mantle hit the first Home Run in the history of the Houston Astrodome

I saw Dave Righetti at Yankee stadium as starting pitcher .The event occurred on the Fourth of July, 1983, when he threw a 4-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox



I saw the NY Giants Play Football and the Grambling/Morgan state game at Yankee Stadium. I saw the Mets lose to the Yankees often in the early years of the "Mayors Trophy Game"

Yankee stadium is as much a part ofBronx culture as

eating Canolis and sipping espresso on ArthurAVenue or grabbing a frankfurter and nedickes or "going up Fordham

on Saturday night and grabbing a copy of the News, the Mirror , and the Herald Tribune. The lights of Yankee stadium shined bright on a hot summers night as people amde theirway back home to da neigborhood in the 50's they were greeted by Dion and the Belmonts crooning on the corner of Belmont Avenue and i88th street. WHile up the Concourse after the game, The Majestic Loews Paradise wouldbe playing host to movies such as Gone with the WInd or the latest Vaudvillian act

The Proud Jewish American culture has its roots dug deep into the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. John Garfield, A Bronx Boy learned all about a Gentlemans agreement

but overgame such adversity,a s did Gary Marshall, meatheat, laverne, BobReiner, BabbyDarrin, and a host of others who made the back yard of Yankee Stadium jome.

I can hear the crack of the traitor NY Giants , err San Francisco Giant power hitter WIllie McCovey hit a line drive into the glove of Yankee Shortstop tony Kubeks glov as if it were yesterday and the streets of the Grand Concourse again erupted in celebration as the Yankees won back to back World series.

I gave up a jobas sound person for the Major Motion Picture "Pool Hall Junkies" tos ee my New York Mets play in their first and only subway series against the yankees at Yankee stadium in 2000

I cannot count the cups of nedicks or white Castles or dirty water hot dawgs or "Jognny Pump" drenchings I had on the way to a Yankee game

If ya dont know what a "Johnny Pump" is tha ya cant Tawk New Yawk .

I can still hear Mel Allen saying "Hey Friend do itagain, Ballentine beer" On a quiet winter night when walking by the empty confines of Yankee Stadium you can almost hear the echo of New Yawker , child of immigrant parents , and Columbia University Graduate Lou Gherig becoming the first player to ever have his number retired.



"I was never really healthy my entire baseball career, but I fought through the pain and played without missing a game. I played with too many injuries to name. Then, the time came when I had to sit down because I was sick. I was diagnosed with ALS which the doctors did not know much about at the time. "Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. "

I was born in a Italiam/Jewish immigrant neighborhood just like Lou Gherig. In The lil Italia section and Yankee stadium and the Bronx runs though my veins as thick as my Rich Italian blood! But all things must pass. My SOuth Bronx High School Theodore Roosevelt HS in the Bronx will shut its doors forver in justafew weeks, just a few yard from the campus of Fordham Univerity. Now we hear Yankee stadium will soon be gone.

But the ghost of Bronx past will continue to echo through the neighborhoods, the cher of the crowd, the wheels of the pushcarts, the wheels of the third avenue el screeching to a halt, lets have one more chocolate egg cream for the road



HISTORY OF YANKEE STADIUM:

Yankee Stadium's five monuments include Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Miller James Huggins, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio. Huggins, Gehrig and Ruth's monuments were in play in centerfield before 1973. Ed Barrow, Jacob Ruppert, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Pope Paul VI, Thurman Munson, Pope John Paul II, Billy Martin, Whitey Ford, Lefty Gomez, Roger Maris, Allie Reynolds, Elston Howard, Phil Rizzuto, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson and Don Mattingly have plaques in Monument Park beyond the left field fence.

The Stadium was also an important stop for religious conventions with the conventions of the Jehovah's Witnesses the major outside activity each year. Beginning in 1950, the convention attracted as many as 123,707 people in a single day far more than any other Stadium event.

On October 4, 1965 with the Yankees out of the World Series for only the third time in 17 years the Stadium hosted an event of worldwide significance. During the first visit to North America by a Pope, Paul VI celebrated mass before a crowd in excess of 80,000. Fourteen years later, John Paul II also made Yankee Stadium a stop on his tour of the United States.

A 120-foot high boiler stack is located outside Yankee Stadium adjacent to Gate 4. This monolith was painted with the Louisville Slugger logo and Babe Ruth's signature to give the appearance of an inverted baseball bat. The "Bat" is a popular meeting place for many Guests prior to a game.

More memorable moments:

September 30, 1927 -Babe Ruth breaks his own home run record hitting his 60th homer on the final day of the season.

May 30, 1938 - The all-time Yankee record crowd of 81,841 attend a Yankee doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox.

July 4, 1939 -"Lou Gehrig's number "4" is the first major league and Yankee baseball number ever to be retired.

June 13, 1948 - Babe Ruth's number "3" is retired on the 25th Anniversary of Yankee Stadium, and it was the last appearance of Ruth at Yankee Stadium.

May 14, 1967 - Mickey Mantle's 500th homerun.

June 8, 1969 - "Mickey Mantle Day" at Yankee Stadium. Mantle's number "7" is retired.

May 14, 1996 - Dwight Gooden throws a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners.

July 4, 1983 - Dave Righetti pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox. It was the sixth regular season no-hitter in team history and first since 1951.

August 27, 1938 - Monte Pearson throws the first no-hitter at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians.

May 17, 1998 - David Wells throws a perfect game against the Twins

April 25, 1999 - A monument in honor of Joe DiMaggio is unveiled at Yankee Stadium.

July 18, 1999 - David Cone throws a perfect game against the Montreal Expos. It was the 15th regular season perfect game. Cone did it on "Yogi Berra Day". Don Larsen (who pitched a perfect game in the world series) threw out the first ball.

June 13, 2003 - Roger Clemens wins his 300th game and collects his 4,000th strikeout.

When Yankee Stadium was remodeled in 1974-75, an extended cantilever design was used to keep the upper deck supported in exactly the same position as it was with supporting posts.



 

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