Bring On The Big Apple

Of all the tasks ahead of us on our 12-day tour of baseball cathedrals and large cities, the task that would be most challenging (and the one that made me the most nervous) was negotiating New York City. Making it somewhere near the Bronx and back with my car in one piece and our sanities intact was a daunting assignment.

Now, if I told you that we made it through the day:
A. By finding free parking on the street.
B. Not getting caught in any traffic.
AND
C. Paying $4 total round-trip to and from the city.

You'd probably call us crazy. That's why we own this town.

We mapped out the plan the night before. We'd drive around the west side of the city, all the way to the north side of the Bronx to Van Cortdlandt Park, the northernmost stop on the No. 4 train that would take us to Yankee Stadium. We left our hotel about 8 a.m., missed traffic on the New Jersey Tollway, made it to the park and found (FREE!) parking along the northwest edge of the park. We walked a couple of miles to the train station, and made it down to the House that Ruth Built about two hours before game time.

Now, thanks to John Dimmick, a good friend of ours and (sadly) a devoted Yankee fan, we knew exactly what we had to do. In order to see Monument Park, an area behind left field devoted to the Yankee greats, we had to get in line right away. Sure enough, by the time we made it to the appropriate place, the line was already snaking up about eight ramps. By the time we got to the front, they weren't letting anyone else get in line to see the park.

We weaved our way through the concourse and reached what looked like baseball heaven.


We were on the main level concourse, and got a great look at the stadium that has housed more world champions and pennant winners than any other park.


First, we walked by a long line of Yankee retired numbers. Seriously, they're going to run out of these things pretty soon. Or, at least they'll have to start issuing triple-digit numbers to players.


Then, we strolled through a beautiful series of monuments to the Yankee legends (and there sure are a lot of them). So many great players have donned those pinstripes and played in this stadium, it's a shame they're leaving it after this season.


Seeing such rich history here was a fantastic prelude to the sights we'd see at the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Day 6.


Not only do they honor Yankee legends in Monument Park, but they also have large plaques devoted to every Mass a pope has delivered at Yankee Stadium. Puts a new spin on this being baseball's 'holiest' place ...


Colin got a little slowed up by the big crowd through Monument Park, so Miles and decided to walk around the main level. We weren't sure if they'd let us behind home plate, but we adopted the strategy that's key to exploring ball parks: "Let's just walk until someone stops us."

We walked pretty far.


Love them or hate them, if you're around my age, the Yankees' success in the late 1990s again made this stadium absolutely synonymous with playoff baseball. It just doesn't seem like October if larger-than-life players aren't making postseason history inside those blue walls.


We moved to our seats in the upper deck in right field. Not a bad location at all -- again, a perfect view of almost all the action.


There's a general misconception that tickets to the stadium's final season much be impossible to get. Not true. The place seats more than 50,000, and on an afternoon game like this one, it wasn't full. That's not to say the park wasn't spirited and noisy, especially when Alex Rodriguez continually failed to deliver a clutch hit.


Our seats also gave us a really true New York experience. A bunch of 30-something Yawkers sat behind us, and were engaged in a constant back-and-forth with each other, making fun of everything and everyone. They were particularly vicious to some moron who thought it'd be a good idea to wear a Red Sox hat in the section below us. He had to know what he was getting himself into.

Though the guys' act got old after awhile, it was pretty hilarious for much of the game. They liked to rag on A-Rod (who in New York doesn't these days?), which you can hear in this clip (Listen for the calls of 'You bum!' early on).





The dancing groundskeepers also made an appearance. Though they usually get more into their routine, they did a half-spirited dance to YMCA this time.





After visiting it, it's clear that the new Yankee Stadium will be a vast improvement over the current one. The concourses are crowded, there's duck tape on some seats and it's caught between eras. It's pretty easy to tell that it was a ball park built in the early 20th century and then renovated in the 1970s. It needs a lot of updating, which the new digs will provide.

Still, there was something about stepping inside that put a smile on your face and gave you goosebumps. All that history is hard to ignore, and hard to root against. I set foot in that stadium and wanted cheer hard for the Yankees. It was that powerful.

So, it was pretty easy to go nuts when Jason Giambi crushed a walk-off home run:

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200806052847207

Especially since we were one section to the left of where the ball landed.


After the Yankees failed to capitalize on a number of opportunities, a lot of fans headed for the exits. The ones that left early missed a heck of a finish.

Once the crowd cleared out, we walked outside to get a better view of the new park. This will be an amazing baseball expereience, a simultaneous coliseum and cathedral devoted to baseball.


The plans make it look quite a bit like the current park, but a lot, lot better. There's no doubt these Yankees will do it right. They'll preserve the history while providing a better fan experience -- and make a lot of money doing it. This will be a park worth making a trip back to.

Mission accomplished, the only remaining question was about the state of my vehicle. We said a mild prayer that no tickets, no broken windows and no tow trucks would be waiting for us. We hopped on the No. 4, walked back through the park, and found nothing but good news.

We battled The Bronx, and we won.


We own this town.