Yankee Stadium

The Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium for the final time ever today at 1pm.  Here I'm making the not so bold prediction that one of the two teams doesn't make the playoffs this year.  By the way, although the Rays could still lose 32 straight and finish below .500, I'm conceding defeat.  Tampa Bay will win more games then they lose.  But they're still a bunch of thugs and hooligans.

I always hated Yankee Stadium.  I've never actually been there, but I have many bad memories watching games on TV.  I learned life wasn't fair in '93 or '94.  Both the Sox and the Yankees were way out of contention, but to a boy of 7 or 8, that's irrelevant.  The Red Sox had a lead in the ninth and with two outs, a Yankee popped up to end the game.  But a Yankee fan ran out onto the field before the pitch, so the third base umpire ruled that the play was dead.  If memory serves correct, the kid was 13 or so.  Given a fourth out for free, the Yankees rallied and won that game.  I didn't even know about the rivialry then (the Yankees actually had sucked up until that point in my life, so no one cared...) but I was upset.  I remember listening to a Roger Clemens interview later and he said it was unfortunate it wasn't like football and you couldn't penalize the home team 5 yards or something.  

1996 continued my lessons of life isn't fair, but this time on a bigger stage.  I had matured enough in my fanhood to realize the Yankees are evil, so I rooted against them with all my heart as they played the Orioles in the ALCS.  In game one, Jeter flew out to right field, only this time another kid, probably also 13, reached out and pulled the ball over the wall.  An ump was standing right there and missed it somehow.  Jerk.  The Yankees won the game and the series.  

That brings me to bad memory number 3.  Unlike the previous generations which delt with 22 Yankee Championships, I had escaped them the first 11 years of my life.  In fact, before the 96 season, the Red Sox had the sole pennant and the only division titles (4 out of 11!) in my lifetime in the storied rivalry.  I remember 10 years to the day after the Calvin Schiraldi/Rich Gedman collapse (often blamed on Bill Buckner, who certainly didn't help...) the Yankees had a 3-2 lead in the World Series.  I saw lots of simularities between '86 and '96.  For example, game six was in New York.  The American League team was up 3-2 in the series.  The games were on the same day of the calandar year.  It seemed obvious to me that history was repeating and the National League team would come back and win in heartbreaking fashion.  I shared this with my cousin Danny, who pointed out my observations implied that something bad for the Red Sox and good for New York was bound to happen again.  Unfortunately, he was right.  I believe the last out was a Brave popping out in foul territory just behind third base to Wade Boggs, a gutless trader if there ever was one.  

The 1999 ALCS was no better.  The Yankees and Red Sox met up for the first time in official post season history.  Long story short, the umpires screwed the Red Sox out of game 1.  In the tenth, Jose Offerman was on first and a grounder was hit to Jeter, who threw to Knoblach.  Knoblach didn't catch it, but the ump called Offerman out anyway.  Bernie Williams homered in the Bottom of the inning.  A similar call happened later, which according to espn.com is the single worst call of all time.  Search Chuck Knoblach phantom tag if you're interested.  That happened at Fenway, so I won't bother.  There were other horrible calls in that series, all of which went New York's way as the MLB handed them the pennant, but I won't get into it right now.

Skip ahead to 2003, game 7.  Red Sox up 4-0 with Pedro on the mound, the Rocket sent to an early shower.  I stood in my dorm room and applauded respectfully as he exited.  "That's the last time the greatest pitcher of all time will ever pitch."  I don't want to talk much about what happened next.  It's all a blur.  New York scored 2 to make it 4-2 in the seventh.  Then David Ortiz hit what I still feel to this day is the most clutch homer ever, silencing the crowd making it 5-2 in the 8th.  Pedro's back and the lead's gone.  The game's tied in the 8th.  I remember vaguly Todd Walker coming up to hit with a runner on second in the ninth or tenth or something and declaring "I swear to God, if he gets a hit here, I'll name my first born son Todd Walker McColgan."  He didn't, though I would have.  He had a great post season.  Aaron Boone hit a homer in the 11th.  It was so predictable.  There were so many fair weather Yankee fans around, and I mocked them earlier saying I bet they couldn't even name the third baseman.  They couldn't.  And he's the one that came back to haunt me.  

I remember screams of the one Yankee fan on my floor.  His window looked directly into mine.  He screamed "MAYBE NEXT YEAR" over and over again for an hour, right into my window.  I just shut the TV off and the lights and laid on my bed listening to him.  People kept checking on me.  On drunk girl said they were all worried I was gonna kill myself.  My mom kept calling too.  I think she was thinking the same.  

On top of all this, there were countlessly many games where the Red Sox just got destroyed there.  I really don't like that place very much.  Yeah, 2004 was sweet, especially game 6.  It was unbelievable that two calls, Mark Bellhorn's homer and A-Rod tackling Arroyo, were overturned and went the Red Sox way.  They don't make up for the past though, as those should have gone against the Yankees anyway, just like Jeter flying out and Knoblach dropping the ball and the phantom tag.  I guess 2004 taught me sometimes justice does prevail.

I'm personally glad to see it go.  The Red Sox won Wednesday, 11-3.  NESN kept showing little kids in Yankee hats and shirts who looked miserable.  As bad as it sounds, I enjoy their misery.  The Yankees and their fans ruined so many of my summer nights in years passed.  It's good to see the tide has turned.  Here's hoping the new stadium continues not only the championship draught but also the recent Red Sox success there.