{"id":4401,"date":"2010-04-20T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2010-04-20T22:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=4401"},"modified":"2010-04-20T15:20:12","modified_gmt":"2010-04-20T22:20:12","slug":"memories-of-a-special-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/20\/memories-of-a-special-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories Of A Special Place"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>I know, it&#8217;s hard to  believe&#8211;they&#8217;ve torn down the old Yankee Stadium; it&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0still sinking  in. It was called &#8220;The House That Ruth Built&#8221;&#8211;reduced to a pile of  rubble while a new greed-fueled edifice graces the skyline just a few  feet away. Ah, but they can&#8217;t haul away the many memories of a place  that was MORE than just a stadium to many of us. It was a shrine, a  landmark, simply THE BALLPARK to be in&#8211;and regardless of when the land  beneath all the piled rubble becomes visible again, it will <em>always<\/em> be considered sacred ground. A few thoughts\/memories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I remember my first game&#8211;my Dad taking me  on a bus trip to the Bronx to see the Yanks play the White Sox; must  have been 1967 or &#8217;68. We pulled up to the desired destination&#8211;this  great big building with flags flying around it&#8211;and just as we  approached the stadium entrance, I clearly remembering asking Dad, &#8220;Hey,  Pop&#8211;I thought they played baseball OUTDOORS!&#8221; Yes, the naivete of the  young. And as we reached our seats, I remember the strong aroma of hot  dogs and how GREEN the grass was; I already couldn&#8217;t wait to come back  again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>While in high school, a  childhood buddy of mine and I actually gave NOTICE to our teachers that  we were skipping school to catch a Yankee game one afternoon. I  remember how surprised\/shocked we were when we found out that our  &#8220;superiors&#8221; truly didn&#8217;t mind as they were all keenly aware of our  intense passion for baseball; I guess it didn&#8217;t hurt that we were  exceptional students, too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I  recall my years at Fordham from 1978-82 and how my college experience  began in such a spectacular way during my freshman year as I was able to  gain entrance to Game 3 of the Fall Classic between NY and LA. How  lucky I was to see the &#8220;Graig Nettles Show&#8221; that evening&#8211;the gifted  third baseman&#8217;s fielding magic propelling the home team to victory. On  each magnificent play, the crowd roar was deafening&#8211;and I can still  hear it today whenever I see a diving stop by anyone playing the &#8220;hot  corner.&#8221; A magical evening for a wide-eyed teen from CT, for sure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I surely took advantage of my time living in  the Bronx. While a few of my roommates were pre-med majors and rarely  had time to take in games, this journalism student would happily make  the 30-block trip via subway alone to almost EVERY home game while  school was in session; it reached the point where I felt <strong>guilty<\/strong> when I&#8217;d be back home in CT and missed a game&#8211;maybe on a weekend when I  was home visiting my parents. Why the guilt? I don&#8217;t know&#8211;maybe  because I loved baseball so much&#8211;along with the bothersome thought of  missing out on another truly AFFORDABLE evening at the ballpark. Yeah,  I&#8217;d take a ten-dollar bill with me each night which would MORE than  cover a bleacher seat, round-trip subway fare, a pretzel and a soda. I  know&#8211;who was luckier than me, huh? My frustration these days regarding  the lack of affordability at sporting events remains dwarfed by those  special days that I DID have while in college. I miss those days.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>When I graduated, I couldn&#8217;t stay away. One  year after leaving Fordham, a family friend graciously gave me a ticket  to the July 4, 1983 game vs. Boston. Sitting behind home plate in  stifling heat, I watched Dave Righetti pitch the game of his life; when  his no-hitter was complete after striking out Wade Boggs, the deafening  sound of the raucous crowd rivaled the &#8220;Nettles crowd&#8221; that I was part  of just a few years before. To this day, it&#8217;s the lone ticket stub (out  of THOUSANDS accumulated) that I&#8217;ve chosen to save.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div>Ah, so many more personal memories of the &#8220;Big  Ball Park in the Bronx&#8221;, i.e. the anticipatory rides down &#8220;The Hutch&#8221;  with friends, Bob Sheppard (the &#8220;voice of God&#8221;), the countless batting  practices we spent watching before games, and Mickey Rivers throwing  balls in the stands while shagging in the outfield. I recently asked my  &#8220;Monday Night Sports Talk&#8221; co-host Tony DeAngelo&#8211;who grew up in  Stamford&#8211;for a few of his own fond memories: &#8220;I remember 1968 when I  saved three books of S&amp;H Green Stamps to get three seats in the  upper deck for Bat Day&#8211;Yanks vs. Indians,&#8221; he told me. &#8220;Tiant pitched a  one-hit shutout that day. The only hit was by Mantle&#8211;on  one-leg&#8211;beating out a bunt. I also remember the Yankees\/Twins  Old-Timers Day that year, driving down in Charlie Moulketis&#8217;s &#8217;61  Comet&#8211;black with red leather seats, no AC, hot as heck outside. Mickey Mantle hit a couple of &#8216;bleeder&#8217; home  runs off Jim Merritt. And after the game, as we were standing where the  Twins bus would leave from, Bob Allison of Minnesota actually stepped on  my friend&#8217;s foot! I also recall the night when Mantle homered off Earl  Wilson to tie Ted Williams on the all-time list, a night when there were  only around 12,000 in the park! Finally, I&#8217;d often see Yankees  executive Mike Burke walking in the upper deck talking to fans&#8211;giving  them the peace sign. Just so many things I&#8217;ll never forget.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Me too, Tony. I&#8217;ve only referenced  remembrances by two individuals in this column; part of my future  enjoyment of baseball in general will be hearing from many others about  their <em>own<\/em> recollections of Yankee Stadium&#8211;yes, the OLD one.  And as time goes by, those few, select memories mentioned above may have  to be compressed a bit in order to make room for so many more that will  surely surface&#8211;thanks to an unforgettable building that&#8217;s had a date  with a wrecking ball. One thing&#8217;s for sure, though: our fond thoughts\/memories of such a special place will always remain intact.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><em>Bob Lazzari is an award-winning sports columnist for both         Connecticut\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/em><em>Valley  Times<\/em> and <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nysportsday.com\/\">NY Sports Day<\/a>,  where his         \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sports Roundup\u00e2\u20ac\u009d column is featured weekly. He is a member of  the         Connecticut Sports Writers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alliance and host of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a href=\"http:\/\/mondaynightsports.net\/\">Monday Night Sports Talk<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a       cable television show on CTV\/Channel 14 in Connecticut.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know, it&#8217;s hard to believe&#8211;they&#8217;ve torn down the old Yankee Stadium; it&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0still sinking in. It was called &#8220;The House That Ruth Built&#8221;&#8211;reduced to a pile of rubble while a new greed-fueled edifice graces the skyline just a few feet away. Ah, but they can&#8217;t haul away the many memories of a place that was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6237,6229,6236,6226,6231,2281,6239,6085,2372,6235,6232,5914,6228,6238,6234,6233,6230,291,6227,1320],"class_list":["post-4401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-bus-trip","tag-childhood-buddy","tag-college-experience","tag-crowd-roar","tag-exceptional-students","tag-first-game","tag-fordham","tag-freshman-year","tag-game-one","tag-graig","tag-hot-corner","tag-hot-dogs","tag-intense-passion","tag-naivete","tag-sacred-ground","tag-skipping-school","tag-spectacular-way","tag-third-baseman","tag-yankee-game","tag-yankee-stadium"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}