The House That Ruth Built.

I acknowledge that sports are an obsession of mine. I realize that this is not something that everyone understands and that not all people share this obsession. Sunday night we said goodbye to the cathedral of baseball. While I know that many people will think I am crazy we mourn that loss as though we watched a friend pass away. Sure it’s a building, concrete and metal like any other building; except that it isn’t. It is friendships forged from a shared love of the game. It is memories passed down from generation to generation. It is family time that in the world we share seems harder to come by then it used to be. It is days gone by with people who are no longer here. There are championship seasons that you were allowed to share in and seasons that disappointed as well. There is a heritage in Yankee stadium that people who don’t follow sports at all seem to understand. This is, after all, the American past time and the stadium stands like a scrapbook for my childhood as well as many others. I remember hot summer days with childhood friends I rarely get to see anymore but who I still care for deeply. As a teen it was a place where the separation that happens as kids grow didn’t hold up as strongly, and it was ok to hang out with your parents for the day. As I grew older it was one of the places that I most looked forward to sharing with the man I would eventually marry. Then came the day that I shared that magic with my own children. The look on the face mirroring the same one I am certain my own parents saw the first time I walked through the tunnel and saw the beauty of the green grass in the sunshine. The bright lights of a night game dimmed in comparison to those in their eyes at the first night spent in the bleachers. There is a shared sadness among Yankees fans as we watch our glorious home close her doors and say goodbye. There is a profound sense of loss, not just for the players who worked there but for the fans who shared their joy and sorrow as well. I was able to tell my children stories of the great grandfather that they sadly will never know shelling peanuts and singing "take me out to the ball game". I learned as a child that there was so much more to the game then just what was happening on the field and enjoyed watching my own children learn this lesson from their grandfather as well. My dad is a fixture in his section and on more occasions then I can count strangers came up to us and thanked him for making the game special for them as well. People lined up to shake his hand and thank him for keeping them involved in the game when the team wasn’t doing such a great job of it. When he missed the game because of a surgery people I didn't even know came to ask if he was ok. So many fans were amazed that Sam and Seraphina love the game as much as we do and more then once some person sitting in our row would tell us how they were told to be on the lookout for Dad during the game. It is my sincere hope that my children will remember the spectacle of Yanks games in the real stadium. One day when he is no longer here I hope they will share stories of growing to love the game in the place that I and my father before me grew to love the game. I am sure there will be people who do not understand the deep sorrow we feel at losing the home that has given us so many beautiful memories and that is perfectly ok with me. In fact I feel sorry that those people do not understand that feeling. Yes the new stadium will be nice and cleaner and it will have a lot of fancy stuff but it won’t be the place where I shared sticky cotton candy with my brother and sister in seats that my father once shared with his dad. On a grandeur scale it won’t be the place where Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio , Mantle, Berra and so many other legends once called home. Yet I know that my children will remember that they once walked on that same field. Someday my daughter will find joy in knowing she shares her birthday with the stadium that will no longer stand but that she cut her baseball teeth in. One day the players Sam grew up watching will be legends like those mentioned above and he will be able to tell his children he watched them play at the real Yankee stadium. It is hard for me to put into words the feelings I have for this building made of concrete and metal but to me it is so much more then just a building. Life goes on and I guess it is in our nature to always strive for bigger and better, but in my mind there will never be another Yankee stadium and no matter how much bigger it will never be better then the place we have called home.

There were so many great pictures to put here but these 21 seem to sum up the best of what this place means to us. (If you know the baseball fan in me then you will also know there is no coincidence in there being 21 pictures. He's pictured in here as well) As you can see it wasn't all tears and sadness and we walked out happy with the win (ANDY! My second favorite.) and the friends we have come to care so much for.