The House That Ruth Built

Yankee Stadium has closed its doors after 85 years of some of the most amazing and magically historical moments in baseball history took place there. It's a place where legends were made, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gherig, Yogi Beara, Joe Dimaggio and Derek Jeter just to name a few... The closing of this part of history for me signifies a dream that will never come true...

Becoming a Yankee fan was not something I thought I would ever do or be, while being a fan of baseball seems to be in my blood, it was my moms dream for me to be a San Francisco Giants fan, just like her.... I'll never forget the day I told her I had fallen for the Yankees, I believe she called me a traitor..hehe.. Growing up I never really knew what it meant to feel passion for a sports team, I saw all the baseball memorabilia that my mom and step dad had collected over the years and every year on opening game day for either of their favorite teams the house would erupt with cheering and hollering and look out if one of their teams made it to the playoffs or World Series, pandimonium would ensue in our tiny house.. Finally however in 2001, I completely GOT it. I believe that after 9/11 alot of people fell in love with New York, it became this place where a long forgotten brotherhood and sisterhood re-emerged and since the attacks happened during baseball season, the playoffs no less, many sought a sort of refuge in going to Yankee Stadium and also in the Yankees themselves. What better way to try to get back a small piece of peace and normalcy than by enjoying America's favorite past time.

What sealed the deal for me and reall made me LOVE the New York Yankees, the Bronx Bombers, was during Games 4 and 5 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Prior to this I had always known that the Yankees were not loved on the Westcoast however for me seeing the magic that happens in THAT stadium with those boys that love what they do so well I might add, still to this day I get goosebumps when I think about October 31, 2001- Game 4, at Yankee Stadium, the score is tied it's a full moon and the captain Derek Jeter takes the plate and hits a walk off home run in the bottom of the tenth to win the game and as his feet touched the home plate the clock struck midnight and he became Mr. November.

November 1, 2001 Game 5 of the series at Yankee Stadium it's bottom of the ninth and the score is 0 to 2 in favor of the D-backs, Posada gets a double taking him to 2nd, a groundout and then a strike out and THEN the magic happens, Scott Brosius hits a HOMERUN and ties the game! It goes 3 more innings with Chuck Knoblauch scoring in the bottom of the 12th, with Scott Brosius's sacrificial bunt! Final score 3 to 2 Yankees!

Witnessing those 2 magical nights that are a part of Baseball history, the aura and mystique of the Yankees and Yankee Stadium are undeniable, even though I wasn't there physically the energy of all those fans made the Stadium pulse and come alive, you could just feel all the emotions of those fans thousands of miles from where I was, but at those moments I might as well have been standing right there in the middle of it all. As wonderful as it is to enjoy the Yankees what saddens me the most is that I will never get the chance to walk the halls of the House that Ruth built....

My wish for the new Yankee Stadium is that it will allow for the tradition of the famous aura and mystique created by the New York Yankees to continue on...