Yankee Stadium's Last Dance

This weekend I had a cross country race at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. We left for the meet somewhat early Saturday morning to make the roughly one hour commute from Long Island. We were easily the first team to arrive at the park. I crossed the street to get a newspaper at a local deli, only to see another coach bus arrive from C.W. Post, a Division 2 school on Long Island.

I laughed to one of my teammates, saying how it's typical of Long Island to get here insanely early to beat the traffic, even early on a Saturday.

At the end of the last episode of Seinfeld, George's father is shouting at his wife to hurry up and get up because, "We have to beat the traffic!" It's comical because their son just got sentenced to a year in prison, but it's true. Traffic in New York is hellacious, there is no doubt about it. Leaving early is the only way to get anywhere on time.

That is unless you were at Yankee Stadium Sunday night for its last baseball game.

But how about Sunday night, which eventually became morning, when Yankee Stadium hosted its last game against the Baltimore Orioles? While some sports fans may have found themselves torn on whether to watch the Packers play the Cowboys or the Yankees play their final game in the House that Ruth built, I was anything but.

I went with ESPN's coverage of the Stadium sendoff, and except for an episode of Entourage, watched it in its entirety.

Reggie Jackson was in the booth with Joe Morgan and Jon Miller. Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra joined the two ESPN commentators to talk about memories, tell stories, and help Yankees fans enjoy the Stadium's last baseball game from home. YES Network's Michael Kay even got to do a play-by-play for an inning, a New York commentator speaking to a national, but mainly New York audience.

Throughout the telecast and in between commercials, there were moments relived, stories documented, all sorts of goodbyes and farewells. Derek Jeter gave a speech with the whole team behind him, and Babe Ruth's daughter threw the ceremonial first pitch.

When Mariano Rivera came out of that bullpen for the last time, it was moving. Jose Molina had the last home run, and Andy Pettite got the last win. Free curtain calls for everyone!

While I received chills several times, what perhaps moved me the most was well after Jeter gave his farewell speech, the Stadium was still packed. No one left early. For once, New Yorkers defied even themselves and stuck around.

Joe Girardi said the game had a World Series atmosphere, but unlike many big games when a lot of the seats are filled by means of corporate sponsors who leave after the 5th inning, Yankee Stadium stayed full Sunday night, as it should for its last dance.

I talked with a friend of mine that night and I couldn't have agreed with him more when he said how great of a sendoff that was for Yankee Stadium. Him and I attended three different games at Yankee Stadium together, all uniquely different experiences and memories. He said how it was something he would have felt honored to be a part of, and I told him that by being at a game there, he was.

It's something you can only understand if you've been there. I consider myself blessed to have attended several games at Yankee Stadium. My first one was in the summer of '98 against the Angels. Since then, I can't count them all, but they all contribute to my memories of the first sports venue to be called a Stadium. My Dad told my brother and me that we couldn't go to the Stadium until we each read a long feature article about the Stadium in Sports Illustrated.

After watching the game, it's hard to believe that there is still going to be baseball in the Bronx next year. It's almost as hard to believe that for once in New York, no one wanted to beat the traffic.