By Gary Armida

This weekend, as all good baseball fans know, is closing time in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium will hold its last series when the Orioles come to town to battle the Yankees in a three game set. While Yankee Stadium is a historic landmark filled with many great moments, one would think that the world is losing its best friend if he listened to the millions of advertisements about the final weekend. New York radio is filled with commercial spots with funeral type background music. The voice-over talent speaks somberly about the final game at the stadium, telling the audience that this is the last chance to say goodbye to the “ballpark in the Bronx”. Even more ridiculously, the memorabilia business is in full swing, promising vials of dirt along with a piece of Derek Jeter (ok, maybe Jeter thing was slight hyperbole). Yes, the closing of Yankee Stadium is a big deal. But, it’s not a big deal for the reasons that the media, advertisers, and memorabilia outlets are forcing upon the public. It’s a big deal because a large portion of New York fans have so many memories wrapped up in the building and most of them have nothing to do with baseball.

Aura and Mystique are Stripper Names

As Curt Schilling said, the stadium is not about aura and mystique. Quite frankly, there is no such thing. The closing of the Stadium is not tragic because the Yankees are losing a piece of their history or the “ghosts” that help them win (where have they been since 2000 and why didn’t they show up to help Mattingly win?). Yes, there have been “miraculous” wins over the years and tremendous performances by a variety of players. But, the fact is that those performances are a result of having tremendous talent grace the stadium over the years. It started with Ruth and Gehrig and went to DiMaggio and Mantle then to Jackson and Munson, Mattingly and Winfield, to Jeter and Rivera. Great players and great teams make great moments, not the history or ghosts of the stadium.

Yankee Stadium is a great place, but it is hardly a good looking park. One could say that the stadium post-renovation lost much of its character as a result of the 1970’s trend of cookie cutter stadiums. The new Stadium will give that “old” feeling back to the fans and players.

The Yankees won’t lose that mythical power as long as they field good teams.

It’s Not Even the Moments

There have been so many great moments in the Stadium. When a stadium is graced with great teams, that is quite likely to happen. Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man” speech and just the fact that he and Babe Ruth teamed in the stadium automatically makes the place special. The teams of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s with stars like DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Bauer, Ruffing, Gomez, Berra, Keller won an incredible 13 World Series titles from 1930 to 1955. Then, the power house teams of Mantle, Maris, Ford, and Skowron captured the hearts of all New Yorkers during the late 50’s and early 60’s. Roger Maris’ 61^st homerun and Mickey Mantle hitting balls out of the stadium remain forever in the lore of Yankee history.

The resurgence in the late 70’s is filled with great moments like the Chambless’ game winning homerun against the Kansas City Royals (and all of the fans on the field) and Jackson’s three homeruns in the World Series. Ron Guidry’s 18 strikeouts against the Angels and the first game after Thurman Munson’s death are memories that all fans remember.

The dark period of the 80’s still had the great Don Mattingly demonstrating that he was the best player in baseball during a very bleak time in Yankee history. Then, in 1995, a great moment for all baseball fans happened when the crowd erupted with applause and screams as Donnie Baseball ran sprints in the outfield before his first post-season game.

Then the Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera Yankees provided the stadium with such great moments like the 1996 improbable World Series title, the Doc Gooden no-hitter, the dominant year of 1998, David Wells’ no-hitter, David Cone’s no-hitter, the 2001 comebacks in games 3, 4, and 5 of the World Series, Aaron Boone’s shot, and Derek Jeter diving head first into the stands. Yes, the stadium has so many great moments, but that is not the reason why the closing of the stadium is historic. These events will live on forever. New memories will be made in the stadium across the street. But, the fans will lose something more important.

It’s Your Own Memories

The closing of the stadium has a hint of sadness because of the personal memories shared at the ballpark. It’s the Uncle taking his nephew to his first game. It’s a Dad taking his son to opening day, allowing him to skip school. The true mystique of the stadium rests within the hearts of all of the fans who visited.

I was that kid who was allowed to skip school and go to opening day (several times as a matter of fact). I can remember a trip to the ballpark when my grandfather got out of his car to instruct people how to merge out of the parking lot (FYI, it goes like this-it’s the principle of “one and one”. First, one car merges from the left and then a car from the right merges. If everyone follows this principle, there would be no traffic). I can remember going to the park to see my childhood pitching idol, Roger Clemens, starting against the Yankees. Magically, we had tickets behind home plate, a place we never sat previously and never would again. The memories of going to the game with my father are not unlike every other fan. It’s not the games that made going to the stadium special. It’s the fact that I shared those times with my father.

Growing older-it’s going to the final game before the 1994 strike and sitting in the first row behind the Yankee dugout with my younger brother as we watched a tortured Don Mattingly force a smile at us as he ran into the dugout. It’s years later when my brother and I came early to watch batting practice and we sat in our seats talking, never getting up until the 7^th inning stretch (of course, we didn’t leave until the last out). Again, the game didn’t matter, it was the non-stop talking, something that life usually gets in the way of, for 9 innings that is remembered.

There are so many personal memories like going to an Orioles game with your best friend and suddenly a brawl breaks out and you have a front row seat to Homer Bush pounding an opposing player. Later, in 1997, that friend’s father would drive to his dorm room with tickets to the division series game against the Indians. As I told them to have a great time, his Dad told me that the second ticket was for me. So, there we were when Jaret Wright would dominate the Yankees, striking out batter after batter. It would be the one and only playoff game I ever went to. Sure, I remember Jaret Wright’s performance, but I remember the conversations and the fact that my friend got sick in the middle of the game (pneumonia struck). Just so you know, we stayed until the end of the game.

So, you see Mr. Depressed Music Advertiser Guy and Mr. Memorabilia Guy, the special feeling of the closing of Yankee Stadium has absolutely nothing to do with the physical building, the mythological powers of the building, the dirt, or even the memory of great moments. No, it truly is none of that. The special feeling is thinking back to all of the good times, great conversations, and great laughs had at the ballpark. It’s remembering your father teaching you about the game, it’s talking to your brother, and it’s sharing a great time with your best friend. That’s what the true fan thinks about as he looks around the Stadium. Those are the moments we cherish. We fans look forward to new memories at the new ballpark. We will have those because that is what the sport of baseball gives us.

So, we say goodbye Yankee Stadium. I speak for many fans when I say thanks for giving us a great place to build memories with our family and friends. Because we won’t have another opportunity to create those memories in you again, we will miss you.