tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post2495018584343849699..comments2024-03-28T18:01:28.997-04:00Comments on What's Alan Watching?: That old ballpark of mineAlan Sepinwallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-76991615410269553392008-09-23T14:50:00.000-04:002008-09-23T14:50:00.000-04:00Thanks for the column, Alan. I'm a few years olde...Thanks for the column, Alan. I'm a few years older than you and have been going to games at the Stadium since the renovated stadium opened in '76. I was fortunate enough at age 5 to attend the Chambliss game with my dad and grandfather. This summer I took my two boys (ages 2 and 3 months) to see the Yanks beat the Red Sox. A great, final memory of that wonderful place.<BR/><BR/>One nit, Alan. While Mo's throwing the ball into CF in Game 7 hurt, I am still more troubled by what happened next. Another bunt, and Mo gets the guy at third but for whatever reason Brosius holds the ball. He had plenty of time to turn two, and the Yanks would have been 1 out away with a runner on second for the D'backs. Would Womack still have doubled? Who knows, but the entire series might have been different.Isaac, your bartenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17635828648120248128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-63299949526046226292008-09-22T12:09:00.000-04:002008-09-22T12:09:00.000-04:00I've been to Yankee Stadium once, at the infamous ...I've been to Yankee Stadium once, at the infamous game against the Red Sox where a fan took a cap off a downed player's head and the entire Red Sox team ran into the stands after him, followed by the Yankees and then security. We were up in the nosebleeds where it was so steep that I nearly got a case of vertigo. Sorry to hear they're replacing it with a generic model.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-27871308017799942572008-09-21T20:40:00.000-04:002008-09-21T20:40:00.000-04:00just finished watching the pre-game ceremony for t...just finished watching the pre-game ceremony for tonight's game, and all I can think of was the very first time I went to the Stadium....we had moved to NJ in March of 1968, and that summer, I saw my first Yankees game...and got my first autograph....Mel Stottlemyer. To this day my dad still remembers me yelling at the tv screen the next time he pitched "hey Mel, thanks for the autograph" as if somehow he could telepathically hear me.<BR/>Spent many of my high school, college, and now "business" years there. I think that to truly appreciate what it was, you have to have been there in the early 70's...when the team stunk, and the surrounding Bronx neighborhood stunk even worse. There really is no place like it in sports.<BR/>Thanks for letting me remenise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-68429669691651868812008-09-21T14:36:00.000-04:002008-09-21T14:36:00.000-04:00Thanks, Alan. Yeah, I can recall attending many M...Thanks, Alan. <BR/><BR/>Yeah, I can recall attending many Mets/Dodgers World Series games in the 80s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-11524540020593791632008-09-21T13:35:00.000-04:002008-09-21T13:35:00.000-04:00Question from a West Coaster, and I hope this isn'...<I>Question from a West Coaster, and I hope this isn't incredibly ignorant. Do the folks in NJ tend to be Yanks fans vs. Mets fans, or is there no general rule there?</I><BR/><BR/>The stereotype is that people from New Jersey and Westchester root for the Yanks and people from the outer boroughs and Long Island root for the Mets, but I've never found much truth in that. I went to school with a lot of Mets fans, which made the '80s not a particularly fun decade for me as a baseball fan.Alan Sepinwallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03388147774725646742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-46323064523863869682008-09-21T13:23:00.000-04:002008-09-21T13:23:00.000-04:00p.s. Question from a West Coaster, and I hope thi...p.s. Question from a West Coaster, and I hope this isn't incredibly ignorant. Do the folks in NJ tend to be Yanks fans vs. Mets fans, or is there no general rule there?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-35153676751525648122008-09-21T13:17:00.000-04:002008-09-21T13:17:00.000-04:00My dad's later career was in the front office for ...My dad's later career was in the front office for a sports team (early career sports editor for a daily), and so much of my life was spent going to myriad games in various cities at all kinds of venues. I saw my first Yankees home game approximately 15-20 years ago and was struck by all the ghosts in the stadium. Even though I'm not a hardcore sports fan, I am a nostalgic one. I hated seeing Wrigley get stadium lights, and I'm sorry that the Bronx ghosts are going to be disturbed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-56554743122180549282008-09-21T10:58:00.000-04:002008-09-21T10:58:00.000-04:00Alan, this was a great post, and that Jeter anecdo...Alan, this was a great post, and that Jeter anecdote caps it brilliantly.<BR/><BR/>I was a <A HREF="http://tinyurl.com/545xq9" REL="nofollow">bartender at the Grand Hyatt</A> all through the 1980s, which is the hotel where all the teams that play the Mets and Yankees stay. I got to know a lot of players and managers back then, and they would always leave me tickets to games. The seats were always under the net behind home plate, with the players' wives. <BR/><BR/>I always preferred Yankee Stadium to Shea (although I was a Red Sox fan), if only because you could feel the history, even though, as you note, the stadium wasn't REALLY the historical stadium. It didn't matter. It was in the air. And it was a great place to watch a ballgame.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01288100796201737845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-36739435313835623082008-09-21T04:43:00.000-04:002008-09-21T04:43:00.000-04:00Youch, Andrew.I agree, have some class.I grew up h...Youch, Andrew.<BR/><BR/>I agree, have some class.<BR/><BR/>I grew up having a personal connection to the Anaheim Angels, and when I moved to Boston I felt like I was in a foreign land. Yet as much as I despise Boston's fans and what the Red Sox stand for I will probably shed a tear when Fenway gets torn down. <BR/><BR/>It's not about the game, even though it's ALL about the game.Steven Timbermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05505734483714313526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-55133382712230462312008-09-21T04:17:00.000-04:002008-09-21T04:17:00.000-04:00Alan I liked you even more now that I know you are...Alan I liked you even more now that I know you are a Yank fan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-67356491535181548332008-09-21T01:26:00.000-04:002008-09-21T01:26:00.000-04:00I am a Tigers fan and don't really remember 84 and...I am a Tigers fan and don't really remember 84 and I haven't really liked the Yankees ever, but it is always sad to replace an original stadium with the commercially sponsored new one. I miss Tiger Stadium.<BR/><BR/>And the Skydome/Rogers Centre in Toronto is even less conducive to watching baseball than Comerica Park.Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11317568565085893849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-54483277856913608072008-09-21T01:05:00.000-04:002008-09-21T01:05:00.000-04:00Thanks for sharing your Yankee Stadium memories, A...Thanks for sharing your Yankee Stadium memories, Alan. I was never lucky enough to go to any playoff or World Series games, but my favorite memory was going to a game in 2000 with my family and seeing my dad miss a foul ball that landed in his hat and bounced out (it was one of those adjustable ones with a plastic band), only to have Derek Jeter's father - his parents were sitting two rows in front of us - turn around and tell my dad better luck next time, and that he needed a new hat!<BR/><BR/>My younger sister and I, quite smitten with Jeter at the time (oh, ok, fine, we're still pretty smitten with him), just stared at each other with OH MY GOD looks on our faces. And of course, my dad got a nice fitted hat for his birthday that year.xtinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15557137686423927993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-26080871536719129902008-09-21T00:24:00.000-04:002008-09-21T00:24:00.000-04:00No class, Andrew. Jeez....I'm a Sox fan transplan...No class, Andrew. Jeez....<BR/><BR/>I'm a Sox fan transplanted down here to NY, but never one of those who takes that kind of attitude towards the Yankees. I love going to Yankee games - although that July 4th perfect game was a killer - and I always had such a great time at that stadium.<BR/><BR/>I'm going to miss it.<BR/><BR/>For a Sox fan, I loved your memories of it - every baseball fan, no matter their team, can relate to the universal wonder that a ball game can evoke.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, Alan!Toby O'Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999037844031101965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-68168033794790841252008-09-20T22:27:00.000-04:002008-09-20T22:27:00.000-04:00Fuck the Yankees. That is all.Fuck the Yankees. That is all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-25392239699544665602008-09-20T21:43:00.000-04:002008-09-20T21:43:00.000-04:00(Though, team that loses is silly to say, since we...(Though, team that loses is silly to say, since we always made the playoffs. Breaking new ground for me this year.)velvetcannibalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14649039454592018539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17517257.post-22215595135231872642008-09-20T21:41:00.000-04:002008-09-20T21:41:00.000-04:00First off, you are so much younger than I assumed ...First off, you are so much younger than I assumed you must be due to your writing ability and memory of certain tv shows. Wow.<BR/><BR/>I was a half-assed fan during my childhood/teenage years, and only became die hard in 2001, during my first year of college. I understand what you mean about only knowing a team that loses, as we've had several heartbreakers, beginning with that year.<BR/><BR/>But there is nothing like walking up that dirty, decrepit ramp and seeing the green field in front of you, the bleacher creatures chanting to the players, the sun setting and roasting the cheap seats. I never feel more at peace than when I'm walking into that stadium, no matter how much of a toilet it has become. I'm sure I'll love the new one, once I'm used to it, but you can't recreate that sense of history, of generations of love and suffering that comes with that place. If I won the lottery, the only luxury item I'd want would be season tickets to the Yankees.<BR/><BR/>I will miss that palace, and I'm glad I got to go to a final game this year. I'm sure Mets fans over at Shea are feeling the same sense of loss and nostalgia for their ballpark.velvetcannibalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14649039454592018539noreply@blogger.com