The House that Ruth Didn't Build

While in NYC we went to Yankee Stadium. In fact, going to Yankee Stadium before it is torn down was pretty much the impetus for this trip. It’s fascinating to me to be somewhere and say this is where XYZ happened, or so and so once stood right where I am now. I’m a sucker for anything old and filled with History. And lets face it: Yankee Stadium has lots of history. It’s played host to 3 popes, several presidents, and countless baseball greats. True, the stadium has been renovated so it’s not TRULY the house that Ruth built, but why quibble over details. Muhammad Ali fought here. The ‘win one for the Gipper’ speech was given here. And it was here that Lou Gehrig declared he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I enjoyed being surrounded by all that history and getting to take in a game before it was destroyed.

Lets for one second though pretend that Yankee Stadium is not where all these things happened. That it is not in New York, and not home to one of the most successful franchises in sports history. If you remove all those factors then I think we can all agree on one thing: Yankee Stadium is kind of a dump. Before any baseball purists start throwing things at me, let me point out that if you picked up Yankee Stadium and put it down in Cincinnati everyone would agree that the Reds play in a sh*thole. It’s only because all these afore mentioned things happened there, that it’s survived this long. These days the baseball landscape is such that everyone is racing to have the fanciest, most luxurious, gimmicky-est ball park around. And Yankee Stadium ain’t it.

That being said, we really enjoyed our trip there. Thanks to the diligence of NJ we managed to get into Monument Park. Our group naively thought showing up 1.5 hours before game time would be sufficient to get in line to see the area where Yankee’s greats are honored. When we asked for directions to the line though, we were laughed at. “You gotta be here way before now to get in” the cop scoffed. The line was closed. Every usher told us the same thing. But NJ pointed out, what the heck else did we have to do but see if we could get in. We quickly found the end of the line, and there was no one there preventing us from getting in it, so we queued up. Soon a gentleman (I use that term loosely) was walking up and down the line telling us we didn’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting in, and why didn’t we all just go away and make his life easier (ok, not in so many words, but that was the general spirit of his message). But still we waited. Other around us, cursed and walked away. But still we waited. Fans tried pressing their case to ushers, with sob stories of nephews on their first and only trip to Yankee Stadium (get in line buddy). But still we waited. And finally, our perseverance paid off when, in one final surge to the park, we made it through! Glory Be! I think I heard angels singing. Ok maybe not, but it was pretty cool to see. Besides we felt like we pulled one over on the meanie New Yorkers who tried to tell us our wish was futile.

It should be noted that New York did redeem itself when a nice gentlemen offered tickets for an air conditioned section of the park to the SIL-E when it became clear that the surface of the sun, a.k.a. our seats, was no place for a pregnant lady. The Yankee’s also obliged their out of town guests by giving us a few extra innings of baseball. If only they could have produced some shade, I might have become a Yankee’s fan.

And now for some pictures!

The Half Street at Yankee Stadium!

Don't let the smiles fool you. It was hot. Real hot. Surface of the sun hot.

NJ & JP. Yes, JP has his collar popped. Yes, the HSH had it also. Yes, we made fun of both of them. They claimed it was to protect them from the sun. Sure boys.

The HSH and I enjoying some A/C with the HS-Bro and the SIL-E. We would use the SIL-E’s discomfort to our advantage at the Empire State Building as well. Thanks niece, I owe you one.


Monument Park. This is about the place I heard the angels singing.

This guy is related to our friend PRuff. And yes PRuff, you look kind of alike, only you move around a lot more than he does.