After dinner we got on the 4 train at Grand Central Station and took that up to Yankee Stadium. Our seats were in the box section in the 3rd deck about a third of the way down the third base line. It was amazing to get to experience Yankee Stadium. On the 14th, they had a number of remembrances of Phil Rizzuto, who had passed away the night before. All of this definitely added to the sense of history in the stadium.
The game was definitely a snooze though. Aubrey Huff hit a grand slam for the Orioles in the 3rd to give them a 5-0 lead. The Orioles steamrolled the Yankees 12-0 behind 6 2/3 innings of one hit ball from Daniel Cabrera. The Yankees fell to 0-2 in games I’ve personally attended this year, making me think that I should go more often.
That being said, after visiting Yankee Stadium, I can understand why the Yankees want a new building. Despite what you see on the field, the stadium is largely a dump. The concourses are narrow and completely overcrowded all the time. The areas underneath the stands are also very dingy and suffer from a number of noticable maintenance issues. While I still think that it is a shame to tear down a building with such great history, and I think that another renovation would be capable of solving most of the stadium’s problems, I do understand the rationale behind building a new stadium. As a baseball fan and a history buff, I’m definitely glad I got to attend a game there before they tear it down following the 2008 season.
