First game - 1951. My dad took me. I remember that we sat in a field box (courtesy of a now-defunct paper company - thank you very much). I actually saw Joe DiMaggio play. I actually recall seeing him make a catch that I thought was pretty super. (Probably ordinary for DiMaggio.) A short pop fly to very shallow center. It seemed to move in slow motion. The ball took forever to come down. The Clipper sailed in so gracefully. As the ball was about to hit the ground he reached down in front of him and caught it. No dive. No roll. Never broke stride. Just tossed his glove on the field (in those days players left their gloves on the field near their positions after the third out and retrieved them the next inning) and kept running all the way to the dugout.
Forward a year to 1954 - First night game. Came up through the tunnel to the second deck and saw that field under the lights. Brightest green imaginable. The Yankees had just come off winning five straight World Series and seemed invincible. They were playing the Indians. This was the Indian's year. (They went on to win 111 games that year - in a 154 game schedule.) It was a mid-season series. The Yankees came into the series a couple of games behind and this was a chance to get back into the race. It looked like a great night for the Yankees. They scored six runs in the bottom of the first on an improbable series of bloop hits, slow ground balls and walks. I think they did it against Mike Garcia - a big bear of a guy. The Indians kept chipping away and eventually tied the game and won it in 10 innings. The Yankees never got a hit after the first inning. Came close to tying the game late. Eddie Robinson pinch hit (Eddie was a big time HR hitter with the White Sox and A's and was winding down with the Yankees as a pinch hitter) a long fly to deep right. The Indian right fielder climbed into the stands (the wall was very low in RF, then) and robbed Eddie of an HR. My dad commented that "it looked like he hit it right on the nose. He must be losing his power". He was probably right. Eddie didn't hit too many more.
Night game against the Washington Senators in the late 50's (maybe '57). Senators had a tiny center fielder - Albie Pearson. He was probably smaller than Shantz. Pretty good fielder. I remember Mantle hitting one of his typical shots. Straight away CF (it was 461 ft in those days). Very high. Seemed to hang up in the air forever. Pearson was playing deep, of course. But, this ball was really deep. He turned around about three times and kept back peddeling. He got disoriented and lost the ball in the lights. Finally backed right into the monuments in dead center. The ball dropped behind the monuments and Mantle had himself an inside the park home run.
Lots of day games during the late 50's. My friends (a Tiger fan now the brother of a rabbi, a Red Sox fan - now a rabbi - a White Sox fan - now the governor of PA and a Dodger fan - now dead and I would take the IRT to 161st St and River Ave. Buy a grandstand seat for $1.30. Gorge out on hot dogs and peanuts and wattery orangeaid out of a tank carried on a vendor's back. Upper deck behind home plate. Great seats. Crowds were usually about 15,000.
Late 50's classic confrontation - Ryne Duren (the Joba Chamberlain of his day - except that he was always drunk and couldn't see) called in to pitch to Ted Williams in the 7th inning with the tying and lead runs on base. Two quick strikes. Three balls. Ted fouled off about half a dozen pitches trying to catch up to Ryne's lightning and then lined a single to right. Later in the game Ted won it with a home run into the second deck in right field. Not many hit in there. You have to hit an absolute laser bullet to get it under the third deck and still carry into the second deck.
Old Timer's Day 1960. Hot day. Huge crowd. Over 70,000 (pretty good in a place with a capacity of 61,000!) Sat in the last row of the left center field bleachers. So far away that you couldn't see anything - except for Leo Durocher legging out a triple in the Old Timer's game. He ran out from under his hat running the bases. He was bald as a cue ball.
Game 4 1960 World Series - Went with my older brother. Pirates won that game behind Vernon Law - who I later got to hit against in batting practice when I was in college. (He was a buddy of the freshman baseball coach. Lived nearby and was trying to work out some arm miseries tossing to the college boys. He didn't have much of a fastball by major league standards. But, I could barely hear it as it went by.) Yankees dominated that series. Scored runs in bunches. Missed an extra point or a field goal here and there. Absolutely clobbered the Pirates - except that somehow the Pirates managed to win the series in seven games.
Saw Ralph Terry pitch an unlikely shutout (gave up 10 hits and five walks) on a hot July night in the early 60's.
Saw Roy White robbed of what would have been a bases loaded grand slam in the bottom of the 9th against the Orioles in the first half of a twilight doubleheader in the later 60's when the Orioles used to beat the Yankees like a $3 mule. The catch saved the Orioles a three-run win. I take it back. I didn't see it. I was in the upper deck in right field. The ball would have gone into the lower deck and my view was obscured. I remember the cheer, the jubulent White running toward first base, then the groan and a disgusted and frustrated White turn around and trot off the field.
The Dark Ages - Horace Clark, Dooley Womack, Jake Gibbs, Jerry Lumpe, Jerry Kenney et al. I remember Lumpe walking with bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to win a game against the Orioles. It's a good thing he walked. Lumpe got precious few hits.
50th birthday - 1993.
No hitter by Jim Abbot - 1993 against the Indians. Last out on a fly ball to center from Kenny Lofton. Took my youngest daughter and a couple of her friends.
Last game for me at the Stadium - Mother's Day 2005. Yankees beat the A's. May have been the last game that Kevin Brown won as a Yankee. Always in trouble. The Yankees made some good plays behind him in the field. Had a sausage sandwich and a beer. Good day.
Bob
Yardley, PA
