Ultimate Baseball Road Trip (16 page)

Once you leave the Great Hall and enter the stadium proper you step onto a concourse that runs atop the first level seats. We recommend walking this level even if you’re not sitting at Field Level so you can check out the very nicely done timeline that offers a catalogue of Yankee greatness through the decades. Above the concession counters, it spans the whole first level, displaying black-and-white photos of Yankee players, coaches, fans, and front office execs (read: George Steinbrenner) celebrating the team’s many championships. We liked the pictures of players like DiMaggio and Berra in the prime of their youths. Seeing the smiles of pure joy on the faces of Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson as they put their arms around one another to celebrate the 1977 title made us almost happy for them and made us almost not hate them quite so much. Almost.

Josh:
If I see one more Yankee picture, shirt, or hat I’m gonna puke.

Kevin:
The game starts in 45 minutes. You might see a few more then.

The normally bright and wide first level concourse gets dark and narrow in left-field home run territory, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel: the entrance to Monument Park. Unfortunately, there is also an insanely long line to wait in for those wishing to access the game’s most famous outdoor museum. Monument Park opens each day when the ballpark gates do and closes 45 minutes prior to game time. If you want to visit, you should be waiting at Gate 8 on River Avenue right when it opens (two hours before the first pitch), then you should high-tail it out to the entrance. For those who don’t follow this protocol or otherwise can’t stand to wait in line, the Yankees have painted the team’s retired numbers on the walls of the narrow concourse in this part of the park as a (very) small consolation prize. As for Monument Park, it features the same monuments that adorned the
Monument Park at the old Yankee Stadium, as well as a massive plaque honoring the late Mr. Steinbrenner. At five feet high and seven feet wide, the Big Stein’s big bronze dwarfs the two-by-three-foot monuments that honor the Yankees’ true immortals, not to mention the plaques of mere Yankee greats. The monuments belong to Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, and manager Miller Huggins. There is also a “We Remember” monument recalling the events of September 11, 2001, and the amazing strength the people of New York showed in persevering and supporting one another in a time of unthinkable hardship. We like the monuments and all of the plaques. The retired numbers are nice touches too. But the more spacious Monument Park that existed at the old Yankee Stadium was a little bit more nicely done in our humble (read: non–Yankee fan) estimation.

While the Yankees’ retired numbers can be spotted on pedestals in Monument Park, they are hard to clearly make out from most parts of the Stadium. For that reason, perhaps, the Yankees also display them on a big blue wall that rises behind the last row of left-field bleacher benches. And in the corresponding location in right field a similar blue wall rises. Only this one is dedicated entirely to George Steinbrenner. It features an artsy-looking black-and-white photo of the Boss’s face, with lighting shining on his mug as if he were a saint. Beside the picture the wall reads, “George M. Steinbrenner, 1930–2010. THE BOSS.” And yes, “the Boss” is in all caps. We found it curious that all of the great players in Yankee history were allocated the same amount of wall space
combined
as the one and only Mr. Steinbrenner received.

But getting back to the retired numbers, we should mention that the Yankees celebrate the careers of seventeen players with out-of-commission uniform numerals. That’s more than any other team in MLB. The retired numbers are: No. 1 for Billy Martin; No. 3 for Babe Ruth; No. 4 for Lou Gehrig; No. 5 for Joe DiMaggio; No. 7 for Mickey Mantle; No. 8 for Yogi Berra; No. 8 for Bill Dickey; No. 9 for Roger Maris; No. 10 for Phil Rizzuto; No. 15 for Thurman Munson; No.16 for Whitey Ford; No. 23 for Don Mattingly; No. 32 for Elston Howard; No. 37 for Casey Stengel; No. 44 for Reggie Jackson, No. 49 for Ron Guidry, and No. 42 for the universally retired Jackie Robinson. Even though Robinson’s 42 is “retired,” when we visited in 2011, Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera was still wearing the number, as the last holdout exempted by the Robinson grandfather clause. At the old Yankee Stadium the Yankees didn’t, in fact, retire No. 42 when the rest of MLB did in 1997. They merely displayed the initials JR with their retired numbers. But upon opening the new Stadium in 2009, the Yanks hung No. 42 with their other numbers, even though Rivera still wore the digits. No doubt the Yankees will someday have to retire another No. 42 in honor of baseball’s most successful closer. But there is precedent for this sort of redundancy. You’ll notice there are two 8’s already hanging at Yankee Stadium. Berra inherited fellow catcher Dickey’s number in 1947 before the Yankees realized Dickey deserved retiree status. Between them, the Hall of Fame backstops hit 560 home runs and played in twenty-five of twenty-eight All-Star games between 1933 and 1962. They both later coached and managed the Yankees. In 1972 their number 8’s were simultaneously taken out of commission.

Incidentally, the Yankees were the first team to ever retire a player’s number. They made Gehrig’s No. 4 the game’s first when they paid the “Iron Horse” the ultimate credit in 1939.

Obviously Derek Jeter’s No. 2 will also be retired someday. That had been firmly established long before the
Captain became the first Yankee to collect three thousand hits while wearing pinstripes. Jeter did it in style, making number three thousand a homer against Tampa Bay’s David Price on July 9, 2011. In so doing, Jeter joined Wade Boggs as the only player to enter the three thousand-hit club with a long ball. Besides Boggs, who got his three-thousandth with the Rays but did play for the Yankees for a time, the other former Yankees to eventually record three thousand safeties have been Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, and Paul Waner. Other than Jeter, they all got number three thousand in other uniforms, though.

Besides Jeter and Rivera, it remains to be seen if more recent Yankee heroes like Bernie Williams (No. 51), Jorge Posada (No. 20), and Andy Pettitte (No. 46) will have their Yankee jerseys hung up in perpetuity. Pettitte holds the record for most post-season wins with nineteen. That’s no small feat, but it should be noted that he benefited from playing in an era of expanded playoffs. And he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. It would be fitting to see Jeter, Rivera, and Posada all retired, seeing as they hold the record for being the trio to play the most seasons together. They were at seventeen and counting at the conclusion of the 2011 campaign.

The Yankees Museum is located near Gate 6 on the Main Level. Before the game, a long line forms on the ramp that leads to the doorway. Clearly it’s not possible to arrive at the Stadium early to access both Monument Park and the Museum in the pregame hours, since they both have such long lines. Visitors must choose to visit one or the other. The good news, though, is that unlike Monument Park, the Museum stays open all game long. The door attendant with whom we spoke said that the line is always ridiculous before the game but that usually most folks abandon their pursuit when game time arrives. He said the first inning is the best time to visit. Then the line begins to form again as the game wears on. Of course, we didn’t want to spend our entire pregame time in line and we didn’t want to miss first pitch either. So we decided to wait until later and take our chances. Since we saw a Yankee blowout on a sweltering night, by the seventh inning a lot of fans had headed for the exits. We stopped by the Museum at that late hour and found no line at all.

We waltzed in and had to admit we were impressed by the collection of more than fifteen hundred autographed baseballs of former Yankee players. The big names are represented, like Ruth, Gehrig, and manager Joe McCarthy, as well as the lesser lights, like Butch Hobson, Andy Stankiewicz, Bob Wickman, and Matt Nokes. We also liked the paired statues of a squatting Berra and pitching Don Larsen, as the bronze couplet, separated by sixty feet and six inches, pays tribute to Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers. The home plate in front of the Berra piece serves as a marker, detailing events of the game. Another highlight is the Museum’s seven World Series trophies. Why only seven, you ask? Because MLB didn’t start awarding a World Series trophy until 1967.

Not surprisingly there is a large exhibit dedicated to the life and times of Steinbrenner. It includes pictures of him from his childhood at Culver Military Academy, pictures from his glory days at the Yankee helm, and all of his World Series rings. There is also an exhibit dedicated to Gehrig. Thurman Munson’s locker, which sat unassigned at the old Yankee Stadium from the time of his death until the time of the ballpark’s closing in 2008, is also on display. Also notable is a spinning architect’s model of the new Yankee Stadium.

There are no fewer than six different merchandise stores inside Yankee Stadium. The biggest is located inside Gate 6 in the Great Hall. And it’s open year-round.

The Yankees Women’s Store, behind Section 114 A on the first level, hits the spot if you’d like a little pink with your pinstripes.

The Steiner Collectibles Store, also near Section 114, is a rare treat. Steiner is the biggest name going in the collectibles market and it’s well-represented with its offerings at the Stadium.

There is also a collectibles stand upstairs, behind Section 211, where old Yankee gloves, autographs, programs, photos, and baseball cards are for sale. Our friend Joey “Bedbugs” Bird was very impressed by the range and relative affordability of items there. While we gaped at the triple-digit prices, he pointed out pieces—like an unused ticket stub to a 1977 World Series game at Dodger Stadium, marked at $125—that he said he could have easily bought and flipped for more money on eBay. This kind of begged the question from us: Well, why didn’t he buy it? But we didn’t ask.

Another popular shop is the Monument Park Store, located at field level in center field.

Appropriately placed just outside the Women’s store, a life-sized plastic statue of Derek Jeter offers a popular spot for fans to pose for the camera. You can use your own camera. You don’t have to pay for a photographer to shoot you like you do if you want to pose with the big fluffy Grover mascot stationed outside the M&M store in Times Square (yeah, we found that lesson out the hard way). Also keep your eyes open when you’re walking down Ramp 1, leading to the Great Hall, and you’ll see a Mickey Mouse statue decked in Yankee gear and a pinstriped Statue of Liberty.

Josh:
And yet, no statue of Mickey Mantle.

Kevin:
Hard to believe the Yankees would pick the wrong Mick.

Behind Section 115 are two pale blue seats from the Yankees’ previous home. Sitting in these, after earlier watching batting practice from the padded comfort of the seats in right-field home run territory, we were amazed at the difference.

Josh:
How did people ever live like this?

Kevin:
Makes you kind of want a new Fenway?

Josh:
I wouldn’t go that far.

Behind Section 217 on a stretch of concourse that’s a little darker than the rest of the second level walkway, the Yankees have added some really cool jumbo baseball cards that reminded Josh of the old Sports Flicks he used to collect in his youth. You remember these: They were 3-D and when you tilted them to the side it would appear as though the players were swinging or delivering a pitch.

Behind Section 200 is another baseball card display. An oversized glass case spins like a slot machine, bringing a new wave of Topps cards into view with every rotation. All of the players are Yankees, of course, but they’re not all stars. We observed Randy Velarde, Pat Kelly, Bernie Williams, Tony Kubek, Tommy John, David Cone, and Bucky Dent spinning past.