It's funny to say goodbye to something that is completely inanimate. However, today is the swan song of the Cathedral of Baseball, Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium has hosted many great baseball games, football games (being the former home of the New York football Giants), soccer matches, boxing matches, foreign dignitaries (like two Popes), etc. The stadium was host to the first overtime game in NFL history, the 1958 NFL title game, with the Johnny Unitas led-Colts winning. Many great speeches took place within its walls, like Lou Gehrig's "Luckiest man" or Knute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" (immortalized by Ronald Regan).

Read more about the history of the stadium here.

Now I once leave across the George Washington Bridge, so I used to go to the Bronx to watch the game a lot. When I first started going, the Yankees were horrible. Now, because they made the playoffs every year since 1995, people forgot how bad the late 1980's & early 1990's Yankees were. Up to 1993, the Yankees were 'cellar-dwellers'. The Yankees were New York's second baseball team to the Mets. In other words, getting tickets was easy to the Stadium. I had numerous birthdays in the Bronx. In my first game, I saw the eventual American League Champions, Oakland Athletics, lose. The A's had some great teams. I also saw the 1991 World Champion, Twins, before they won the title. In 1993, they started to win more. In 1995, the stadium was still deserted, due to the 1994 Strike. Our beloved, Don Mattingly, got a hit in the last game I went to that year. Then came the dynasty. Great baseball was there. I was at a Red Sox-Yankees game, the night the New Jersey Nets clinched the East Conference title over the Celtics. Interestingly enough, more were in the hallways watching the basketball game on TV than the game, before turning their attention. That was one of the 2 loses to the Red Sox (8 Red Sox-Yankees games in total) I watched in person. (Roger Clemens pitched for the Red Sox in the other one.) I watch Wade Boggs play for 3 different teams in that building, Red Sox, Yankees and the Devil Rays (Congrats to the Central Florida fans who waited a long time for the Rays to make the playoffs...by the way).

This past Friday, I made the long trip to the Bronx to watch my final Yankee game at the old ballpark. It was a bittersweet game. Sweet in the fact that the Yankees won and I was at the place where I had many great memories as a child. Bitter, many due to the fact it was my last time there. The game seemed like a playoff game. Not an open seat could be found seat could be found. The crowd was loud. After the game, I like the rest of the packed house, did not want to go. Everyone in the stands were taking pictures. After about an hour security wanted to go home, so I left.

It's sad to see such a great place fall into history. I had many great memories at Yankee Stadium. I was happy to have some final ones last Friday.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

A Pic I took