3 posts tagged “baseball”
A few weeks ago we went to a Yankees game (our last of the season, our last in the old Yankee Stadium). Unfortunately, the start of the game was delayed by a thunderstorm. We hadn't gone inside yet to meet our friends, and were standing under cover outside the stadium, eating pizza, when I overhead this conversation between a little boy (around 9 or 10) who was there with his dad, and a friendly stranger who was chatting to him.
Man: So is this your first time to Yankee Stadium?
Boy: Yep
Man: Well, I was talking to A-Rod earlier, and he said he'd hit a home run for you!
Boy: ...
Man: How'd you like to see A-Rod hit a home run and win the game?
Boy (to Dad): But you said A-Rod's a choker! You said he doesn't hit home runs at the right time!
Me: heh.
Last week was the final episode of The Bronx is Burning, the ESPN miniseries, based on the book, about the 1977 World Series Champion Yankees, and the New York summer in which they made their championship run. It was the summer that Ed Koch made his successful bid for the mayoralty of New York City, and the summer that David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, killed 6 people. I was watching the show for the baseball aspect of it, however, and it was fascinating to me, who didn't really know much in the way of Yankees history, to watch the ins and outs of the interactions between owner George Steinbrenner, manager Billy Martin and future Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson. Going back through old photos and tv coverage, the casting did an amazing job with so many of the players, getting the look of them perfectly, particularly Erik Jensen playingcaptain Thurmon Munson.
In one of the episodes, there was a recreation of an old Miller Lite commercial. Here's the original.
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The weekend before last, we went to the Museum of the City of New York to look at their exhibition The Glory Days: New York Baseball 1947-1957. What a fantastic exhibit! They cover everything about that era in the city, from Jackie Robinson's historic debut for the Dodgers, through to the Giants and the Dodgers leaving town to head west in 1957. There's stuff on the fans, the ballparks (Ebbets field, the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium), the media, the players, the World Series won (in those 11 years, New York teams won 9 times, 7 times the Yankees and once each the Dodgers and Giants. 7 times there were two New York teams in the World Series.) And on and on. There are recordings and television of the historic plays. And so many awesome photos! Mr. gaspode secretly wishes he lived in the Fifties, I think, when people wore suits and hats to the ballgame and Yankee Stadium held 60,000 people. Good times, good times.
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Speaking of ballpark dimensions, here is a very cool website that will give you a tour through current and former ballparks: BallparkTour.com.
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Today we went to a game out in Coney Island. The Brooklyn Cyclones, minor A affiliates of the Mets organization, were playing the Staten Island Yankees, minor A team for the Evil Empire. It was a beautiful holiday day off, high 80s, slight breeze. We sat down the third baseline and watched our Cyclones shut out the Yankees 5-0. Afterwards, we wandered around Coney Island, watched people doing the same, had a couple of beers and headed home. It was a perfect day.
That's the tagline for Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. And for real, it's a great stadium. We were down in Philly over the weekend, as a bit of an overnight getaway for mr. gaspode's birthday. On Sunday we went out to the ballpark to see the Phillies attempt to sweep the Chicago Cubs. (Brooms were not allowed in the stadium, we saw a few get thrown in the trash on the way in). We had to check out of the hotel at 12, so we showed up an hour or so before the game started, and wandered around, checking everything out.
First can I say - no stadium is better than Camden Yards. The end. No argument. But I'm telling you -- this one comes close. The best part about it? All of the concourse concession stands are set up with sightlines to the field. So you can pick up your beer and your cheesesteak and watch the game while you're waiting in line. None of this ghetto hanging out under the stands not knowing what's going on bullshit. Awesome.
What else? The fans are nice. Of course, I travel the AL east circles, with the Yankees and Red Sox fans, so I'm probably jaded. But people were smiley and chatty and didn't boo the opposition. I like that. The food is pretty good. And it's not as insanely expensive as other ballparks I've been to. They have Flying Dog lager. Everything is very clean (well, it's only a couple of years old). They have the Phanatic. And although the Phillies didn't win, they turned on a lovely, sunny breezy day and we had a great time.
