My Trip to (New) Yankee Stadium

On June 10th for my 16th birthday I visited the New Yankee Stadium, (my first time in either venue). I was taken away by the beauty, the vistas and the overall atmosphere, (as well as the Martin walk off blast). It was a great experience.

However, there was one thing missing,

The history.

Watching the ceremonies, the centennial celebration that the Red Sox held for their home, Fenway Park, made even more of an impact on me. As does knowing of the impending celebration that the Cubs will hold at Wrigley in 2014 for it's centennial, as I was one of few who was not excited to here the Yankees were moving out of their home.

The Yankees have been host to some of the greatest players in baseball history: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Ron Guidry, Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer among many, many more.

When you watch a game played at Fenway, you know that Carl Crawford is in the same spot Carl Yastrzemski played in. You feel the history as you see the same spot where Bucky "Bleeping" Dent's 3-run blast landed in '78. The site where the Impossible Dream team played in '67. The foul pole around which Johnny Pesky drilled a game-winning home run for Mel Parnell. The bullpen, named "Williamsburg", where Hall of Famer Ted Williams, "the greatest hitter who ever lived", hit numerous home runs. The Lone Red Seat where Williams drilled a home run estimated at 502 feet. You can look at the Red Sox retired numbers and know that all of those players (except 42, Jackie Robinson), played at the same ballpark that Jacoby Ellsburry, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett play in today. When you trek through Wrigley Field, you know that the same place where Randy Wells, Starlin Castro and Dawin Barney play is the same spot that Hall of Famer Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, and even Greg Maddux played in their day. You can see where Babe Ruth called his shot in the 1932 World Series, where Billy Sianis was ejected and the "Curse of the Billy Goat" began, and the booth where Harry Caray called games for years.

The Red Sox and Cubs combined will never have more World Championships than the Yankees, they will never retire more numbers, they will never have more Hall of Famers, and they will never be the most successful baseball team, the New York Yankees. But the Red Sox and Cubs will always have something which the Yankees will never have again,

A ballpark steeped in history and tradition for the last 100 years, and, as future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez proclaimed,

The next 100 years.