Pride, Power, and Pinstripes: What Yankee Stadium Means To Me

Through and through, I must say my Yankee Stadium experience these past nineteen years has been tremendous.  This stadium has brought happiness to me and those around me.  It’s shown me adversity and triumph.  It’s instilled a Yankee pride in me that cannot be removed.  Although I will miss it dearly, I look forward to the new stadium next season.  I don’t think I can say it any better than Derek Jeter tonight—“Although things are going to change next year, we're going to move across the street, there are a few things with the New York Yankees that never change -- it's pride, it's tradition, and most of all, we have the greatest fans in the world.”

While I don’t want to take away from the captain’s words, I realized something more tonight about the New York Yankees.  Whether they’re loved or hated, they are always respected and have set the standard for excellence.  I learned this tonight in memorable fashion, as I will never forget it.  My roommate is from Boston and a diehard Red Sox fan at that.  Over the year and a half or so I’ve known him, we always battle about baseball and I’ve never heard him say a nice word about the Yankees.  That all changed tonight, however.  As he walked in the front door and saw me watching the game, he said, “This is the first time I’ve ever rooted for the Yankees to win because it just wouldn’t be right if they lost this one.”  While I took that as an above and beyond statement, I found it even more amazing later in the game when from his room I heard, “Hey Tom, what inning is it?”  “The seventh,” I replied.  “Let me know when it’s the ninth.  I wanna see it,” I heard back.  As we sat there, Yankee and Red Sox fans, we both watched the final out in awe.  That’s when it all came together.  It’s not about being the best team, or having the best fans.  It’s about earning the respect of your peers and setting the bar high for others.  It’s about achieving great accomplishments and having others recognize those accomplishments, no matter where their allegiance stands.

This night was so much more than just memorable.  It was breathtaking.

Thank you Yankee Stadium.  Thank you for all that you’ve given me and baseball fans around the world.  You will be dearly missed.

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