New York Yankees Missing Playoffs In Last Year At Yankee Stadium

The House that Ruth built. The memories, the ghosts of the past. The players that will never be forgotten. The names. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter. How fitting would it have been for the 2008 New York Yankees to win the World Series, for the Stadium that has provided so many memories to countless people.

No other Stadium was graced with as many classic games, as Yankee Stadium. Ask 1,000 people what their favorite memory was at Yankee Stadium, you could possible get 1,000 answers. No other stadium has had that. My personal favorite, Game 7, 2003 ALCS. New York vs. Boston. Yankees vs. Red Sox. The greatest rivalry, in the history of sports. An epic game, that was ended by maybe the most unlikely player. Aaron Boone stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 11th, with the game tied 5-5. The first pitch he saw all night, off Tim Wakefield, he hit a game-winning, ALCS clinching, World Series sending, home run into the Bronx night. Pandemonium in the Bronx. The Yankees are going to the World Series. The Curse of the Bambino intact.

No post-season memories like that will happen this year. No October baseball for the first time since 1995. It is funny, because my whole life seems like, October and the Yankees just went together. They were a perfect pair. An October without the Yankees, it is going to be hard to believe. Then again is it that hard to believe. The "Old Guard" is gone. No more Torre, no more Paul O'Neill, no more Bernie Williams, no more Scott Brosius, no more Tino Martinez. These Yankees could not put up the stats that today's Yankees can. The "Old Guard" had only three things that these Yankees do not have. Heart, the desire to win, and the ability to be clutch for the greatest city in the world, the greatest franchise of all time. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are still here, but they just are not enough, they need a supporting class. The team of the late 90's and early 2000's were just that: a team. These Yankees are not that.

It is sad to think that Yankee Stadium will not have post-season baseball playing inside it. It is sad to think that Yankee Stadium's lights will not be on in October. Sad to think that never again will our sport's heroes play October baseball ever again. The Yankees move across the street next year, but will the ghosts of baseball past go across with them? Derek Jeter told Aaron Boone during Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, while the Yankees were losing 5-2 in the 8th inning, not to worry that the ghosts were going to come. A 3 run 8th to tie the game, and Aaron Boone's Home Run in the 11th to win it. The Ghosts sure did come. But will they ever be heard from again?