NYY: Start Spreading the News, We're Leaving Today

September 21, 2008, a day that will live in infamy for Major League Baseball and New York Yankees fans all over the country. The House that Ruth Built has seen its final game and will close after 85 years. The legends, the sites, the memories, the nostalgia that is the New York Yankees will go with it. While the team will move across the road to the New Yankee Stadium, all of it will be left behind and eventually torn down.

The final game will also mark the first time in 13 years the team will miss out on the playoffs. The so-called dynasty has been gone for quite some time, but the closing of The Big Ballpark in the Bronx will be the final nail in the coffin of a once feared team.

What is sad about this event is that the team that will close the door will include only a handful of "true Yankees"—Girardi, Jeter, Pettitte, and Rivera—all of whom were there to share the last bit of glory for sport's most storied franchise.

The rest will most likely never earn their pinstripes. While the event is a sad day for modern sports, the only way to keep the stadium alive is to relive the moments in our hearts. Here are arguably some of the most memorable.

There was Lou Gehrig's "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech in 1939.

The Roger Maris/Mickey Mantle chase of the Babe's single season home run record in the summer of 1961.

Reggie Jackson's three home runs in Game Six of the 1977 World Series.

John Wetland jumping into Girardi's arms after clinching the 1996 World Series and ending the team's 18-year championship drought.

The magic that was the 2001 World Series, and of course Derek Jeter breaking Gehrig's record for most hits ever at Yankee Stadium which, as we all know, will never be broken.

These, along with countless others, are the moments that made the Yankees and their stadium what they are today.

I for one will miss the stadium dearly as it was the first professional venue I visited as a child. The new stadium is, to me, a completely gutless move by the Yankee hierarchy and is just an excuse to sell luxury suites for top execs who care more about money than what is happening on the field.

At least the Yankees ended this chapter in their history on a slight positive with a 7-3 over Baltimore.

The reality hasn’t quite sunk in yet, and it probably won't until I go to see for myself that this historic stadium (which should be a national landmark) is no more.

These little town blues, are melting away...