Jeffrey Fox, 2009
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Jeff Fox got to the Stadium early on September 21st with thousands of other Yankee fans. He walked down River Avenue, under the train, and waited for hours in a long line for the last chance to walk onto the field at Yankee Stadium – the stadium as he knew it for over forty years.
It is this fan’s perspective that Yankee Stadium, The Final Game journeys in pictures from approaching the Stadium for the final time, through the night’s festivities, and all the way to one final glimpse as fans leave the gates forever.
Armed with a top notch digital camera, a notebook, and a lifetime of memories, Jeff chronicled his fan experience on that emotional day. He snapped over 700 photos and talked with the fans.
The pictorial doesn’t put you shoulder to shoulder with dozens of other photographers vying for the perfect shot of Mo’s final pitch or Jeter addressing the crowd. You can find those pictures by the dozens. What Jeff sought to do was document the details the press never saw: the cold concrete ramps, the grinning beer vendors, the fans enjoying their home, and the view from the upper deck.
This isn’t a book of flawless portraits. This is a portrayal of the Stadium as the fan’s place of worship – beloved warts and all.
The panoramic stadium shots are in there, sure, but they’re from the upper deck and the bleachers – you know, the way it looked when you were there.
While the press corps was on the field, the fans were looking down on the circus. Those photographers weren’t getting pictures of their own chaos, but Jeff was.
This book won’t tell you the definitive history of Yankee Stadium. It won’t take you pitch by pitch through the game. And it won’t give you the Jeter close-ups you’ll get from the Yankee-endorsed atlases.
What it will give you is the view from your view. How you saw the stadium and how you want to remember seeing that stadium- the feeling, not the picture-perfect photo-op.
When I sat with Jeff to talk through the book he immediately took on the role of tour guide through that final day, just as the book does. As Jeff said to me, the purpose of this book is to “bear witness to the last act of baseball at Yankee Stadium,” and it’s a perspective that you won’t easily find in print.
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