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Yankee Stadium: End game
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This Sunday, the Orioles will play the Yankees at 8 p.m.; Baltimore fans may stumble upon the matchup after watching a day’s worth of football and stuffing their faces with Natty Boh and crabmeat.
For Orioles fans, it’s just another meaningless game in September. On paper, the game doesn’t have any bearing on the standings. Neither the Yanks nor our lowly O’s will make the postseason this year, but there will be much fanfare on Sunday regardless.
You see, the three-game set that begins Friday is the final home series in the Bronx before the Yanks move across the street to their new stadium. Because they are changing edifices, everything about the concluding series has taken on an air of the historic.
The Yankees front office has been tight lipped out their plans for the final home games at the old stadium, but here are a few things I fully expect:
1. The ghosts of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra and George Steinbrenner will return from the dead to throw out the first through fifth pitches. Jay Payton will swing at three of them for a strikeout.
2. The 25 Yankees uniforms not yet retired will be retired, forcing the 2009 Yankees to play without numbered uniforms.
3. Former All-Star Yankees catchers Sal Fasano and Joe Girardi will take part in the pregame ceremony, as will fan favorite Gary Sheffield.
As for the game itself, I’m rooting for another Chris Waters complete-game shutout.
The outcome of the game itself is largely inconsequential, but keep in mind that what you’re watching is history. There is no sport with a greater sense of history than baseball and no team more historic than the New York Yankees.
Much has been made of Derek Jeter’s historic record-breaking moment on Tuesday night. Here’s a list of lesser-known historic moments in the historic history of the history-making franchise’s historical stadium.
- June 13, 1928 -- Babe Ruth eats an historic 16 hot dogs before a matchup against the St. Louis Browns.
- July 31, 1938 -- Days after his Chicago radio interview, outfielder Jake Powell makes an average of 3.2 racist remarks per plate appearance, an historic record that still stands today.
- September 8, 1965 -- Mickey Mantle drinks an historic 13 cocktails before a double-header against the Washington Senators.
- August 21, 1985 -- Billy Martin throws an historic five tantrums* as the Yankees drop a game to the Brewers
- July 2, 1989 -- Don Mattingly’s mustache reaches an historically rich, full-bodied thickness during the sixth inning of a game against the Oakland A’s.
- October 30, 2001 -- Roger Clemens takes an historic four trips to the bathroom with Brian McNamee for
sterioidsvioxx injections. The Yankees win the game and go on to lose the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. - August 26, 2008 -- The Yankees lose a home opener to the Boston Red Sox, dropping them five games back in the wild card race. Yankees fans wear t-shirts with the number 26 featured prominently to commemorate this historic day.
The Orioles take on the Yankees at 7 p.m. Friday, 1:05 p.m. Saturday, and 8 p.m. Sunday.
* Four of the five took place in the locker room following a third-inning ejection and a fifth-inning employment termination.
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