Yankee Stadium Tour – July 29, 2008

Photos

July 29 was our earliest-starting day, leaving our hotel in New Jersey at 7:30 a.m., to head back to the Bronx for a Yankee Stadium tour. Our bus was divided into two groups, and ours went on the tour first.

Inside the stadium, we waited a few minutes for the tour guide. That gave us the opportunity to stand in a mostly empty, silent Yankee Stadium on a sunny morning and look around. The infield grass glistened from just being watered, the flags atop the frieze blew in the breeze – it was a beautiful sight. Then it was out to Monument Park, which honors the Yankees greats. First are plaques that recognize those whose numbers have been retired. There are quite a few, as you might expect. Beyond that is a section with monuments honoring the greatest of the greats – Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. There’s also a monument honoring the victims of 9/11, which was dedicated on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. As the tour guide was describing Monument Park and the individuals being honored, she was very respectful and referred to everyone as “Mr.” – Mr. Lou Gehrig, Mr. Babe Ruth, Mr. Yogi Berra, etc. But there wasn’t nearly enough time to look at everything out there, or maybe it was because I was taking pictures of all the 1960s-era plaques for my Dad since he was a big Yankees fan then. Monument Park will be moved to the new stadium, of course, and more information on it, if you’re interested, is here.

We then walked along the warning track from left field to our next stop, the Yankees dugout. A security guard was there to make sure no one walked on to the field or even touched the grass. One older man from our bus, a Yankees fan, bent down to scoop up a bit of dirt and rocks from the warning track a couple of times.

I was one of the last to the dugout (since I was taking pictures along the way) so I didn’t get to sit on the bench as the guide was talking about the dugout. So I stood at the dugout entrance nearest home plate, the spot where Yankees manager Joe Girardi had been standing the night before. Not a bad view! But the dugout seemed pretty small, and the ceiling very low above the bench. If it hadn’t been a game day, our tour would have continued on into the Yankees clubhouse.

Then it was up to the press box. It reminded me of the old Wrigley Field press box from my internship days in 1988 – which was replaced the following year by a bigger, new one. The tour guide pointed out the various broadcast booths and, at the end past those, George Steinbrenner’s booth with blue leather chairs.

We went back down to the main concourse and that was it, end of tour and a time for any last questions. One question our guide received: where was George Costanza’s office? Our guide laughed, said she was asked that question on every tour and that George was off today. She also handed out a gift for each of us, a “final season” keychain. We also received a keychain the night before.

Then we had an hour or so of free time while the rest of our bus went on the tour. We ate breakfast and went to some of the souvenir shops, at last finding Yankee Stadium postcards and a “final season” t-shirt in a size other than small (which was all the gift shops in the stadium had).

During the All Star Game coverage, there was so much talk about Yankee Stadium and its historical significance, that it’s “baseball’s cathedral” and the like. The tour definitely gave us a better look, and better understanding, of the stadium and a greater appreciation of the Yankees. The game (despite the outcome) and the tour were definitely highlights of the trip for me.