An Afternoon at Yankee Stadium
By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA
Recently, I went to a Sunday afternoon Yankees game with my brother in law Rick and our friends Armen and Bernie. No matter how old I get, there is nothing like the experience of going to Yankee stadium to watch a ball game. I have not been to that many games over the years, so each one has been a special treat. Since the new stadium opened in 2009, there is the Yankee Clipper metro north train that goes directly to the stadium right from New Haven which makes the round-trip experience so easy. No driving in nasty traffic, particularly on the ride home after a long day. No battling for a parking space and paying a small fortune to park for a few hours and hope your car will still be there after the game. No battling with the traffic jam after the game when thousands of people are trying to negotiate out of the parking lots. The train was so easy. We were all able to sit and relax and have some great conversation which made the day that much more enjoyable.
What was a bonus that day is the Yankees had their A game against Toronto and were leading 6-1 after the first inning (which included a grand slam) and they never looked back. There was so much going on that there was always something to watch. The massive scoreboard with the stats of the players and the scores of all the games being played around the country. The crowd and the antics of some of the die-hard Yankees fans. The stadium WAVE. The infield crew, performing the YMCA routine as part of doing their maintenance in between innings. The singing of God Bless America, the 7th inning stretch and of course the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. Every foul tip that went into the stands, people would scramble to attempt to get the ball as a souvenir of the game. There were so many fans of all ages with their baseball gloves hoping snare one of those foul tips. None of those foul tips came near us, but many were close enough to see the action. You really get lost in the day and for those few hours it is all about Yankees baseball and everything else doesn’t matter. We had some rain during the middle of the game that forced us to leave our seats and run for cover. The rain did not dampen our spirits and soon we were back in our seats and engaged in the game.
After the game and a short walk through the stadium area, we were on the train headed back to New Haven. We talked about the game as well as countless other topics during the train ride home. Once in New Haven we headed over to Wooster Street for a nice Italian dinner to cap off a wonderful day. A glass of Chianti to drink with my pasta and I was a happy camper. No trip to Wooster Street would be complete without stopping at Libby’s Pastry Shoppe for something to satisfy the sweet tooth. I even brought something home for Cathy.
It was a wonderful day from start to finish. I want to again thank Rick for coordinating the purchase of the tickets. He converted a conversation about how we should go to a Yankees game, to becoming a reality and going to the game. Hopefully this will be an annual tradition.
Sing along with me, “Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame. For its one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game.”
Until The Next Toms Take…
