I returned to Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night after being away for over a dozen years. Elysha gave me tickets to the game for Father’s Day, which made it Clara and Charlie’s first visit to a Major League baseball game, too.
Actually, I didn’t really return to Yankee Stadium as much as I visited the new Yankee Stadium for the first time.
Though I once attended games often, the combination of Patriots season tickets and the birth of my children demanded that certain sacrifices be made, and one of those was attending Yankees games at the stadium.
It was a joyous return.
To start, it’s a beautiful stadium. The first thing I noticed was the legroom between seats. I couldn’t believe how much space I had to stretch my legs. I later researched the difference in legroom between the old and new stadiums, thinking I might be kidding myself, but no. There are about ten more inches between the seats in the new stadium compared to the old one.
Ten inches is a lot.
The stadium is the third largest in capacity in the major leagues, yet it feels surprisingly small and intimate, especially compared to the old stadium. The restrooms are much cleaner, the food is better, the concourses are larger and more open, and getting in and out of the ballpark is much easier.
The old stadium possessed unequaled history and lore that can never be replicated or replaced, but the new stadium is a joy.
The evening was filled with highlights.
In the fifth inning, Josh Donaldson hit a homerun – the first homerun Charlie witnessed in a major league park. Clara may have seen it, too, but she spent much of the game reading, so it’s hard to know. But Charlie lost his mind, leaping from his seat and cheering like no one else around him.
In the fourth inning, Charlie managed to get himself on the jumbotron – a moment none of us will ever forget.
But to Charlie’s credit, he remembers moments like these and often marks them for posterity even as they are happening. As Yankees pitcher Randy Vasquez was getting ready to throw the game’s first pitch, Charlie leaned over and said, “This is the first pitch that I will watch live in a major league game. Big moment, Dad.”
It was.
Being a Little League player and second baseman, Charlie was also calling out the plays throughout the game. “One out. Plays at first or second. Outfield cut two. Watch that runner, pitch. Looks like he might go.”
I don’t think anyone on the field heard him, but it was fun to listen to.
It’s also great to see that he understands the nuances of the game. In the second inning, the Yankees doubled the runner off first when he went too far on a fly ball, and Stanton’s throw from right field was on the money. It’s not a play you see very often in a baseball game – a double play from right field to first base – and Charlie knew it.
It makes watching the games with him a lot of fun.
In the sixth inning, the wave began making its way around the stadium, which was also a first for the kids.
We didn’t catch a fly ball, which would’ve been nice, but in the top of the sixth inning, an errant throw from the Oriole’s second baseman hit a cameraman in the face, stopping the game for fifteen minutes before they took him away on a cart and stretcher.
Maybe it was better that no baseballs were hit in our direction.
Much to Clara’s delight, we left the game midway through the seventh with the Yankees trailing 4-3. They would eventually lose 6-3, which was disappointing, but baseball games have always been different than football games for me. When watching the Patriots play, I live and die on every play. A victory means it was a good day, and a loss can spoil an otherwise lovely afternoon with friends.
Perhaps because there are 162 baseball games in a season compared with just 17 in an NFL season, each football game means more, and as a result, every game is critical.
With 162 games to play, a single loss throughout a long season is much less painful.
But I think it has more to do with the speed of the game. Even with the pitch clock, which I love, baseball gives you a chance to talk to your seatmates, observe and watch different aspects of the game, and relax in a way that is impossible at an NFL game.
I’ve spent entire football games standing on my feet. Baseball is much more conducive to relaxing for the majority of the game.
All of this makes winning and losing a little less important, at least in July, when there is plenty of season left for the Yankees to make a run.
It was a grand time at the ballpark on Wednesday night.
If you have not attended a major or even minor league baseball game, you should, even if you don’t love baseball. The game is pretty great, but there’s a lot to enjoy, even if you don’t care much about the game, the teams, or the score.
