Elysha surprised me on Father’s Day with Yankees tickets
We’ll be heading to Yankee Stadium later this week to watch them play the Baltimore Orioles.
For me, it will be my first time attending a game in the new Yankee Stadium. I’ve seen dozens of Yankees games in my life, but none since 2008, when I took Elysha and my friends, Matt and Kelly, to the old stadium in one of its final games before demolition. By then, I was a Patriots season ticket holder, and Elysha was pregnant and about to give birth to Clara, so the combination of Sundays in Foxboro and a baby at home has kept me from seeing games at the new stadium.
I drive by the stadium all the time, but I have yet to set foot inside.
I’m looking forward to it.
Also, given my good fortune when it comes to baseball games, I expect something miraculous to happen.
At the beginning of every major-league game, the chances of a pitcher throwing a perfect game is .000983 percent. That averages to about one perfect game every 34 seasons.
This made New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán’s perfect game last Wednesday night against the Oakland Athletics a remarkable, improbable moment.
Sadly, I missed the game. It was on the west coast, and I was not watching on television.
But when it comes to perfect games, I have been incredibly fortunate.
On May 17, 1998, I watched David Wells throw a perfect game at Yankee Stadium on Beanie Baby Day. Though the Beanie Baby market has since cratered, leaving collectors with thousands of unwanted toys, those Beanie Babies from Wells’ perfect game are worth as much as $1,000 today.
Sadly, I gave mine away to a little girl at the beginning of the game.
One year later, on July 18, 1999, I watched David Cone throw a perfect game at Yankee Stadium. I nearly skipped that game because I was preparing to leave for vacation the next day, but at the last moment, I decided that I shouldn’t miss a baseball game just so that I could pack my bag and rest for the flight to Los Angeles.
Thank goodness.
In both instances, the excitement in the ballpark was electric. They were two of the most exciting sporting moments of my life.
There have been 24 perfect games in the 120 years of Major League baseball. Just two dozen perfect games in more than 235,000 games played.
I’ve seen 8 percent of them live.
Lucky me.
I can’t wait to see what happens this week.
