An Omen for the Yankees?
Mother Nature rained on the Yankees’ parade today. Their opener versus Toronto, which starts the regular season, and also their last in Yankee Stadium, was postponed on account of the weather.
Regardless of the end result, there’ll be mixed feelings for the team and their fans this season (as it will be for their cross-town rivals at Shea, playing their last season in the soon-to-be demolished Shea stadium). By this time next year, 85 years’ worth of baseball history will be well on its way to demolition, in favor of a new ballpark just across the street.
Both Shea and the House that Ruth Built join a long line of classic ballparks consigned to the dust heap of history: Veterans Stadium, Busch, Three Rivers Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, and the Kingdome. Both fields’ “replacements” will carry over architectural elements from the older parks, and, as Derek Jeter alluded to in one interview, the ghosts of seasons past.
Speaking of those ghosts, here’s something for Yankees fans to chew on: if Babe Ruth was pissed enough at the Red Sox for selling his contract in 1920 that his spirit kept them from winning a World Series for 86 years (which I don’t believe, by the way; the Sox were just that bad), what d’you think he, DiMaggio, Mantle, and countless others who’ve worn pinstripes could do to the Bombers’ fortunes? That’s a lot of hell to raise.
On a more down-to-earth level, though, it’s a bit sad that two teams, and their sport, can have so little regard for their own history that this becomes just another day at the office. Yes, I know, it’s not just sports; America in general has a poor track record when it comes to preserving its landmarks. And we’re reminded, as we are every time another ballplayer scores a contract the size of a third-world nation’s GDP, and every time those same ballplayers go on strike/disrespect their fans, that this has become more about business than the love of the game. But some sense of history, or of pride, wouldn’t be such a bad thing every now and again.
Tags: Mets, Shea Stadium, Sports, Yankee Stadium, Yankees