Yankee Stadium

Yesterday's MLB All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium got me thinking about my own visits to the place. I caught my first Yankee game there way back in May 1994 on my first visit to New York with a couple of buddies from law school. We sat at the front of the upper deck, two-thirds of the way from home plate to third base. This is sort of the view that we had, although we were closer to third base:

I can't remember who the Yankees were playing or what the score was. However, I do remember:

*the tenement buildings just beyond the stadium looking very foreboding (they look a lot better in the photo above than I remember them being)

*wanting ice cream and instead being served frozen yogurt in an upside down, mini-batting helmet emblazoned with the Yankee logo (I recall being absolutely stunned at how effete it was--"Frozen yogurt? In this tiny fu*king helmet? In the fu*king Bronx?" I remember saying to my friend Stuart)

*buying a very expensive Yankees shirt for my then girlfriend to sleep in (the clerk thought I was nuts--"Yo'ar a very nice boyfrien' ta spen' fitty daw-las on freakin' pajamas," she said with a laugh).

Of course, once I moved to New York, I attended a couple of Yankee games a year. Although I enjoyed every trip to Yankee Stadium, there really was something special about my first visit. I'm going to miss the place.