Byline: Ryan Chatelain
Sep. 19--The final out Sunday night at Yankee Stadium will mark the end of an epic 85-year chapter for baseball's most storied franchise.
The Bronx Bombers will move into a new home bearing the same name next season. Although the House that Ruth Built will be torn down in early 2009, its legacy will never die.
Yankees fans recently shared their most memorable Yankee Stadium moments with amNewYork.
First act
Bobby Cannavale begged his father for years to take him to his first baseball game. His dad, who had little appreciation for sports, finally caved in on July 4, 1983, bringing Bobby, then 12, to Yankee Stadium. That day, Dave Righetti became the first Bronx Bomber to pitch a no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
'It was f--- incredible, and my dad wanted to leave [EARLY] because he was bored,' said Cannavale, 37, a Union City, N.J., native who starred on 'Third Watch' and was a regular on 'Will & Grace.'
'He said nothing was happening,' Cannavale said. 'It was because they weren't giving up a hit!'
Left all wet
Curtis Jackson used to make a point to sit near the 'Black,' the center-field 'no-fan's land.' After Reggie Jackson hit his first two home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, Curtis Jackson hedged closer to the Black in anticipation of another Reggie blast.
'I was next to this guy, and he had a whole lot of beer,' said Curtis Jackson, 55, of the Bronx. 'When the third [HOMER] was coming ... the guy stood up, and he threw the beer at my face on purpose because he saw that I was going to try to run after the ball.'
Shake, rattle and Reggie
Laurie Viviano also witnessed Reggie Jackson's three-homer assault on the Dodgers, but she can't help but remember another Reggie moment a month earlier.
On Sept. 14, 1977, with the Yankees locked in a three-way tie for the American League East lead with the Red Sox and Orioles, Jackson clobbered a walk-off homer against Boston. The Bombers won 2-0, and the crowd erupted in celebration.
'I thought the stadium was going to come down,' said Viviano, 53, of West Hempstead, Long Island. 'It was totally shaking.'
The kid who won the World Series
During Game 6 of the 1996 World Series, the Yankees and Braves were in a scoreless tie, and, according to 'Freddy Sez' Schuman, the Bombers faithful didn't bring their A-game.
'They wouldn't do anything,' said Schuman, 83, who has strolled around Yankee Stadium for the past 20 years carrying a sign and frying pan, which he lets fans bang on with a wooden spoon in an attempt to rally the home team. 'They wouldn't hit the frying pan.
'There was a little kid ... around 7, 8 or 9 years of age. The kid got a hold of the spoon, and I had never seen such enthusiasm. And with a load of gusto, he started to whack the hell out of the frying pan. And I said to the crowd, 'This kid is going to win the World Series for us.''
That same inning, the Yankees scored three runs. They held on for a 3-2 victory and wrapped up their first world title in 18 years.
'Too much popcorn'
Chris Allen was 9 years old when the Yankees and Mets met in the 2000 Subway Series. Little did he know, the game he was attending would end up setting the record as the longest World Series contest.
Only one problem. 'I ate too much popcorn and had to leave early,' said Allen, 17, of East Brunswick, N.J.
Stomach pains knocked Allen out for the rest of the evening. The Yankees won 4-3 in a game that lasted 12 innings and nearly five hours.
'I watched the game curled up in a ball in the back of a limo,' Allen said.
Turning to baseball
Ben Kabak's greatest memory of Yankee Stadium was more about emotion than any specific on-field moment. He attended Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, about a month-an-a-half after 9/11, and felt a different 'aura' from fans.
'It was almost in a way comforting to see everyone at the stadium and feel everyone rooting for the Yanks and the city to pull through at the same time,' said Kabak, 25, a blogger for River Avenue Blues.
'You could feel the fans rallying to baseball as a way to cope with what had happened and what they didn't understand.'
To see more of amNewYork, go to http://www.amny.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, amNewYork, New York
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