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Yesterday evening I had the chance to see that second game of a day/night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.  The first game, in the afternoon, was the makeup game for Tuesday’s rain out.  The second game, which began at 7:05 PM, was the regularly scheduled one.  The Yankees would face the Toronto Blue Jays each time. 

Normally I don’t go to games on a week night since getting home can be an issue.  However, one of the attorneys at my firm had an extra ticket to the suite and asked me if I was interested in going.  I checked with Ellen to tell her the situation and she did not mind that I went.  So after work I met the attorney in the lobby and we headed to Grand Central to get the #4 train to 161 Street – Yankee Stadium.  Once we got there we entered the Great Hall, received our promotional item (a Snoopy bobble head) and then headed to the Delta 360 Suite behind home plate.  I marveled at the food choices in the suite, as well as the almost 360 degree view of the field and the scoreboard.  We were also at the perfect height to see all of the action clearly.  As for my stadium grub, I had a great cheeseburger, and then some peanuts (sorry, no crackerjacks) and a coke.  We then went to our seats and were joined by a friend of my host and his dad, making it a foursome.

I always buy a program/scorecard when I go to the ball park, to keep score and also to read up on the team in the articles included there.  This time was no exception so once we sat down I filled out the lineup for the Blue Jays and the Yankees.  Before the Yankees took the field the two national anthems were played on the organ (nobody was hired to do the singing).  The Blue Jays drew first blood, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning.  The Yankees came back in the bottom of the inning to tie it at 1-1 and that is where it would stay for the next six innings.  Ichiro Suzuki managed to go 3 for 3 into the 8^th inning.  Alex Rodriguez was 0 for 4 and got booed, especially after his last at bat.  Unfortunately, I have to worry about the LIRR schedule and at around 9:55 in the bottom of the 8^th inning I told the other members of our foursome that I have to leave to get the subway to head to Penn Station.  On the way out I walked through the Great Hall again and on a TV hanging from the wall I saw that Ichiro went 4 for 4 and drove a run in (the bases were loaded when I said my good-byes).  The crowd went crazy, as the Yankees went ahead 2-1.  I still had to get my train so I had to hurry over to the 161 Street D train station and waited what seemed like forever for the train.  Once it came, I sat near two ladies who were also at the game.  One conversed with me about the game, the Yankees (especially Yogi Berra), and New Jersey (she was from Matawan).  However, she had a pied-a terre in the Village and got off at 7^th Avenue to get the E train.  I stayed on to 34^th & 6^th to head to Penn.  Unfortunately, the station is a maze, and some passageways were locked.  Once I got to the street I ran to Penn but thanks to the wait uptown, and the maze, I missed the 10:28 by 4 minutes.  However, a Ronkonkoma train was leaving in 10 minutes and I boarded that one.  If Ellen could not pick me up, I would take a cab from Central Islip.  However, she said that she would pick me up.  So I relaxed and read the Yankees Magazine that I had bought at the Stadium and I was pulling into Central Islip in what seemed like no time.  As we were pulling in I saw a couple in Yankees gear and I struck up a conversation with them.  Like me they were at the game, and like me they missed the 10:28.  They lived in East Islip instead of Islip, and also enjoyed the game.

This was the 4^th time I went to a game this year.  And like the other three times (New York Mets, Long Island Ducks, and Newark Bears) the home team won each time.

  Let us remember the terrible events that occured 11 years ago today in New York City, Washington DC, and Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

I just finished reading a biography of the Yankees’ Hall of Fame pitcher from the 1930’s and 1940’s – Vernon “Lefty” Gomez titled Lefty.  It was co-written by his daughter and another writer, Lawrence Goldstone.  It gives a detailed look into the life of one of the most colorful men ever to play the game.  I also learned what a good person he was off of the field.  Besiades, since he came from Northern California (Rodeo in Contra Costa County) I am gotten more interested in visiting that part of the state

Once I finished Lefty, I took out a book called Yankee Miracles, by Ray Negron and Sally Cook.  Ray was a former Yankees batboy and clubhouse assistant and community ambassador.  I am only in the first chapters but so far it looks interesting.

Happy 4th of July to all. 

I am now reading a book by Harvey Araton titled Driving Mr. Yogi.  It's the story of the friendship that developed between Ron "Gator" Guidry and Yogi Berra after both men retired from playing.  I have finished a few chapters and so far I learned more about how the Boss flew up to New Jersey in 1999 to reconcile with Yogi after 14 years. Of course, if you go to spring training in Tampa you will see Yogi and Gator working with the current players.

This afternoon I went to the Islip Library and took out a DVD - The Babe staring John Goodman in the title role, and Kelly McGillis as his wife Claire.  It begins in 1902 when his father, George Sr. drops him off at St. Mary's Industrial for Boys in Baltimore.  At first he had a hard time getting along with the other boys especially since even at 7 years old he was not anorexic.  However, his ability to hit the ball out of the grounds in games conducted by the brothers won him their respect and in 1914 Mr. Dunn signs him to the minor league Baltimore Orioles, where he keeps hitting them out of the park.  Soon he is in the major leagues - the Boston Red Sox and was converted from a pitcher to an outfielder so that he could hit every day.  Then in 1920 Harry Frazee's show, Gladiators on Broadway, flops and the investors demand $125.000.00.  Harry sells Babe to the Yankees for the $125,000.00 and pays them back.  Then we see Babe as the toast of New York, and his home run race with Lou Gehrig.  His partying and womanizing cost him his first marriage, but soon he meets his soon to be second wife, Claire and she starts him on a road to some self discipline.  We see the famous "called shot" in the 1932 World Series, and then his release from the Yankees.  The movie ends with his 3 home runs at Forbes Field in 1935 as a member of the Boston Braves.  The closing scenes show Babe going into the locker room after home run #714 and Johnny Silvester, the desperately ill young boy for whom he hit 2 home runs years before, coming to him  and telling him that he is the best.  And of course, despite Babe Ruth's shortcomings as a person, he was the greatest ballplayer who ever lived and helped save the game after the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

I recommend the movie to all baseball fans, not just Yankees fans.