October 31, 2008

Wednesday marked the end of the World Series between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.  But it also marked the end of the last season of Yankee Stadium – and that has John U. Bacon thinking about more about the stadium, and less about the series.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series this week, against… some body.  I can’t remember who, exactly – but then, neither can most Americans.   

Whatever.  The nation will little note, nor long remember, which team won the 2008 World Series.  But we should remember Yankee Stadium, and it’s central role in American history.  If the Smithsonian is America’s attic, then Yankee Stadium was our nation’s front porch. 

It was home to the Yankees, of course, who won 26 championships.  No professional team, anywhere in the world, has won more.

Babe Ruth played there.  Barry Bonds might have hit more home runs, but Ruth hit his on a diet of peanuts, cracker jacks and hot dogs – which he ate in the dugout.  He also won 94 games -- as a pitcher. 

But all Ruth’s homers and wins couldn’t equal the drama of Lou Gehrig’s singular speech.  After Gehrig contracted ALS, the Yankees held Lou Gehrig Day.  The Iron Horse hadn’t prepared any remarks.  So, on the spot, he said:

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

Yankee Stadium hosted boxing’s most important bout, between Detroit’s Joe Louis and Germany’s Max Schmeling.  Hitler himself sent Schmeling a telegram urging victory for his nation and his race.  That morning, while jogging around Yankee Stadium, Louis confessed to his trainer he was scared.  Scared of what, champ?  “I’m scared I’m going to kill Schmeling.”  Louis didn’t kill him.  He just knocked him out in the first round.  It marked the first time most white Americans cheered for a black man. 

The Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish became famous not in South Bend, but in Yankee Stadium, where they played 24 times.  In 1928, during half-time against Army, Knute Rockne told his team of George Gipp’s dying wish. 

“…when the team is up against it, when things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper.”  They did, upsetting Army 12-6.

Thirty years later, Yankee Stadium hosted the NFL title game.  Johnny Unitas’s Baltimore Colts defeated Frank Gifford’s Giants, in overtime – on national television.  It’s called “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” and it’s one big reason pro football is now the nation’s most popular sport.

The most popular sport for American kids, though, is soccer.  You can thank Yankee Stadium for that too.  In 1976, the New York Cosmos signed Pele, the game’s greatest star, to play his home games in the House that Ruth Built.  And that’s what launched soccer in America.

Yankee Stadium opened its doors to three popes: Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.  After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990, he toured the United States.  Where did he go?  Yankee Stadium, of course. 

And, less than two weeks after September 11, the nation’s eyes turned to the World Series at Yankee Stadium.  On a very emotional night, Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sang God Bless America, followed by the ceremonial first pitch by President Bush.   Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter had warned Bush, "Don't bounce it. This is New York; they'll boo you.''

President Bush threw a perfect strike. 

No ballpark, anywhere, will ever be so important again. 

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