Yankee Stadium 8-27-99

Our trips have evolved into 4-day extravaganzas for the most part. We try and stretch it out into as many days as we can afford to be away from home. When we first started this, no one was married, and no one had kids, so we basically did everything on a whim.

First trip: idea was to drive straight to Yankee Stadium, watch a game, then immediately move on to Boston and see a game at Fenway. We saw our first game at Yankee Stadium on a Friday night. So, we left after work on Thursday from Cincinnati. We drove about four hours, found a hotel, slept, got up and drove to New York. Didn't make any hotel reservations. Had no idea where we were. Had no idea how to get there. We just drove.

Nowadays, we plan these trips out in early January, sometimes sooner. We plan everything out. Where we're going. What are the exact dates? What hotel? You get the picture.

So, leaving on a Thursday night after work, with a 10-hour drive ahead of us, was slightly ambitious. But, like I said, we didn't have anyone to answer to nor any rhyme or reason to what we were doing. So we took off.

I don't even remember where we stopped the first night. Somewhere in West Virginia I'm betting. Got a roach-infested room for the night and slept about 4 hours after a night of "circle of death".

Got up the next morning and drove straight through to New York City. Traffic wasn't bad, but wasn't great. As we crossed over into NYC, we spotted Yankee Stadium immediately. To this day I haven't the slightest clue how we found it. We just did. Instead of going straight to the park, we decided to drive into the city. Yeah, we just decided to drive into the biggest city on the planet and have a look around. Sure. Go right ahead. Good luck finding your way back.

Again, I have no idea how we drove through Times Square and eventually parked, and walked through Central Park. Nor do I have any idea how we found our car, and somehow got back to Yankee Stadium in time to get in for batting practice.

Now, at this time, Ken Griffey Jr was playing for the Mariners and while I can't speak for everyone on this trip, he was far and away my favorite player. It was so cool to get to see him in person. I have video (not HD, nor on the computer) of Junior taking B.P. It was awesome. Unfortunately, Roger Clemens shut the M's out 8-0 so Junior didn't do anything in the game. Well, he hit a double in the 8th inning but that was about it.

Still, seeing a game in Yankee Stadium was awesome, especially since Matt, Jason, and I have been Yankees fans for a long time. Sure, we're bigger Reds fans, but we also like the Yanks, too. But, seeing the history and aura of Yankee Stadium was really what the trip was all about.

On this trip were: Jason, Keith, Matt, and myself.

Here is a pic of Keith and me (several pounds ago!!)



Now due to the fact that when we started these trips, camera technology wasn't as good or as fast as it is today, so all of my pics are in a box somewhere in my house. I have a bunch of others, but for now, this is all you get. There will be more, and if anyone has some of their own, feel free to post.

I do have video of the game and our experience, but I need to get them onto a disc as well. It's interesting, especially the footage of the guy barreling down about 20 rows in the upper deck after getting into a fight. Gotta love NYC!!

More later...