How Do You Say Goodbye To Generations Of Family Traditions?

Yesterday was a sad day in New York for all Yankee fans. We said goodbye to our beloved Yankee Stadium - "The House That Ruth Built". This is the place where the Yankees won 26 world championships, more than any other baseball team. This was a place where history was made many times over.

Didn't know I was a Yankee fan? Well, I bet you also didn't know that we watched the play-offs on our wedding night from our honeymoon suite! And, that just happened to be 29 years ago today!

As we bid farewell to generations of memories, baseball's legends will remain in-beaded in our hearts as we carry them to the new ball park. Where do I begin? - Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Micky Mantle, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson. Those are just a few. There was one Yankee who's career I paid close attention to over the years as I followed him to NY when I moved back here from Ohio - that's where he began his major league baseball career with the Cinciinnati Reds. I am not sure if Paul O'Neil ended up being my favorite Yankee because he was a great player and I watched him play for a few years prior to his trade to NY, or because his older brother was my old neighbor and friend in Cincy, and as I remember - Paul's biggest fan.

While there are pages and pages of statistics and trivia I could write about Yankee Stadium and baseball's legends. I'll bring it to present time - The Yankees won their final game last night 7-3. A new generation of legends were on the field for this historical game. The final run in Yankee Stadium was scored by Brett Gardner and the final hit was recorded by Jason Giambi. Jose Molina hit the last Yankee stadium home run and Mariano Rivera threw the closing pitch.

In the eighth inning, Derek Jeter became the final Yankee at bat in Yankee Stadium. "For us out here, it's a huge honor to put this uniform on and come out every day to play," After the game Jeter told fans, "We have the greatest fans in the world. We're relying on you to take the memories from this stadium, take them to the new stadium, and pass them on from generation to generation."

The new stadium's exterior will resmble the old stadium, the interior will be more modern, the dimensions will be the same. But, one thing's for sure, it will never house the memories of the past. Like every historical landmark, there was just a sort of aura about the old Yankee Stadium. Attending a Yankee game in the old stadium was a NY family tradition - will it ever be the same?

Lou Gehrig

For NY Yankee trivia visit http://mlb.mlb.com/nyy/fan_forum/insider_trivia.jsp

For NY Yankee history visit http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/index.jsp

For the history of Yankee Stadium visit http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/yankee.htm