"THE OLD YANKEE STADIUM

VS.

THE NEW YANKEE STADIUM"
Part One

By Steve Ludwig

With Special Guest Co-Blogger,

Joe Potente

I can feel life starting to make sense again; spring training has begun!

So I felt it was time to team up with my buddy and fellow die-hard Yankee fan, Joe Potente, and decide which is better: the old Yankee Stadium or the new Yankee Stadium. 

Now just to be clear, this isn't about old Yankees teams or players vs. present-day players; it's about the two buildings.

Here we are at that last, bittersweet game at the old Yankee Stadium, September 21, 2008:

To get to the bottom of this burning question, we did what any decent Yankee fans would do: we went to a bar to discuss it.

So the other day, after spending an hour or so at J & R Music World in NYC (buying things that we may actually get around to listening to before we're both dead), we found ourselves at the great Connolly's Pub and Restaurant, on 46th St.

Over chicken wings, burgers, sweet potato fries, beer and ginger ale, we started.

Joe's history of attending Yankee games goes a little deeper than mine does. He estimates he's been to somewhere between 350 to 400 games; of those, we've been to about 250-300 together.

I needed to know something from Joe before we got to the Stadium talk; I asked him for the Top Five Yankee games that's he's attended. 

He told me it was impossible to pick the top five, but he did give me five memorable games, just not necessarily his top five attended games of all time.

In no particular order, he's what he told me...

Joe remembered his first-ever visit to Yankee Stadium, on June 9, 1956, when he was 8-year-old Joey Potente. Don Larsen pitched that game, and the great Number 7, Mickey Mantle, was in the lineup. The Yankees blew an early lead and lost 15-8. But what Joe remembers most is how huge and stark the Stadium appeared to an 8-year-old. Also, there were so many support poles throughout the Stadium.

Here's a picture from 1957. It'll give you a good idea what Joe was talking about:

Joe noticed something that was missing on his first visit to Yankee Stadium: the TV and radio announcers' voices. Aside from Bob Shepard announcing each player's name as he strode to the plate, Joey P had to follow the action of the game without the play-by-play.

As I mentioned, Joe saw Mickey Mantle play at his first-ever in-person game. I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't share this picture with you of the Mick and me in 1989 (I think I'm still shaking from my nervousness of being so close to the Mick...):

Joe was also at the Chris Chambliss home run game in 1976. The Yankees vs. the Royals, American League Championship. Bottom of the ninth. Game Five. Tie game. The winner goes to the World Series against the Dodgers. Chambliss sent Mark Littell's first pitch over the right center field wall to win the game.

Joe sat with fellow Yankee maniac, Professor Al Bayley, in the first row, field level, right field foul pole!

You can imagine the hysteria that ensued. I asked Joe if he or Al were among the delirious fans who stormed the field as Chambliss struggled to circle the bases. He said they took one look at the way fans were being knocked over and slugged by fellow fans, and decided they'd stay right where they were to take it all in.

There are Joe and Al...See 'em? See 'em?

A cool sidelight to the story is how Joe got the tickets to the game. In those days, fans had to mail in their playoff ticket requests via traditional mail. Payment in an envelope had to be postmarked before 12 noon on a specified date. So Joe did just what a Yankee fan had to do: he took a personal day from work, and posted his envelope at the Grand Concourse office, the post office closest to Yankee Stadium. It worked...

July 1, 2004. Yankees - Red Sox... Derek Jeter's catch of Trot Nixon's pop up in fair territory. Jeter's momentum carried him into the third-base seats.

Sitting one level above on the third base side, almost directly even with Jeter's dive was...you guessed it, our favorite Yankee fan, Joe Potente. Not only was the play a memorable one for Joe, but the game itself stands among Joe's favorites that he attended. The Yankees went on to win the game in 13 innings on John Flaherty's game-winning hit.

Yankee fans of a certain age will remember the 1978 World Series vs. the Dodgers as the series in which Graig Nettles made some of the most spectacular, acrobatic plays ever made by a major league third baseman. Not one, not two, but play after play after play, Nettles would kill Dodger rallies with his glove.

Joe was at two of those games, so he wanted to count the overall play of Nettles as a fourth choice of his. 

Game 4 (one of the two Joe attended) also featured the play in which Reggie Jackson stuck out his hip to prevent the Dodgers from turning a double play. But according to eyewitness Potente, Jackson's hip paled in comparison to Nettles's hands.

Up until now, these memorable games all took place at the old Yankee Stadium. Well, that stands to reason. Joe's old Yankee Stadium career began in 1956 and ended on September 21, 2008.

For his fifth memorable game (and, again, Joe made it clear to me that there's no way) he can limit the memories he's accumulated in the nearly 400 Yankee games he's attended can be encapsulated in a mere five), Joe takes us to the new Yankee Stadium (with yours truly in tow).

June 12, 2009...The first Subway Series in the new Stadium. Joe and I sat in our excellent seats: center field in the Batter's Eye seat (right above the Mohegan Sun sports bar, for those of you who know the new Stadium's setup).

Sorry Met fans, but here goes...

Bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, Yanks down 8-7 to the hated Mets. Jeter on second, Teixera on first (representing the winning run). A-Rod at the plate; K-Rod on the mound. Francisco Rodriguez pitches and gets Alex Rodriguez to lift a lazy pop to second baseman Luis Castillo. A collective moan from the Yankee fans, followed by some expletives hurled A-Rod's way. Joe's and my shoulders slumped as A-Rod blows it. Met fans are already cheering their certain victory...Castillo circles under the ball, Joe and I shake our heads disgustedly, and...

He drops the ball!! Jeter scores! Teixera scores from first! The Yankees win!

Joe and I COULD...NOT...BELIEVE...WHAT...WE...SAW... 

The range of emotions in those few seconds when the ball left A-Rod's bat to when it left Castillo's glove is what going to Yankee games is all about. 

With the combination of Yankee fans' groans to unadulterated delirium and Met fans' unadulterated delirium to groans, Joe and I both feel it could be the loudest we've ever heard the crowd in the new Yankee Stadium.

If you get a minute (1:23, to be exact) do a YouTube search for "Mets fan celebrates too early in Yankee Stadium EPIC FAIL "put it in the books".

It's a fan-made video from the stands at the moment Castillo drops the ball. It'll give you an excellent feel for what it was like.

(Or copy and paste below:)

http://youtu.be/Jy0tBBVhBAw

So there you have five memorable games attended by Yankee Fan Supreme, 

Dr. / Professor Joseph Potente. After talking about these five games, our attention returned to the task at hand...

OK,  what was the result of our discussion of which is better, the old Stadium or the new Stadium?

I guess you noticed at the top of the blog it reads "Part One."

Joe and I will offer our answers to which is better in Part Two, coming very soon.

Until then, we'd love to hear your comments on memorable games that you've laid witness to, in either the old or the new.

(And oh, yeah, join me in my movement to convince Joe Potente to start his own blog!)

[Follow me on Twitter:  www.Twitter.com/LudGuy]

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I'D LIKE TO THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE PART OF THE 17,000 PAGE VIEWS IN OVER 20 COUNTRIES THAT MY BLOGS HAVE RECEIVED.

Listen to my cool and groovy radio show, STEVE LUDWIG'S CLASSIC POP CULTURE, at www.PlanetLudwig.com. Thanks!!

If you enjoyed reading this blog, would you kindly consider buying my first book? You can read about it (along with reviews) at www.PlanetLudwig.com.

And, hey, don't forget my brother Tom! He and his buddy since second grade have their own blog called "Second Grade Minds." Check ot out at www.secondgrademinds.wordpress.com.

And as always, thanks all of you so much for reading my blogs! Good health! -Steve Ludwig

The following is an excerpt from my second book (to be released sometime!!!) titled LAUGHING TO DEATH - SURVIVING LIFE AND STUPID PUNS...

WATCHING THE BEATLES ON 

The Ed Sullivan Show

FEBRUARY 9, 1964

By Steve Ludwig

"I'm not watching those girls on this TV!"

That was what my father told my brother Bill and me on Sunday afternoon, February 9, 1964.

"Those girls" were the long-haired, unmanly-looking Beatles. And in a few hours, live on TV at 8 PM, this brand-new singing group from England would on the Number One variety show in America, The Ed Sullivan Show.

But my problem was that we couldn't watch the show on the "good" black-and-white TV in the living room (even though the show was in black-and-white anyway), like we did as a family every Sunday night; Dad had seen pictures of the Beatles on Bill's Meet the Beatles album:

I remember when my brother Bill bought the album. It was released on January 20, 1964, and although I can't remember for sure, I know Bill bought it either on its release date or a few days after. 

The back cover even told us about the three-weeks-in-a-row upcoming Beatles' appearances on Ed Sullivan's show...

And I remember thinking how cool the Beatles looked on the back cover photo: the haircuts, the matching suits, the neat Cuban-heeled "Beatle boots," and the way George had his hand on Ringo's shoulder; these guys were pals.

But my dad was adamant; no Beatles on the good TV! I have the feeling there were other dads who felt the same way about these guys. And anyhow, as my dad proclaimed, "They're wearin' wigs anyway!" 

Of course, today, at age 86, my dad's hair is longer than those February 9th Beatles; and he loves the Beatles.

But not on this night in 1964.

Two days before in school, on Friday, all that my fifth-grade classmates were talking about was the Beatles being on Ed Sullivan.

So on Sunday, during Disney's Wonderful World of Color (which we watched in black-and-white, of course, on the good TV), my mom, my Uncle Ron (who was living with us at the time), my just-under-two-year-old brother Tommy (holding his bottle by the nipple between his front teeth) came upstairs to join my brother Bill and me. We had left Disney a few minutes early to get upstairs in time to set up the crappy, little black-and-white TV we had. We positioned it in such a way that we would get the best possible reception. 

(I have no idea what my dad watched for that hour, but I do know we all watched Bonanza and then Candid Camera back downstairs on the living room TV after Ed Sullivan.)

We gathered around the upstairs TV. 

Ed was introduced to the audience, and out he came. He told us how, in the past, the show has had Sammy Davis & Ella Fitzgerald and the little Italian mouse, Topo Gigio, and tonight was another big night. My mom had read in the Sunday newspaper that afternoon that the Beatles would be on first; we were ready.

But not so fast... Before the Beatles, a couple 30-second commercials:

Oh, come on! We want the Beatles! First we had to watch an Aero Shave moisture test followed by Griffin Shoe wax being spread on glass, and being told how much better it was than that other leading brand.

OK, back to the show... 

After a brief intro about "these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves the Beatles..." Ed announced, "The Beatles!"

The first image we saw was not of the group who would forever change the face of music, as well as the face of the world; it was of those crazy screaming girls in the audience, who were almost as much of the performance as the Fab Four themselves:

"Listen to those girls..." my mom said as her voice trailed off. I had a pretty hip mom in those days. She would buy albums by Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams and Herb Alpert and play them all day long in the house. I owe as much to her for my love of music as I do to my older brother Bill, who bought all the Beatles (as well as others) albums.

So to give you an idea of when we first actually saw the Beatles on that Sunday night, I paused my DVD of The Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Beatles at the precise moment the cameras faded out from the delirious audience to the Beatles on stage, as Paul McCartney counted in All My Loving...

The "arrows set" was a simple one, but looking back years later, I've come to appreciate its symbolism: All signs point to the Beatles. They are, at this moment, the center of the entertainment universe...

Mom, Uncle Ron, Bill, and I were mesmerized; my baby brother Tommy was probably lying on the floor drinking out of his "botty."

During their second song, Till There Was You, the Beatles' names were flashed under their images. After all, at the time, they were still pretty much unknown to anyone over the age of eighteen! The writing under John seems to be what many who watched that first night remember:

Yup, John was the married Beatle (although years later, fans have noticed it was Ringo whom, during his closeup, can be seen mouthing the words, "Hi Maureen," to the  sweetheart he'd marry the following year.)

Speaking of Ringo's closeup, I got a kick out of it that night (because I definitely remember it live), especially when George followed the overhead camera as it panned to Ringo on his drum riser:

After Till There Was You, they performed their most well-known song at the time, She Loves You.

After the final, "Yeah, yeah, yeah...YEAH!!!" of She Loves You, they gave their soon-to-become-signature Beatle bow:

Ed promised us they'd be back "...in the second half of our shew," and until then we had to sit through magician Fred Kaps, comedians Frank Gorshin and McCall & Brill, British singer Tessie O'Shea (Ed piled on the British acts for this show), and the cast of the Broadway musical Oliver! 

Things were cosmic that night, because playing the part of the Artful Dodger in the Oliver! cast was future Monkee Davy Jones!

The Artful Dodger would years later be challenging the "Cute Beatle" for lead cuteness:

There are only two performers I remember being on the show that night besides the Beatles: the cast of Oliver!, whose soundtrack album my mom played all the time, and Frank Gorshin. I remember Gorshin doing an over-the-top impression of tough-guy Broderick Crawford. Years later, when the full Sullivan shows became available on videotape, it was if I were seeing all the other performers on that show that night for the first time. (There's NO WAY I remember acrobats Wells and the Four Fays, who closed the show after the Beatles' final number...)

I don't remember for certain, but I'll bet it's because we were all talking about the Beatles' first half appearance, just waiting for their second-half set, while the other guests were on.

During this second set, the Fabs performed I Saw Her Standing There ("One, two three, FOUR!!!") and their big hit at the moment, I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Then they took their final bows, put their instruments down (as Ringo jumped off of his riser), and walked over to Ed:

As the girls screamed, the Boys smiled and waved before they left the stage until next week's show:

My mom, Uncle Ron, brother Bill, me, and (with an occasional glance at the TV from the floor) my brother Tom, were only five of the 73,700,000 (that's 73 MILLION) who watched that night. It was the largest television audience up until that time.

At one point during the Fab performance, my Uncle Ron noticed the LUDWIG Beatle drum head. As my name is Steve Ludwig, you can imagine the delight of all of us Ludwigs as Uncle Ron pointed at the screen and said, "Hey! 'Ludwig!'"

Today, I proudly hang my replica LUDWIG Beatles drum head on a wall in my "Beatles Room" at home:

The next day in school, all of us were talking about the Beatles the night before. I remember the girls trying to decide which Beatle was the most handsome. I distinctly recall my classmate Patty saying that George was "manly handsome." I had a little crush on Patty, and what she said made me feel jealous (or as jealous as a fifth-grade boy can be...).

All week long my classmates and I talked about the Beatles' appearance on the following Sunday's Ed Sullivan Show. By the way, by that second appearance, even my dad gave in to watch. He kept shaking his head and saying, "Jesus Christ!" during the Beatles' set.

Then they were to make their third and final (until again the next year) appearance on the February 23 edition of Ed's show.

Here's something I only learned a few years ago about that February 23rd appearance: It was actually taped the afternoon of their first appearance on 

February 9, in front of a different audience and shown on tape on the 23rd's live show. Yup! So technically, the Beatles' first performance on the Ed Sullivan stage was the afternoon of February 9, 1964; the evening was their first live appearance on American television. 

So just for the record, here's a screenshot from their February 23rd TV appearance, taped on the afternoon of February 9, 1964:

Something else that we Beatles fans hadn't known at the time was that poor George Harrison had missed the morning rehearsal (Derek Taylor, the Beatles' press secretary, stood in George's spot on stage for camera-angle setups), because he had tonsillitis and was running a fever. By the afternoon's taping and the live evening performance, George somehow managed to perform, still running a fever. Way to go, Georgie!

And, oh yeah (yeah yeah)... Way to go, Ed!! Thanks for bringing us The Beatles!!

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I MENTIONED MY TWO-YEAR-OLD BROTHER TOM IN THIS BLOG. WELL, HE DOESN'T DRINK OUT OF A BABY BOTTLE ANYMORE,  HE'S NOW 50 AND HAS A REALLY COOL BLOG OF HIS OWN. IT'S CALLED "SECOND GRADE MINDS," AND TOM AND HIS FRIEND SINCE SECOND GRADE DEBATE ABOUT ALL THE CURRENT GOINGS-ON IN SPORTS, POP CULTURE, AND POLITICS. YOU CAN FIND IT AT

www.secondgrademinds.wordpress.com.

As always, thank you so much for reading my blogs. Good health to you all!  -Steve Ludwig