Thousands of nostalgic fans flocked to Yankee Stadium prior to Sunday evening's finale against the Baltimore Orioles, hoping to catch a final glimpse of the most storied venue in sports before its lights dim for the last time. And, in a show of appreciation, team officials granted many of the early arrivals access to a key portion of the stadium prior to the game's first pitch.
Said Randy Levine, Yankees president of baseball operations, "This is a singular moment not just for the Yankees franchise, but for the loyal fans who have supported us all these years." He then added, "And that's why we're giving them free reign of the visitor's clubhouse's shower stalls, restroom, and broom closet for the next 45 minutes...Go!"
After a seven-hour wait, Louis Kinali, a devoted Yankees fan since 1975, was one of the first to enter the visitor's clubhouse, though he didn't seem the least bit put off. "This stadium is as big a part of my personal history as anything else in my life. My pops took me here to my first game when I was six, I caught my first foul ball when I was eleven, and I whacked my first Gambino boss right outside on River Avenue when I was twenty. I still remember really having to scrub down my Z-Cavariccis that night to get all the brains and blood out of the fabric." Then, after giving a smile and a wink, Kinali snapped a photo of the third urinal from the left and said, "This one's a keeper."
Alberto Flores, a Brooklyn resident and longtime Yankee fan, also embraced the occasion. "Yeah, okay, it might've been nice to walk on the field or to check out the dugouts - or even to see the Yankees clubhouse. But, just think about it: How many fans get a chance to touch the mop that once soaked up the activator from Julio Franco's jheri-curls? "
Although rumors circulated earlier in the week that fans would be granted access to the historic playing field prior to the game, Levine stressed that security restrictions rendered such a scenario impossible. "We actually considered the possibility of granting fans limited field access. But, obviously, that would've been playing right into the hands of the terrorists. As it stands, all fans will be subject to full bodily cavity searches this evening. It's a controversial technique , sure, but it's necessary in this time danger and uncertainty."
Levine added that the invasive searches have become increasingly popular among fans and will be promoted next year at the new Yankee Stadium as "All Holes Filled Fridays."
Another rumor had a handful of former Yankee greats greeting fans at the turnstiles as they entered the stadium for the final time. But, due to the former players' hectic schedules, some slightly lesser-known - though no less beloved - former Yankees contributed to the cause: Mell Hall, Brian Dayett, Kevin Maas, and Steve Balboni adroitly - and professionally - manned each of the main turnstile gates as fans flooded in.
"Actually, when Randy called me, I was in a dumpster in Bakersfield, freebasing crank behind a Fudruckers," said a gaunt but upbeat Hall, who played outfield for the Yankees in the late-1980's. "As for right now, I'm taking it one day at a time: No more mainlining smack, no more tranny hookers, no more selling my boy meat in the joint for cartons of Kool menthols. It's just nice to just get some work for a change." Hall then added, "I am getting fucking paid for this, right?"
Fans were also treated to a new Hall of Nagging Injuries exhibit, just outside the stadium, where cast bronze body parts of notable injured Yankees from the past and present were on display. Timothy Patterson, a longtime Yankee fan who made the pilgrimage from Buffalo, New York with his two sons, wept with joy as he lifted his two-year-old up to touch an elevated bronze of Hideki Matsui's broken wrist from 2007. "You know, it's so easy to take things in life for granted," said a wistful Peterson. "But to travel all this way and have the opportunity to touch Matsui's wrist, or Mattingly's lower back from '90 - or Carl Pavano's chapped lips and bruised hangnail - it makes you proud to be a Yankee fan and an American."
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