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I 8B The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A home plate away from home
sat before my television on
Election Day and tried to hold
my emotions in check as I wit-
nessed one of the most symbolic
moments of American history.
In my head, I thought of the first
image that came to my mind when
I heard the word "America."
It wasn't the Statue of Liberty or
the American flag.
It was an upper-deck view of
Yankee Stadium from behind
home plate during the playing of
Kate Smith's rendition of "God
Bless America." I could feel the
crowd roaring on this windy night
in the Bronx. This was America to
me. Watching the last game to be
played in Yankee Stadium on tele-
vision, my eyes really started to
tear up after it finally hit me what a
special place the "House that Ruth
Built" really was and the impres-
sion that 16 years going to games
there had left on me.
I attended my first game wear-
ing a Michigan T-shirt at age four,
on May 15, 1992 against the Oak-
land Athletics. I sat in the upper
deck, just to the right of home plate
with my father, and my friend Jas-
per, who also was with his father.
The pitchers that night were
both familiar names in my family.
My father graduated from Michi-
gan and chose the game because
former Wolverine Scott Kamien-
iecki was starting for the Yankees.
His opponent was Bob Welch, who
attended Eastern Michigan while
my father was in Ann Arbor.
My father says he knew Welch
through a mutual friend and often
drankwithhim.He also claimsthat
he barely recognized Welch on the
scoreboard that night because his
eyes weren't bloodshot. Inciden-
tally, Welch had authored a book in
1991 chronicling his fight against
alcoholism.
The two pitchers threw strong
games, and my father probably
hummed "Hail to the Victors" as
we walked to the car after Kamie-
niecki grinded out a 3-2 victory.
My only vivid memory of the game
was watching a middle-aged man
throw paper airplanes around
empty seating sections and being
mesmerized at how well they flew.
The action on the field was slow
and I neverthoughtbaseball would
click for me.
I only returned once between
then and July 22, 1999, when I had
finally had my sports-fan awaken-
ing. As I settled into my seat with
my fellow day campers, a bit of deja
vu came to me. I was in those same
seats. It was almost surreal -- the
forgotten memory of my real first
game returned. At 11 years old, I
witnessed the first play I can fully
recall as the Yankees' Bernie Wil-
liams crushed a first-inning homer
that made the crowd roar.
The loudest I ever heard the
stadium get was June 10, 2002 in
a grudge match from the previous
World Series against the Arizona
Diamondbacks. Before a packed
house in a scoreless game against
the unhittable Randy Johnson,
Yankees rookie Marcus Thames
stepped in to face baseball's top
pitcher for his first career at-bat.
On just the second pitch he saw,
Thames swung and connected for
a two-run homer to left - fans got
so loud that it shook the stadium
for minutes on end.
Yankee Stadium was more than
just a place where great plays were picked three seats in my tradition-
made and records were broken. al spot: tier reserve nine, behind
The place was made up of per- home plate. That year, Alex Rodri-
sonal memories, the kind of anec- guez, Kevin Brown and Javier
dotes that are never as good in the Vazquez were the team's new addi-
retelling because the listener could tions. The Yankees were stacked,
never feel that rush of excitement and our tickets cost just $12 each
you get when you recall them. per game.
On Sept. 17, 2000, the infamous That fall, I went to a few playoff
Jose Canseco dropped two fly balls games, one of which remains the
in a 15-4 loss. On the highway after most memorable (and despised) of
my life: Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS
against Boston.
Up 3-2 in the series, my Yankees
How Yankee faced a nearly one-legged Curt
Schilling, whose tendons were
Stadium became stuck together by medical pins.
y lof Each time he had to make a play,
my symDo O it took him minutes to return to
.aroim the mound. Many fans yelled for
pairlolism the Yankees to bunt to no avail.
Schilling's heroic performance
that led to the Game 6 win and the
eventual series victory for the Red
the game, Canseco was in the car Sox will go down in history as "The
next to my family's as we sat in Bloody Sock Game".
traffic. I asked my mother if I could Even as our ticket prices rose to
toss Canseco my baseball to sign, $27 per game in 2008, my parents
but she told me not to. She said he kept the seats. Ican safely say their
would drop the ball. decision to purchase those tickets
I only left one game early. For Cal was the best investment they could
Ripken Jr.'s last game in the Bronx have ever made for me as a kid
on Sept. 30, 2001, the music from growing up in New York. I really
"The Natural" played each time can't think of many other things,
he came to bat. Ripken went hit- besides death, that have ever made
less with four strikeouts in seven me cry - Yankee Stadium has been
at-bats. With the score tied in the the source of most of those tears.
15th inning, the game was called Thinking back on the stadium's
due to rain. I had pneumonia and history, there were so many events
had missed a few days of school the that made it such a hallowed place:
week before, so my mom made me Lou Gehrig's famous "Luckiest
leave in the fourteenth inning. Man Alive" speech, the dying Babe
By 2004, after years of picking Ruth using a bat as a cane months
random games to attend, my par- before he died to wave goodbye,
ents decided it was finally time to Bobby Murcer's tribute to Thur-
buy a ticket package. Naturally, I man Munson, George Bush show-
ing a thumbs-up tothe world before
firing a perfect strike in the wake
of the Sept. 11 attacks and the Paul
O'Neill sendoff from fans in 2001.
When I think of America's game, I
think of those nights in the Bronx.
Twenty-six World Champion-
ships and 17 retired numbers don't
hurt its image, either. Oh yeah, and
the visits from the Pope, the Super
Bowls, including the Colts ' vs.
Giants in 1958, the championship
boxing matches - the list goes on
and on. And after Sept.11, although
allbaseball stadiumsspentthe next
year playing "God Bless America"
during the seventh inning, Yankee
Stadium stood alone in continuing
the tradition until its closing day.
By Aug. 15,2008, my lastgame at
the stadium, I was able to navigate
the ballpark without even looking
at seat or row numbers. I knew the
names of many other fans in my
section, along with those of a num-
ber of vendors and even a few secu-
rity guards. Yankee Stadium felt
fike dome to me. At the end of the
game, I turned to my parents and
thanked them for the experience.
I'm immensely sad to see it
brought down. As the stadium's
planned "gradual demolition"
continues throughout 2009, we're
saying goodbye to so many memo-
ries and so much history. Driv-
ing through the South Bronx will
never be the same. The good news
is that I'm just 21 and the new Yan-
kee Stadium looks gorgeous. But
for now, so long Babe, Lou, Joe D
and Mick. Hope to see you some
day across 161st Street.
Roger Sauerhaft is a
Daily Sports writer.
Students push to get new Business School building LEED certified
From page 5B
"It definitely costs you money -
there's no doubt about it - but you
really don't know how much," Mer-
cer said.
The dean acknowledged that
cost concerns inhibited their flex-*
ibility to take extra environmental
steps. However, several of the Erb
students said that scrapping the
expensive architectural firm, New
York-based Kohn Pederson Fox, that
doesn't specialize in educational or
green building would have allowed
for considerably more wiggle room
in the budget.
Swett said that instead of hiring
a "starchitect" - slang for a high-
profile and high-cost architectural
firm - he would have focused more
on using local, recycled materials
for the building.
The Ross building's environmen-
tal plan could have gone further,
according to Erb Institute Prof.
Andy Hoffman, by including an
energy-saving geothermal heating
and cooling system and solar pan-
els.
Third year Erb Institute student
Jackie Pitera, who helped research
eco-conscious carpet options for the
building, said that while she liked
how the environmental aspects
merged well with the aesthetic
design of the building, she wished
the administration had taken more
steps to make the building a nation-
al example.
"If they're going to go through
the efforts of making a green build-
ing, it would have been nice if they
had taken it a bit further so it could
have been a demonstration piece or
learning tool," shesaid.
But Swett said that given the ini-
tial resistance, he was pleased with
how the building turned out.
"Do I think we made a lot of
progress? Yeah," he said. "And is it
a good building for the university?
Definitely."
Swett and others are quick to
point out that lobbying efforts have
also resulted in plans for the C.S.
Mott Children's and Women's Hos-
pital to achieve LEED certification,
and possibly the Law School expan-
sion as well.
Administrators haven't
announced any plans for North
Quad, the residential hall set to open
in 2010, to achieve ,certification.
According to a November Universi-
ty budget request, the complex aims
to exceed code-minimum energy
requirements by about 40 percent
and will have maximum insulation.
"If the business school building
going LEED Silver sets a minimum
bar for future (University of Michi-
gan) buildings, then that's a great
accomplishment," Swett said.