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1. Posted by Jason Fleming - 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 2 hours, 40 minutes ago

   When I was around 10 years old, my father took us to St. Louis to see a Cardinal series.  We had gotten tickets from a local radio station that covered Cardinal games.  Therefore, they were behind home plate (one section over from players’ families). 

   One game that we went to was a “Businessman’s Special” (a daytime matinee game during the week).  Therefore, several people including the gentleman behind us were wearing suits and ties. 

   Around the 4th inning a fowl ball came towards us, my father stood up and got one hand on the ball.  The force of the ball pushed him back and unfortunately he had his drink in his other hand at the time.  As you can imagine, the drink went everywhere, but mainly in the lap of the gentleman wearing a suit behind us.

   My father not only missed the ball, but he also lost money paying the gentleman’s dry cleaning bill.  lol.

2. Posted by Peter Brann - 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 2 hours, 8 minutes ago

   As a faithful Red Sox fan, I only went to Yankees Stadium once.  I was working on a large multiparty case and a number of us were taking depositions in New York.  Rather than spend the evening reading more documents, we went to a game.  A couple of us volunteered to go get more beer and hot dogs around the sixth inning, and while waiting in line, we saw the only run scored in the game on the 17” TV above the concession stand.  Not exactly the World Series memories that some people have.

3. Posted by Pennie Thrower - 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 42 minutes ago

   As my husband has been on a quest for the last 10 years or so to visit every major league park, I am the happy recipient of many park memories. So many flash through my mind…his first visit to hallowed Fenway (as a Red Sox fan)...a beautiful afternoon overlooking McCovey Cove in San Fran…seeing Canadians appreciate OUR sport in Toronto…watching “W” throw out the 1st pitch opening night in the new Nationals Park…appreciating how zealous Cards fans are…laughing at the wiener race in Milwaukee…touring the Diamondbacks park & having our guide show a Cubs fan in our group the World Series trophy and asking if he knew what it was…chowing down on a huge Brat while sitting atop the ivy at Wrigley…watching the fountains explode when the Royals hit a homerun…being able to attend the All-Star game in Boston…and they go on and on.  Even as a “baseball widow” as it were, I can appreciate what a tradition the game is, and what sacred places parks are…not a game goes by that I don’t stand for the national anthem, get a tear in my eye, and feel what a great country this is! Play Ball!

4. Posted by Hadley V. Baxendale - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes ago

   About 1951 my Boy Scout troop went to Fenway Park.  I sat next to Harry who was from Maine.  During the top of the tenth, Harry turned to me and said, “Ayuh, looks like it’ll go into extra innings”

5. Posted by Jason M. Massaro - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 23 hours, 22 minutes ago

   As a south side Chicago boy, my father would always take me and my older brother to see the White Sox.  We always showed up with our oiled mitts that we had put in the oven to soften up.  It was always the case that any home run hit even remotely close to us was at least once a game “caught” by my father who would then give me the ball.  In reality, what he always did was come to the game witrh a ball and give me the “souvenir” to put on the shelf in my room.  Sometimes he would forget the ball and have to buy one there.  Even though I would see the markings on the brand new ball and knew what was going on, I still played along.  His attention made the day that much more special and to this day as I drive down the Ryan Expressway into Chicago and see the field I smile and laugh at the times we spent there.  And, I still have all of the balls.  Probably worth a fortune I’m sure.  LOL

6. Posted by tom curtin - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes ago

   The Mick ‘shome run that hit the top of the facade at Yankee Stadium on Memorial Day in 1956. It was the closest anyone ever came to hitting a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium.

7. Posted by MIchelle J - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes ago

   As I was growing up, my uncle would often get free tickets to both Yankee and Met games. Didn’t matter to me that we were always up in the nosebleed section, just being there was such a big thrill! And my brother and I were rivals when it came to who was the best team - I was a Yankee fan and he was a Met fan! Needless to say, the Yankees did quite well winning the World Series more often than the Mets, so my cheers were always louder than his! ;)

8. Posted by Kent Kluver - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 22 hours, 30 minutes ago

   It’s cliched, but I really do remember the moment I first entered a major league park, Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, MN.  I suppose I was 9 or 10, and we walked up the ramp and into the sunshine and there was the field, dark green grass, bright white chalk lines, players snapping the ball around with such grace and authority. Tony Oliva hit a home run against the Boston Red Sox.

   Some years later, my dad and I were at the Met to see the Twins play the Yankees. It happened to be Mickey Mantle’s last season and the fans must have known that because they gave him a standing ovation every time the great man stepped up to the plate. But I was a Twins fan who hated the Yankees and I refused to stand. My dad stood and looked down at me and said, “Come on, it’s Mickey Mantle. Stand up.” But I wouldn’t. And now, as an adult, I wish I had.

9. Posted by Robin P - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes ago

   Opening day 2005 at Yankee Stadium.  As a die-hard Red Sox fan coming off our first World Series win in 86 years (not to mention that fantastic ACLS series), walking into the lions den and not hearing “1918” chanted was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced.  Even though it was cold and raining and the Sox got rocked, it was historic.

10. Posted by Howard Adams - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 22 hours, 1 minute ago

    When I was a student at Columbia Law School, a group of us played hooky to attend opening day at Yankee Stadium in 1978.  Reggie Jackson had homered his final three times up in the 1977 World Series, and the Yankees handed out orange-wrapped Reggie candy bars to all fans on opening day.  Reggie homered his first time up, and the Reggie bars rained down onto the field in a sea of orange.  It was a memorable sight.

11. Posted by John Rekowski - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 20 hours, 46 minutes ago

    Boy…so many to choose from. I was at old Busch Stadium (now gone) watching my beloved Cardinals when Ozzie Smith hit the famous left-handed homer off the Dodgers in the playoffs (“Go crazy folks!!! Go crazy!!!”). Not only was the homer magical but unlike every game I have ever been to, it was the only one where the fans did not want to leave the stadium when it was over. Everybody just stayed, stood, cheered, clapped and continued to stay. It was twenty minutes after the final pitch before people started to leave their seats. It was too magical to walk away. What a feeling - united in joy with 45,000 other Redbird fans.

12. Posted by Older Guy - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 20 hours, 28 minutes ago

    Tough call, but here are two:

    1. The first big-league game I ever saw in person, with my dad in 1969. Walking up the runway to our seats at Fenway Park, and seeing that verdant greensward, in the bright sunshine. Not too shabby.

    2. Yaz’s last game, 1983. Yaz got to play LF for the last time, and flawlessly fielded a hit off the Green Monster, just like he always did.

13. Posted by Older Guy - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 20 hours, 26 minutes ago

    Oh, and how could I forget Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter at Camden Yards in 2000. The first Red Sox no-hitter since ‘65.

14. Posted by Barry J. Baker Sipe - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 20 hours, 20 minutes ago

    Spring training, Tucson, in the late 1950’s, Willie Mays stopped signing autographs before one youngster got his. The mother shocked everyone into silence by yelling his name, ordering him to get right back over to her son and give him his, too, or else she’d tell his mother on him. So, he did.

15. Posted by Fran Pavetti - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 18 hours, 23 minutes ago

    Yankees-Redsox at Fenway.  Billy Martinn pulls Reggy Jackson out of right field in the middle of the inning because Reggie appeared to be dogging it; and the ensuing violent argument between the two of them near the Yankkes dugout almost ending in fisticuffs.  I was sitting behind the Yankees dugout.

16. Posted by Ray Samuel - 3 months, 1 week, 5 days, 15 hours, 12 minutes ago

    Today, I have no doubt tjhat there is gambling going on at every major league ball park, but iit is done discreetly.  Not so at Ebbet’s Field, of blessed memory.  Along with Happy Felton’s Knothole Gang, the Dodger Sym-Phony and Gladys Gooding on the organ, the high rollers were a significant part of the show. 

    My father and I would sit, with the other plebeians in the upper deck behind left field, but that was a perfect vantage point to see the high rollers—in field level box seats—in action.  And they would bet on anything, but the biggest exchange of funds would haoppen if a pitcher hit a home run,  And when Don Newcombe, one of the better hitting pitchers of that era, came to bat, the Ben Franklins would move faster than the U.S. Mint production lines that created them.  We were at Ebbet’s Field one Saturday when Newk parked one, and as he rounded third base, the winning gamblers would give him his “taste” by throwing money onto the field.  Newk wouldn’t even turn his head to acknowledge what was going on a few feet to his right, but as soon as he touched home plate, one of the ball boys would dart over to the money, collect every bit of it, and zip back ro the Dodger dugout.  We never saw Newcombe take the money biut that was expected, since he would ave riisked a fine, suspension, or worse, if he pocketed the money in any part of the park that was open to public view.

    We never saw that type of behavior at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds or Shea.  Why, then at Ebbet’s Field?  Perhaps its proximity to the territory of Murder Incorporated.  But that is pure speculation,.  Whoever they were, they contributed to the unique entertainment package that was Ebbet’s Field.

17. Posted by Hayley - 3 months, 1 week, 3 days, 8 hours, 28 minutes ago

    I am a season ticket holder at Yankee Stadium and despite moving (probably permanently) to San Francisco, I am retaining my tickets. However, my best game ever was when a friend of mine who watches Met’s owner Jeff Wilpont’s kids took me to a game at Yankee Stadium v. the Mets. Sitting in the seat next to us was the ESPN camerman, we were that close. It was Father’s Day and we were surrounded by fathers and sons who were split: one rooting for the Yankees, the other for the Mets. It was priceless!

    Long live the Yankees and the magic of Yankee Stadium!!!!

18. Posted by J.K. Addy - 3 months, 1 week, 2 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes ago

    In 1990 I got comped IBM seats at Fenway, about 6 rows behind the home dugout.  High overcast day, Roger Clemens was pitching for the Sox, we had seats that made it feel like you were right on the field, and the Orioles took it into the top of the 10th tied 2-2.  The O’s scored one in the top of the 10th and the crowd got quiet.  The Sox got a runner on in the bottom and everyone got louder.  Then Dwight Evans came up and the sun came out to shine on home plate.  He hit one over the Green Monster and the place went crazy.

19. Posted by Andy the Lawyer - 3 months, 1 week, 2 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes ago

    My happiest ballpark memories tend to involve dinner at the Diamond Club restaurant, which is open to those with seats behind home plate at Angels Stadium.  Details typically involve grilled seasoned mushrooms, seared Ahi, filet mignon, and the tintinabulaiton of clinked flutes filled with properly chilled Veuve Cliquot.  There’s always a baseball game somewhere in the background, but it’s at best a distraction—no more annoying than an incompetent strolling violinist.

20. Posted by William A. Evans - 3 months, 5 days, 16 hours, 31 minutes ago

    I’m from Australia so baseball is not exactly my sport, but I do know my beer!

    The first baseball game I attended in the U.S. was a great disappointment.  It was at Mile High Stadium in Denver (a long time before the Rockies).  It was a game between the Denver team (the Bears?) and the Oklahoma City 89ers.  What I was most looking forward to in my first baseball game was a hot dog and a beer which I felt was part of the great American baseball tradition.  My disappointment: I couldn’t get a hot dog - they had only hamburgers - and I couldn’t get a beer - they served only Coors!