What was my
favorite New York Yankees moment of the year? That’s a very easy call. Seeing
the great Mariano Rivera officially lay claim to the title of the greatest
closer in baseball history.
As you can
probably tell from reading this blog, Mo is my favorite Yankee player. I
traveled up to Toronto that weekend in September just to see him pitch for the
all-time saves record because I did not want to miss out on being a part of
that magical moment. I was very fortunate to be at the Saturday afternoon game when
he tied the record, a moment made even more special as I was watching the game
with two friends, one who is as big a baseball fan as I am and the other who
likes baseball games because you can drink as much beer as you want (or as much
as the stadium workers will sell you before they get suspicious about how drunk
you are). But Mo was the big attraction that day and not even the subdued
reaction of the Blue Jays faithful could dull my spirits, even though I felt
like they should have given Mo a long standing ovation out of respect for all
that he has accomplished in the game of baseball.
I generally
like my job, but for one day I completed resented it because I could not get
out of covering an event in Manhattan to head out to Yankee Stadium and personally
witness Mo shine in surpassing the record. Typical Mo, he was quite embarrassed
by all the attention from the cheering and adoring maniacs who actually made it
out to the stadium to support him that day, but no one deserved that show of
love and respect more than Mariano.
That’s not
to take away from the other great moments in Yankee land this year. Of course,
Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit ranks right up there behind Mo’s
accomplishment. Again, it was another moment I missed seeing in person because
of a previously scheduled family engagement (the skipping of which would be
grounds for permanent banishment).
I also can’t
disagree with this column selecting Joe Torre’s return to Yankee Stadium for
Old Timers’ Day. I was actually there that day and it was a wonderful day for a
number of reasons: Torre’s return; Bernie Williams playing in the game for the
first time, hitting a double and being driven in on a home run by another
favorite of mine, Tino Martinez; the lovely tribute to the now retired Gene
Monahan (I was completely jealous of all his swag). It
was a day made even more special because it was celebrated as part of a group
outing with more than 1,000 of my fellow Syracuse University alumni. We were baking
under the hot sun, but it was a glorious day full of laughter, baseball and
margaritas (yes, they sell them at the stadium and they are really good).
But for me,
nothing tops Mo’s moment in the sun. As much as I’d love for Mo to pitch
forever, when he does finally decide to call it quits, I will have this memory
and all the other great Mo moments to look back on with a big smile.
What was
your favorite Yankees moment of 2011?
No comments:
Post a Comment