BEST GAME EVER: WINNING WAS JUST GRAVY

As I sat in the dentist chair today, I watched a pre-season Yankees vs. Phillies game.  Nothing really special, we weren’t winning and I certainly didn’t like the atmosphere of the dentist office with all of the awful sounds of drilling, clanking of the metal and mindless small talk.  As I was trying to find my Chi in these horrendous conditions, I found myself drifting to my favorite Yankee game at the ballpark.

What defines the BEST game ever for a fan of any sport? For me, best Yankee games are the ones where: the Yankees win, they beat an opponent that you despise, there is something at stake and you are with people you care about. 

As my mind wanders through the smells and visions of BEST games witnessed in a seat at the ballpark, a few contenders slowly float through my head:

• August 4, 1985- Tom Seaver’s 300th win at Yankee Stadium 
• June, 26 1987- a regular season game in the Bronx
• August 2011 when my friend and I sat on the infamous Green Monsta.

As the drill sound dimmed, I pictured my BEST game.  I was sitting excitedly in the blue box seats of the old Yankee Stadium with my dad.  We traveled far to get to these seats.  Across bridges, highways, and miles of traffic sucking up burning fuel and ozone free air, we rode as excited as could be to see the Yanks beat the Sox.  We parked blocks and blocks away because my dad refused to pay for parking and he convinced himself that he always found the best spots, somewhere under some a subway track.  We walked our blocks, got our game fare, and got to the seats shortly before first pitch.  And then it happened:  The Yankees gave up 9 runs against their nemeses- the Boston Red Sox.

(In Photo: Jim Rice)
I watched sadly as Jim Rice beamed a homer.  I held my face in my hands, peaking through my fingers at the scoreboard in center.  It was right about then when my dad gruffed, “Well, that’s it, I have seen enough!”  He sat up and motioned to me to follow him, presumably back to the car neatly nestled in a spot under the D-line.  I protested emphatically truly believing that our Yankees would come back.  He gave me until the third inning to see progress.  By the third inning we came back and took the lead 11-9.  The hot dogs tasted especially good that day as we watched the Yankees do what they do best- battle back.

We had the hit man Donnie Baseball, we had Winnie- Dave Winfield and we had Rick Cerone.  Winfield hit one of the longest home runs I have ever witnessed.  It sailed in seconds over the fence as we all chanted “Let’s Go Yankees.”  It felt like a playoff game- the energy in the stadium that night was contagious.  You couldn’t help but stand and scream and plead with every pitch.  The peanut shells were everywhere by the eighth inning when our lead had accumulated to about eight runs.

Now, even if I stopped right there, the game would have been incredibly awesome. My dad was a believer.  He lived through amazing games at the stadium with Mickey Mantle slugging home runs all day long and Whitey Ford striking out the side.

Surely, this game was just one in many for him.  But he looked like a kid in the candy shop as we anticipated the next pitch.  We won the game in the bottom of the tenth- Final score 12-11.  I will never forget that game.  And, guess what, it fulfills all four characteristics of BEST:  we won, we beat the most hated opponent, the Red Sox, there was something at stake, we beat the Red Sox, and I was with my dad who taught me to love the Yankees.  Can’t get any BETTER than that.

I mean nothing tastes better than a win in Yankee Stadium against the Sox with your dad.  You all know what I mean. 

I challenge you folks to tell us your BEST game. What was your favorite MLB game you ever attended?  What happened? Tweet us after you read this and share your memories with us!  We are all Yankee fans and we are listening!

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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