Matthew Monday: Twelfth Birthday and Yankee Stadium

Last week was Matthew’s twelfth birthday.  I can’t believe he’s grown so much.  He’s grown to be such a good young man.  I am very blessed to have him as a son.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t issues, but nothing serious.  We had a little cake for him at the house.

Here’s a picture and a movie blowing out the candles.  My wife got candles that supposedly would not blow out but they still blew out.

 

 

For his birthday I finally took him to a NY Yankees game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the famed house that Ruth built.  He’s a Yankees fan but you see I’m an Orioles fan, and the two teams are interdivision rivals.  He had wanted to go for years to Yankee Stadium, but I always said no since he stabbed me in the back for becoming a Stinkees fan.  Of course I didn’t really mean it.  I was just waiting for an opportune time.

So this was his birthday present.  It was an all-day affair since it’s an hour to drive to the Bronx from our house, tried to get to the game early to watch batting practice and get some autographs, watch the game, which turned into a long game of over four hours, and drive home.  It was a Saturday day game.  We left at just after nine in the morning and got home  just before six in the evening.  It was just the two of us.

Here are some pictures.  The first is the best I can do for an overview shot of the stadium. 

 

The stadium is actually very pretty.  It looks better in person than it does on TV.  This is the new Yankee Stadium, opened in 2009, not the original, which was actually in the same spot but torn down for the new.  You can read about the stadium and its history here.  I took a picture of the iconic frieze, which came from the old stadium, that circles the roof.

 

We sat in the right field seats, about mid-way from the right field foul pole to center field.  This is sometimes called the short “right field porch” where left-handed hitters since Babe Ruth aim for.  We were not disappointed.  The Yankees Joey Gallo hit a two run homer to tie the game, landing about four of five seats from where we sat.  Oh we just missed catching it. 

But sitting in right field we got to see one of Matthew’s favorite Yankees, Aaron Judge right in front of us.  We were only six rows back.  Here’s how close we were to Aaron Judge.

 

Judge, who I believe was adopted as a child himself, is very personable with the fans.  He also likes to throw over souvenir balls.

 

Alas, Matthew didn’t catch one.

As to the game, it was a great game.  No score through the first three innings.  Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the fourth.  It stayed 1-0 all the way to the seventh where Orioles expanded it to 3-0.  Yankees came up with a run in the bottom of the seventh, and then in the eighth Joey Gallo hit a two run homer to tie it.  But Orioles scratched out a run in the top of the ninth when the Yankees ace reliever Aroldis Chapman got wild and put on a number of hitters.  Orioles then held on to win 4-3.  You can look over the box score and highlights of the game here.   So Matthew didn’t see the Yankees win but he had a great time. 

A final picture.  I bought him a Yankees cap at the game.

 

It was a wonderful father and son day.