On July 25, 1998, Old Timers Day, I visited Yankee Stadium for my very first time. It was an awesome experience. I stayed at the Essex House Hotel (near Mickey Mantle's Restaurant) and took the subway to the ballpark. As soon as the park opened, I went directly to Monument Park where all the Yankees retired numbers are displayed. Further into Monument Park is where four granite monuments proudly stand. Mickey's monument is pictured below. It was beautiful. As I walked through the historic ballpark, I couldn't help but think of the great Yankees teams that had played there. I also wondered about the parks future. Will it get demolished, preserved as a monument, or continue to be the home of the Yankees?
The Old Timers Game began at 2pm and featured such names as Hank Bauer, Moose Skowron, Ron Guidry, Tom Tresh, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Graig Nettles and many more. The Old Time Yankees played the Old Time Dodgers. The game was scoreless until Willie Randolph hit a homerun in extra innings to win the game.
The Yankees then faced the Chicago White Soxs and unfortunately experienced one of their few losses of the season. At any rate, it was a very memorable day.
That night, I visited Mickey Mantles Restaurant located at 42 Central Park South. There is baseball memorabilia hanging on every wall. There is also a neat gift shop which offers many Mickey Mantle and Yankees items including numerous autographed items. The food and atmosphere were both excellent.
