WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By Bull Allen. September 22, 2008: Today, I say goodbye to The Stadium. I will not be going to the game. But, Baseball Johnny has written an ode to the Stadium nobody wants anymore. I will always remember her:
So long Big Ball Park
By Baseball Johnny
The Big Ball Park the Old Redhead called her,
The Sultan of Swat did build, closes gates forever.
The Elysian Fields where boys turned into greats, will be torn asunder
The towering grandstand no longer will inspire worthy endeavor.
Baseball Joes and Stadium Lounge on 161st Street long gone to Salsa Lounge and garage
Her sisters in New York ball, Polo Grounds and Ebbets apartments now
Her original grandeur modernized under George’s regime, endured 70s dressage
Architects’ tweaks, defrocking her of majestied façade
World Series 2003
They took out elegant aqua wood seats for blue hard plastic gracelessness.
Removed the Flying A sign and auxiliary scoreboards in left and right, arbiters of anxiety
Still she survived, her cathedral-majesty between innings shattered by subway races.
The ugly scoreboard above great bleachers no longer showing scores in other cities.
Rivera's Last Walk-in. September 22, 2008. Photo by Candyce Corcoran
They closed the bullpens where Page, Grim, Duren, Lyle, Goose and Rivera walked in slow stride.
They added monuments and plaques and took the majestic monuments out of play.
The alleys of 357, 402, 457 and 461 no longer inspired Dimaggio’s glide
Now we will shall never see again her famous leftfield sun in autumn, she's seen her last day.
The Big Ball Park, 1956 The WPCNR Collection.
She is baseball’s Westminster Abbey, turned into modern church bland
Decreed to be torn down as the Vatican tore down Rome, though those coliseums still stand.
Yankee Stadium, September 22, 2008. Photo by Candyce Corcoran.
What is there that makes us tear down that would inspire with no thought to preserve
What happens to hallowed ground where achievement was measured, tested, exulted for nerve?
The Great Green Stage September 22, 2008 Photo by Candyce Corcoran
No historical landmark status is given America’s Stadium
Where foe of feared Bronx Bombers yearned to play in the sun
Up Close and Personal Photo, Candyce Corcoran
The Yankees will sell her piece by piece like booty from battle
Instead of preserving the tarted-up dowager as a New York museum.
Old Yankees Never Die, They Live in Memory. Photo, Candyce Corcoran
The great field is doused in darkness, ghosts take the field
From the dugouts, patroling the outfield in moonlight.
The Last Save. Mariano Rivera, September 22, 2008. Photo, Candyce Corcoran
Hoyt, Reynolds, Ford, Larsen, Guidry, Rivera stalk the mound and stylishly wheel
Ruth and Gehrig, Mantle and Maris and No. 5 “cracks” split the night.
Jeter Walks, beneath the cliff of the towering grandstand. September 22, 2008. Photo, Candyce Corcoran
The Stadium remains in memory in her grandeur: The grandstand façade
Showcases pennants on its roof snapping sharply in delight.
Vendors shout, “beah, heah,” “Hot dog, heah,” “peanuts, peanuts,”
Mel says, “Hello again, everybody,” on WINS 1010 and she lives always in
in memory's ephemeral light..
The New field awaits. Not as tall not as grand. A different place. A new management. An uncertain future. Photo of the new stadium by Candyce Corcoran
Note: So Long, Big Ball Park has been illustrated with new exclusive photos of the Big Ball Park's last night, by White Plains Candyce Corcoran.
