This innocuous-looking piece of wood, measuring 16 1\2″ x 2″ x 1″, is a slat from a seat in the original Yankee Stadium. Not the one that was refurbished between 1973-75, but the original original, which was constructed in 1923. I nicked it fifty-two years ago today at the close of the last game played there against the Detroit Tigers.
The Yanks didn’t win, but who cared? A full-on party atmosphere ruled the day and there was work to be done. It seemed every one of the 32,238 fans in attendance had brought a toolset to help liberate as many souvenirs as possible. On the D-train back to Brooklyn, I saw fellow travelers hauling home huge signs, giant clumps of turf and row after row of fully-intact seats (in lines of four, six and eight – all welded together!). Basically, the barbarians trashed the ballpark and grabbed everything that had once been bolted down. A few days later, I’m sure the professional wreckers appreciated the head start on the job.
For my part, I didn’t need that much. Beside a roll of Instamatic photos I’d taken and a six-inch square of sod from centerfield that I stuffed into a plastic bag, I was satisfied with the oddity you see above. After the final out, I rushed the field like everyone else and experienced the thrill of standing at home plate while two nutcases furiously tried to wrest it from the earth. That was an impossible task, but at least I got a glance of the same thing Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and so many other legends once saw from the same place they once stood. My day was complete.
But even as a teenager, I was aware of something special in that little weathered slat. It held more than just the memory of a physical place – it held the echoes of countless stories, triumphs and passions. Like the magic cinematographers create on film or sensor, it offers a connection to past moments that are never truly gone. It reminds me that objects, like images, have the power to transport us across time. It’s a bridge to history and a whisper of legacy that links past and present in a great, never-ending story.
As for that piece of centerfield turf, I planted it in my mother’s garden as soon as I got home, but it never took. Eventually, it dried up and was plowed under the following spring. The seat slat still sits on my bookshelf, and though the Yanks lost the final game in the House That Ruth Built, I suppose that’s some sort of victory, isn’t it?
Yankee Stadium, September 30, 1973
An era when Real Ads talked about Smoking. Both my parents smoked… brings back memories. That is an excellent photo time capsule of that period. That recollection of the people hauling items from the stadium would make a great movie scene Richard. That seat slat is history for us and great memories for you.
Beautiful memories.
Nice memory! Thanks, Rich
What a treasured piece of baseball history! How exciting it must have been
to hop on the field and experience the same field the legendary ball players
played on. I think I would be in awe standing at home plate. The same place
where Ruth and DiMaggio stood. You have to wonder of those who sat in that seat over the years. I recently went to Vermont for the fall colors
and to visit Craftsbury Commons the location of Hitchcock’s film The Trouble
With Harry from 1955. I made a point to experience the same location on
the small village street where Hitchcock made his cameo. I enjoy connecting
to those past moments that are long forgotten.