The Rest of our Amazing Yankee Day!

Yesterday was such an amazing day. Alison already wrote all about the best part - Derek Jeter's farewell. It could not have been more amazing. He is a legend.

We did a lot of other stuff before the game. In the morning we took the subway up to the Bronx for a tour of Yankees stadium. We have always talked about going on a tour, but it has never worked out. This trip we made it a priority.

The first thing we noticed about the day was how cloudy and rainy it looked. Alison seriously had her umbrella out anytime we were outside. I toughed it out for a while but eventually bought an umbrella. It didn't bode well for that night's game.

The tour wasn't as great as we hoped. I think our expectations may have been too high. We saw some cool things, but our tour guide wasn't really passionate. It was still a cool experience and I am glad I did it. Our first stop was the Yankees dugout. It was fun to sit where the team sits. We got to see their point of view of the field. We took some pictures and sat around the dugout. The tarp was out on the field. At this point, I was really worried the game would get rained out.

Next, our tour went to Monument Park. This was my favorite part of the tour. Alison and I had never been to monument park before. We enjoyed the visual representation of the great Yankee legacy. We started off at the first three monuments - Lou Gehrig, Miller Huggins, and Babe Ruth. These monuments used to be at the back of centerfield, in the field of play, until the Yankees built Monument park. Monument Park has grown to include many of the Yankee legends. We walked through and found some of our favorites - Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mariano Rivera, and Joe Torre. Monument Park also includes monuments for other important people and events including a few Popes, Jackie Robinson, and Nelson Mandela. The Yankees celebrate greatness on and off the field. They also have a special monument remembering 9/11, which is really touching.

The final stop of the Yankees stadium tour was the museum. We have gone to the museum a couple of times before so it wasn't our favorite part. We did enjoy the small tour group so at least it wasn't packed (normally the Yankees fill the museum to capacity and there is a line out the door). We did learn a few new things. For example, the Babe Ruth bat in the museum is called the notch bat because whenever the Babe hit a home run with that bat he put a notch in it. We also found out the Yankees have 26 world series rings because one year instead of getting rings the entire team got a pocket watch. There is one ring that was really cool. It has the number 5 on the face because in 1953 the team won their fifth straight world series - a feat that has never been matched.

After the tour, we spent some time in the area around the stadium. We walked across the street to the site of the old stadium. The Yankees made the site into some nice community sports fields. Alison's first Yankee game was at the old stadium and she had so many great memories. We just stood there and reflected on her experiences and visualized where the old stadium would have been.

We ate lunch at the Hard Rock at Yankee stadium. We love the Hard Rock and we have meant to go to this one forever.

After the tour, we met up with Blake and Debbie. Debbie and I were showing our "Re2pect" for Derek Jeter.

We headed over to the Ed Sullivan Theater for the Late Show with David Letterman. We got tickets a couple weeks ago. It was kind of funny because Alison didn't even remember putting in for the tickets until they called to say we got them. Blake put in for tickets as well and got them a couple of days ago.

I am so glad we got to go to a show, especially since this is Letterman's last year. The show did not disappoint. The staff worked hard to keep us pumped up. It was so cool when David Letterman walked out and spoke to the crowd. The show itself was great. Jerry Seinfeld was the guest. He started off his segment with a few minutes of stand-up comedy and we were just laughing. Then he sat down and the interplay between him and Letterman was great. They ended up talking about coffee and we even got to hear a Mormon joke. 

We walked out of the show and it was still rainy so we weren't in a hurry to get to the stadium. We weren't sure if the game would even start on time. We made our way up to Yankee Stadium and still got there plenty early.

There are a few other thoughts I want to record about the game.

1. It was so unbelievable. You could not write a more perfect ending to a great career. After the game, we were talking with Blake and he said he always tries to go to big events like this, and many times they don't meet your expectations. Then there are times, like last night, that exceed expectations. I am so glad we did this - it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. During the game, we saw a sign that really stood out. It said, "my grandparents told me about Babe Ruth, I will tell my grandkids about Derek Jeter." How true that is.

2. We stayed in the stadium for Jeter's press conference and Blake pointed out the lessons we can learn from Jeter and this experience. Jeter loves his family and talked about how important his relationship is with them. Another big lesson is Jeter's work lesson. He said he is not the most talented but "no one worked harder." He is so successful because he worked so hard. He just went out and did his job. There is a great lesson in that.

3. The Yankees have a legacy of great moments, and Jeter has always embraced the big moment. Last night was no different. Magic was in the air at the stadium. There was a lot of talk about what Joe Girardi would do to make this moment great - would he take Jeter out with two outs in the ninth or what? In the end, the moment wrote itself. Throughout his career Jeter's biggest moments have always been unscripted as he has come through in big spots, often in ways, no one was really expecting. I am glad we were there to witness a truly great moment. I will never forget being part of that night.