Cielo Azul Happenings

Dwight is determined today.............

Because we're back at Yankee Stadium after the debacle of running out of battery for our camera on our previous tour...........

Can't resist another shot of the soon-to-be-demolished House That Ruth Built.......

Back in the Hall of Heroes--all these guys have had their numbers retired..........

One of several huge photos that greet you as you enter the Yankee Museum. The entire stadium has lots of huge photos on the walls--many from the Daily News...............

My Baby Boy, Derek Jeter posing with Babe Ruth's monument before the last All-Star game in the old stadium..............

You might remember the bronze statue of Don Larson throwing the last pitch of his perfect game in the World Series...................

But you hadn't seen the bronze statue of Yogi Berra catching it 90 ft. away...........

Mr. Larson's signature on the 90ft. fiberglass wall........

On the other side of the wall, among the hundreds of signed balls, two of my favorite current Yankees have their signed balls--Derek Jeter and Mark Teixiera.................

The awesome Mariano Rivera..........

One of my faves--Alphonso Soriano--They shouldn't have traded him.................

A display on the Black Yankees of the Negro League who also played in Yankee Stadium. Satchel Page, of course did play in the white leagues as an older man...................

These were neat displays that didn't photograph very well. This depicts a view of Yankee Stadium as it looked in 1923 along with one of the original seats from that era..............

The 1948 remodel...............

The somewhat unfortunate 1978 remodel that lost a lot of the character of the original stadium........

The new stadium with the widest seats in the majors. What does that say about Yankee fans?.......

A very nice display of memorabilia from this era--that's Lou Gehrig's bat...............

What a guy!.................

Here's where my battery went dead yesterday--the back of Babe Ruth's jersey.................

The Joe DiMaggio Era features a lot of old baseball cards..........(By the way, every year depicted in the museum is a year that the Yankees won the World Series).............

Joe DiMaggio's bat.................

The Mickey Mantle Era--more World Series................

The Mick's autographed jersey.............

Ain't it pretty?......................

The Yankee's have a lot of them.............

A WHOLE lot!......................

Especially in the Derek Jeter Era!.................

Baby Boy's jersey and a ball signed by the entire championship team............

Back of the jersey..........

A woman in her "happy place"--by the way, that's Bernie William's bat....................

It always helps to have a sympathetic referee. And we're outa the museum............

Through the paying customers seats--we have Yankee tickets for tomorrow night, so we will be back.............

On to Monument Park..........

What a gorgeous stadium!!...................

These are all players whose numbers have been retired. Elston Howard was the Yankee's first black player and a terrific catcher..........

"It ain't over till it's over!".........................

A great Yankee captain whose life was cut tragically short...........

Jackie Robinson's number has been retired throughout baseball. Mariano Rivera wears 42 and was grandfathered in, but surely it will be "retired" a second time when Mo completes his career.......

Mr. October................

Another great pitcher......Our tour guide mentioned that room has been left for #2 when Derek Jeter retires--and that's HIM talking, not ME!..............

Some of the most significant Yankees have their own bronze monuments, like Donnie Baseball..........

Including some special announcers.........

The Scooter was a great player and the voice of Yankee Baseball on TV..............

Not a good likeness, but a well deserved nod to the Homerun King for many decades.........

One of MY alltime favorites--Man, this guy LOVED baseball!.....................

A great manager--also born July 30th, like Frannie!................

Now the heavy hitters--the standing Marble monuments--and Jumping Joe Dimaggio........

Dwight's boyhood hero, Oklahoma's own Mickey Mantle..............

This is how it looks, retired numbers flanking the standing monuments with the bronze plaques on the rear wall--all in a floral setting...............

A real hero, the Iron Horse, "the luckiest man on the face of the earth", Lou Gerig...........

And the man who started the dynasty, the Babe..........................

There are also some special monuments like this one and one commerating Pope Pium XII having a Rosary Rally in Yankee Stadium--most noted for the media coverage in the Daily News showing Sal DiPalma praying the rosary in the rain.........

This solid frame with viewing slats looks into the opposing team's bullpen. This way, they can be intimidated by the glory of the Yankees, but cannot enter Monument Park. On the opposite end is a door that the Yankee pitchers can enter and visit the monuments before pitching........

Here is the WCBS box where John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman broadcast the games. It would have been a thrill to meet them. "THEEE YANKEES WIN! THEEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIIIIIIIIN!".......................

Explanation of the origins of the Yankee logo.............

The Yankee logo on the floor of Monument Park.............

Dwight strikes a happy pose with Monument Park behind him and the netting protecting the monuments from errant homerun balls above him..............

Now, we're on our way to visit the Yankee Dugout again...........

This is the Yankee Dugout, but since they were doing some maintainance work on it, we were re-routed to the opposition dugout........

Some folks were very disappointed, but we had seen the Yankee Dugout yesterday, and the re-route got us right onto the actual playing field. Diana even collected some precious dirt from the homeplate circle. We are going to sprinkle some of it under our own homeplate at home. Yes we DO have our own homeplate...........................