Alright, let’s talk about the 2008 New York Yankees season. For me, that year wasn’t just about watching games. It was the last year of the old Yankee Stadium, the original House That Ruth Built, you know? That felt like a big deal, something historic passing.
So, I got this idea. I wanted to do more than just follow the box scores online or catch highlights. I decided I’d try to keep my own, detailed record of that final season at the old ballpark. Like, a personal project.
My Little Project Setup
First step: Figuring out how. I wasn’t about to build some fancy database or anything. Nah, that’s too much. I started simple. Grabbed a thick notebook, one of those big spiral-bound ones.
Then, the process: Every day, or almost every day, I’d sit down and try to capture stuff.
- Game results, obviously. Who won, the score.
- Key players. Who homered? Who pitched well? Who screwed up?
- My own thoughts. Like, how the team felt that day. Were they clicking? Looked sloppy?
- Tried grabbing newspaper clippings sometimes, taping them in. Stuff about the stadium closing down, player quotes.
Getting Into It (and the Mess)
I started off real enthusiastic. Filled the first few pages pretty quick. It felt kinda cool, having this physical log of the season unfolding. I remember marking down Mussina’s 20th win late in the season – that felt like a moment worth noting down carefully.
But man, keeping up was harder than I thought. Baseball season is long. There’s a game almost every single day. Sometimes I’d fall behind, miss a few games. Then I’d have to go back and try to fill in the blanks from memory or online box scores, which wasn’t quite the same.
The notebook got messy. Clippings made pages bulge. My handwriting got worse when I was rushing. Sometimes my “analysis” was just scribbled frustration after a bad loss. It wasn’t exactly scientific.
What Came Out of It
Did I perfectly document the entire 2008 season? Heck no. The notebook is probably half-finished, stuffed in a box somewhere now. I definitely didn’t stick with the daily updates all the way through October.
But the whole exercise, the doing of it, that was the point for me. It made me pay closer attention during that final year at the old stadium. It wasn’t just passive watching. It was this little ritual I had. Trying to track Jeter’s hits, Rivera’s saves, Posada behind the plate – all in that specific place for the last time.
Looking back, it wasn’t about creating some perfect historical record. It was just my way of engaging with that bit of history, that transition. Even though they missed the playoffs that year, which was a bummer, the act of trying to follow it so closely, in my own little way, made that final season at the old stadium stick in my memory a lot more.
