Today we were joined for the first game by Chris and Karen, and we set off hoping to see history being made by A-Rod hitting his 500th homerun. Special thanks to StubHub for getting us tickets to the game! for Upon arriving in the Bronx, you can see the foundation of the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium which is currently being constructed across the street and will open for the start of the 2009 season. For all those who have yet to see a game at Yankee Stadium, you have one more season to get there. We had seats in the bleachers, the first time I’ve sat there. It has its own entrance to the stadium, and you can’t walk around the rest of the park—you are confined only to the bleachers section. Populating the bleachers are what are called “bleacher creatures”, who chant each Yankee players name on the field after the first pitch is thrown. The crowd will keep chanting the Yankee players name until the player acknowledges the crowd with a tip of the hat or a wave. One interesting story from the “roll call” involved Hideki Matsui’s first game at Yankee stadium. Apparently, the chants of “Matsui” went on for approximately two minutes, because Matsui didn’t know what was going on and was unsure of what to do.

As for the game, it didn’t take long for A-Rod to finally get his 500th homerun. I had gotten out my camera to take video of each at-bat, but by the time I started recording the first pitch was just about to land in the left field seats. Needless to say the crowd was going wild, as the video below will show:

The next stop was Staten Island, which is not exactly right around the corner from Yankee Stadium. It was “Robinson Cano” night at Richmond County Bank Ballpark. Just like me, Robinson Cano had to make a mad dash from the Bronx to Staten Island in order to get there on time. He was having his number retired, being only the third player from the Staten Island Yankees to make it to the NY Yankees, and the first player to be selected as an All-Star. the ballpark has a great view of the Manhattan skyline, including a direct view of the Statue of Liberty.