YANKEES BID FAREWELL WITH VICTORY

By GEORGE A. KING III NY Post

September 22, 2008 --

From The Babe, who built it, to The Boss, who rebuilt it, Yankee Stadium was the mecca of ballparks.

Opened in 1923, the Stadium closed its hallowed doors last night after the Yankees beat the Orioles, 7-3, one week before their nightmare season ends.

There is a closing ceremony slated early in November, but for Yankees fans, last night was last call.

Before the game the Yankees trotted out all the big names. They saved Bernie Williams, a staple of the Joe Torre Era that produced four World Series champions, for the final introduction. Williams, who left the Yankees after the 2006 season, received the loudest and longest ovation in a field that included Hall of Famers and Yankees icons Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage and many other stars.

Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer, Billy Martin, Catfish Hunter and Ruth were represented by family members.

There was no mention of Torre, Mariano Rivera or Roger Clemens. Don Mattingly was shown on the video board for about five seconds. Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig were represented by actors playing the part of deceased Yankees greats.

Julia Ruth Stevens, Ruth's 92-year-old daughter, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

"I'm very sad that the Yankee Stadium is not going to be in existence any longer. I wish it could have remained as a New York landmark, but I guess like all things it has come to its final days as we all do and it has to go," she said.

Following the game Derek Jeter gathered his mates on the mound and addressed the fans.

"We are the New York Yankees and that means pride and tradition, but most of all we have the greatest fans in the world," said Jeter, who led the players on a lap around the Stadium to salute the crowd of 54,610, none of whom left before hearing from the Yankees captain.

Before the game, when the gates opened at 1 p.m., an ocean of fans poured in. They were permitted to walk on the warning track dirt and it looked like a wake.

Mike and Jen Purpi came from Oyster Bay.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience," Mike said. "I will never set foot on this field again."

Near home plate Jennifer Hickey, who said her grandfather, John Hickey, was a friend of Lou Gehrig's, walked slowly.

"It's bittersweet, a new beginning and a sad ending," the Queens native said.

At 4:05 p.m., the man who likely has been booed and heckled more than any Yankee in the history of the Stadium emerged. Suddenly, Alex Rodriguez wasn't a bum. As he walked the rope along the third base line, Rodriguez was Ruth, DiMaggio, Derek Jeter, Rivera, Jackson, Berra, Ford, Mantle and Gehrig rolled into one.

"Can't explain it," Rodriguez said of the reaction to his 10-minute tour that ended in front of Monument Park with fans jostling each other to get closer to him.

Before batting practice, Jeter spoke emotionally about what last night was. A night when old faces belonging to Ron Guidry, Graig Nettles, Williams, David Wells, Scott Brosius, Dave Winfield, David Cone, Paul O'Neill and Willie Randolph surfaced.

"(Saturday) night Reggie (Jackson) came over," Jeter said. "I could really relate to what he was saying. He was saying he doesn't feel sad. He just feels proud to be a part of the history here."

Jeter has been a big part of the history inside the Stadium. Future generations will claim him as theirs like other generations claim, Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra and Ford, and Mantle.

And he will be the bridge from the old to the new.

"It will be different over there," Jeter said of new Stadium. "But the bottom line is we are still the New York Yankees."