Reminiscing on Last Year's All Star Game

A year ago tomorrow, Andrew and I successfully completed a valiant last minute attempt to attend the All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. With today's All Star Game taking place in St. Louis, I thought it would be an appropriate time to reflect on one of the more exciting evenings of my life. It wasn't until around 2 PM on the day of the game last year that Andrew suggested that we attempt to obtain tickets to the game. With the event sold out, we were left to hope that somebody could sell us two tickets at the right price with only hours left before the first pitch was to be thrown. Having found no luck through online venues and with Andrew still at his office (I had taken the day off to watch the All Stars parade down 6th Avenue), I decided to make a last ditch attempt to purchased scalped tickets outside of Yankee Stadium. I threw on my Yankee jersey, withdrew a sufficient amount of cash to cover what I believed I could afford, and headed to Yankee Stadium. Upon arriving, I found myself within a sea of fans seeking the exact same thing I was searching for – a ticket to the big game. After about an hour of searching, I was resigned to the fact that I would probably be watching the game from Andrew’s apartment. Only then did I turn around to hear a voice asking if I needed tickets. The gentlemen was offering to sell me two tickets at 50% of the face value. Not even thinking about the possibility that the tickets were counterfeit, I forked up the necessary cash and handed it over to this stranger in exchange for two tickets to the All Star Game. Of course, I had no proof that these tickets were indeed authentic and would have to wait for Andrew to arrive for us to find out. I waited anxiously for him to arrive. My anxiety continued to grow in anticipation that tickets could be fake, my suspicions spiking as I saw several fans turned away from the turnstiles with what appeared to be counterfeit tickets.

Finally, Andrew arrived and we approached the gate. We went through security and then each handed our ticket to the Yankee Stadium employee. Each ticket contained a barcode and was to be scanned for authenticity before entrance would be permitted. The employee took the ticket from me and placed it under the scanner. After hearing a quick beep, the employee handed the ticket back and to me and said “Thank you.” With that, I stepped through the turnstile, Andrew following behind me. We both looked at each other and let out a huge sigh of relief. Only hours before, I had anticipated watching the game on television, whereas now, I was minutes away from arriving at my seat for one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year. We then headed up to our seats to watch one of the last great moments to take place at the Cathedral in the Bronx. Baseball legends flooded the Stadium to honor her in beautiful pregame ceremony. The game featured several turns, but mostly featured clutch pitching by pitchers from both leagues. What a thrill it was to watch the great Mariano Rivera march in from the bullpen to the great joy of the New York faithful. In typical Mariano fashion, he got the AL out of jam, a jam that was ironically created by Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. The game wound up as a 15 inning marathon, featuring two seventh-inning stretches and a dramatic game ending sacrifice fly.