Since the Yankees have been rained out today and since ESPN isn't showing any day baseball games (damn commies!) and since Major League Baseball screwed cable subscribers out of their free week preview of out-of-market baseball games, I've decided to introduce my rainy day special called Memories at The Stadium.

Please join me as I travel back in time to: 

April 7, 1992

New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

It was the first game of the season and my first time at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.  I was a senior in high school (damn, time flies) and I cut school with two friends to head to the Bronx.  We shrewdly paid $50 for bleacher seats that were listed at $5.50 (those seats now go for $12).  This was also my first time in the bleachers.  I witnessed first-hand what happens to outfielders on the opposing teams.  The primary victim on that sunny April day was right fielder Phil Plantier.  How Plantier didn't burst into tears was a minor miracle.  It didn't help that he homered in the second inning.

There were also a few brave (dumb) Red Sox fans in the bleachers that day.  Anyone who wore a Boston hat or T-Shirt or was even wearing red was pelted with pretzels, balled-up napkins, hot dogs, peanuts, coins, you name it.  Today, you can get kicked out of a game for just cursing at another fan. 

This was Year 1 of the Buck Showalter era.  The Yankees were coming off a 71-91 record and a fifth place finish in 1991, but there was optimism in the air for 1992 (at least in my pinstriped mind).  Just how ridiculous was my optimism?  Joe DiMaggio threw out the first pitch to our starting catcher Matt Nokes.

Toeing the hill for the Yanks: Scott Sanderson.  For the BoSox: Roger Clemens.

Mismatch, right?  Wrong.  Sanderson went six strong giving up only two runs and the bullpen of Greg Cadaret, John Habyan and Steve Farr helped close the door.  The Rocket was the loser even with his complete game effort.  Don Mattingly collected three hits batting in the No. 2 slot and Roberto Kelly had 3 RBIs. 

Yankees: 4

Red Sox: 3 

The Yanks would go on to finish tied for fourth with the Cleveland Indians in 1992, twenty games behind the eventual World Champion Toronto Blue Jays.  Still, the groundwork was being laid for the Yankees to become the team of the 90s.  1993 would see the arrival of key contributors like Paul O'Neill, Jimmy Key, Wade Boggs and the emergence of Bernie Williams as an everyday player.  Buck Showalter also deserves credit for re-establishing a winning attitude back to the Yankees.  

I'm glad I was there to witness it first-hand.