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“Spring Training at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium” Photo Gallery
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We always welcome guest posts from our readers, and today we feature one from Craig Gordon, who writes about his years visiting Fort Lauderdale Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Yankees from 1962-1995. It later became the spring home for the Orioles from 1966-2009.
Even though he’s a life-long Red Sox fan who grew up in Connecticut and has lived in South Florida for 40 years, he still has fond memories of the times he and his brother Glen spent at the now-abandoned stadium from 1974-’78, when his mother worked nearby.
As Craig put it: “Although not Yankee fans, we loved meeting and spending time with ‘the greats’. We spent so much time there the grounds crew and even George Steinbrenner knew us by name!”
Craig shared with me the story about how he got Mickey Mantle’s autographed baseball cap, which is mentioned in his story. Photos of the autographed cap are included in the gallery:
“I just remembered how I got the cap. Mickey was arguing with Steinbrenner (probably about money) over his and Whitey Ford’s fantasy camp. He came down the ramp, and just happened to be next to me and he said: ‘I’m never wearing f…g pinstripes again!’ He took off the cap and asked if I wanted it. I asked him to sign it. He said, ‘you’re pushing it’!” He did sign it then he walked off never to wear pinstripes again. So this is the last Yankee cap he ever wore.”
Anyway…I think you’ll enjoy Craig’s essay:
Spring Training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium
By Craig Gordon
Last weekend my brother and I went to Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport to tour some WWII planes. We drove right past Ft. Lauderdale Stadium where the New York Yankees held spring training for about 40 years. They moved out about 25 years ago and then it became home to the Orioles until 2009. The stadium has been vacant ever since.
As we drove past and noticed the state of disrepair, my brother and I had the same feelings: Sadness, seeing how bad the stadium looked and at the same time happiness remembering all the good times we had there. My mother had worked at a hospital a few blocks away.
From 1974-1978 we would spend all day, every day at the stadium during Yankees’ spring training. We have always been Red Sox fans but still loved seeing the Yankee “greats” in person. We actually got autographs just for fun. It was great walking up the ramp, hearing the crack of the bat, the pop of baseballs hitting the bats and gloves. Whitey Ford was still throwing batting practice in those days.
Driving by, we saw that the player parking lot was overgrown with weeds and grass. The cement cracked. This was the same parking lot where we met Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Manager Billy Martin, and hundreds of others. One day Reggie Jackson was sitting in his Rolls Royce and we heard his Mom yelled at him “Reggie, Mr. Steinbrenner is paying you a lot of money. Get out here and sign autographs!” He did. Mom was boss.
The entire stadium is decaying and falling apart. This is the same stadium where Mickey Mantle took of his hat, signed it and handed it to me. I was just in the right place at the right time. Yes, I still have the hat. The list of players and coaches we met is unbelievable. Catfish Hunter, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto etc…
The day I will never forget was meeting Thurman Munson. All the Yankee players came out after practice to their fancy, expensive cars on one side of the stadium. Not Thurman. He was a blue-collar, low key guy and hated the limelight. He would sneak out on the other side. My brother, who always had a knack for knowing where and when to be somewhere to get and autograph suggested we go find Thurman. Yup, he was right. Thurman came out by himself wearing jeans, a t-shirt and holding a torn plastic Yankee bag. He quietly, reluctantly signed our autographs and got into a station wagon with the fake wood on the side. Classic.
So many great memories flooded over my brother and me as we drove by that stadium. So sad to see what was once a sports temple reduced to rubble. They can demolish the stadium but they cannot take away our memories.
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Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
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