Fathers are busy showing and explaining their sons the numerous tradition baseball offers, while also trying to avoid the cars, which are navigating throughout the imposing crowd.  Yankees memorabilia vendors are screaming at the top of their lungs to get your attention and maybe sell you a cap, mug or even a g-string sporting the colors of the city’s darlings.

Overhead, the noisy train brings another batch of eager baseball fanatics, making a stop right beside the new Yankee Stadium, right across the street from the older version.  Not everybody needs an 8-hour car ride like me to attend a simple ball game.

Simple?  Well, the term might be a bit misguiding when you devour the sport like I do, because this “simple” afternoon is in fact the realization of a dream I’ve had for the past few years; a visit of Yankee Stadium.

It’s true, the original ballpark is not the official home of the storied Yankee franchise anymore, but with all due respect to the tradition-minded fans, this new house also has a lot to offer.

You can only marvel at the sight of Yankee Stadium when turning the corner to face Gate 6, which is along the right field line.  The grey, smooth concrete, the gold-plated “Yankee Stadium” and the Hard Rock Cafe at its base all make for an unforgettable first impression.

That said, the venue really takes life after the usher has verified our ticket, when we enter the Hall that offers big reproductions of memorable events and players that have marked the history of this franchise.

At the suggestion of Joe Hamrahi, who was kind enough to welcome me in New York City on this sunny Sunday afternoon, we make the entire walk around the park, but first, he leads me to my first sighting of the well-manicured grass, directly behind home plate, with a formidable view of the modern installations.

Whether you are a baseball lover or not, this sight cannot leave you cold; the blue seats, stretching each side of the field, the gigantic video display behind the center field wall, the players still getting ready for the game on the field… it all makes for a perfect afternoon in the city.

Our seats are located in the second deck (section 224, row 12, seats 17-18), between third base and home plate.  Luckily, theyare also out of the sun’s reach by the second inning, something I was hoping since the humidity was excruciating that day (then again, I come from Quebec City…).

Right before reaching our seats, I make a stop at the beer cart, only to discover that the price for is set at 10$!!  BUT, you get to keep the plastic container, emblazoned with the logo of the stadium’s first year of existence… what a deal, eh? That would remain the only beer I bought that day…

We are treated to a good ball game, with the Oakland Athletics and the Yankees exchanging the lead during the game.  Three double plays, a homer, a steal and an appearance by Mariano Rivera are enough for me to feel like I got the Yankee Stadium experience I deserved after all that time wondering what it would be like to visit the beast.

While this post is about the new Yankee Stadium I just visited thanks to the generosity of Joe, I cannot ignore the way it made me feel about my own involvement in the game.  It’s true; the game doesn’t need me in particular, but I realized during my visit that I needed IT really bad.

It is true what they say: you truly realize how important something or someone is to you when you lose it.  And that’s exactly what happened that day.

Some of you may remember me from my days here at Baseball Daily Digest and other quality baseball websites and you may also not remember me because I disappeared from the face of the baseball world to work on other endeavors that meant a lot to me at the time.  Add to that a personal life that has seen its share of ups and downs and you get a situation that has taken me far away from baseball writing and website management.

That said, it is discoveries like the one I made today (the new stadium…) that truly bring me back to the essence of baseball.  I can’t say that it was something that I lost, but it definitely had been brewing on the back-burner and I intend to put it back where it belongs… in the front row…

(note: a special thanks to Joe Hamrahi for his welcome and generosity.  There are people in life you wish you had either met earlier or simply made a stronger commitment to and Joe is definitely one of them)

This is the extent to which I will go in order to indulge in my passion; even while on vacation and my head in the clouds, I make a point of waking up early in order to read a baseball column and then writing one of my own.

I think they now have very effective treatment for that kind of obsession.  However, a straight-jacket just doesn’t fit me well and I don’t have any shoes that would match the fabric.

All kidding aside, I was eager to devour Rubin’s column this morning and I was pleasantly surprised, especially since he took the high road and even went as far as describe the encounter he had with Jeff Wilpon:

What I have done, and what Mets COO Jeff Wilpon acknowledged later yesterday, is ask Wilpon for “career advice.” My question: Is it even remotely feasible for a baseball writer to get into an administrative job with a team – any team – down the road and what would I need for that to be achieved?

Wilpon once invited me to his office at Citi Field for an advisory session. I never took him up on it.

I also appear on the Mets’ television station, and I asked Jeff Wilpon whom I should talk to at the network if I wanted to explore television as a part of my career. He told me to talk to SNY exec Curt Gowdy Jr., who told me basically that I was a bit “too flat.”

How bizarre it was to see an arguably serious organization try to deflect the blame onto a reporter, when, as Rubin put it in his column, “Minaya did not identify one piece of inaccurate information in any of The News’ stories”.

George Vecsey of the New York Times was even more blunt than Rubin was this morning, going as far as referring to his friendship with Minaya and then (rightfully) blaming him for the mess from yesterday:

Given Wilpon’s remoteness, Minaya is the face of the Mets’ front office, and a very human face. Talk about conflicts: I know Minaya to be a decent man, from my home borough, Queens, and he sometimes humors me by letting me drop my miserable Spanish and Italian into conversations. We have talked about watching a soccer game together sometime. We have slurped lemon ice on 108th Street in Corona. There is no joy in seeing him flub this one.

I don’t think I really need to go on and on about this latest blunder from the Mets organization, but I will say this, at least this time it did not happen on the field.

Out of the corner of my eye, on the plasma screen, I see images of Pete Rose hitting singles, running the bases, and all that at Fox Channel 5 in New York.  At the bottom of the screen, the news is titled: “Selig considering lift on Rose lifetime ban?”

I have no idea where they got their info, but after a brief search of the web, I can’t see any other news organization that has picked up the tip.  In fact, I did not even get a chance to hear the news item, since I had the sound on mute (listening to Fox, by chance, will do that after a while).

My reading and that news were mixing very well together, since I got the pdf document (linked above) from Baseball Crank, which presented excerpts of the Bill James text and offered his take based on the analysis.

Anyway, read the whole thing, as the excerpts cannot do it justice. My own view remains that, aside from the extreme Joe Jackson case of people trying to lose ballgames or conspiring with those who do, the Hall should not judge people who got away with things that were fairly widespread to win baseball games – the Hall has always honored the true ethos of professional sports, which is that it ain’t cheating if you don’t get caught, and it’s 70-odd years too late to change that. And, more fundamentally, the Hall isn’t for the players as much as it is for the fans, and a Hall without the likes of Bonds and Clemens (and Pete Rose) ceases to be a Hall worth taking seriously. Put them in, and let the arguments themselves be immortal.

I like the way he put it, but in the case of Pete Rose, his betting (according to this argument) would negate his performance on the field.

As far as I’m concerned, Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame as much as anyone currently inducted, for he was a great baseball player and that’s what he should be judged on.  No ifs or buts.

The timing of this news (one day after Henderson, Rice and Gordon were officially admitted) cannot be a coincidence and that’s why I can’t wait to see if there will be an action on the part of the commissioner.

It’s pretty obvious that this was leaked out in order to create another debate on the issue, especially with some steroid users getting standing ovations after serving 50-game suspensions…