Yankee Stadium provided one of the greatest settings in sports for 85 years. A game considered the greatest ever played in NFL history was played there in 1958, and one of the most famous boxing matches (Joe Louis vs. Max Schmelling) took place there in 1938.
But the stadium will always be remembered for baseball most of all. The following are the top 10 baseball moments at baseball's most famous landmark.
1. Oct. 8, 1956: Don Larsen throws World Series perfect game
It came out of nowhere, and one game made Larsen a legend. It was Game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers, with the series tied 2-2, and Larsen threw 97 pitches to record 27 outs. It was only the fourth perfect game in major-league history and the only one to ever take place in the World Series.2. July 4, 1939: Lou Gehrig's farewell speech
"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Even those who aren't sports fans will likely be able to place the person and setting of Lou Gehrig's poignant farewell speech on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. He became the first person in baseball history to have his number retired on that day, and died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease, less than two years later at age 38.3. Oct. 18, 1977: Reggie Jackson's hits three homers in Game 6
Heading into the World Series, Jackson - in his first season in New York - was not beloved by Yankees fans. But all was certainly forgiven after Reggie hit three homers in three swings of the bat in Game 6 of the World Series against the Dodgers. The Yankees won the game and the series, giving the Yankees their first championship in 15 years.4. Oct. 1, 1961: Roger Maris' 61st home run
Roger Maris wasn't the odds-on choice to break Babe Ruth's home run record - teammate Mickey Mantle was - but Maris rewrote the record books with a drive down the right-field line for a 61st home run, a record that stood for a another 37 years, albeit with an asterisk (because Maris did it in 162 games; Ruth did it in 154.).5. Oct. 16, 2003: Aaron Boone's game-winning home run in Game 7 of the ALCS
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A hard-fought American League Championship Series came down to one swing of the bat, and another unlikely hero. After a tired Pedro Martinez blew a 4-0 lead in the eighth inning. Boone, who hit .254 with six homers in half a season with the Yankees, hit the first pitch he saw from knuckleballer Tim Wakefield into the left-field grandstands and ended the series, giving the Yankees their 39th AL pennant.
6. Oct. 14, 1976: Chris Chambliss' home run wins ALCS
In a winner-take-all fifth game of the 1976 ALCS against the Royals, Kansas City rallied for three runs in the eighth to tie the game. Chambliss leading off the ninth, hit Mark Littell's first pitch into the right-field bleachers and gave the Yankees their first pennant in 12 years.7. July 24, 1983: The "pine tar game"
Future Hall of Famer George Brett nailed a two-run home run off another future Hall of Famer, Rich "Goose" Gossage, to give the Royals a 5-4 lead. But Billy Martin had a trick up his sleeve. Citing an obscure rule about pine tar - a sticky substance hitters use to give them better grip on a bat, Martin had Brett called out when it was found that pine tar extended beyond the allowed 18 inches from the handle, and an irate Brett charged from the dugout. After the Royals filed a protest, the home run stood, and Brett's home run counted. They finished the game on the Royals' next trip to New York, and Kansas City won 5-4.8. Oct. 9, 1996: The Jeffrey Maier game
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The Yankees won the World Series in 1996 with a big assist from a 12-year-old boy. In Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles, Jeffrey Maier, seated in the right-field grandstands, reached over the wall and caught a deep fly ball by Derek Jeter in the bottom of the eighth inning. Without Maier, Tony Tarasco would have caught the ball, but umpires still ruled it a home run. A protest was denied, and Maier became an all-time hero among Yankees fans.
9. Oct. 20, 2004: The bloody Sox
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There's got to be one memory the Yankees don't like on this list. The Yankees were poised to end the season of the Red Sox in the ALCS for the second consecutive year, and took a 3-0 series lead. But the Red Sox rallied with four consecutive wins, and none more dramatic than Curt Schilling's win in Game 6, when his injured foot was stitched together in a radical procedure that allowed him to pitch. His white sock soaked by blood, Schilling threw seven strong innings in a 4-2 Red Sox win, and Boston won the pennant the next night, becoming the first team to ever rally from a 3-0 deficit to win a postseason series.
10. April 18, 1923: The House That Ruth Built
Library of Congress
Babe Ruth certainly had a flair for the dramatic. In the third inning of the first game in the ballpark, Ruth hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium history.
Honorable mention: June 13, 1948, Babe Ruth's farewell speech; Aug. 6, 1979, Bobby Murcer's five-RBI game after Thurman Munson's funeral; May 17, 1998, David Wells' perfect game; July 18, 1999, David Cone's perfect game.
