New York Day-Night Doubleheader

It was late August 2001 and I was taking my new girlfriend to meet my parents for the first time. I was living in Massachusetts and my parents were in South Jersey. Since New York City is pretty much on the route, I checked to see if we could catch a Mets or Yankees game on the way. When I saw that they would both be playing at home on Thursday I saw a unique opportunity to make it a doubleheader. I’m not sure how I convinced my girlfriend to spend 6 hours in the car and another 6 hours at baseball games en route to meeting my parents, but she agreed.

We drove about three hours to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play the Blue Jays at 1:05. We had seats out in the Right Field Bleachers, the sun was out, and the game went 11 innings. The Yankees won it on a Bernie Williams walk-off sacrifice fly (thanks ESPN). We hopped in the car and drove across town to Shea Stadium to see the Phillies take on the Mets at 7:10. The setting sun and more comfortable seats behind home plate (a couple levels up) made for a more pleasant game two experience for my girlfriend. Unfortunately, the Phillies lost 6-2; thanks again to ESPN for the recap. Then it was another two hour drive to my parents house where we arrived just before midnight. In retrospect it seems like a pretty crazy plan, but it all worked out…the girlfriend is now my wife.