Jorge Posada and fellow Puerto Rican Sonia Sotomayor,
at the new Yankee Stadium in 2009,
after her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court
April 2, 1995, 30 years ago: A federal judge grants an injunction against Major League Baseball, preventing its team owners from unilaterally implementing a new collective bargaining agreement and using replacement players. This ends the Strike of '94. MLB and the Players Association reach an agreement that will start the new season on April 25.
The Judge was a 40-year-old Yankee Fan from The Bronx. I was so grateful to her for giving me back my baseball, I was willing to marry her. (Give me a break: She was very attractive back then.) At the very least, I wanted her on the Supreme Court of the United States.
The former, obviously, didn't happen. The latter did, in 2009. Her name was Sonia Sotomayor.
The next day, April 3, I went into New York, took the Subway up to Yankee Stadium, and bought a ticket for Opening Day. Main Level Reserved, Section 2, right behind home plate. $24. (About twice that in today's money.) The gates were open -- security was different in those pre-9/11 days. And I was able to walk to my seat, and just sat there for about 15 minutes, taking it all in.
Walking out, I saw a section of the outer wall's plaster displaced. I picked up a 2-by-3-inch piece, and took it home. To this day, I have a piece of the old Yankee Stadium, even if it probably dated, at most, only to the 1973-76 renovation. There was also some graffiti on the wall. When Opening Day came on April 26, the plaster was repaired, the graffiti was painted over, both looked like there had never been anything wrong, and the Yankees won.
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