Sacred Grounds

Toward the end of his legendary playing career with the Yankees, Yogi Berra got up from behind the plate and played left field, to save his knees from all the squatting a catcher has to do. 

And so it was that Yogi was in left for the Yankees in game 7 of the 1960 World Series, and it was his sad task to watch the winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning sail over his head and into the history books. That leadoff homer was hit by Pittsburgh Pirate third baseman Bill Mazeroski, who died last week at 89.

They saved a portion of the outfield wall in Pittsburgh as a memorial to that 1960 team. It's not in the original location where Forbes Field once stood, rather, it has stood, restored and placed on the Riverwalk outside of PNC Park since 2009 to honor that 1960 championship.

If those bricks could talk

I'm all for celebrating the past like this. Sparks Elementary School in northern Baltimore County burned down in 1995 (irony noted) and the school board kept the old threshold in place, even though the school was rebuilt several miles away on Belfast Rd.

The County also kept historic old entrances intact at Martin Boulevard Elementary School and Essex Elementary down on the east side after big fires. I can't say for sure if those entryways are intact; I don't get down that way anymore, to be honest. Someone will know!

And, on the site of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, the YMCA has offices and a multipurpose athletic field on the sacred ground once trod by Johnny Unitas and Brooks Robinson. In fact, home plate there is the exact location as the old ballpark had it.

I think it's very cool when we can honor the past without paving it over.