The milestone home run ball — the first hit in the glistening new Yankee Stadium yesterday — flew off Jorge Posada’s bat and into Monument Park, and into Bomber lore.
PHOTOS: OPENING DAY AT NEW STADIUM
Posada and Angel Nunez, the groundskeeper who recovered the homer in a bed of daisies, said they had no idea of the fifth-inning home run’s significance until told moments later. But now that they know, they can sit back and reflect on a piece of pinstriped history.
“I’m going to remember the home run, no question about it. I’m going to remember a great scene, I’m happy about it. But right now, it’s a little disappointing,” Posada said, his mood muted and his milestone obscured by the Yankees’ 10-2 loss in their first regular-season game at the new Stadium.
“To tell you the truth I got to the dugout and they told it was the first home run in the history of Yankee Stadium. I was too locked into the game,” said Posada, urged into taking a curtain call. “They told me to get out there for the curtain call, and I was very appreciative that the fans were behind me. It felt good, outstanding. It felt good. But a little bittersweet today.”
And how long did Posada think it would take before he can separate the melancholy over the defeat from the historical perspective of his homer, now alongside Babe Ruth who christened the first Yankee Stadium?
“A little bit,” Posada said. “Probably [today].”
Derek Jeter said he knew Posada’s homer was historic.
“He’ll be a trivia question for quite some time,” he said.
Trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning, Posada crushed a hanging changeup from Cliff Lee out to dead center. It bounced off the wall just below the Edward Grant Barrow plaque, caromed back and landed in a patch of flowers.
“I didn’t actually see where it hit. I was looking for it in Monument Park,” said Nunez, 36, who had no idea of the ball’s significance even after bullpen catcher Ramon Hernandez told him to retrieve it. “The fans pointed it out, and helped me out, and I found it.
“I didn’t know it was the first home run. One of the guys from the bullpen told me to get that ball. I figured it was a milestone home run like a 200th home run or something like that. On my way over security tells me you’ve got to give me that ball, tells me it’s the first home run in Yankee Stadium.”
Nunez, a Manhattanite who has tended the grounds for four years, handed Posada’s milestone shot over to be authenticated, saying “My first reaction was like wow. I hope they know I was the first guy [to grab it].”