Eight Days From the End: A Game-Used First Base From Yankee Stadium, September 13, 2008

By mid-September 2008, the clock was ticking on the original Yankee Stadium. The ballpark that opened in 1923 and became known as "The House That Ruth Built" had only a handful of home dates left, and a rain-delayed doubleheader on Saturday, September 13 meant more baseball than expected. The Rays and Yankees played the makeup of a game rained out the day before, drawing 54,088 fans for the first game, which Tampa Bay won 7-1. James Shields earned the win for a Rays team that stood at 88-57, and Mike Mussina took the loss. Tampa Bay was in the midst of a breakout season that would put them in the postseason for the first time in franchise history. The Yankees, 77-70 that afternoon, were headed toward missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Mussina, meanwhile, went on to win 20 games for the first time that season and retired after it.

This game-used first base comes from that final month in the Bronx, a stretch when every game was part of a farewell and fans filled the stands to say goodbye to a ballpark that had hosted Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and generations of Yankees. The last game at the stadium took place just eight days later, on September 21. Bases are among the most appealing pieces of stadium history because they were part of nearly every play on the field. A first base from September 2008 was on the field for the final weeks of one of the most famous sports venues in the world.