Yankees fans, despite their reputation for bravado, seemingly understand the game and its nuances as well as anyone.
"There is something deeply affecting about pitching in Yankee Stadium for the Yankees," said former Yankees left-hander Jim Abbott, who pitched a no-hitter there in 1993. "It's not the most comfortable environment. Everything is magnified. The highs are great, the lows are terrible, and that's the way it is."
Yankee Stadium has had its share of tragic moments, from the chilling tributes to Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth before their impending deaths to the day after catcher Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash to the weeks and year after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Coincidentally, the Orioles were the second visitors to play at Yankee Stadium after the attacks and were also there for the one-year anniversary and the first game after Munson died.
"It was a very different mood that night. Very sad game," Singleton said of Aug. 3, 1979. "I was sitting in my locker that night, thinking, 'If the Yankees are going to win one game from us, let this be the one.' "
Now, the Orioles will be present again when the Yankees close the park with an evening of festivities.
"At the time, I think you're probably more wrapped up in the moment and your job you have to do," Trembley said. "I don't think you really have ample opportunity to do it justice by reflecting on it then. I think in the winter, over a nice cup of coffee, I'll think about it and go, 'Gosh, that was pretty neat.' "
The Yankees aren't revealing specifics of the pre-game ceremony, but many of the club's greats have been invited back and are expected to take their old positions on the field.
Once the celebration is over, Yankees officials will make sure that tangible parts of the club's history will be moved across the street. Monument Park, the in-stadium collection of plaques and retired numbers, will be relocated from beyond left field to beyond center in the new park.
The new building's limestone exterior will replicate the original Yankee Stadium. And a replica of the trademark copper frieze - or facade - that once famously ringed the upper deck will again be prominent in the new building.
It's billed as a modern version of the "House That Ruth Built," the most legendary of all American sports arenas.
Yet what can't be replaced or relocated are all the memories created there.
