On this day 15 years ago the Yankees were forced to play a home game across the river at Shea Stadium, two days after a 500-pound concrete and steel beam fell from beneath the upper deck. The beam obliterated a seat and left a 6-inch deep hole in the concrete floor. Thankfully, the Stadium was vacant at the time of the accident. Yankee Stadium, just 5 days shy of its 75th birthday was closed until a full inspection of its structural integrity could be performed. Pitcher David Wells was quoted by the Associated Press on the incident: “It is sad. You don’t want to see that happen like that. It’s an old stadium.”
The change of venue to the home of their cross-city rival did nothing to stop the Yankee juggernaut that would go on to win 114 regular season games in ’98 along with the World Series. Wells allowed just 3 runs on 4 hits, including 3 solo home runs, in 8 innings of work before giving way to Jeff Nelson who picked up the save.
Paul O’Neill paced an offense that rapped out 13 hits, going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple. Darryl Strawberry collected 3 hits as well, including a 5th inning bomb off of Omar Olivares, in helping to lead the Yanks to the 6-3 win.
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