Beginning in 1951, the distinctive baritone voice of public address announcer Bob Sheppard has begun the proceedings with a simple, "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Yankee Stadium." As a former player and manager whose name Sheppard announced frequently, Yogi Berra, used to say, "You can observe a lot by watching." What follows is a collection of events worth observing again.

April 18, 1923: The first game at the Stadium attracts a crowd of 74,200 and is appropriately christened by Babe Ruth with a three-run home run in the third inning of the Yankees' 4-1 victory over the Red Sox.

The final homestand • Yanks prevail as Stadium goes dark • Jeter delivers final address at Stadium • Final Stadium events will stand forever • Reality of finale sets in for Yankees • Stadium leaves night to remember • Bodley: Girardi moved by big night • Yogi enjoys final night at Stadium • Yanks alumni consumed by nostalgia • Generations merge in Stadium sendoff • Babe's daughter throws out first pitch • From Cathedral, new Stadium in sight • Steinbrenner looks on from Florida • Fans soak in Cathedral for one final day • Bernie returns to House That Ruth Built • Stars bask in Stadium's festivities • World has changed since Stadium's opening • Longtime fan a witness to proceedings • Farewell to the Cathedral: Complete coverage Sights and Sounds Yankees fans salute Jeter Pettitte's historic outing Jeter addresses the crowd Hal Bodley on the Stadium Girardi: Cathedral memories Jeter's press conference Berra's press conference Bernie's press conference Girardi's press conference Posada on the Stadium's end Cashman on the finale Pettitte on the atmosphere Finale photo galleries Fans | Players | BP | Game action

July 24, 1923: Benny Leonard wins a 15-round decision over Lou Tendler for the lightweight boxing championship, the first of 30 title bouts at the Stadium.

Oct. 10, 1926: One day after pitching a complete-game victory over the Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series, Grover Cleveland Alexander emerges from the bullpen in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and strikes out Tony Lazzeri. He adds two more shutout innings to preserve a 3-2 St. Louis victory. The Series ends with a rare rock of a play by Babe Ruth, who is thrown out trying to steal second base.

Sept. 30, 1927: With a drive off the Washington Senators' Tom Zachary, Babe Ruth becomes the first player to hit 60 home runs in a season, a record that will stand for 34 years.

Oct. 8, 1927: The first of 16 World Series clinchings at the Stadium (nine by the Yankees) occurs as the Yanks complete a sweep of the Pirates with Earle Combs scoring the winning run on a two-out, bases-loaded wild pitch by Pittsburgh's Johnny Miljus.

Nov. 12, 1928: At halftime of a scoreless game, Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne delivers his famous "Win one for the Gipper!" speech, and the Fighting Irish respond with a 12-6 victory over Army.

June 19, 1936: In a non-title heavyweight bout of current-event significance due to the combatants' nationalities, Germany's Max Schmeling knocks out African-American Joe Louis in the 12th round.

June 22, 1938: Joe Louis, who attained the heavyweight title the previous year, avenges his defeat of two years earlier with a first-round knockout of Schmeling in a cultural defining match between America's "Brown Bomber" and the German slugger hailed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

June 1, 1939: Lou Nova defeats Max Baer in the first televised heavyweight boxing prize fight in the United States.

July 4, 1939: Lou Gehrig, forced into retirement due to ALS, delivers an impromptu, moving speech as he bids farewell to fans with comments such as "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth," and "I may have had a tough break, but I havae an awful lot to live for."

July 11, 1939: In the All-Star Game that coincides with the New York World's Fair, American League manager Joe McCarthy of the Yankees uses six of his own players in the starting lineup. The AL wins, 3-1, with Joe DiMaggio contributing a home run.

May 15, 1941: Joe DiMaggio begins his 56-game hitting streak with a 1-for-4 game in a 13-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Sept. 27, 1946: Tony Zale knocks out native New Yorker Rocky Graziano for the middleweight title in the first of three famous bouts between them.

Nov. 9, 1946: In what many football historians consider the greatest college game ever played, Notre Dame and Army, both undefeated, duel to a scoreless tie and share the national championship, although the Irish are ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Army's last-minute drive is thwarted by Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack, who tackles Heisman Trophy winner Doc Blanchard at the 11-yard line.

Oct. 5, 1947: In a rare display of frustration, Joe DiMaggio kicks the dirt between first and second base after Brooklyn left fielder Al Gionfriddo robs the Clipper of a potential RBI extra-base hit in left-center in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series, won by the Dodgers to even the Series at three games each. The next day, Joe Page pitches five scoreless innings of one-hit relief as the Yankees clinch the first nationally televised Series.

June 13, 1948: Babe Ruth puts on uniform No. 3 for the last time in ceremonies marking the Stadium's silver anniversary.

Aug. 17, 1948: One day after his death at the age of 53, Babe Ruth's body lay in state at the main entrance of the Stadium where more than 100,000 mourners pay respects.

Oct. 5, 1949: A scoreless duel between the Yankees' Allie Reynolds and the Dodgers' Don Newcombe ends when Tommy Henrich leads off the bottom of the ninth with a home run. It is only the second time a World Series game had a homer for its only run. The other also occurred at the Stadium, Game 3 on Oct. 12, 1923, by a Giants center fielder named Casey Stengel.

Oct. 5, 1951: Rookie right fielder Mickey Mantle injures his right knee on a drainage cap in Game 2 of the World Series, the first of a succession of leg injuries in his career.

June 25, 1952: Middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson collapses from heat exhaustion in the 14th round on a night when the temperature hit 104 degrees and loses to light-heavyweight champ Joey Maxim.

Oct. 5, 1953: Billy Martin singles home Hank Bauer from second base for the winning run in a Game 6 triumph over the Dodgers that completes the Yankees' fifth consecutive World Series championship.

Oct. 4, 1955: The Dodgers' only World Series championship representing Brooklyn occurs in the Bronx as Johnny Podres pitches a 2-0, eight-hitter in Game 7 with help from Gil Hodges, who drove in both runs, and Sandy Amoros, whose one-handed grab of a slicing Yogi Berra drive down the left-field line turned a potentially score-tying hit into a double play.

Oct. 8, 1956: Don Larsen pitches a perfect game, the only no-hitter in World Series history, in Game 5 against the Dodgers. Mickey Mantle's fourth-inning home run off Sal Maglie was all the offensive support Larsen needed. In his 97-pitch gem, Larsen went to three balls on only one batter.

Dec. 30, 1956: The football Giants win their first NFL title in 18 years with a 47-7 rout of the Chicago Bears.

Oct. 10, 1957: Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews makes a remarkable stop of a scorching grounder by Moose Skowron with the bases loaded and tags the bag for the final out of the Braves' Game 7 victory in the World Series.

Dec. 28, 1958: Often referred to as "The Greatest Game Ever Played," the Baltimore Colts come from behind to defeat the football Giants, 23-17, for the NFL championship. Steve Myrha's field goal ties the score with seven seconds remaining in regulation, and quarterback Johnny Unitas directs a scoring drive in OT culminating in Alan Ameche's touchdown run.

July 13, 1960: The second of two All-Star Games marks Ted Williams' final appearance, but the day belongs to the National League, which won, 6-0, with home runs from Willie Mays, Eddie Mathews, Ken Boyer and Stan Musial.

Oct. 8, 1960: Second baseman Bobby Richardson drives in six runs, still a World Series record, with a grand slam and a two-run single in a 10-0 Yankees victory over the Pirates in Game 3 of a World Series that Pittsburgh will eventually win in seven games despite being outscored, 55-27.

Oct. 1, 1961: Roger Maris completes a year-long battle with teammate Mickey Mantle for the home run record with his 61st, a solo shot off Red Sox right-hander Tracy Stallard, in the Yankees' 162nd game. Maris is not officially credited with breaking Babe Ruth's mark of 60 home runs in 1927 because Nos. 60 and 61 came after 154 games, which commissioner Ford C. Frick had declared was necessary since that was the length of the schedule before it went to 162 with the American League expansion in 1961.

Oct. 8, 1962: Giants second baseman Chuck Hiller becomes the first National League player to hit a grand slam in a World Series game, in the seventh inning of San Francisco's 7-3 victory in Game 4.

May 22, 1963: Mickey Mantle's game-winning, 11th-inning home run off Kansas City A's right-hander Bill Fischer hits near the top of the 108-foot high facade in right field and caroms back onto the playing field. It is the closest a player has come to hitting a fair ball out of the Stadium.

Oct. 10, 1964: Mickey Mantle hits the first pitch from knuckleballer Barney Schultz for a walk-off home run in Game 3 of the World Series which the Cardinals end up winning in seven games.

Oct. 4, 1965: Pope Paul VI, the first Pontiff to visit the United States, celebrates Mass before a crowd of more than 80,000. Pope John Paul II also said Mass at the Stadium during his U.S. tour in 1979, and Pope Benedict XVI came to the Stadium this April.

Sept. 25, 1966: The smallest crowd in Stadium history (413) watches the last-place Yankees lose to the White Sox, 4-1. Broadcaster Red Barber orders TV cameras to observe the empty seats, which reportedly cost him as his job as the Yankees did not renew his contract.

May 14, 1967: Mickey Mantle hits his 500th career home run, off the Baltimore Orioles' Stu Miller.

April 15, 1976: The renovated Stadium reopens after a two-year overhaul with the Yankees beating the Minnesota Twins, 11-4, in front of a crowd of 52,613.

Sept. 28, 1976: In the last title fight at the Stadium and the only one following the park's renovation, Muhammad Ali defends his heavyweight championship with a unanimous decision over Ken Norton.

Oct. 14, 1976: Chris Chambliss hits a home run off Kansas City's Mark Littell in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding Game 5 of the American League Championship Series to win the Yankees' first pennant in 12 years.

July 19, 1977: Baltimore's Jim Palmer gives up five runs in two-plus innings and the National League goes on to a 7-5 victory in the All-Star Game.

Oct. 18, 1977: Reggie Jackson puts the finishing touches on the Yankees' World Series victory over the Dodgers with three home runs on three pitches from three pitchers -- Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough -- in Game 6.

June 17, 1978: Ron Guidry sets the franchise record for strikeouts that still stands at 18 in a 4-0, four-hitter against the Angels. Guidry improves his record to 11-0 en route to a 25-3 season.

Oct. 13, 1978: Third baseman Graig Nettles puts on a fielding exhibition with four outstanding plays that likely save six runs in a 5-1 Game 3 victory over the Dodgers that starts a Yankees comeback from a 0-2 deficit to win the World Series in six.

Aug. 6, 1979: On the night after returning from the funeral of teammate Thurman Munson, who was killed in a plane crash four days earlier, the Yankees beat the Orioles, 5-4, in a nationally televised game on ABC. Bobby Murcer, who had delivered one of the eulogies that afternoon, drives in all five runs with a three-run home run and a walk-off, two-run single.

Oct. 10, 1980: George Brett hit a three-run homer off Goose Gossage in the seventh inning, to give the Royals a 4-2 victory and a three-game sweep of the AL Championship Series.

July 24 & Aug. 18, 1983: George Brett's two-run home run off Goose Gossage in the ninth inning July 24 gives the Royals a 5-4 lead, but plate umpire Tim McClelland and crew chief Joe Brinkman disallow it in agreement with Yankees manager Billy Martin's claim that the pine tar on Brett's bat is over the limit. American League president Lee MacPhail overrules the umpires' decision, and the game is resumed Aug. 18 from the point of the Brett home run. Martin displays his disgust over the ruling by playing pitcher Ron Guidry in center field and first baseman Don Mattingly at second base as the Yankees go down quietly.

Sept. 30, 1984: In the season finale against Detroit, Don Mattingly goes 4-for-5 to win the batting title over teammate Dave Winfield, who is 1-for-4. Mattingly finishes the season at .343 and Winfield .340.

June 21, 1990: A rally is held at the Stadium in honor of Nelson Mandela after his release from prison following the end of apartheid in South Africa.

Oct. 9, 1996: In Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, Derek Jeter ties the score in the eighth inning with a home run to right field off Armando Benitez that was interfered with by 12-year-old New Jersey schoolboy Jeffrey Maier. Right-field umpire Richie Garcia admits after the game he blew the call. Bernie Williams wins the game in the 11th with a home run off Randy Myers.

Oct. 26, 1996: Joe Girardi's RBI triple highlights a three-run third inning against Atlanta's Greg Maddux as the Yankees complete a six-game World Series triumph, their first title in 18 years.

June 16-18, 1997: The first Interleague series between the Yankees and the Mets creates a buzz within the Stadium unheard of outside of postseason play. Embarrassed after being shut out in the first game by Mets journeyman Dave Mlicki, the Yankees come back to win the next two games to claim the series.

April 13, 1998: A 500-pound extension joint falls from the left-field upper deck during the afternoon when the Stadium is empty, forcing the postponement of two games against the Angels. One is made up two days later at Shea Stadium. The Yankees' 6-3 victory features a home run by former Met Darryl Strawberry.

May 17, 1998: David Wells pitches a perfect game, 4-0, against the Minnesota Twins.

Oct. 17, 1998: The Yankees erase a 5-2 deficit with a seven-run seventh inning on a three-run home run by Chuck Knoblauch and a grand slam by Tino Martinez for a Game 1 victory on the way to a World Series sweep of the San Diego Padres.

July 18, 1999: On a day when the battery of the World Series perfect game of 1956, Don Larsen and Yogi Berra, take part in the ceremonial first pitch, David Cone hurls a perfect game against the Montreal Expos.

July 8, 2000: Chuck Knoblauch's three-run homer highlights a four-run fifth inning as the Yankees go on to a 4-2 victory over the Mets in the second of two cross-borough games on this date. Earlier, the Yankees beat the Mets by the same score at Shea Stadium.

Oct. 21-22, 2000: In the first Subway World Series since 1956, the Yankees take a 2-0 lead over the Mets with an extra-inning victory in Game 1 and withstand a five-run ninth by the Mets in Game 2 to prevail on a night punctuated by Roger Clemens tossing the sawed-off part of a bat in the direction of Mike Piazza.

Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2001: On successive nights, the Yankees strike for two-out, two-run home runs in the ninth inning and win both Games 4 and 5 of the World Series in extras. Diamondbacks reliever Byung-Hyun Kim is victimized both times, by Tino Martinez in Game 4 and Scott Brosius in Game 5. Derek Jeter wins Game 4 with a 10th-inning homer off Kim, and Alfonso Soriano singles home the winning run in the 12th inning of Game 5 off Albie Lopez. Arizona rebounds, however, to win Games 6 and 7 in Phoenix.

Oct. 16, 2003: Aaron Boone's leadoff home run in the 11th inning off the Red Sox's Tim Wakefield wins the pennant for the Yankees. Boone had entered the game in the eighth as a pinch-runner, an inning in which the Yankees came back from a three-run deficit against Pedro Martinez.

July 1, 2004: Derek Jeter suffers a laceration of the cheek and bruised right shoulder diving into the stands for a foul by Boston's Trot Nixon in the 12th inning and is forced out of the game that the Yankees win, 5-4, in the 13th on a hit by John Flaherty.

April 26, 2005: Alex Rodriguez drives in 10 runs with a grand slam, a three-run home run, a two-run homer and an RBI single in a 12-4 victory over the Angels

Aug.4, 2007: Alex Rodriguez hits his 500th career home run, off the Royals' Kyle Davies in the Yankees' 16-8 victory. A-Rod, at 32 years, 8 months, becomes the youngest player to reach the plateau, breaking the previous mark of Jimmie Foxx (32 years, 337 days) when he got to 500 on Sept. 24, 1940.

April 1, 2008: Eighty-five years after Babe Ruth christened Yankee Stadium with a home run, the Yankees kick-start the ballpark's glorious sendoff season with a tight, 3-2 victory over Toronto.

July 14, 2008: Josh Hamilton puts on a show at the State Farm Home Run Derby, smashing a record 28 homers in the first round, only to lose to Justin Morneau in the final.

July 15, 2008: The AL beats the NL, 4-3, in 15 innings, which tied the record for longest All-Star Game ever played.

Sept. 16, 2008: With his 1,270th hit, Derek Jeter passes Lou Gehrig for most hits by a player at Yankee Stadium.