The New York Yankees ushered in a new era of baseball when they opened a new stadium in mid-April 2009. Having started the season with nine consecutive road games, a trip home was needed, even if that home felt unfamiliar. Nearly 15 years ago to the day, the Yankees welcomed Cleveland to the Bronx for a weekend series in their new park. And in storybook fashion, the first game at the new stadium…

… the Yankees got walloped, 10-2. Outside of Jorge Posada belting the first homer off future World Series nemesis Cliff Lee, very little went right for the team on the field.

Quickly brushing past that revelation, the Yankees secured their first win in the new stadium the following day, April 17th. Nearing the anniversary of that win, and with a series against the Guardians this weekend, I wanted to look back at that game and relive some old memories.

I distinctly remember the Yankees playing an exhibition game against the Cubs before the season as a test run for the new ballpark. On a drizzly night, it felt bizarre watching the Yankees in a new stadium—one that has become so familiar in the 15 years since. This might be just a sensation unique to my own fan experience, but it is amazing how quickly your memory of the old stadium fades as new memories are created in the new one. Now, watching highlights from the original Yankee Stadium can feel archaic at times (though still fondly remembered).

When Cleveland came to town and handed the Yankees that home opener loss in convincing fashion, a response felt necessary. Joba Chamberlain didn’t do them any favors though. The Yankees starter labored through 4.2 innings, giving up five runs while walking five batters. He threw less than half of his pitches for strikes.

Luckily for Joba, the fans weren’t the only ones getting acclimated to the new seating in Yankee Stadium. It was a porch party for Johnny Damon, who tied the game in the third with a solo homer. Mark Teixeira would join the fun in the third inning, this time with a no-doubter that scraped the second deck in right field. Cleveland continued handing out solo shots like cracker jacks, with Melky Cabrera also sending a bullet to right field to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the fourth.

Cleveland continued to work Joba in the 5th inning, who would leave the game with the Yankees down 5-3. The team continued to pick up Chamberlain on this day, as the bullpen threw 4.1 shutout innings the rest of the way.

The Yankees were not done with their solo spree, as Robinson Canó cut the lead to 5-4 with a shot of his own. There is always a warning before Yankee’s games about being aware of batted balls that may enter the stands. I hope the fans sitting in right field got the memo that day. Amongst a sea of home runs was a critical play in the seventh for the Yankees. After a Damon walk to lead off the inning, relief pitcher Vinnie Chulk threw a comebacker wide of first base, allowing Damon to score and the Yankees to tie the game. Brian Bruney came on in the eighth for the Yankees and pitched a scoreless frame. He would ultimately earn the win, and a trivia question was born.

I know the transition to a new stadium was difficult for some fans. It felt like a moment needed to happen to bridge the gap between the old and the new—to allow the ghosts to cross the street. There was no better player to do that than Derek Jeter. The man who closed the old stadium was tasked with opening the new one. In the bottom of the eighth, Jeter took a 3-1 pitch to right field—with the type of swing that came to define his career—sending a ball into the right field stands and giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

With a career defined by championships, small moments like this one may get lost in the sea of bigger ones, but it is important to remember them.

Mariano Rivera would come on in the ninth to seal the game.

It was a fitting end to the first win at the new Yankee Stadium. We didn’t know it at the time, but just as the 1923 Yankees opened The House That Ruth Built with a championship in its first season, these special 2009 Yankees would do the same across the street, 201 days later with The Sandman back on the mound.