As big as all outdoors

It was a nice ceremony, with all the typical Yankees embellishments. I don't know if anyone else laughed as hard as Madam Cura and I did when Joan Steinbrenner pulled the Yankee banner to unveil the biggest monument in Monument Park.

The 20-minute ceremony was understated, beginning with the introductions of Steinbrenner’s widow, Joan, his four children and immediate family. They piled into four golf carts and followed the entire team, who led them in a procession around the outfield and toward Monument Park. While warming up in the bullpen behind the right-center field fence, Nova took a short break. “I wanted to be part of the moment, too,” he said.

In true Yankees tradition, it was tinged with reconciliation, with Torre’s first visit to either of the Yankee Stadiums since his acrimonious departure from the organization after the 2007 season. It ended with an extravagant touch, with the dedication of the Steinbrenner plaque, which dwarfed the free-standing monuments in Monument Park. The first to be unveiled at the new Yankee Stadium, the plaque celebrates “a true visionary who changed the game of baseball forever.”

Andy Pettitte said: “I didn’t even think about how it would look. And then I saw how big it was, and I was like, ‘that’s probably the way it should be.’ ”

And, as the picture above shows, Mariano Rivera made it all sacred. And added a sweaty save to boot.

Ah, hell. It is the House that George Built, after all.