The time Yankee Stadium showed up in the pages of Green Lantern

Here we are again. It seems like somehow the world of baseball always seems to find its way into the world of comic books. As a big comic book fan, I have previously looked at the time Superman saved "Yankee Stadium" from "Godzilla," and there was also that time Nightwing went on a date to the Bronx. It didn't stop there, though, because there was that one time that the Green Lanterns went on a trip to Yankee Stadium in the pages of Green Lantern: Rebirth.

If you don't know anything about comic books, or Green Lantern, let me give you a little introduction. The Green Lantern Corps is a police force in space that protects the known universe with help from their power rings. Hal Jordan was once the star of the comics and the best lantern of them all until the 1990's when DC Comics decided to do something different. They destroyed the Corps and turned Hal evil in order to usher in a new generation of stories by making Kyle Rayner the last Green Lantern. Eventually, Hal Jordan died and wound up as God's spirit of vengeance known as The Spectre (comics, amirite?) in an attempt to redeem himself.

In 2004, Green Lantern: Rebirth was the company's way of bringing Green Lantern comics back to their roots by bringing Hal Jordan back from the dead and completely revitalizing the stories. The book was a huge success with this storyline continuing to this day. And it all started at Yankee Stadium:

In the first few pages of the first issue we see long-time Green Lanterns John Stewart and Guy Gardner flying to Yankee Stadium in order to make it in time for a game. Despite the fact that they can fly, they seem to be running late, which put them ahead of their time before the Yankee Stadium III crowd came about. Looking at the old Yankee Stadium is weird–it's a pretty accurate depiction from up there. You can see the facade in the outfield, and there appears to be an accurate depiction of the moved-in left field fence, but the Stadium hadn't had dirt paths to the dugouts in about ten years by this point.

Even though they can fly, they're not above landing in the parking lot to enter like any other normal fans. You can see some interior shots as the two walk and talk on their way to the game. They even have some great tickets!

Ok, so at one point Guy Gardner stops being a Green Lantern and becomes some weird alien hybrid superhero, but that's all about to end over the course of this story. I just find it funny that they are using their superpowers in the middle of Yankee Stadium and no one notices a thing. That had to be a pretty busy corridor, but no one says 'oh look, a member of the Justice League.'

They get settled in their seats and are finally joined by their dead friend Hal Jordan, who is literally a ghost now. Despite the fact that they only have two tickets, Hal is easily able to sit right next to them without any trouble. I guess even the old Yankee Stadium had trouble filling in the seats behind home plate too.

Apparently there's a team called the Coast City Angels in this universe, but I have no idea if that's supposed to be the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, or a minor league team, or what. In the DC Comics universe Coast City was blown up and everyone died, leading Hal to go crazy and evil, so either the team was out of town at the time, or they no longer exist.

Instead of being able to enjoy a nice game of baseball, Hal realized he can't hang out anymore because God's spirit of vengeance that lives inside him is making everyone confess their sins to him. How inconvenient. Can you imagine something like that happening at Yankee Stadium? Also hi, that guy admitting that he cheated on his wife looks just like Joe DiMaggio, doesn't he. I'm a little confused about where they are now, because apparently they are sitting behind the dugout in the bottom shot.

It's hard to tell when this would have taken place. The issue was released in December of 2004, but given the lead time in comics, writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver had likely been creating this book through the teams ill-fated season that year (which obviously never happened). After this scene, things got crazy, but Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns would return to their former glory and go on to save the world, while the Yankees finished the 2005 season with a 95-67 record to take the AL East division title. Too bad they ended up losing to the Angels in the ALDS that year. I guess we know who had the better year.