CAPITAL REGION — Zachary Whitmore will always remember Yankee Stadium.

The 7-year-old baseball fan from Averill Park stood in the right field stands on May 24, watching batting practice before the New York Yankees’ game against the Seattle Mariners.

“Robinson Cano hit a shot that hit the wall,” said Zachary’s father, Scott Whitmore. “He tried to catch it but missed it. He kind of looked at me, and I said, ‘That’s okay, buddy.’ ”

The ball fell to the field. That’s when fate — and pitcher Chien-Ming Wang — intervened.

“Wang grabbed the ball, pointed to Zach and threw it to him,” Whitmore said. “He caught it, and if you saw his face ... tears came to my eyes. It was an awesome moment.”

Yankee Stadium is running out of awesome moments. The fabled “House That Ruth Built” will host its last nine innings tonight. The game against the Baltimore Orioles, scheduled for 8 p.m., will be broadcast nationally on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Whitmore, Randy Kelly of Castleton and Joe DiBella of East Greenbush will be among Capital Region Yankee fans in the stands to pay last respects. With the Yankees out of the American League’s division and wild card races as the regular season winds down, there will be no October playoff games at the stadium for the first time since 1994.

Whitmore will board one of two Yankee Trails buses that will leave the Capital Region around 3 p.m. A total of 110 people have paid $139 for tickets and transportation to the Bronx.

Being there

Steve Tobin, president of Rensselaer’s Yankee Trails, said he’s sent about 100 buses to the stadium this season. That’s about double the normal business.

“Everybody that has never been there says they’ve got to give it a try this year,” said Tobin, who has not seen as much local interest for expeditions to Flushing’s Shea Stadium. The home of the New York Mets also will close after the season.

Tobin believes a seat near, above or beyond the field is better than watching at home.

“It’s the action, it’s the smell, it’s the environment, it’s the high-five after the game,” he said. “You can’t beat it.”

Whitmore understands all four. He also understands the coming change in venue.

“It’s the closing of a book for most people but kind of a new start for the younger generation, because they’re going into a new stadium,” said Whitmore, 37, an insurance claims adjustor for Blue Shield of Northeastern New York.

The new $1.6 billion ballpark is being constructed on parkland adjacent to the current facility. The existing stadium, which opened in 1923 and has occasionally hosted papal appearances, college football games and prize fights, eventually will be demolished and used for parkland.

Whitmore has been to Yankee Stadium about 50 times. Like his son, he will always remember one particular moment in the seats.

It happened Oct. 21, 2001, when the Yankees played the Seattle Mariners in the fourth game of the American League Championship Series. With the scored tied at 1 in the bottom of the ninth, Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer that gave New York a 3-1 win and a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“The roar of the crowd, you can’t describe it unless you’re there,” Whitmore said. “A walk-off home run in a playoff game, the shaking of the stadium, everybody jumping up and down.”

The Yankees won the series, and proceeded to win the pennant, with a victory the next night. The team lost the World Series, lauded as one of the best ever, to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Randy Kelly, 42, also has heard the noise. And like Whitmore, he has taken his family to the Yankees’ headquarters. His wife, Donna, sons Ryan and Jeremy and daughter Alysa have all learned how to root for the home team.

“It’s bittersweet,” Kelly said of tonight’s closing exercises. “You love the stadium, I’ve been there several times, but they’re going to have a new stadium that’s really fan friendly. I’ve been to other stadiums like Camden Yards and all the newer stadiums. I’ve been saying for years the Yankees need a modern stadium.”

Kelly, who builds custom, in-ground swimming pools, has seen about 60 games at the stadium. His first was in 1978, when the Kansas City Royals were in town.

“I still remember walking in behind home plate and everything I saw was blue,” Kelly said. “I was just amazed at how much blue it had.”

Watching the last game — in person — is something Kelly will be able to talk about in coming years.

“I’ve been thinking about it all season long,” he said. “Just to be there, I just think it’s a personal memento, it would be nice to say I was at the very last game there. I think I’ll be on cloud 9 the whole time. I’ll probably take about 600 pictures, just be thinking about all the times I’ve been there.”

He’ll get on the bus with his son Jeremy.

a piece of history

Buses also were part of the plan in 1938, when about 600 local baseball fans traveled to Yankee Stadium. Schenectady’s Laziale Mutual Benefit Society, which celebrated and promoted Italian heritage, organized a summer trip to see countrymen Joe DiMaggio and Frank Crosetti in action against the Detroit Tigers.

Motor coaches left Erie Boulevard at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 17. Some people were up even earlier — a special 5:30 a.m. church service was held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Schenectady Street. The Rev. Anthony S. Spina celebrated Mass without a sermon and skipped the usual Sunday announcements to ensure fans made their connections.

John Ferro had one of the seats for the trip south. He was 14 when his father, George, signed them up for the game. Ferro, now 84, remembers everyone dressed up for their visit to the field in the Bronx — shirts and ties, jackets and hats.

The Laziales had chartered city buses built for stop-and-go traffic; top speed was only 40 mph. The New York State Thruway would not open until the 1950s, so the upstate fans rolled along Route 9 and passed through several small towns during a six-hour trip to the stadium.

Some members of the Laziale contingent received a bonus. Joe Massaroni, Lou DeLegge and Tony Martini, who helped organize the trip, posed for a photo on the field with their pinstriped paisans and presented travel bags to “Joe D” and “The Crow.”

The game has changed in 60 years. Fans are no longer allowed to meet players before games.

distant memories

Joe DiBella doesn’t like other changes. He believes the newer stadiums reflect baseball’s courtship with corporate America.

“I think over the years, it’s changed from a game to a business,” said DiBella, 57, a partner in the DiBella Financial Group in Latham. “The little guy who helped Ruth build Yankee Stadium isn’t as welcome, I don’t think, as he was back then. In the last 10 or 15 years, we’re seeing a change to big business, and although I can understand that to an extent, I don’t have to appreciate it. I like to see the young guy get out there and the older guy get out there and enjoy the pastime.”

Joe Mazzone of Rotterdam, another longtime Yankee fan, remembers watching New York teams in action during the 1940s. He and his late wife, Mary, often were part of the peanut and Cracker Jack crowd.

“You could sit out in the bleachers and still see a good game from the bleachers,” said Mazzone, 85.

Next year, people won’t be able to point to places on the field where favorites like Don Mattingly, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle used to play. “You won’t feel the same when you sit in the new park,” Mazzone said. “All the memories will be gone.”

Dave Palatsky, 48, of Guilderland, will enjoy the last ups on television tonight. He, wife Lisa and sons Joey, 7, and Jason, 8, are all diehard Yankee fans. Dave is the team leader — he’s made five or six trips to the stadium every season for the past 30 years.

“I used to go to opening day and I used to marvel at the way the grass was so manicured and so nice and green,” he said. “When you go to opening day, you know that spring has come and winter is now behind you.”

The boys, budding Little League infielders, know players’ names and positions. Jason remembers watching Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run at the stadium last summer. David can still see the Yankees taking the field just after catcher Thurman Munson died in a plane crash in 1979; the team left home plate empty as the National Anthem played.

Lisa Palatsky grew up in Maine as a Boston Red Sox fan. She converted to the navy blue of New York and appreciates live baseball as family entertainment.

“Most of the fans are conscientious there are little kids in the crowd,” she said. “You get the drunks now and then, but the people are so friendly. They talk to you, they want to talk about the players and the games they’ve seen.”

Dave Palatsky is hoping for one last, glorious box score.

“I’d like to see the game be tied going into the bottom of the eighth inning,” he said. “And then, with two outs, I’d like to see Derek Jeter hit a home run to put the Yankees ahead. And then I’d like to see Mariano [Rivera] pitch a one-two-three ninth. And I’m talking like one-two-three. I don’t want any stress in the ninth.”