Carlos' Corner: Ready for 'ghosts'
Peña looking forward to first trip to Yankee Stadium
By Carlos Peña / Special to MLB.com

Carlos Peña, a 23-year-old rookie heralded as one of the top
prospects in the game, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason
in a six-player trade with Texas. He's the A's starting first
baseman, and he's providing for MLB.com an exclusive daily diary for
the 2002 season.

Before Sunday's game against the White Sox, Peña looked forward to
Oakland's three-game series in New York and hit first-ever trip to
Yankee Stadium.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Today is the last game of our first long homestand
of the year, and the next stop is New York City. Yankee Stadium. I
can't wait.

A lot of people have asked me how I feel about going there because
it's going to be my first time, but I have a hard time answering. I
don't know how I can feel anything other than curiosity. I have no
idea what to expect other than what I've read and seen on TV, so all
I really know for sure is that it's going to be very special.

I've read a lot about the Yankees -- even when I was a young -- so I
know quite a bit about the team and the stadium. But until you'd
actually been there, you probably don't know anything about it. You
have to feel it to soak in the full experience

Think about it. The greatest players and the greatest team in the
history of baseball have played at Yankee Stadium, have worn those
pinstriped uniforms. There's so much history, so much tradition, so
much energy, so many ghosts.

And now I'll get to play in that stadium, against guys in those
uniforms, feeling that energy and those ghosts. Of course I'm looking
forward to it. What young baseball player wouldn't be?

Carlos Peña's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the
Oakland A's for MLB.com.