Off the field, equally important events. Two popes celebrated Mass, the Rev. Billy Graham greeted worshippers and Nelson Mandela spoke to thousands.

The Yankees will mark the long goodbye with commemorative baseballs for every home game. They feature a logo of the stadium’s original entrance, and the Yankees will wear a patch with the same emblem on their left sleeves.

Over in Queens, the New York Mets will do a similar thing at Shea Stadium, which opened in 1964 and will close after this season.

The ready-made souvenirs will get put into play at Yankee Stadium on Monday against Toronto and be used through the finale Sept. 21 versus Baltimore. Tickets for that last game are selling for $15,000 and up on StubHub.com.

New Yankees manager Joe Girardi is eager for the final opening day.

“I don’t think you ever know how you’re going to react,” he said Friday. “I think I reacted a lot different when I walked out for the first time at Yankee Stadium than I thought I would. I think I was like, ’Wow, this really awesome.’ As a Midwestern boy, not growing up in that area, you didn’t really understand the greatness of it until you walk in there.”

Properly, Major League Baseball will throw a party at the park with the All-Star game in July. And perhaps the last game won’t be on grass at all, but ice instead. The NHL wants to play there outdoors on New Year’s Day.

Yet baseball will forever be its unmistakable signature.

Late-inning comebacks. Wide-eyed rookies. Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York.”

Roger Maris’ 61st home run, Tom Seaver earning his 300th win on Phil Rizzuto Day. Casey Stengel’s inside-the-park homer in the 1923 Series, the first one the Yankees won. The ball the Mick nearly hit completely out of the stadium — no one has ever done it, but outfielder Jesse Barfield once got upset and lobbed a ball onto the subway tracks.

“There are so many great things about Yankee Stadium. The history, the nostalgia,” said David Cone, who pitched a perfect game on that mound. “To me, it was the fans. They anticipated the flow better than anyone. Runner on second base, no out, they’re already anticipating moving him over.”

To Yogi Berra, his teammates made the park special. Remember this: When he showed up as a stubby catcher in 1946, many of the monuments were still alive.

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