I just couldn’t take it anymore!
As a diehard Yankee fan, (My favorite clique on this site) I couldn’t watch another game at New Yankee Stadium, without having a first hand feel for the new billion dollar home of the Bronx Bombers. Having been to all but one MLB stadium, I can watch almost any game on TV and have a real sense for the field, the fans and overall settings. But to me, every 2009 Yankees home game might as well have been played on Mars.
So late Friday night May 1, 2009 I purchased two tickets for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California. The first ticket was of course for me, but the second was for my archrival THE OLD MAN! Yes TOM, fresh off taking in his first Scranton Yankees game on Friday night, had decided to make one of his countless pilgrimages to Voorhees New Jersey. His objective was to annoy the ever-living snot out of me. When I told TOM that I had to take in a Yankee game at the new Stadium, he completely understood my dilemma with very little explanation. He agreed to going to New York, even though he would have rather seen the Mets and Phillies in the city of brotherly love.
Here is a tip for my readers (the one or two of you):
Stub-Hub has a great buyers market within 24 hours of any non-marquee baseball game. Great seats in the upper deck and even parts of the lower deck were being sold for 30, 40 and 50 dollars on Stub Hub at 11:00pm on Friday night. Sellers begin to get desperate. Asking prices for tickets begin to drop down as game time grows loser and loser. And so TOM and I had gotten great seats in the upper deck behind home plate for only 30 dollars.
I found myself feeling like a kid again as we began our drive to the Bronx. I was so excited to see the new home of the Yankees. During the drive, THE OLD MAN was complaining about his sore right shoulder. TOM had been hit by a pitch the night before in Scranton. He had been leaning against the fence behind home plate in-between innings. A warm-up pitch had gotten away from the Yankee starter, and TOM took one to the shoulder. I made a note of TOM’s pain on my scorecard and gave him credit for an official at-bat.
Of course as we hit the George Washington Bridge, traffic slowed our journey to a crawl. The fact that we had slept inn didn’t help. Finally at 12:00, noon we pulled into the old Yankee Stadium parking garage, moments away from entering the new stadium. TOM was fiddling with his Jacket, scorecard and other belongings. I was growing rapidly impatient. Finally we began walking River Avenue, taking in all the familiar sites. Ticket scalpers, homeless beggars, fat-drunken-pinstripe-wearing fans, were all within my line of site. Also in my sights was old Yankee stadium. My old home looked like it has aged 50 years in just 9 months. Of course there has been no up keep on the building. No fresh paint, or minor repairs. In fact, chipped concrete, graffiti, and trash, now serve as hosts to the former cathedral of champions. My heart sank when I saw this. As awful as my thoughts were, I had wished the Stadium was already gone rather then being subjected to its latest fate.
As TOM and I crossed 161st street and stepped onto Babe Ruth plaza, a cluster of fans surrounded us. A crapped feeling began, and would never relinquish throughout the rest of the day. TOM and I entered the new park from the entrance behind home plate. As I walked in from the turnstiles, toward the field, old photos from Yankees past were everywhere. Photos of Ruth and Gerhig were common, representing the tradition of excellence transplanted from across the street. TOM and I viewed the new open concourse on the first base side. The new concourse has been high publicized and very popular.
As a diehard Yankee fan, (My favorite clique on this site) I couldn’t watch another game at New Yankee Stadium, without having a first hand feel for the new billion dollar home of the Bronx Bombers. Having been to all but one MLB stadium, I can watch almost any game on TV and have a real sense for the field, the fans and overall settings. But to me, every 2009 Yankees home game might as well have been played on Mars.
So late Friday night May 1, 2009 I purchased two tickets for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California. The first ticket was of course for me, but the second was for my archrival THE OLD MAN! Yes TOM, fresh off taking in his first Scranton Yankees game on Friday night, had decided to make one of his countless pilgrimages to Voorhees New Jersey. His objective was to annoy the ever-living snot out of me. When I told TOM that I had to take in a Yankee game at the new Stadium, he completely understood my dilemma with very little explanation. He agreed to going to New York, even though he would have rather seen the Mets and Phillies in the city of brotherly love.
Here is a tip for my readers (the one or two of you):
Stub-Hub has a great buyers market within 24 hours of any non-marquee baseball game. Great seats in the upper deck and even parts of the lower deck were being sold for 30, 40 and 50 dollars on Stub Hub at 11:00pm on Friday night. Sellers begin to get desperate. Asking prices for tickets begin to drop down as game time grows loser and loser. And so TOM and I had gotten great seats in the upper deck behind home plate for only 30 dollars.
I found myself feeling like a kid again as we began our drive to the Bronx. I was so excited to see the new home of the Yankees. During the drive, THE OLD MAN was complaining about his sore right shoulder. TOM had been hit by a pitch the night before in Scranton. He had been leaning against the fence behind home plate in-between innings. A warm-up pitch had gotten away from the Yankee starter, and TOM took one to the shoulder. I made a note of TOM’s pain on my scorecard and gave him credit for an official at-bat.
Of course as we hit the George Washington Bridge, traffic slowed our journey to a crawl. The fact that we had slept inn didn’t help. Finally at 12:00, noon we pulled into the old Yankee Stadium parking garage, moments away from entering the new stadium. TOM was fiddling with his Jacket, scorecard and other belongings. I was growing rapidly impatient. Finally we began walking River Avenue, taking in all the familiar sites. Ticket scalpers, homeless beggars, fat-drunken-pinstripe-wearing fans, were all within my line of site. Also in my sights was old Yankee stadium. My old home looked like it has aged 50 years in just 9 months. Of course there has been no up keep on the building. No fresh paint, or minor repairs. In fact, chipped concrete, graffiti, and trash, now serve as hosts to the former cathedral of champions. My heart sank when I saw this. As awful as my thoughts were, I had wished the Stadium was already gone rather then being subjected to its latest fate.
As TOM and I crossed 161st street and stepped onto Babe Ruth plaza, a cluster of fans surrounded us. A crapped feeling began, and would never relinquish throughout the rest of the day. TOM and I entered the new park from the entrance behind home plate. As I walked in from the turnstiles, toward the field, old photos from Yankees past were everywhere. Photos of Ruth and Gerhig were common, representing the tradition of excellence transplanted from across the street. TOM and I viewed the new open concourse on the first base side. The new concourse has been high publicized and very popular.
When we looked out at the field, we noticed that an usher was standing at every asile. If you didn’t posses a ticket to the lower deck, there was no way to get past the usher. Even if you just wanted to check out batting practice, or try to get an autograph, or just check out the view from a seat for a future purchase, you were simply shunned away. This was the case throught the park. There is a strong push by the organization to make sure everyone is sitting in their assigned seat.
I began checking out the concessions. A huge gift shop on the first base side caught my eye. It was over crowed, with over priced, over commercialized merchandise, none of which I was interested in. To appease TOM we did take a look inside after the game. In between the gift shop was a fruit stand and an Art Gallery. I turned to
TOM and said “My mind is made up about this place! No baseball stadium should ever sell fruit or art!”. As we continued to walk the cramped and narrow concourses we found our way to an escalator taking us up. As we arrived at our seats, I reminded TOM that we were just fifteen minutes from game time, and that a fifteen-minute call could save you fifteen percent or more on your car insurance. We immediately began to notice the empty seats in the lower deck, but I also noticed the empty luxury boxes. A topic all of the New York writers have left alone.
I finished my $6.00 hotdog, wrote down the lineups and stood for the national anthem. Then at 1:07 Eastern Standard Time C.C. Sabathia threw the first pitch. It was his first of 119 pitches, and an average outing for the new Yankee ace.
C.C. pitched well, and had great movement on his slider and changeup early in the game. As the game progressed, he struggled, and left the game in the 7thing inning, after squandering a 1-0 lead. Sabathia turned the game over to the Yankees biggest quandary of 2009- the bullpen.
It was where the Yankees lost the game.
It will never show up in the box score, the YES network will never cover it, and no one on the Angels will tell you, but if the Yankee bullpen had simply pitched scoreless baseball in relief of C.C., then the Yankees would have won Saturday’s game. The Yankee bullpen has been god-awful, literally since day one! (Opening Day the Yankee pen gave up four runs in 3 and 2/3rd innings.)
I was completely disgusted watching Albaladejo, Veras, Robertson, fumble all around the pitchers mound, throwing balls that led to walks, and giving up base hits. As the later innings unfolded it became more and more clear the Yankees would not be coming back to win.
I began checking out the concessions. A huge gift shop on the first base side caught my eye. It was over crowed, with over priced, over commercialized merchandise, none of which I was interested in. To appease TOM we did take a look inside after the game. In between the gift shop was a fruit stand and an Art Gallery. I turned to
TOM and said “My mind is made up about this place! No baseball stadium should ever sell fruit or art!”. As we continued to walk the cramped and narrow concourses we found our way to an escalator taking us up. As we arrived at our seats, I reminded TOM that we were just fifteen minutes from game time, and that a fifteen-minute call could save you fifteen percent or more on your car insurance. We immediately began to notice the empty seats in the lower deck, but I also noticed the empty luxury boxes. A topic all of the New York writers have left alone.I finished my $6.00 hotdog, wrote down the lineups and stood for the national anthem. Then at 1:07 Eastern Standard Time C.C. Sabathia threw the first pitch. It was his first of 119 pitches, and an average outing for the new Yankee ace.
C.C. pitched well, and had great movement on his slider and changeup early in the game. As the game progressed, he struggled, and left the game in the 7thing inning, after squandering a 1-0 lead. Sabathia turned the game over to the Yankees biggest quandary of 2009- the bullpen.
It was where the Yankees lost the game.
It will never show up in the box score, the YES network will never cover it, and no one on the Angels will tell you, but if the Yankee bullpen had simply pitched scoreless baseball in relief of C.C., then the Yankees would have won Saturday’s game. The Yankee bullpen has been god-awful, literally since day one! (Opening Day the Yankee pen gave up four runs in 3 and 2/3rd innings.)
I was completely disgusted watching Albaladejo, Veras, Robertson, fumble all around the pitchers mound, throwing balls that led to walks, and giving up base hits. As the later innings unfolded it became more and more clear the Yankees would not be coming back to win.
I left New Yankee Stadium with a complete cluster of thoughts and feelings. There was my aggravation in watching a tough Yankee loss. I had however accomplished my goal. At least now I know what I am looking at when watching a Yankee home game on TV. As for the new Stadium: my vote is not in yet. There is much to hate about the new park. But winning changes everything. Memories are what make a building sentimental. I hope the Yankees are still in the memory making business, and can quickly bring a Championship to the New Yankee Stadium. It would make the new transition a whole lot easier.
