Another problem at the new Stadium
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- April
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The old Stadium had a walkway alongside the top of the right-field wall so fans could not easily lean over and interfere with play. After the Jeffrey Maier incident, the Yankees always had security there to keep the fans back.
Why wasn’t the new Stadium planned out the same way? What we saw today in the seventh inning is going to happen time after time as fans reach over the wall.
Michael Kay talked about it today during the YES telecast and he was exactly right. The Yankees caught a break today but that just as easily could have been fan interference.
Construction workers are going to be busy at the Stadium again over the winter. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed.
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Matt, a reader, pointed this out to me. The original plans for the new Stadim including a rendering of Monument Park that had it in a nice, open area, not in Monument Cave like it is now.
Check out this link, go to the fourth image on the slideshow.
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on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 7:15 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
I guess it’s like having a house built, only obviously on a much grander scale. My builder told me that when we were finished I would think of things I wish I had done differently and that it always happens with new construction. Sho nuff he was right.
Just looked at weather.com I don’t see anyway tomorrow nights game gets played. Rain predicted for the entire day and night.
The renderings also show the Legend seats full.
Just like the 2009 Yankees, the stadium is a disaster.
If you look two or three pictures later, it shows another shot of the inside of the park with Monument Park covered underneath the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar.
Sorry to go off topic, but is anyone getting a virus warning when visiting this site? Just happened to me today…
They should take those partial view seats on both sides of the restaurant, level them and turn that into monument park. The way I see it, those obstructed view seats aren’t worth even $5. They should also get rid of the legend suits. It’s not egalitarian, it’s frankly un-american. I am disappointed that when I now go to the stadium I just feel poor. It’s like I’ve been pushed into steerage on the Titanic. Also, since the tiers are so far from the field the sound of the crowd is less, not too mention that those sitting closest to the field are just super rich, and certainly not fans that will yell scream and heckle. As a result, home field advantage is no longer what it used to be.
I can’t imagine that this stadium will last as long as the last one did. In order to fix it, I’m afraid that they are going to have to get rid of a bunch of seats and move the right field wall back about 10-15 feet. They are also going to have to put a concourse in there.
You heard it here first: The Yankees will never win a world series in this stadium. Call it the” curse of the house that ruth built.”
So apparently Joe Girardi answered my question on the Joe Girardi show, but I missed it…now I have to catch a replay!
Not an issue. Are there not alot of stadiums that have the fans right there beyond the OF wall? I’ve never seen a new stadium under the such scrutiny as this one. I understand it’s the Yankees they spent alot of money, but from the food to the price of tix to the hitters eye to the net and wires behind homeplate to the fans being to close to the OF wall to monument park to the empty seats to the ball jumping out to the out of town scoreboards to the obsructed view seats, etc., etc., etc. Uggggggghhhhhhhh.
I love the Yankees and I love baseball and have all my life. I could care less about all this other crap.
I’m watching the story of “Joseph the Rat Valachi” on Mobsters. You know, all of a sudden it seems that all of the problems at the Stadium really aren’t that big a deal after all!
Nothing like perspective.
Well, Pavano could certainly afford a down payment to buy the Yankees.
which question was it, Rebecca?
Betsy: The really stupid one about the bullpen
I asked it via Twitter because I had been po’d at the moment, but I hadn’t really been that serious about it…
Have the Yankees been more than 1 game over .500 at any point in the young season?
I just read that if every series the yankees play at home has a similar home rate over 81 games there would be 461 home runs. By contrast last year, U.S cellular field, which led the majors had 228! They are definitely going to have the move the wall back, or at least figure out why the ball is just jumping out of the park. I mean what we have seen is absolutely ridiculous and it’s just not yankee baseball, and it is certainly not major league baseball either.
m: No.
0-2 vs bal
3-2 bal and two KC
3-3 One KC
3-4 One Tampa
4-4 Two Tampa
5-4 Three Tampa
5-5 One Cle
6-5 Two Cle
6-6 Three Cle
7-6 Four Cle
Whew! I am FINALLY HOME. I sat on the Belt Parkway adjacent to JFK for about an hour. Lovely.
ANYWAY –
First, GB7 – I saw your response to my noon post about Wang being in denial. Of course, it was a knee-jerk reaction by me. I think you are more correct – the person most involved and closest to the problem has the most trouble seeing the problem. Also, on reflection (yes, I think about these things WAAAAY too much
), I think perhaps he is not “feeling” the difference.
I was able to see the score at lunch – 3 to 1 Indians – and simply sighed. I kinda figured Pavano would have a good game against the Yankees – after all, they did pay for his rehab. But in the car I finally got a sports report and was glad to hear the much happier news that the Yankees prevailed in spite of Pavano. My husband filled me in on the details and I am very happy that Albaladejo did well. I was so impressed with him last season and was disappointed when he was injured. I think he will be a key part of the pen this season.
So, a split. I’ll take it!
I would like to take this opportunity to just say that the discussion that many of the regulars had last night about Wang was one of the best we’ve had here since I’ve been posting. I would like to thank all of you who were here for that – although I questioned my sanity for staying up to 1 a.m. because of CMW.
Now, is there anything about Nady yet???
I don’t remember all the questions asked or whether there were multiple questions about the bullpen, but if yours was the one about long relief, I thought it was one of the best questions asked, one that was screaming to be asked, and one with which I was extremely pleased with the answer.
They won’t win a World Series in the new stadium because they yanks will always be a lazy fly ball home-run away from losing or winning. The game will be much more about luck than about actually dominating.
How about “the launching pad” as a nick-name.
when will the game be postponed to if it gets cancelled tomorrow ? please answer me
The biggest problem is that many of the hard core fans are in the upper deck so the noise that they create cannot be heard on the field. This problem is due to the overpriced, empty seats on the field. The Yankees should do a price cut at least in time for the next homestand. It’s kind of lame having those seats empty and having the park so quiet.
Trisha: It was the first question asked.
I believe it was “are you concerned about the bullpen’s inability to stop the bleeding in close losses?”
Again, like I said, I was PO’d.
Yeah upstairs we were trying to get chants started but they died pretty quickly.
It also doesn’t help that YS suddenly became a launching park. Everytime a ball is hit to left or right we are holding our breaths hoping it doesn’t leave the park.
trisha -
We have had new construction several times in my marriage. I love new, but it is true you don’t know your house for several months, and many a neighbor has bonded over the things that went wrong.
It’s all in how you look at things. We’ve never fretted about the stuff that wasn’t perfect. You fix it, you move on.
And as much thought and planning as you put into a new house, you find yourself months, or even years, after moving in, saying things like, “If I had it to do over, I’d (fill in the blank),” because you never know a home until you live there. It can be gorgeous and look perfect, and yet, things like the flow of one room into another – the true traffic patterns of your family – can’t be known until you’re living there.
I am sure that the things the Yankees can fix during this season, they will. The things that are more complex will wait for a more opportune time.
And I have a strong feeling there will be something done about the pricing and distribution of seating. Every nationally televised game that shows the prime seats empty is an embarrassment that the Yankees will surely want to get rid of. The Yankees may be about money (and theoretically I have no problem with that), but they are also about image.
Rebecca -
You had a question on the Joe Girardi show?????
They will have to cut the prices in the lower level at least by half. But you have to wonder what they will do to make up for the lost money.
I don’t know how they thought they would have been able to sell 2600 tickets even in a good economy!
They should move the rf wall back about 10-15, and raise the wall by about 2 feet or so. That way the stadium will stop being a launching pad. Sadly that would get rid of around 1000 seats or so. However, this is absolutely needed. Otherwise, this stadium will be one of the worst to play baseball in. It will also make it very hard to attract pitching talent.
I think the price discrepancy is too large. However, there will always be “better” seats and “better” hotel rooms and first class in airplanes for those able to pay. It’s folly to get upset over that. But I think the Yankees allotted far too many “better” seats at far too high a price. My 2 cents worth.
Question I parked in one of the new garages near the stadium. Can you take Sedgwick Drive (runs along side the Deegan) and get to the GW?
That was your question, Rebecca?
Cool! I’m in NJ currently so I have been able to watch YES quite a bit the last few days and tuned in to catch my first ever Joe Girardi show this evening.
You might have been PO’ed when you sent it, but I think it was an excellent question to ask.
Doreen: Apparently. I was at a funeral and shiva call so I didn’t see it (I don’t normally watch the show, either!)
It’s airing again at 10…I asked via Twitter, so my name is FireroseArien on Twitter.
Apparently Michael Kay can’t pronounce Fire Rose Arien, but then again that’s what I get by using my fantasy geek alias for my Twitter account…
Rob- When they showed video from 96, than today it showed how much shorter the wall is.
I also thought that Swish purposely hung over the wall in right to demonstrate how much shorter the wall is. When have you ever seen a player get up that high on the rf wall?
I will watch tonight for it, Rebecca.
Joe – yea my virus blocker pops up every time I refresh the web site..
what will happen if the game is cancelled tomorrow
Are the dyamics of fly balls really so unpredicable? It’s not like they moved the Stadium into the Rocky Mountains.
Statistically, I still think this is too small a sample size to make accurate projections. Is there any other data to look at — prevailing winds, humidity, air current brought on by angry Yankee ghosts looking for home…?
Zooboy: Nothing in the weather would do this. IT’s not exceptionally humid. A little warm for April, but nothing that’s never been seen before and if the fire warnings are any indication, certainly not humid.
When it’s humid the ball doesn’t travel as well as when it’s dry. However, it’s not been that warm. I imagine that in July there will be about 3 to 4 home runs per game. I really think they could do a couple things to fix the stadium. Mainly:
1. move the rf wall back 10-15 feet and raise the wall by a good 2 feet.
2. tear down the restaurant in centerfield, or get rid of the partial view bleachers.
3. make the legends suit just behind the plate, and open up the seats behind the dugout etc. so as you don’t have to be a ceo to see the game.
Sadly the feature that I loved the most about the old stadium: how close the tiers were, can’t be fixed.
Hopefully they can fix the stadium to keep it from being a launching pad. I know people say it’s too small a smaple size, but seriously home runs are being hit even when the hitters are hitting the ball of the end of the bat. It’s just sad. It makes me sad that the yankees now have the only the second best stadium to play baseball in NYC.
What pitcher free agent will want to pitch for the Yankees now.
Lola
It is hard to say they may reschedule for Thursday (day off)
“Matt, a reader, pointed this out to me. The original plans for the new Stadim including a rendering of Monument Park that had it in a nice, open area, not in Monument Cave like it is now.”
This is what annoys me most about the new Stadium. It should not be dwarfed and literally in the shadows of a huge restaurant. The Yankee brand is worth something and doing this is very upsetting.
Ideally, the Yanks would level the restaurant, expand Monument Park in Center, the obstructed view seats would disappear, and there could be a dark blue or ivy covered walll in Cenetr for a hitter’s background.
Alternatively, if the Yankees insist on the restaurant, how about closing the Bleacher cafe, moving Monument Park up there above the Restaurant andleaving it open all game for the fans.
Zooboy, I agree with Rebecca. The only thing in your list that is a possibility is the angry ghosts!
I’d like nothing more than to say in a few months that I was a total idiot to think it was the aerodynamics in the new Stadium – but when you have a player expressing surprise because what he thought was a slap single ended up going out of the park, and it wasn’t a terribly windy day, I have to think you have a real problem going on.
Drat.
The biggest competative advantage a team can have is pitching, particularly starting pitching. If the new Stadium renders that a crap shoot for both teams, the Yanks have really shot themselves in the foot.
Rebecca – LOVE your twitter name!
The CW has been that the Yankees merely needed to tread water until A-Rod gets back, and so far they have been doing that.
I’m pretty psyched about this team’s ability to come back late in games despite fielding the worst Yankee lineup that I can remember.
It if possible for them to close off the open concourses?
Is it possible
Trisha: Thanks, though I have to say, unless you’re a Tolkien fan you won’t fully understand part of it.
why is the site tripping my virus blocker?
Since they both have a mutual off day, than they should decide early to cancel it. Right now the weather does not look good at all.
Although this would now throw a wrench in skipping Wang.
People need to stop obsessing and complaining about how the ballpark is playing. It’s as much bad pitching as anything else. another thing….wait to see what happens when the old stadium comes down to see what the wind currents are like.
They may decide to close in the back walls of the stadium to change the currents. They may close off the two openings between the grand stands and the video screen. It could take a year before they get things worked out, but, if the park is playing unfairly, in comparison the the old park, they’ll cjange it.
Has everyone gotten away from the bridge now?
The truth is we’re in 2nd, ahead of the BoSox and Rays. We’ve showed a good late inning punch and have scored less than four runs a total of one time.
By the way, about NYS-sounds like overall it’s a great ballpark with some minor adjustments that have to be made.
“Zooboy
April 19th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
The biggest competative advantage a team can have is pitching, particularly starting pitching. If the new Stadium renders that a crap shoot for both teams, the Yanks have really shot themselves in the foot.”
You couldn’t say it any better than that. It really is the truth. Can they move the wall back next year? I like YankeeJosh’s suggestions too: you know, leveling the restaurant in center field.
There’s an excellent chance this jet stream thing is a myth caused by bad pitching. That’s what I think.
GB7 — totally agree. Something does not seem right when balls are flying out off the end of the bat, etc., but I am still not convinced its not random and that things will settle down. Like a long season, the true story will unfold in due time, IMO.
C’mon now.
I’m sure there will be plenty of tweaks made over the next several weeks, months, and even years to adapt to the players.
But if you think they are simply going to tear down the bar in center field as Rob suggested then you have another thing coming.
That’s not going to happen.
Besides, before they decide to move the walls back and make major changes to the outfield walls – they are going to make sure that’s what they want to do until all other options are explored.
The big one is waiting until the old Stadium is torn down because we have no idea how the winds will be affected by that. They could also cover up the open walls under the facade to close any wind from howling through those areas.
This isn’t going to be a quick fix and they need to play a lot more than a half dozen games before they start making any major changes to a ballpark they just spent $1.5 billion dollars building.
It might take at least a full season before we have any idea just how the ball carries in that place.
Rob-Not necessarily. The team with the better pitching will still win because then less balls will be flying out in that magical jetstream to right center.
Pitchers just need to adjust and become either SO/groundball pitchers or try and get hitters to pop up away from right center.
from what ive heard, homeruns are up in the entire league. there are thoughts that maybe its a difference in the composition of the baseball itself. just what ive heard
that was fan interference
Does anyone have an A-Rod update for today?
Franco-For once in a rare while I actually agree with you!
The sample size indeed is small….we’ll have to wait and see. We have no choice but to wait and see as they can’t really change the stadium until the offseason…the only possible in-season change will take place when the old place is torn down.
As for being worried about pitchers coming here, Mike Hampton & Danny Neagle made it pretty clear what drives a player to play in any ballpark. It has nothing to do with how the ballpark favors hitters or pitchers.
The reason given for the placement of Monument Park was two-fold. First, they wanted the monuments back in it’s original position in dead center field. The second reason was that it was a problem for the batters.
Tex, the pitching wasn’t bad enough to merit all of the runs that have happened, the highest four-day total, by the way, in the history of any ball park opening.
I think if it looks, sounds, and flys like a single that turns into a homer, you need to call it an aerodynamically-charged duck.
I’m not sure that the fences could be moved back without demolishing some seats, or moving the bullpen elsewhere.
I’d hate if this park is a bandbox but Monument Park is a disgrace. It looks like initially the restaurant was to be sloped back towards River Ave but that didn’t happen. The only thing they could do to improve Monument Park where it is now is to move the fences in and that would be bad idea.
trisha – I am panic proof.-Over only 6 games, this could very well be an aberration.
GB,
Given how small the park is playing, maybe placing the monuments in a more visible spot would even things out. LOL
Blame the so-called league officials out of the Commissioner’s Office for not making periodic checks on the field design and it’s progress last year.
It’s easy to see that some of the outfield walls are lower than the old Stadium. In order to rebuild some walls higher, some rows of seating will be lost to compensate for the added height
How about them Scranton Yankees?
The Yankees should scrimmage them. Good chance that we’d leave a lot of men on base.
Wait the Yankees have three strikeout pitchers who shouldn’t be effected by the air current, one sinkerball/ground-ball king when right, and a lefty in Pettitte who neutralizes lefties.
The Wind Currents will prove to be a huge advantage to the home team, especially when A Rod comes back. So don’t sweat it.
The monument park thing is a minor problem that can be fixed.
If we’re going to point out the stadium’s problems then I think you should push some of those seats by the OF wall back a bit.
Ill wait more than 6 games to make my decision on whether the Stadium is a ban box
If they moved the Monuments to where the Bleacher Cafe is now would that be a huge distraction for the batters? I don’t think it would be as it’s above the batter’s eye.
I just can’t stand where they are now. You can’t see the retired numbers or the Monuments.
Jeff NJ-Excellent point.
The most logical, economical and sensible thing to do if fan interference continues is to put a 6-7 foot high screen on top of the wall to keep the animals at bay. If it hits the screen, it’s a home run. Unfair to the fans? Too damned bad. Keep your hands on the right side of the wall.
Tex, though it surely could be, since most of them have flown out of right, and several of them without a lot of effort from the hitter (leaving several hitters with their mouths hanging open as they rounded the bases), conventional wisdom is that is has to do with the the structure of the Stadium.
I don’t have great difficulty dealing with that as a concept since it’s nothing personal and nobody is trashing the Yankees based on the concept. My only difficulty is in dealing with what appears to be the reality of the situation, and that is that the new Stadium is giving all indications of being a bandbox that rivals Coors.
As someone who joneses for well-pitched games and isn’t fond of football scores in baseball games, the thought of that kills my soul. It’s just cheesy – again, not intentionally so, but cheesy.
i was at the stadium today and i loved it…. only thing i want to improve is to put up dividers in the men’s bathroom.
Ok, I wanna say that I want Jose Molina to start everyday. He handles the pitchers much better than Jorge. Everytime he catches it seems that the bullpen is lights out and the Yankees get a win. at this point Molina is more valuable than Posada. I think Molina should catch Wangs games rather than Posada.
Mark-Cant Touch This: Agreed.
There really should be a railing on that right wall. But I guess the seats are sunk in, so they can’t put one up now.
trisha-I would agree if it were more than 6 games.
G-The same Posada who hit the go-ahead homer we’re arguing about?
A-Rod had an off day my bad.
GreenBeret7-I agree about the screen thing.
New thread.
Tearing down Sports Bar – great idea. Never happen; but it should! The bleacher creatures deserve it. Our heroes deserve it. Monument Park should be bigger and open, with all those flowers that were across the street. I haven’t been in MP yet. I’ve only looked in from the bleachers. It doesn’t seem nearly as “monumental.” Without the bar, the monuments would be visible from the stands, as it should be. Surely this slight will be more damning than a Big Papi T-shirt.
You can still get Posada at-bats as the DH. I’m not saying that Molina needs to catch all the pitchers, but against certain teams and for a couple of batteries it makes sense.
Posada’s a proud man, but so was Joe Girardi. But you got to give up some things for the greater cause.
“Ok, I wanna say that I want Jose Molina to start everyday. He handles the pitchers much better than Jorge. Everytime he catches it seems that the bullpen is lights out and the Yankees get a win. at this point Molina is more valuable than Posada. I think Molina should catch Wangs games rather than Posada.”
I would love to see Molina get Wang’s next start. I too love the way Molina calls games.
Trisha –
Remember this about Coors & Citizen’s, and a few other parks: Those parks are banboxes all around from left to right. That should not be the case here, regardless of how right field plays out.
The Indians are a very strong offensive team. The Yankees right now are a very good offensive team. Mix in a terrible Wang, and some Indians’ pitchers who aren’t exactly doing well, and you are going to see some high scoring affairs.
Yes, there have been too many home runs hit this weekend – we have no idea if that is an aberration or not. But some of those home runs were legit. Garko’s HR today goes out in the old place. Some of the home runs to right would have been gone in the old place; so we shouldn’t paint every home run with the same brush.
I like neutral fields, personally – I think Petco goes too far to the other extreme. We’ll have to see what happens though – for now, the only thing we can say is that there has been a lot of home runs hit in the last four days. But until the new stadium completely plays out, we have no idea what type of park it will be.
I have an idea that could help solve some of the issues with the park. I think they should eliminate a few rows along the right field line including those field level box seats in right field, and push the wall back and raise it. Those are obvious. To make up the lost in seats they should eliminate all of the legends seat that extend past the dugouts. There are obviously too many seats there anyway. They could install more regular field seats and offer them at a fair price. As far as Monument park goes, Im not sure if my idea would work but would it be possible to move one of the bullpens under the sports bar and install monument park in the former bullpen. Also is it just me or is the flag in left field too small? It seems to be hidden in the corner and dwarfed by the other features of the park. These all seem to be fixable problems its frustrating however to hear the yankees rebuff the complaints as media hype like Randy Levine did the other day regarding the netting issues with the camera angles.
I have to say that after the first impressions of the new Yankee Stadium have worn off, I am beginning to see that there are things that I do not like.
1. The way the stadium plays too short that have resulted in what would be fly ball outs in the old stadium becomming homers. This is not a good thing and it hurts the Yanks in two ways: (a) our team is built to win games with good pitching. Decent pitches can become homers taking away our advantage, (b) we do not have power like old Yankee teams. we may suffer from power outages.
2. this stadium was built for Wall Street types. This takes away some of the intensity and fan flavor that usually makes Yankee stadium so intimidating for opposing teams. It is incredible that the best seats (overpriced as they are) should be empty during the fist homestand. That is unheard of since this team began winning in 1996.
3. I agree about monument park being hidden in cave. the restaurant in CF was an afterthought. It looks more like the skydome in Toronto.
there are certainly nice things about the new stadium and the Yanks got a lot of things right. It is too bad that they lost sight of the things that are annoying — like turning their backs on blue collar yankee fans with ticket pricing.
Could putting windows up along the front of the stadium stop the “wind tunnell” problem?
I was out all day but got a game recap from someone.
Couldn’t help but think of the angst here to a 3-0 game Pavano was pitching, the eruption that happened when Jeter hit into a DP, the hip hip’s all around when Jorge homered and the relief when they won.
It’s a sad state of affairs. I’ll always be a Yankees fan deep down, but this hasn’t been our team (True Fans) for many years now, and it’s only getting worse. The Steinbrenners rely too much on the opinions of suits like Randy Levine & Lonn Trost. We shouldn’t see these guys, or hear about them that much, but they are always right there in the photo ops. Levine’s fingerprints are all over this team. The Yankees are big, big business. It’s not about the fans anymore. It’s about selling overpriced tickets, and merchandise to those who can afford it, and those who can’t can try and grub some nosebleed seats, or stay home. How long before some of the games go on PPV?
But watching this team, in these new diggs, reminds me of the LAA. It’s like they wanted to turn Yankee Stadium into a North East Disney Land. How long before they start giving out thunder sticks?
What’s wrong with Wang?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3aOc2OoeUw
watch!!!
I love when people say these aren’t my Yankees and this isn’t the way I remember the Yankees. Why’s that? Because they haven’t won a World Series since 2000? Will it be your Yankees again when they win another World Series? What a bunch of bandwagoners? If this team reels of a 25-5 run they’ll be your team again. Who are you kidding?
I don’t get why people are so upset with it being “a launching pad.” That helps the Yankees. They are a left-handed dominant team when they face right handed pitchers (the majority of pitchers). Cleveland is a VERY fastball oriented team. They have good power. Most of the teams will not be able to do what Cleveland did.
And our pitchers are all groundball/strikeout pitchers. This is going to hurt other teams a lot more than it will hurt us.
Putting windows on the exterior of the stadium as well as covering up the grandstand walls behind the last row of seats could remedy alot of the potential wind factor.
Let’s be honest it should have looked as close to the original as possible. Billy Crystal did a better job of turning Tiger Stadium into the “Real Yankee Stadium” in his movie “61″ They keep saying on TV that it looks just like the old stadium. Take away the facade(I won’t call it a frieze) and what part looks like Yankee Stadium?
Just an observation, but it seems to me that a lot of the complaining about the stadium is being done by people who have not been there even once. it is all based on what they hear/see on the media. Before I make any decisions about the atmosphere, feel, looks etc. I want to be there a couple of times. Sure, there are some obvious flaws that do not need a physical presence to be eviden, but still…
To the idea of lowering the prices of the “premium” seats — most of those seats are already sold, to corporate buyers, and they will never be occupied in large numbers, no matter how well or how poorly the team plays — that’s just the way corporate seats work.
One “nice” thing about luxury boxes: Yes, they are an affront to fandom; yes, no real fan would spend more than an inning in them, but they’re at least hidden from the TV viewers, and, really, the eyeballs of the fans in the place.
With luxury boxes you couldn’t see the effete a**holes not caring about the games. Now, with “premium” seats, we all see the ugliness.
Shame on the Yankees for not having the sense to take the corporate dollars and keep them out of everyone’s purview.
This stadium, it’s pretty clear, will never approach the atmosphere of the old one. Sad.
Stephen — Newsflash — people who work on wall street like sports, many of them as much as you do. Newsflash #2 — people who don’t like baseball do not go to midweek games against the Royals to be seen. This is not front row at Madison Square Garden. People sitting in boxes and legend seats are mostly there because they are fans. Newsflash #3 — purview does not mean what you think it does (and I don’t think effete does either).
Not sure what games you’ve been watching, Dave, and it doesn’t seem like you got my point. I didn’t say the people sitting in the premium seats are there to be seen. I was commenting on the lack of people in those seats, on opening week.
There are tens of thousands of Yankee fans who would’ve paid hundreds of dollars to sit in those seats this weekend. In such a circumstance, all the seats would be filled, by actual fans, and all would be right in Yankeeland.
Also,
effete: : marked by weakness or decadence; soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence
purview: range of vision, understanding, or cognizance
I think both words mean what I think they mean. You probably shouldn’t quibble over definitions with a journalist, for future reference.
move the center field wall back behind monument park and have the momuments in play like in the original yankee stadium
I was at the first exhibition game against the Cubs and was disappointed with the stadium. It’s designed for people who don’t actually want to watch the game…with museums, art stores, open concourses, standing room, bars, blah, blah.
Sure, I understand wanting to modernize the facility and squeezing more cash out of the fat cats, this is a business, but I think what sits below the anger and resentment a lot of fans are starting to express about the new stadium is less about being out-priced (this is New York we get that everyday) and more about feeling that we, the fans, were not really considered that important in all of this – or rather what we considered important was overlooked, or worse, tossed aside in this $1.5 billion dollar design project.
I don’t think people mind so much that there are obstructed view seats – hey, sit somewhere else – but that the view is blocked by a sports bar restaurant thing, some ominous black glass mystery box lurking over center field (are people actually in there?). People don’t care that the luxury seats now cost thousands (we couldn’t afford them before anyway), only that they go empty when, given the chance, we’d fill them from batting practice till they kicked us out.
There were always different levels of “the fan experience” relative to what you could afford, only now it seems that the luxury fan experience was the one they actually engineered, and those fans who once enjoyed the game from the tier were devalued in the design process and rendered as “TV crowd background” in the architects 3D modeled plan.
It’s a shame, the old Loge and Tier had great seats, hanging over the field. Now it plays like a Big Ten football field. Thanks for the elevators, I guess.
The new stadium has brought so many great new features, that fans didn’t really want in the first place. Somehow they managed without garlic fries and clean spacious bathrooms.
I hear the clubhouse, press box, and all the other areas are amazing. Yippe for them.
I think in the end it’s not that the fans feel like they are getting screwed, it’s that they were promised this wonderful baseball cathedral for their beloved team, and just don’t see any reflection of them in it. I think as emotional and devoted as they have been to this team as fans, they are actually feeling a little hurt.
Although win a championship this year and hey, fuggedaboudit. This is New York.
Now I haven’t been to the stadium yet as I’m finishing up school in St. Louis, but as long as we’re talking about changes to the stadium I would agree with fixing monument park and creating a buffer walkway along the lip of the wall. I’d also add maybe raising the wall or moving it back a couple feet, cause there’s a short porch, and then there’s like 20 home runs in 3 games. I’d also add maybe fixing the obstructed view in the bleachers (lower the level of the bar or raise the level of the seats?) and fixing the prices for the field level seats. That last is the most important. No middle class fan can afford $300 tickets, and it’s shameful for the field level to go empty.
partial season ticket holder since 77. got the screw around like a lot of people who had partial plans did. have been to 2 games so far and the first cubs game and sat in the pricey seats on friday surrounded by good fans, but also too many empty seats (section 115). but really, t’s soulless. it feels like going to a game at safeco. this was yankee stadium, not shea or candlestick. it’s a shame cause it really was fenway, wrigley and yankee where you felt the soul of the game and now one is gone. i’m not some old fuddy duddy who is hung up on this, to be honest i love the room on the concourses now and the great hall is pretty damn great. i wish somehow, this could have been done to the old stadium, like how they fixed up kauffman and fenway in recent years. but the actually experience of watching the game pails in comparison to what we had. i’ve been to about 500 yankee games in my life and the last 2 were the deadest i’ve seen crowds since the early 90s.
Zeus –
Obviously, you (like most of us here) are diehard fans. A diehard fan needs nothing more than a ballfield and a hot dog to be happy.
But these organizations do extensive research on what the majority of people who go to baseball games want to see. And, unfortunately or not, people want more than just a game when they go to a ballpark. They want the wider seats, the museums, the malls, the food choices, whatever video games they have, etc.
Again, I don’t care about that stuff – when I buy a ticket to a movie, I want to see the movie. When I buy a ticket to a baseball game, I want to see the baseball game. But that’s not what a lot of people want anymore. It’s a new wave of fan that just wants an entirely different experience – a ball game in the middle of everything else.
They don’t just do these things haphazard – they do them because people want them.
Why don’t they move Monument Park to the section directly behind home plate. Nobody sits there so you wouldn’t lose any seats.
All the security guards seemed to be in the seats behind home plate… at least I saw more people working in that area than sitting in it while I watching this weekend.
im not eloquent enough but i feel like someone should write an op-ed to the NY times or to some big publication about the resentment and bitterness that we fans are feeling and how complicated it is because we love the yanks, want them to win and cheer for them but on the other hand, we know that for once we actually FEEL like chump change to the executives and are playing into their hands perfectly.
its pretty complex for me right now to be a fan. i never had this complexity before. there are so many instances that we can point to where the executives said “screw you” to the common fan which can be used as the content of this op-ed.
does anyone know what im saying?
David, I know exactly what you mean.
It’s all very sad.
Perhaps the saddest thing of all is even if the numerous problems are corrected — the home run issue, the center field restaurant, the empty $2,500 seats, the pathetically small painted-on-cinder-block retired numbers — short of tearing down the stadium and starting from scratch it will NEVER be right.
This is because, as many above have mentioned, the shallow profile of the decks and the increased distance from the field have ruined what was most distinctive — and wonderful — about Yankee Stadium: the sensation of being right on top of the players and the reverberating roar of the crowd.
Once they blew that — clearly an HOK directive with little or no input from fans or people that understood the old stadium — they truly blew it.
There are ways to voice disapproval. Public fan demonstrations can sometimes draw a lot of media attention — I remember what the fans of the Kansas City Royals did a handful of years back now, when the Yankees came to town, they staged a mass walk out. It got a lot of attention at the time, though I don’t think anything was acheived. That said, something like that done in NY would reverberate in a way it wouldn’t in a small city.
If they brought in an outside firm to tell them what the future Yankee fan wants from their experience at the ballpark, then they should really take a close look at the advice they were given. Its all BS. What a con job!
1st and 2nd nobody out in the 6th inning and Jeter steps to the plate with the Yanks down 3-1. I felt this was a good time to bunt. Girardi didn’t and Jeter hit into a DP. Not a terrible move, but it seemed like the thing to do there. The part that bothered me was Jeter taking an 85 MPH pitch right down the middle before hitting into the DP. Later that inning after Damon and Texiera got on base Swisher was up with the bases loaded. Pavano was leaving a lot of pitches up in the stroke zone and his fastball had lost its mustard. It was clear to everyone, except Swisher that Pavano was going to be throwing off speed to him, but he still was looking for the fastball and predictably went down swinging.
On to the play of the game…My take on Posada’s reviewed home run was that they got it right. The way I saw it, the guy in the Yankee hat (the guy on the right) had his glove and open right hand out in front of him with the palms up and the everyone missed the ball causing the ball to hit off of his right hand and then onto the top of the wall and then back into fair territory. The only part I had trouble seeing was whether or not the guy in the green hat interfered with the RF’r, but it appeared that he just missed the ball or couldn’t reach it. I watched it many times and that was my conclusion. I do think that this seems to be a reasonable way to use instant replay, even though I am not a fan of it.
Severely cut the prices for the 1B & 3B lines, completely ditch the Batters’ Eye restaurant (it was a stupid idea having it dwarf Monument Park and kill views for a good deal of fans in the bleachers), build a concourse or some kind of space between the outfield wall, and fix that netting. Wait til the season is over to see if the right outfield wall should be moved back 10-15 feet and see how it goes.
they obviously couldn’t care less about us. unless something more substantial gathers steam.
any ideas for a grass roots campaign?
i think a few letters to the NYTimes will help it start.
maybe a website?
Just don’t go as often or don’t go at all. That’s the best grass roots campaign. This group that runs our beloved Yankees needs to be put in their place. They have lost complete touch with reality in the last few years. $2600 for a single seat,even if they let you sit in the dugout with Jeter & Posada, might be one of the worst business decisions
that you will EVER come across.
i wondered about that too. there was a bar put up in that walkway that pretty much kept anyone 3 feet away from the wall or a play going on. now the wall is directly in front of some seats. i’d guess another type of rail will need to go up.