Demand is up for Yankees World Series tickets. Via Neil Best -

The Yankees have won the World Series at home only three times in the past half century – and never, of course, at the new Yankee Stadium.

So it is no surprise that fans eager to witness history have been driving up the price of tickets to Game 6 since it became clear the Phillies would win Monday and force the teams to return to the Bronx.

Until Monday, the average sales price for Game 6 on StubHub.com was $814. The average for tickets sold yesterday was $1,044 as of late morning.

Other sites saw comparable price rises. The game was on its way to beating Game 2 as the highest-grossing event in StubHub history.

Might prices fall as game time approaches Wednesday night? Not necessarily. That did happen for Game 1, on a misty night. For Game 2, prices rose on game day.

Just imagine if there’s a Game Seven. The last time the Yankees played a Game Seven in the World Series at home? October 10, 1957. Needless to say, that was not a good day.

The last time the Yankees played a Game Seven in the World Series at home where New York won the game? October 6, 1947. Yeah, nineteen-forty-seven.

Whoooa, that was a looooong time agooooo….eh?

Via the Yankees -

The New York Yankees announced today that they will open the Yankee Stadium Field Level and Great Hall to the public to watch the broadcast of the World Series Game 4 from Philadelphia on Sunday, November 1. (The opening will be dependent on weather conditions in Philadelphia permitting the game to be played.)
Turnstiles between Gates 4 and 6 will open at 7:00 p.m. for the 8:20 p.m. game. Fans can watch the Game in the Great Hall or in the opened sections of the Field Level.

“When we opened the Stadium for Game 3 in the ALCS, the response was positive and the energy from our fans was truly infectious. They really enjoyed coming together to watch the game,” said Hal Steinbrenner, Yankees Managing General Partner. “Once we reached the World Series, we felt that it was the perfect time to open the Stadium again. We remain grateful for the support of the best fans in baseball.”

Food and concession stands will be open and available to fans. NYY Steak and Hard Rock Café will also be open.

Last time the Yanks did this, it was bad luck for them – although they had a decent turnout. Wonder how this one will be different than last time…considering the time of the game for today…

Via mlb.com -

Yankee Stadium won’t be the site of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday. But that doesn’t mean it will be empty.

The Yankees announced on Sunday that they will open the Stadium Field Level and Great Hall to the public to watch the Yankees face the Angels in Anaheim as New York tries to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the ALCS.

“We wanted to provide a place for our fans to come together to cheer for our team, even if the game itself is taking place across the country,” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a news release. “This is a way of saying ‘Thank you’ for their continued support.”

Turnstiles between Gates 4 and 6 will open at 3:30 p.m. ET for the 4:13 p.m. game — broadcast on FOX — and fans can watch it in the Great Hall or in the open sections of the Field Level. Food and concession stands, as well as NYY Steak and Hard Rock Café, will be open and available to fans.

The decision to open the stadium was made after consultation with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

“I thank the New York Yankees for opening their amazing new stadium to the community, and I hope that people from all over the city will come out to cheer for the Yankees and share in what’s sure to be a great night right here in the Bronx,” Diaz Jr. said in the release.

…hmmm…

Whatever happened to “Any rebroadcast, retransmission, or account of this game, without the express written consent of Major League Baseball, is prohibited…”?

I suppose that MLB and FOX is giving the Yankees the rights to broadcast the game at the Stadium…which is cool. Although, given the start time for this game, and the fact that it’s a Monday, and it’s short notice on the Stadium being open, expect the joint to be filled with Lee Elia’s favorite 15% of the population. Could make for an interesting Stadium experience…

Sure sounds like it…via the Daily News -

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sings a first-rate “God Bless America,” at Yankee Stadium, but his attempt at telling a joke offended a Jewish doctor who found it to be anti-Semitic.

Tynan apologized, telling WNBC, “I would never want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It was stupid of me to be so callous.”

But the Yankees still canceled his appearance at the stadium Friday night.

The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center.

The agent told Tynan, “Don’t worry, they are not Red Sox fans,” according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson.

“I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish,” was Tynan’s reply.

Via the AP –

The Yankees are adding seats to their new ballpark for the playoffs.

The team said Friday it will install 60 cafe seats on the field level and sell 200 standing room places on the field and main levels during the post-season.

The cafe seats will cost US$81 for the division series and $131 for the league championship series, and standing places will go for $30 and $25 in the first round and $64 and $48 in the second round.

New York will put a limited amount of regular seats plus the new areas on sale Monday on its website. Buyers are limited to two tickets for one game of one series, and they must print their own tickets for the first two division series games.

The Yankees generally did not sell these areas during the season, although they experimented during a game against Boston.

During the ALDS, for an extra $100, if you purchase one of the field level “cafe seats,” Joba Chamberlain will also fold your towels for you.

And, for an extra $200 bucks, you can get a lap dance from Jonathan Albaladejo, Hank Steinbrenner or Ronan Tynan – with the one caveat that Tynan is not available during the 7th inning.

Via the Yankees today -

The Yankees today announced 2010 full-season ticket license pricing for regular season games at Yankee Stadium. Prices for 97 percent of tickets will either remain the same or decrease.
Of the 50,086 seats in the Stadium, prices for 41,928 tickets (84 percent) will remain the same from 2009, while 6,454 tickets (13 percent) will see a decrease in price. There are 1,704 tickets (three percent) that will have an increase in price.

A total of 3,400 Field Level seats currently priced at $325 as part of full-season licenses will drop to $250 or $235 each next season, depending on their specific location. Additionally, all 1,208 Suite seats in the Delta Sky360° Suite will see a decrease in price, as will 1,846 of 1,894 Suite seats (97 percent) in the Legends Suite. The balance of the Legends Suite seats will have no price change.

All Field Level seats not in the aforementioned locations will remain at their current prices. Additionally, non-Suite tickets in the Bleachers, Grandstand and Terrace levels will see no change in price in the 2010 season.

In the Main Level, 10,111 seat locations will see no increase. The remaining 1,704 seats in Sections 216-217 and 223-224 currently priced at $100 will be $125 next season. These mark the only increases for 2010.

Did they really need to increase the prices on those 1,704 seats in Sections 216-217 and 223-224? That’s an extra $3.5 million for the Yankees. Do they really need $3.5 million that badly? Man, if I had one of those seats, I’d be seeing red on this news…

Seeing how well Pedro Martinez has thrown for the Phillies, this season, in his 7 starts with them since joining the team, and how badly Joba Chamberlain and A.J. Burnett have been pitching lately, should the Yankees have gone out and picked up Martinez, when they had the chance, as a free agent this summer?

Me? I was happy with the Yanks passed on ol’ Petey. And, to be candid, the thought of seeing him in a Yankees uniform somewhat turns my stomach. But, when your options after Joba and A.J. are Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin…well…pour me a Pepto for Pedro…and maybe I’ll learn to survive…

That’s today’s wild thought. What are your thoughts on this?

So, today, I get my invoice from the Yankees for 2009 Post-Season tickets. And, it comes with a letter from Lonn A. Trost, the Yankees C.O.O.

Trost’s letter opens with:

Dear Yankees Fan:

Over a span of just a few short months, Yankee Stadium has already been the site of several memorable and unforgettable moments.

Anyone who was in attendance on Opening Day will surely recall the pageantry and pride that went into unveiling the Yankees’ sparkling new home.

On May 15, Brett Gardner’s inside-the-park home run propelled the Yankees to a victory against the Twins and put a smile on the face of a young girl awaiting a heart transplant, a girl that Gardner had met in a children’s hospital earlier that day. And who can forget August 7, when A-Rod’s 15th-inning home run broke up a scoreless tie against the Red Sox, or the numerous come from behind victories and walk-off home runs?

It’s likely that you have your own particular moments that will stay with you forever. And that is what Yankee Stadium is all about, unforgettable games and unforgettable moments.

So far, 2009 has been a season for the ages; the come from behind victories, the pinch-hit home runs and the amazing plays in the field. The excitement in the Bronx has been palpable and it is sure to increase as the seasons draws to a conclusion. As we enter the home stretch for the 2009 American League East Division title, the Yankees have begun preparations for a return to the postseason in our Inaugural Season of our new home. It is also time for you to start making preparations for a return to Yankee Stadium to enjoy the postseason.

Since when did Yankees post-season tickets become such a hard sell that the team has to play the “smile on the face of a young girl awaiting a heart transplant” card? Really, is it necessary to use this poor girl’s misfortune in an attempt to pitch coming to see October baseball in the Bronx?

Michael Kay always quotes Buck Showalter with the line of “If you do something good for someone, and somebody other than you and them knows about it, you have to question what your intention was really all about.”

Gardner went to see that sick kid because that’s the way he is…and it was a nice thing for the kid. He didn’t do it for some P.R., etc. Shame on the Yankees for trying to use that now…to fluff up the new Yankee Stadium experience.

Hey, Lonn, you know what? At this moment, the Yankees are 48-20 at home this season, in first place, and going into the post-season, most likely, as the team with the best record in the league for the first time since 2006. That should be good enough for a sales pitch. Leave the sick kid out of it.

Via Darren Rovell:

Those expecting to hear of a price gouge for Yankees postseason tickets might be surprised.

It’s not coming.

CNBC has seen the final face value prices that the Yankees submitted to Major League Baseball and increases will be much smaller than the jump season ticket holders saw for home games played at the old Yankee Stadium in the 2007 postseason, the last time the Yankees were in the playoffs. In fact, some 2009 postseason seats will cost LESS than this year’s regular season prices.

Ticket prices in the new Yankee Stadium are especially complex to decode since premium ticket holders — those in three suite areas — already paid for their suite licensing fees, which makes up the bulk of the per game ticket price.

That’s one of the reasons why ticket holders in most premium areas see a face value on their tickets of less than 20 percent of the price they eventually pay. The rest of the price is then made up of these fees that are paid ahead of time.

For example, those who sit in the first rows behind home plate, pay $2,500 a seat, but the face value of the tickets — and thus the price paid on a per game basis — is $325.

For the ALDS, the Yankees are expected to announce that the top per game price will be $275, $50 less than what those sitting in the best seats pay for each regular season game.

Those season ticket holders sitting in non-premium seats will pay the same per-game price as they are paying for the regular season for their ALDS seats, with the exception of one section of seats.

Compare that to the increases on the 2007 postseason face value of tickets, which roughly ranged from 30 percent to 130 percent above the regular season price for the ALDS, the only series the Yankees played that year after being bested by the Cleveland Indians.

Fans will see bigger jumps in price from the ALDS to the ALCS, should the Yankees advance, but the increases — which start at 27 percent over the ALDS prices — is nothing out of the ordinary.

Non-season ticket holders won’t have much of a chance at getting playoff tickets, since the Yankees have sold the majority of the new stadium on a season ticket basis and Major League Baseball is expected to ask for another 10 to 15 percent of the seats for executives, sponsors and media partners.

Well, if the Moonlite BunnyRanch doesn’t raise prices on Valentine’s Day, it only seems fair that the Yankees don’t look to jack up their prices in October, right?

Via Mike Vaccaro -

So much of Yankee Stadium II’s first four months had been devoted to all that was missing: the charm, the history, the intimacy of a loud crowd on a summer night.

And the Yankees won 2-0, won what obviously was the greatest game in the brief history of the new ballpark, won a second straight game over the Red Sox, extended their lead to 4½ games, and gave everyone a stern reminder that they are the alpha dogs of the AL East now.

All the talk of baseball’s best team has bounced around baseball the past few months, from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Boston.

Look homeward now. Look to The Bronx. Look to the familiar old neighborhood. And cross the street. Yankee Stadium II made its bones last night, proved it can be a fair acoustic heir, and maybe approach the experience the old joint used to specialize in: feeling like you had a stake in things. Feeling like everyone on the field could hear you. Feeling like a 10th man.

And being one. The games that came before didn’t have any of that. This one did. This one lasted until close to 1 in the morning, but when it ended everyone was ready. Everyone was prepared. The best game in the new ballpark, and they screamed as the ball soared, and it sounded sweeter even than Sinatra.

It’s an interesting question: Was New York’s game against Boston on August 7th the cherry-popper for the new Yankee Stadium? What do you think?

Via Darren Rovell, Randy Levine comments on Yankees tickets sales. Per Levine:

“We’ve sold over 90 percent of all tickets available this year in our new stadium, which as the mayor will tell you, is an absolutely beautiful stadium. It has lived up to all our expectations. We’re very sensitive to the economy. We’re reviewing everything and looking to see where we can be better and where we can improve. In a couple weeks, hopefully we’ll be prepared to come out with our new plans and programs for next year.”

Imagine if they actually try and raise prices for next season?

I’m a week late to the party on this, but, in case you missed it, check out Mark Lamster’s feature on the two new ballparks in New York. It’s a very interesting read. Here’s a snip:

When I first started attending games on my own, some 20 years ago, a ticket to the Yankee bleachers cost $1.50, pocket change even for a kid on a tight allowance. That same ticket now costs $14: not an unreasonable sum, but more than a movie and enough to keep a student on a limited budget from making it too much of a habit. The new stadium, for that matter, doesn’t beg that kind of relationship. It’s a special-occasion place, somewhere to visit a couple of times a season. Why empty your wallet for an entertainment event that might not be entertaining? (Even the best teams lose roughly 40 percent of their games.) When you’re stuck in the nosebleed seats, and a beer, a dog, and a bag of peanuts cost upward of 20 bucks, thoughts of exploitation inevitably percolate through the mind. It is in those moments that the fan-team compact seems hopelessly broken, and one begins to wonder about the difference between being a fan and being a chump. Sometimes it seems like there’s no difference at all.

When Mark says that the new Yankee Stadium is “a special-occasion place, somewhere to visit a couple of times a season,” I believe that he’s dead-on with that one.

And, that’s sad. Me? In a perfect world, I would go to Yankee Stadium about nine times a season. And, I would want to bring my wife and kids with me at least half of those times. But, today, I cannot afford to do that.

It was possible in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. Heck, it was even possible in 2001. But, today? No – not at all. Shame. I hope the Yankees realize what they’re doing here…squeezing out the diehard fan with a family who wants to go to games more than just four or five times a season…

Via Bob Raissman -

Yankees security people, aka the Trost Toasties, continue to play bully-ball. On Tuesday, they prevented a scene, one that would encourage more parents to bring kids to the ballpark, from getting maximum exposure.

Happened Tuesday night (Orioles-Yankees). On the Baltimore TV broadcast, viewers got pictures of a kid, wearing an Orioles cap, having a great time. He was sitting in primo (front of the moat) seats. So happy was this young man, O’s voices Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer kept commenting on him.

They suggested their grandstand reporter, Amber Theoharis, interview the child. She tried. Well-embedded (concrete) moat moles report as Theoharis made her way toward the young fan, she was intercepted by the Toasties. When it was suggested she just pass the microphone down to the kid, the Toasties would not let the microphone travel in front of the moat.

Fortunately, Theoharis just split. Dissing a Toastie could be hazardous to your health.

Holy Elaine Benes Batman!

I wonder if the Toastie told Amber Theohans “Who would cross the Trost Moat of Yankee Stadium must answer me these questions three, ere the other side she see….”

Via Mark Herrmann -

A Yankees spokesman said Monday that the club is not commenting on the Stadium now, instead choosing to see how the rest of the season goes. Hal Steinbrenner, the managing general partner, recently did send out e-mails to some customers inviting them to meetings at the Stadium or Rockefeller Center, and “telling us how we are doing and how we can make the ‘Yankee Stadium Experience.’ ”

Bloggers have objected to relentless promotions on the public address system, the fact that Monument Park is basically hidden behind the centerfield fence and that the place just doesn’t have the electric feel that the building next door had. Visiting players have privately said the new Stadium is not as verbally intimidating as the old.

Well, the Yankees can choose to see how the rest of the season goes…but I can tell you that my personal count is (now) up to “five” different people telling me that they went to the Johnny Rockets stand at the new Stadium, during a game this season, and were told to come back in 20 minutes for their order. Considering that a baseball game is about 3 hours long, on average, for the Yankees, it seems a little silly to have a situation where fans have to order food and then come back, after a full inning, or so, has passed to actually get their order. Fans usually want their food when they order and pay for it. That’s not exactly “Rocket” science, is it?

Poor Kay…if she’s “Mrs. 1″ she gets confused with Billy’s wife…and “Mrs. 2″ is, well, ask Jeter…

Via the Yankees -

The New York Yankees announced today that four Hall-of-Famers and at least six rookie Old-Timers will be on hand at the 63rd annual Old-Timers’ Day on Sunday, July 19 at Yankee Stadium. This season marks the inaugural Old-Timers’ Day at the current Stadium after 62 years at the original Stadium.

Joining the Hall-of-Famers and Old-Timers’ Day rookies on the baselines will be more than 30 additional former Yankees and the widows of four legendary Yankees-Arlene Howard, widow of Elston Howard; Helen Hunter, widow of Jim “Catfish” Hunter; Kay Murcer, widow of Bobby Murcer; and Diana Munson, widow of Thurman Munson.

It’s very nice of the Yankees to bring these widows out for the game – and wonderful of the ladies to attend. Reminds me of something great I once read on Marty Appel’s site:

I had the privilege of serving as Bob Fishel’s assistant in preparing the [Old Timer's Day] events from 1968-73, before taking over myself after he moved to the American League. An incredible amount of detail went into the planning, from doing a souvenir program, to writing the introductions, to arranging travel and hotel, to finding old time umpires, to enlisting a band and a color guard, to a national anthem singer, to inviting the Commissioner and League Presidents, to stocking the clubhouse with extra beer, to arranging for old New York Times’ writer John Drebinger to keep an official box score in the press box, to getting fill-in broadcasters to cover for Phil Rizzuto (who never made it back upstairs), or Jerry Coleman, to hiring limos for Mrs. Babe Ruth and Mrs. Lou Gehrig, to coordinating uniforms with Pete Sheehy, to preparing lineups for the game and assisting the “managers” (who barely paid attention), to arranging transportation and the post-game party at Toots Shors or the Friar’s Club, with a separate party for the wives. Claire Ruth and Eleanor Gehrig, always recipients of huge ovations from their box seats, would not only be the life of the party, but would usually be the first to crack the segregated code and lead all the women into the cigar-smoke filled “men’s party,” where the great baseball stories ran long into the night.

Somehow, I don’t see today’s ladies being the party starters…but, you never know…

Today on the MLB Home Plate channel on SIRIUS XM Radio, hosts Seth Everett and Jim Duquette spoke with Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Kevin Millar, who offered his thoughts on the new Yankee Stadium. [Thanks to Andrew FitzPatrick for this information.]

Jim Duquette: “What’s your impression of the new Yankee Stadium?”

Kevin Millar: “I’m going to be honest with you. You know I’m going to shoot from the hip. I’m not a big fan of it. Nothing pops there, nothing pops. The old stadium, you walked in, you knew this was where [Mickey] Mantle played and [Joe] DiMaggio. It was just that old school. I got booed a lot louder. They didn’t boo me as loud here. I like to get booed. They were too nice to me here. They’re too nice to me. I don’t know if it’s all corporate, but they’re too nice. But it’s just like a big, huge – it’s a beautiful facility, don’t get me wrong – but the navy blue seats, a lot of concrete and nothing pops. I mean, nothing pops there, personally. Now, it was our first trip in and I don’t know if I was expecting more, but that’s the truth and it’s just I loved the old stadium.”

Seth Everett: “Is it impossible to ever live up to that old stadium?”

Millar: “It’s not impossible, but yes, all the comeback wins and all the memories there, of course, it’s going to take time. And this is year no. 1 and there’s some tinkers. Like for one, you know, it’s a beautiful scoreboard but they have the radar gun readings at the very top of the scoreboard with the pitch count. Fans want to know how hard the pitcher’s throwing, for instance. You come to the game, you want to see, ‘Yeah, Brandon League’s on the mound, he’s throwing 90-what?’ You don’t want to have to look around the stadium to find it, and this is at the very top, a very little scene up there with your miles per hour where most stadiums have them above the dugouts on the second tier of the second deck so you can kind of see it easier. You know, it was hard to read what the guy’s hitting for the batting average. It was tough to find certain things. And for a stadium that’s got $1.5 billion in it, you would think it had been just some easier scenes, and I’m just using those as examples and those might be nit-picking. But for the monuments: I wish they would’ve pulled the monuments up so you could see the monuments. I mean, they’re behind center field and it’s kind of blocked off with the hitter’s eye so you don’t even see them. At least in the old stadium, left center, you kind of saw them a little bit, glimpsed through over there from the bullpen area, and when you’d hit a home run to left center they’d bounce in the monuments. So there’s some things that, in my opinion, nothing’s really popping out. But it’s a gorgeous scene, I guess, for the fans inside – the food, the televisions, all the marble and stuff. But from what we see as a player, you walk in the lobby and it was straight concrete. We walk in the locker room, beautiful locker rooms, but it was just, it was OK, personally.”

If I had a dime for every time I saw/heard the word “concrete” used when someone was referencing the new Yankee Stadium, I’d have enough money to build another new Stadium – out of concrete, of course…

Thanks to David Pinto for pointing this out.

Via the Daily News -

The aura and mystique of the old Stadium is gone forever, so say the Tampa Bay Rays.

“You’re in the new Yankee Stadium. It’s absolutely a different stadium,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said before last night’s series opener in the Bronx was rained out. “It’s kind of nice, actually, because I hated the smell of the old place…. I don’t know if that odor was the remnants of the ghosts walking around, but they always had a home-court advantage in that yard.

“I’m not saying they can’t develop it here, but they had an advantage just based on the smell of the place. They could have put that in a bottle, sprayed it on somebody and you’d say, ‘Oh, Yankee Stadium.’”

That antique smell – and a sense of history – could get opponents caught up in their surroundings. Evan Longoria, for one, couldn’t help but think of all the great players who had gone before him when he visited the old Stadium as a rookie last season.

“You went into the old Yankee Stadium and there was just that feeling – almost like the calm before the storm – you knew what was going to happen, you knew it was going to be a battle,” Longoria said. “When you walked down that hallway, you knew that Ruth and the forefathers of the game had walked down that same tunnel. That was the cool feeling about it.”

But it hasn’t necessarily carried over to the new Stadium.

“It feels a lot different,” added Longoria, who hurt his left hamstring on Tuesday and will be a game-time decision this afternoon. “You don’t really get to feel the ghosts of the past.”

“This place, don’t get me wrong, is an unbelievable ballpark,” Longoria said of the new Stadium. “They did a great job on it, but it’s not the same thing.”

I’m no fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have too many bad memories of being in new-wave/punk clubs during the 1980’s and witnessing some out-of-place slack-jawed yokel wearing a flannel shirt, with the sleeves cut off, beer in one hand and the other hand forming a fist held in the air, screaming out to the peforming cover band “Freeeeeeeee Bird!” But, reading this news report, well, it’s given me an idea…

Maybe the Yankees should replace the playing of “YMCA” when the grounds crew drags the infield mid-game with this one – just to remind the opposing team that they’re still in the Bronx:

Via an excellent Mel Antonen feature on the new Yankee Stadium -

The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers open a series tonight at the new Yankee Stadium as baseball’s top home-run hitting teams. In the past, that prodigious power would conjure memories of all-time sluggers or stir speculation about performance-enhancing drugs. But there might be a greater power at work in the Bronx.

“We’re dealing with some phenomenon that we don’t have our hands wrapped around,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says.

Indeed, two months into the season the most expensive stadium ever built is being tormented by unpredictable winds and beset by a chaotic debate over whether the home runs there are the cheapest aspect of the $1.5 billion ballpark.

“There’s no doubt that the new Yankee Stadium has taken over as the best hitters’ park in baseball,” Baltimore Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff says. “Someone’s going to hit 90 home runs there.”

The Yankees observed the wind patterns before opening the stadium, working with RWDI, an engineering firm in Guelph, Ontario, that studies wind currents in sports stadiums. RWDI declined to comment, but Yankees CEO Lonn Trost says the team is doing more studies.

“Even the winds — based upon wind analysis and wind studies — we (are) having were the least likely to occur,” Trost told news reporters last month. “So who can tell? We’ll always look and analyze, and right now I don’t think I can do anything about the wind.”

Cashman says the wind might not be the only reason home runs are soaring. He says umpires may be calling a tighter strike zone and points out that home runs and walks are up this season, from 1.80 homers per game in 2008 to 2.05 this year and from 6.73 walks per game to 7.20 in 2009.

“All that leads to more hitters’ counts like 3-1 and 2-0, and that leads to more home runs,” Cashman says.

Dennis Torok, manager of the Montreal-based Newmerical Technologies, studies wind and its effect on buildings, and says there are several ways to reduce the wind patterns at Yankee Stadium without altering the playing field. The team could change the slope of the roof or put attachments on it to deflect wind that whips into the stadium.

Torok also says the open concourses, surrounding buildings and the slope of grandstand seating could be factors.

Winds in New York will “approach from the westerly directions a larger percentage of time,” Torok says, and that creates the jet stream that goes out to right field.

For example, Torok says the wind came from the west April 18, when the Yankees and Indians combined for eight home runs in a 22-4 Cleveland victory.

Me? I’m starting to think it’s the wind/jet-stream to right combined with the shorter distances to the power-alley in right field that’s causing all this mess.

So, the answer, for me, would be to install mesh windscreens somewhere in the stadium to mitigate the jet stream and make the fence higher out in right/right-center. Hey, it’s a start…and something to consider for next year.

You have to “love” this quote, via the AP -

Speaking during a court hearing in Albany Monday, Yankees CEO Lonn Trost says 90 percent of non-suite stadium tickets cost under $100.

Translation: 95% of the seats in the upper-deck and bleachers cost under $100 per ticket.

Wow. Big whoops.

Via Wallace Matthews last Saturday –

The evidence is mounting rapidly. In the Bronx, 23 home dates and only one announced sellout, on Opening Day. In Flushing, the same number of dates, the same number of sellouts.

Through Friday, the Mets and Yankees were leading their divisions. Yet there are plenty of seats available at both new ballparks despite a winter of priceless free publicity and an endless stream of hype during each team’s broadcasts.

The teams knew attendance would be down this year — they engineered the parks to hold fewer people and rake in more money — but still, they were designed to operate at full capacity every night, and so far, each has managed to do that. Once.

If early-season baseball attendance in New York is a referendum on just how far our teams can push their fan bases, the fans in Flushing and the Bronx have voted, and the results appear to be pretty definitive.

The answer is, not much further.

OK, so neither the new Yankee Stadium nor its counterpart in Flushing can handle the capacity of their predecessors. Fine. But where are the 53,070 people who came nightly to the old Yankee Stadium in 2008, and where are the 49,902 who showed up every night in the final season of Shea Stadium?

So far, the Yankees are averaging 44,636 in their new crib, the Mets 38,806. If baseball is so popular in this town and Yankees and Mets games truly are must-see events, as both clubs insisted throughout the offseason, why aren’t there 10,000 people milling around outside their ballparks every game night, trying to buy up every last ticket in the house, and the rest going home empty-handed and disappointed?

One of the reasons, of course, is simple and self-evident. It’s the economy, stupid. But in a metropolitan area that certainly has more than 83,442 people – the combined average attendance at both parks – wealthy enough to buy their way into these exclusive clubs dressed as ballparks, there has to be something more to it.

It just might be that the remarkably deep-pocketed, thick-skinned and resilient sports fans of this town finally have reached their limit.

Clearly, people are opting out of spending exorbitant amounts to witness baseball games in the flesh, especially when it is much more economical, not to mention fan-friendly, to simply plop down in the recliner in front of the HDTV, crack a beer, pop your own corn and not have to contend with traffic, or shell out $19 for parking and $10 for tolls, and heaven knows how much else at the concession stands.

It’s simply no longer worth it, no matter how good the team is or how deeply ingrained in your DNA the ritual of going to the ballpark on a summer night really is.

Gotta say…I figure that the five Yankees games which I plan on attending this season is going to cost me about $1,000, all told, when you factor everything in…

…and, at times, I have thought about taking that money and buying the biggest, baddest, high-def, television and just watching all the games on that puppy…

…so, if others are thinking the same thing…it might become the wave of the future.

Via WPIX -

He used to “set em up Joe” for the ultimate Joe, Joe DiMaggio. But now longtime bartender 73 year old John Vendikos is out at home.

The veteran mixologist who spent 27 seasons at the House That Ruth Built has been dumped, he claims, because of his age. He poured drinks at the old Stadium Club for Yankee stars and fans but is out with the new Stadium and he is not happy.

Vendikos was certain he would have been in the starting lineup at the new stadium but was told in January that he would have to tryout again to make the team. The Yankees had started their own food-service company and they were re-interviewing workers.

“I had to wait in line for three hours, and when I got in, the guy said to me, ‘Why should I hire you? You’re an old man,’” Vendikos told The New York Post.

So now a complaint has been filed with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Vendikos. His lawyer Lenard Leeds says it is a textbook case of age discrimination.

Yankee team spokeswoman Alice McGillion said “We have hired many people over the age of 65 at the new stadium and we deny the allegation of any age discrimination,” she told The Post.

…We have hired many people over the age of 65…

Well, this explains why Ángel Berroa is still on the roster…they probably want to use him as an example of this if the Vendikos case goes to court…

Seriously, someone should get a hold of John Vendikos and work with him on a book. I’m sure, if he’s been there since 1980, that he’s seen enough interesting things at the bar that would make it a fun read…

Kevin Cooney and Phil Allard have recent posts on the new Yankee Stadium experience.

Continue reading »

Watching all these homeruns fly out of the new Yankee Stadium, and seeing a few issues already this season around fan interference and balls leaving the park, it makes me wonder if, next season, we’ll see a plexiglass extension added to the top of the fences at Yankee Stadium – like they had in left field at the Metrodome from 1983 to 1993?

Really, what else can they do, if they want to do something about all the big flies in the Bronx these days? They’re not going to remove seats and push the walls back. Since there’s less area behind home plate in the new place, it’s not like you can push the dish back – as some parks have done in the past in order to increase the distance to the fences without having to move walls. And, you can’t make the fences taller without blocking some fan views – unless you go the plexiglass route.

Man, if that happens, is that going to be ugly, or what? It’s like going to a hockey arena to watch a baseball game…

AccuWeather.com is predicting even more homeruns to come at the New Yankee Stadium.

Continue reading »

Via Bob Raissman with a H/T to BBTF –

The combination of food and security collided inside the Stadium Wednesday night. This had nothing to do with high-profile broadcasters or players’ wives. This was a rebellion of the rich. In that expensive area downstairs – the one with the empty seats – there are seemingly more waiters and waitresses, serving free food, than there are patrons.

On Wednesday, it got so crazy that the fan-elite started tossing ice cream sandwiches over the moat to peasants sitting in the $400 “cheap” seats. This did not sit well with Toastie security forces, who began scolding their most prized customers. The lecture from security prompted a guy in the rich seats to say: “I paid for this food, I can do with it what I want!”

Yeah, let them eat ice cream (sandwiches).

It could have been worse.

Many moons ago – I want to say it was 1984 or 1985, thereabouts – I went to an early season Yankees game with my (then) girlfriend. We were sitting in the lower upper deck along the first base side. At one point, some of the fans there starting tossing “something” back and forth among themselves. (You know, how some fans, at other ballparks bat around a beach-ball?)

Well, as the “object” starting coming closer to us – meaning being tossed among the fans closer to our seats – we realized what it was…it was a huge dildo.

My girlfriend, who was pretty straight-laced, was shocked that someone would bring that to the ballpark. Me? Hey, Yankee Stadium in the early ’80’s? I knew that anything was possible.

After a while, some of the fans started chanting “Over the ledge! Over the ledge!” – again and again. And, then, one of the fans who snagged the flying dildo tossed it over the ledge of the upper deck – down to the box seats, below

To this day, I wonder where it landed and how the person it hit reacted. I mean, truly, when you go to a ballgame, do you ever expect a giant rubber talleywacker to fall from the sky and bonk you off the head?

Worse, what if you had your kids with you and it hit one of them? How do you explain that? Yikes.

A free ice cream is a much better gift from the heavens…every day of the week.

A friend of a friend, who works with IOMEDIA, recently dropped me a note. His group was responsible for creating the Yankees Stadium 3D Seat Selector which is available on-line – and he was curious if I knew some of the Yankees fan reaction to this tool.

Personally, I know that my season-ticket-mates and I played with this a lot – when we found out where our season tickets were in the new Yankee Stadium. And, I do recall some WasWatching.com readers referencing the locator early in the season.

I love how it allows you to get an idea of what the view might be from seat locations – and how you can pan around from there. I suspect that I will be using this every time I have the need to buy tickets – outside of the ones from my season-tickets.

If you have any comments on the tool – good and bad – please consider sharing them here in the comments section. I’m sure the team at IOMEDIA would be interested in seeing that feedback.

As some of this blog’s readers have been quick to point out to me, the 2009 Yankees are among the leaders in highest home attendance this season – to date. And, the 2009 Yankees are among the leaders with respect to home game attendance “percentage of capacity.” That’s great. However, sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words and numbers.

Here’s a snapshot of the seating area directly behind home plate at Yankee Stadium taken during the game of May 17, 2009.

Note: This picture was taken at 2:35 pm ET – less than 90 minutes into the game. At that time, Ramiro Pena was batting for the Yankees in the bottom of the 5th inning – with the game scoreless. Oh, and, by the way, the skies were rain-free and it was Bat Day at the Stadium – where the first 10,000 fans attending the game, ages 14 and under, recieved a free Yankee Stadium Inaugural Season Bat.

[Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.]

Just look at all those empty blue seats. And, now, please, tell me how this is not an embarrassment to the Yankees organization? When you’re doing something right, with respect to ticket sales, there’s no way that you should see a picture like this, taken during a Sunday day-game, in May, in good weather, in the middle of a fast moving and close game, on the day of a major fan give-away event. No way…whatsoever…should you see a picture like this one.

Yes…sure…quote the stats. I’m sure Randy Levine and Lonn Trost, in the Yankees front office, are doing the same. But, again, a picture is worth a thousand words and numbers…and this picture, above, tells the story of the new Yankee Stadium…and the poor job the Yankees have done…allowing a visual like this to happen…over and over again.

Via Sean Forman’s new toy…attendance per game in the big leagues, last year compared to this year – with 2009 being games through May 15th:

  Tm	 (A)      (B)    DiffPerGame
   NYM	49519	38595	-10924
   WSN	29923	19696	-10227
   DET	36488	26648	-9840
   NYY	50713	44491	-6222
   ATL	30476	24753	-5723
   COL	32097	27286	-4811
   SDP	30770	25979	-4791
   HOU	33720	29386	-4333
   TOR	25485	21265	-4221
   LAD	46622	42578	-4044
   OAK	21233	18030	-3203
   BAL	24412	21833	-2579
   CLE	22628	21020	-1608
   PIT	16262	15240	-1022
   STL	40105	39213	-892
   SFG	33775	33085	-691
   SEA	26687	26089	-598
   ARI	27819	27301	-518
   CHC	39938	39423	-515
   CHW	25300	24925	-375
   MIN	24937	24782	-155
   BOS	37618	37752	 134
   CIN	21294	21756	 462
   LAA	39227	40660	1433
   TEX	21488	23025	1536
   MIL	34014	35953	1939
   KCR	17392	21232	3840
   PHI	39215	43109	3893
   FLA	14467	20386	5919
   TBR	16822	25757	8936

(A) = 2008 Att/Gm (B) = 2009 Att/Gm

I’m sure that the Law Firm of Levine & Trost will write this all off to that crazy new math. Speaking of the Yankees Egomaniacal Esquires…

Just this morning, around 8:30 am ET, I was listeing to Richard Neer on WFAN and he was referencing a trusted Yankees insider who told him that, with Big Stein now being out of the picture, it was “the lawyers” who were truly making all the calls for the Yankees these days – and, according to the insider, per Neer, this is bad news for the Yankees organization. Hearing this, I thought back to what I wrote two years ago:

Maybe that’s the issue with this Yankees organization – too many white-collar, pencil-pushing, general-ledger types and not enough people who have grown-up in the game calling the shots?

So, what do you think? Was I right two years ago? Do we need to see Levine and Trost sent packing? Will it ever happen while Itchie and Twitchie Steinbrenner (meaning Hal and Hank) are running the team? (In Peter Goldenbock’s “George,” it’s reported that a Yankees executive said “Did you ever hear of ‘Itchie and Twichie’? Hal and Hank. If you took both kids’ feet together at the same time, they couldn’t fit into George’s shoes.”) Or, will we just have to wait until the team is sold to be free from the Law Firm of Levine & Trost?

Via the Times –

For generations, die-hard fans have showed up early to baseball games to watch batting practice and get an autograph.

So fans at Yankee Stadium this season were dismayed to find out they could not go down to the field level before the game unless they had a ticket to sit there. Brenna Mahoney of New Jersey learned this when she took her son early to a game in April.

“I have been going to batting practice for about 20 years for this time-honored tradition of letting a kid who doesn’t sit in the premium seats where players are at close view and foul balls are regularly caught, have a shot at a wave from a favorite player or a prized ball to take home,” she said in an e-mail message last month.

Mahoney was not the only fan to complain, so on Thursday the Yankees changed their policy. Fans will now be able to watch batting practice from the seats along the left- and right-field lines and in the outfield (Sections 129 to 136 and 103 to 111).

Alice McGillion, a spokeswoman for the Yankees, said that after the team received complaints, it looked at the policy at the old Yankee Stadium. There, fans who had any field-level seat could watch batting practice.

“We liberalized the policy even more,” she said. “This is part of living in a new home and making adjustments. It’s only been a month.”

According to the new rules, posted on the Yankees’ Web site, fans can watch batting practice starting three hours before the start of each home game. Fans can stay on the field level and in the bleachers until the players leave the field or 1 hour 45 minutes after the gates open. Then “all fans will be asked to return to their respective seats.”

Sounds like a nice compromise to me. Sections 103 to 111 is prime BP homer territory. If I were going to hang out at the field level, before a game, as the players hit, that’s where I would want to be…