New Yankee Stadium Review
by DixonCayne on Apr 4, 2009 10:09 AM EDT
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PrintLast night, I went to the first ever (exhibition) game at new Yankees Stadium. It's a great looking place, mixing elements of the previous two stadiums with now standard ballpark amenities.
On the outside, its very reminiscent of the original - an imposing hunk of concrete. I didn't get to explore too much, but there didn't seem to be anything too interesting surrounding the building (statues, photo ops, etc). I do like the gold lettering at the main entrance.
When you enter the great hall, its more open than before, and you can walk all the way around now. Typical of HOK parks, the field is not hidden as you walk the concourse. It has a classy look, keeping with Yankee tradition. I didn't notice anything directed towards teens or younger kids, like radar guns or playgrounds. Large player banners add some snap, but overall the place is very gray.
For eats, the Yanks have joined the new era and you can now get sushi, Asian noodles, and southern BBQ. There's even a Hard Rock.
On the field, it still feels like Yankee Stadium. The dimensions are the same, the blues got a bit darker, and the iconic white-columned facade trims the top edge all around. Its still a pretty big place. The jumbo screen is the best I've ever seen - gigantic pore-showing hi-def brilliance. You can see into both bullpens clearly. The out of town scoreboard is much improved and its good to see both teams lineups continually posted. Views of the field have improved, so you can see the outfield corners much better. My upper deck, close-to-the-edge seat was $40, but will be more like $75 in season. Better seats have comfy cusions.
All that said, its still no Progressive Field and I look forward to Grady driving a long solo shot to open the place up and dampen the hometown spirit.
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Saw a Tribe game at the old Yankee Stadium, felt lucky to get out alive. They’re pretty brutal there. Good luck
I prefer to attend games with actual baseball fans in attendance.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 5:04 PM EDT reply actions 4 recs
Flag for using the word “classy” in the same sentence as “Yankee tradition”.
by jds16 on Apr 4, 2009 5:59 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Hey, I hate the Yankees as much as anyone, but their tradition is certainly one of class. Think of DiMaggio and Gehrig, not furry mascots, sausage races, and multi-colored uniforms.
As for the fans, they can be tough, but very knowledgeable and loyal. Spoiled and cocky, but we’d be that way too with a history of success. If you’re not a Boston fan, you’ll be all right.
Think of Steinbrenner and his two spawn. Think of Billy Martin. Think of Joe Pepitone’s toupee. Classy my ass.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
Whoa—hold on with the Billy Martin defamation. Martin was anti-Steinbrenner (“one’s a born liar and the other’s convicted”) and didn’t have much truck for the Yankees tradition. He played for the Indians and led the charge into the breach during Beer Night on the lake front.
Billy was one classy hombre.
Billy Martin was a loud-mouth drunk and a bully. As to “(leading) the charge into the breach during Beer Night on the lake front” yeah that’s right. Like most of Martin’s altercations he escalated some drunken frivolity into a potentially deadly confrontation.
Billy Martin – ex-Indian or no – was a jackass. Good riddance.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
Hell, Chuck, I thought he’d be right up your alley. Old school kind of guy. Sure he was a drunk and a bully—though a diminutive one—but he was passionate and a bona fide paisano. He played to win, and would spit in your eye if he had to. As I recall, before he ran onto the field, he grabbed a bat and asked his players, “All right—who’s with me?” How can you not like that? He’s loco!
If you’re not a Boston fan, you’ll be all right.
This is not true, and I speak from experience.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 4, 2009 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Granted, I was there for a playoff game (Game 3).
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 5, 2009 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions
DiMaggio, who may have intentionally given Mantle a knee injury?
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Let’s hope.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 7:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Anyway … I know nothing about DiMaggio to suggest that he was a particularly classy guy. What I do know about him suggests that he was very image conscious, not unlike A-Rod.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 7:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, Richard Ben Cramer, a “life long Yankee fan”. Now there’s an unbiased source.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
Haven’t you learned — you can’t say anything good about the Yankees on this site, even if it may be true. Everyone who has every played for that team is an awful person (except for those who are currently on the Indians) and every fan is a jerk. All of them. We can’t be objective here.
by Buckeye Brad on Apr 4, 2009 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Oddly enough, Brad, I am the one who is being objective when it comes to DiMaggio.
I got nice things to say about plenty of Yankees. Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 8:35 PM EDT up reply actions
Well, I don’t know enough about DiMaggio to say one way or the other, it just seems like people are jumping down this guy’s throat for saying nice things about their stadium. And there have been many instances in the past where any comment about the Yankees is met with hatred, whether deserved or not.
I don’t see anyone jumping down DixonCayne’s throat. When someone posts something about the Yankees, there will of course be the obligatory piss-on-the-Yankees posts — because they’re obligatory. But that’s not at all the same thing as jumping down the poster’s throat.
Dix did make a specific claim about the Yankees having a tradition of class, and that was disputed on a factual basis.
Objectively, nobody has gotten on Dix’s case, nor do I think anyone intended to. I think you may have jumped the gun a little.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions
OK, “jumping down his throat” was a little too much. But I hope we could discuss the merits of Yankee Stadium without turning the discussion in to another Yankee-hating thread. We all know how everyone feels about that team and their fans, but it seems that many times that hatred inhibits people from having rational discussions anything Yankee-related.
by Buckeye Brad on Apr 4, 2009 10:33 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know what his reputation was, but reputation isn’t class.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 4, 2009 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions
For the record, I don’t buy the claim that the Mantle injury was anything but an unfortunate accident. That’s not to dispute your larger point that DiMaggio was image-conscious rather than classy.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 4, 2009 10:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah… Furry mascots are so 1970s (San Diego Chicker?); multi-colored uniforms are sooo 1970s, too; Sausage races? Yep – glad we don’t have to see any cow milking competitions at Yankee stadium or other folksy traditions. No midgets coming to bat; No fireworks, too. No tradition in that. And, let’s go back to the time before all of those cushy luxury box seats that put fans behind glass and restaurants that view the field – oh sorry, that must be okay since the Yankees did that.
Sure, let’s just stick to the Yankee tradition of the 1950s, when they didn’t have black player until 8 years after the Indians.
Sorry – it’s great to see a new Yankee stadium, and I hope (someday) to be able to afford attending a game. But, since I have sworn off all spending in New York City until we get a salary cap (since the tax dollars I spend are paying for the stadium and the big contracts), I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
Pointing out any organization as uniquely classy among all teams in baseball is simply asking for an argument.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
The Yankees do have a particular kind of classiness: the Donald Trump kind.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 5, 2009 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Merriam Webster:
oxymoron /ahk-see-mor-ahn/ n: a combination of contradictory words (as Donald Trump classiness)
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on Apr 5, 2009 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Uniquely classy or unique classiness?
Further off-topic… What kind of financial/economic bubble did we live through prior to this recession? It was so extraordinary that Donald Trump had a television show and was considered an astute business leader.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge..." C. Darwin
I’m not sure who exactly considered Trump an astute business leader. He is a celebrity businessman, but as in other fields, celebrity does not correlate to ability. He is basically the Anna Kournikova of real estate.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
by Jay on Apr 5, 2009 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Here’s the mauichuck review of the new Yankee Stadium – and I ain’t even set foot in the joint yet. Come April 16 it’ll be full of strutting, bitter, condescending, ignorant, obnoxious wit-nits, who have no regard for any other baseball team or fanbase. Other than that – nice building.
Resident LGT results-oriented boob.
by mauichuck on Apr 4, 2009 6:03 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I’ve never met a Yankee fan I liked. True story.
by NickFantana on Apr 4, 2009 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Hello DixonCayne,
Thanks for the review.
Perhaps someone else brought this up, but Lastoria in his latest column linked a Chicago Tribune piece that mentioned that those fans that sit in the right-center field seats are going to have to move from their seats to the Hard Rock Cafe or elsewhere in the stadium to see 3B and to see if balls clear the wall in LF, since the viewpoint is obstructed.
It’s amazing that this wasn’t figured out before the $1.5 billion stadium was built – you’d think virtually every place in the stadium would have a panoramic view, or at least, an appreciable view of the entire field. Progressive Field and other ballparks do (sure, the foul poles can provide minor obstacles, but those can be dealt with without much trouble).
Perhaps this goes to show that “bigger” (or “having too much in one ballpark”) isn’t “better.” :-)
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Actually, I’ve found many spots at the Jake where the view of an outfield corner is obstructed. I sit mostly in the cheap seats, though.
Hello Voltaire,
Yes; even the cameras can’t pick up the foul territories down the lines or at the extent of the OF corners, but better those spots then 3B.
What I forgot to mention was, the Yankees sort of hint, according to that article, that you’ll either have to get up and move to the Cafe or watch it on one of the many TVs throughout the stadium. Plus, those right-center field seats cost a pretty penny from what I hear – I bet the fans in those seats won’t be too thrilled, since part of the thrill is determining whether a runner will be able to score from 3rd or if a ball will be a HR or not – not being able to tell from your own seat likely won’t make them too happy, and especially if the JumboTron is facing the other way – who really wants to look up and back at a JumboTron to find out what is going on? I know my neck would have a problem with that, as would my wallet. :-)
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
I doubt that this is so. I’m sure that due diligence was taken. This is just a Cubs fan making a preemptive defense of Wrigley.
In a stadium as big as this there are bound to be a few bad seats, but I’m certain that it’ll be less defective than most ballparks (most of which aren’t very defective at all. HOK has the sight-lines thing down to an easy science). I’m sure the physical structure is great; it’s the team and the product on the field that’s the problem.
I agree that an organization spending $1.5 billion dollars on a new stadium and spending hundreds of millions on a handful of FAs in the offseason is definitely a problem and shows the economic disparity and inequality in this game.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Are those costs inflated by land acquisition and other infrastructural improvements? I honestly don’t know and haven’t checked. But no matter what, their advantages are perverse, even before getting that new ballpark. It frustrates me, indiansfan.
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