YANKEE STADIUM EMPLOYEES: MLB'S FINEST

If you are a regular reader of Bleeding Yankee Blue, then you know all about my late uncle and his love for the Colorado Rockies.(Read FAMILY RIVALRY & THE LAST WORD) My sister, Amy and my mother, Kathy, share that love for the Rox, as if they were there, supporting the team through their Inaugural Season and beyond. As a tribute to my uncle who’s now been gone for a year, three generations of women in my family bought tickets to Saturday’s game to watch the Yankees vs. The Rockies. Half of us wore Yankee Blue, and the other half wore Rockies purple and black. We thought it would be a great way to observe the anniversary of my uncle’s loss, but also, a way to bond and enjoy Yankee Stadium.

Planning the trip was fairly seamless, much to my surprise; there were no worries, no fuss, as if the gods of baseball knew what we were planning and why, and nodded in approval. Then, two days before the game, a little glitch happened. My sister injured her Achilles tendon while taking out the garbage (Yes, a woman’s work is never done...) and needs crutches. We knew she’d never be able to make the walk from the Stadium train terminal, so we got her a wheelchair in the hopes that she would be more comfortable.

However, upon arrival at Yankee Stadium we were given the awful news that the seats we had were not wheelchair accessible, so we were given instructions to get into the very long ticket line, and go from there. So there I was, standing in line half an hour before the first pitch muttering words under my breath that would make Andrew “Dice” Clay blush.When I finally got to the ticket window, they told me that they couldn’t help me with an exchange because I purchased my tickets on StubHub.com. At this point, Amy had resigned herself to attempting to climb all of the way up the stairs to our terrace seats, which meant that we would likely miss 1 or 2 innings of play. A man named Anthony who worked in that department approached me in line and asked me if he could help me. He listened, nodded, and asked me to come with him. From then on, another employee with a two-way radio spoke to us, and contacted her supervisor, Aaron, who arrived in a matter of minutes with another employee named Jessica. They informed us that they had already taken care of everything, they had reserved new seats for us and they were waiting. Aaron stated that they had to be creative, but were able to get the job done quickly enough for us in order to see the game in time. He told us that Jessica would escort us to our seats, and that they would take care of everything. As Jessica brought us to our new “home”, she struck up conversation with us, asked with concern about my sister’s injury, and laughed and joked with us. She got us settled in, introduced us to the staff that worked in the area, and told us not to hesitate to ask for anything.

Honestly, we were all amazed at how our day went from a potential nightmare to being treated like VIPs. Our seats were above home plate, and we had one of the best views of the stadium. We were able to sit and enjoy the game in its entirety, thanks to Anthony, Aaron, and Jessica. I think that all too often, we don’t recognize good people and excellent customer service, even if it rarely exists anymore. These employees were kind, courteous, and after it all, we felt like they were friends. So, this piece is dedicated to our new friends at Yankee Stadium, with much gratitude for all that they did. One last thing: don’t ever let anyone tell you that people in the Bronx are tough to deal with, because the exact opposite is true.



--Christy Lee, BYB Staff Writer



--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Associate Editor



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