I'LL TAKE THE STADIUM ON THE LEFT

(Photo credit: Bernstein Associates Photography)

The other evening, I was going through pictures for #ThrowBackThursday and I came across a file on my hard drive entitled "Yankee Stadium- The Final Season."  I paused like one would do during a moment of silence for the loss of something or someone.  It was if the Ghost of Christmas Past came to visit me for a short while and showed me a memory that caused me to weep like Ebenezer himself.  

I remember that final trip to the ball park with my kids.  We sat in the bleachers and my daughter talked me into buying her the Yankee puppet with the boxing gloves, which I regretted after being beaten by the little toy for five long innings.  My students had bought me the tickets as a gift at the end of the school year.  They had written a sitcom script for a class I was teaching on broadcast writing.  The basis of the script- baseball of course!  This was their way of saying "Thank you" for a great year.  I was touched. 

All these feelings rushed back to me as I gazed at the pictures with pride and happiness.  And it hit me- the old stadium was simple and now we have complicated- where did the fun of the game go when the House That Ruth Built transformed into a park across the street from Stan's?

Stan's is a mainstay at the ball park.  But it was quickly replaced by the Hard Rock Cafe and NY Steaks.  I am not complaining but Stan's is an old time, classic baseball bar and the others are chain restaurants extraordinaire- all bling no tradition.  It is like Black Friday beats up Small Business Saturday every year.  You get the comparison.  Do I like the food better at HRC or NYS over Stan's?  Yes, I suppose, but it's not always about food.  I would take a dog and a beer in my cheap seats at the old stadium over seat side service at the new ballpark if it meant that we could have the old salaries and less greed in the game. 

What about ambiance?  Steiner sports mall right in the middle of the stadium along side of the glorious Legends Suite, a food court that sells everything from sushi to fried calamari and sky boxes glittering in the night- no more simple walkways into the stadium where the "oooos" and "aahhs" just bellow at the sight of the pitcher's mound.  Glitz has replaced just simply keeping score with mini pencils, which were always a fun souvenir to receive if you were good at the game.   I am down with being modern but not at the expense of tradition.  People expect too much from their trip to the ball park- and I suppose they should when the cost of just one ticket is the cost of a monthly car payment, or private school tuition or a New Jersey Transit train pass to Penn Station.  And all this money means more pressure on everyone to win.  Did we have that pressure in the old stadium?  Not like today- the huge mortgage payment supersedes the simplicity of yesterday when you could walk down to the field seats even if you were sitting in the upper deck or you could park on the streets around the stadium instead of getting stuck in a lot because the street on which you always parked is closed to keep the flow of traffic moving.  

What about the traffic?  The last two times to the new ball park I have had been stuck in such traffic it made me rethink my decision to go to the game.  The George Washington Bridge just doesn't seem to be handling the passage of time really well.  That evening, when we lost a terrible fight in extra innings, they closed the bridge for repairs without a sign and I got stuck being re-routed through Manhattan.  I got home around 3:00 a.m.  Over the passed several weeks, the bridge has been intermittently shut down or lanes closed causing traffic like no other.  So, there's trains, buses, subways and of course other bridges to take- all with a high price tag for fans.  

But what about the look of the park, the architecture, the modernness of the structure?  We, like other franchises, were bullied into a new park.  Look at Fenway- they didn't cave and they seem to know how to rebuild on the foundation they have.  I am not a Sox fan but I am a fan of that ball park and the way they have their streets, bars, souvenirs, and fun working hours before the game.  The Monsta Seats are electric- we don't have anything like them here in the Bronx and I can't pretend to fall in love with the new Yankee Stadium when the average fan can't afford to go more than once a year if they are lucky.  So, although, the new Yankee Stadium is a five star hotel with room service, gourmet chefs and breath-taking views of the outfield from the sky boxes, I long for the old ball park feeling. 

If we could have both in the New Yankee Stadium and not cost you a month's salary, I would feel better about saying I like the new versus the old.  But, I can't- so although I bleed Yankee blue everyday of the week, I miss my old ball park, I miss my old team and I miss the good 'ol days of baseball, when the highlight of your day was not having a ball thrown to you by a ball boy, usher or passing player, but when you actually caught a ball, caught a glimpse of Ron Guidry leaving the ball park because security wasn't 10 feet thick and saved your ticket stub as a memento not because it has a Modell's coupon on the back.   So, my friends, if I had to choose, I would take the old stadium on the left.  

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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