Yet again, another trip into enemy territory. I've been to Yankee Stadium before, both old and new. I've never enjoyed it. To be fair, as much as I hate the Yankees, it's hard to hate on old Yankee Stadium. It was filled to the brim with baseball history, some of the best to ever play the game walked out on that field. Fans sitting in the seats I have sat in, cheered on as they witnessed historic moments. I was never one of those fans, but as with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, it's just amazing to be a spectator of such a cathedral. New Yankee Stadium is a different story. It feels like a museum for the great cathedral they knocked down to make this shiny, new building. It feels weird to be there, like you can't touch anything, at every turn someone is trying to sell you something and most importantly, the sight lines are TERRIBLE. We sat down the first base line, If I sat straight in my seat, I saw into left field. I had to turn to almost a 90 degree angle to see home plate and the pitchers mound. Since everyone else has to do the same thing, I couldn't actually see the plate. If I leaned to my left, I saw the catcher, I leaned to my right, I saw the pitcher. If I stayed at a 90 degree angle I saw...the back of someone's head. I missed out on the actual interaction that is baseball, the ball crossing the plate. Aside from that, we were sitting in the one of the "corporate, rich seats sections." No one there seemed to care about the game. They kept getting up to get another beer or hot dog in the middle of an inning. Or standing directly in front of you, talking to a friend while the game was going on. The fans, at least that night, I don't mean to generalize (too much), had no baseball etiquette.
Let me be honest here, I HATE the Yankees. I hate everything about them. And as a Mets/Red Sox fan, they probably don't like me much either. I'm okay with that. To be clear, I'm not a Red Sox fan because I hate the Yankees, it is purely coincidental. I swear by that. I don't like that you can go to almost any other ballpark and go down to field level to watch batting practice but you can't at Yankee Stadium. George Steinbrenner, when asked why fans couldn't move down to field level, said something along the lines of "You wouldn't let a homeless guy sleep in your house, would you?" I don't think they care about their fans, at all. The ticket prices have skyrocketed to the point where the average fan can barely attend a game. I dislike A LOT of their current and former players, and most Yankee fans are unbelievably obnoxious. I have friends that are Yankee fans, with most of them, we can live in harmony while rooting for rival teams. For the others, I barely talk about baseball with them, knowing it will end the friendship.
Back to baseball, my sister and I went to see the Minnesota Twins take on the Yankees. As a New York based Twins fan, it's hard for my sister to see her favorite team often, so we ventured out to the Bronx for the game. Despite the rain delay, and the guy sitting a few rows back screaming racist things, it was a good game. Ultimately, the Yankees won, as they usually do against the Twins and we had to deal with overly excited Yankee fans on the commute home. I thankfully bit my tongue and didn't remind them that they beat an utterly mediocre team. Thank goodness for small miracles.
Needless to say, not my favorite place in the world but an official trip to Yankee Stadium had to happen. Onward and upward!
Game Information:
July 12, 2013 7:05pm
Diamond vs Kuroda
Final Score: 2-0 New York Yankees defeat the Minnesota Twins
W: Kuroda L:Pressly S: Rivera
1) Fenway Park, Boston Massachusetts
2) PNC Park, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
3) Wrigley Field, Chicago Illinois
4) Nationals Park, Washington D.C
5) Target Field, Minneapolis Minnesota
6) Citi Field, Flushing New York
7) Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia Pennsylvania
8) Yankee Stadium, Bronx New York
Next stop: Milwaukee!
