Attention Yankees And Mets Fans—

New Baseball Stadiums Open For Business

By Andy Hutchison

It is officially the start of a new era in New York sports. The Yankees and Mets both play in new ballparks now — do you believe it? No more Shea … no more House That Ruth Built.

The Mets opened Citi Field in the old parking lot of the now pile of rubble Shea Stadium on Monday night and the Yankees were scheduled to play their first home game at the new Yankee Stadium on Thursday (after The Bee went to press). The Yanks christened their new digs in a pair of exhibition games earlier this month. I had the opportunity to be at those games and took some extra time to absorb the ambiance of the massive structure.

Upon first hearing that the Yankees would be moving a few years ago, I was not happy about the idea, in part because of tradition and history and because the new park will hold several thousand less seats. But the reality is, this ballpark — in many ways — resembles the original stadium prior to its mid-1970s renovation.

A nice touch is the replica frieze that decorates the top of the entire upper deck. That was taken down during the renovation across the street (the old Yankee Stadium, slated for demolition for city ball field space at some point, still stands).

It was exciting to see the new ballpark … but a little strange at the same time. Along with other fans, I snapped photo after photo of the new stadium with my back turned to the old one that could still host a game if necessary. But it is not too hard to appreciate the new venue.

The inner walkways of the new stadium are a major improvement, with images of Yankee legends stretching from a high ceiling down close to the dwarfed fans. The new video scoreboard is huge and makes for an easy view of the replays. Old-fashioned manual scoreboards are built into the outfield walls. The new stadium, as touted by the Yankees, is a nice combination of history and tradition and new amenities; this is best summed up when you go though the turnstiles and an automated version of legendary Public Address Announcer Bob Sheppard’s voice welcomes you to the stadium.

Unfortunately, this change also means really expensive seats, some of which the Yankees are still trying desperately to sell.

Forget about what you keep hearing. You can, in fact, get a ticket to the game — for several hundred dollars, even as much as $2,625 face value — for one seat! Granted, the first game I went to at the old Yankee Stadium was when I was a child and it was a couple of decades ago ... but the same general seating area cost hundreds of dollars less. Yes, I have heard of inflation, but ticket prices have gone out of control in the last dozen or so years.

Fact is, you don’t have to take out a loan to hear “Take Me Out To The Ballgam”e and enjoy an afternoon or evening at the stadium. Tickets for the upper deck are in the $20 range and nobody is holding a bat to your head to buy $10 beers for every hit.

Some differences that will take some time to get used to at the new Yankee Stadium are the echo of the public address announcer and organ. The old park’s seating areas were closed off from the concession stands and the walkways. The new one is a little more fan-friendly in that the fans can still see part of the field while waiting in line for a $40 hotdog (in reality it’s only about $5). The new setup results in a completely unfamiliar reverberation.

The old upper deck across the street hung over the field in some areas and was much steeper — and bigger. I’ll miss that.

But all-in-all, the new Yankee Stadium is really nice, comfortable and familiar enough to call home for a ballgame.

As for Citi Field, I look forward to seeing some games there as well. Although I have no first-hand account of the new park to share, it is clear the Mets did not keep with their tradition. Of course, Shea Stadium was built in the 1960s, during an era of “cookie-cutter” parks with little old-fashioned charm. The Mets’ new home is a throwback, with odd angles to the outfield walls.

Both new stadiums hold fewer seats than their predecessors, resulting in more space, more luxury boxes — and less opportunity for a person who is not making a ballplayer’s salary to go to the game. But, if you want to go, as long as you don’t mind sitting up high and can control yourself at the team store and concession stands, you can afford to be a fan after all.

Tickets for Mets games are easier to come by, but Yankees’ tickets sometimes become available through Ticketmaster or can be found (sometimes even for reasonable amounts) on sites such as StubHub.

See you at the stadiums!