The New Ballpark

Hard to talk about intimacy in a place that seats over 52,000, let alone in an old place that sat 56,000, but from our Terrace seats in Section 313, while everything else is an upgrade in the new Yankee Stadium, intimacy is lost. Some combination of more steeply angled tiers, wider seats, even the most welcome beverage holders makes the new ballpark in the Terrace level more remote from the action than in the old park. I think it's height mostly; no foul ball came the least bit close today, when in the old Tier MVP location there were often several a game. Once I got one, off the bat of today's hero Jorge Posada, whose fly ball to deep right field stood up under video tape review as a home run even if the ball wound up back on the field after glancing off the Cleveland outfielder's glove. Getting one is not going to happen in this new location.

A major embarrassment for the Yankees has to be the 3/4 empty hugely expensive seats behind home plate. For anyone watching on TV today, the view in from the pitching mound to the batter saw mostly space not fans behind the backstop, giving the impression of a crowd of 10,00 or so rather than the nearly full stadium everywhere else. Even the Yankees having trouble selling tix for up to $2000 apiece in this economy.

As for the rest, it is all fine, more concession stands, more variety at those stands, no increase in prices for the things I buy (although at already outrageous levels that held price line is only a small blessing), more rest rooms -- if a bit oddly designed -- and, especially, the mostly open and very wide concourses, the hallmark of the modern ballparks and a ten gazillion percent improvement over the crowded and claustrophobic old ramps at the park still standing across the street.

And the still standing part is another story, an irritant for many in the Bronx community who increasingly are asking when do they get the pld park gone and a start on the promised replacements for the public park and playfields that were obliterated in the new construction.