Take Me Out To The Ballgame: Yankee Stadium

I’ve been a Yankee fan for a long time.  As a kid, my father dutifully took me to both Yankees and Mets games.  You see, he wasn’t a baseball fan.  He didn’t realize that was essentially sacrilege.  The Yankees won my heart back then, despite being quite bad as a team.

Fast forward to my adult life and the Yankees have been great.  We’ve been lucky enough to have great players like Rivera, Posada, Pettitte and Jeter.  And, I’ve been lucky enough to be there a bunch of times, including one final night of magic.

I realized recently that I had never added Yankee Stadium to my list of stadiums visited.  I visited the old stadium plenty of times, but this is a quick look at the new stadium.

Over the last year or so, the kids have really started to get into the Yankees.  Catherine is a Jeter fan, just like her mom (and millions of others).  Charlie really likes Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera.  On a recent trip, we made sure to get them properly outfitted.

A quick subway ride up to The Bronx and we were just in time for the giveaway on Bat Day!

Entering through the Hall of Heroes is my favorite way into Yankee Stadium.

Yankee Stadium is an expensive proposition.  Tickets aren’t cheap, and neither is the food.  PRO TIP: If you have a MasterCard, sign up for the Yankee’s mailing list.  Each year, they have one week before the season starts where they sell discounted tickets.  The deals can be significant and all you need is a MasterCard.

Stadium Food

As expected, you’ll find all the common baseball stadium options.  Peanuts, popcorn, pretzels, cotton candy, and our kids’ favorite ice cream helmet.

On top of that, you’ll find a host of interesting and healthy options.  There are fruit stands, salads, sushi and noodle bowls.  All those choices will set you back a pretty penny, but the quality of the specialty options is actually quite good.

And, amidst all those healthy options is one of my favorites, if not quite as healthy.

Got Kids?

Recently, in an effort to be more appealing to casual fans the Yankees have been adding some more entertainment options.  Frankly, they really had to do this.  A few years ago, when our son was 2 years old, we came to Yankee Stadium for a game.  When he fell asleep in his stroller, the stadium folks refused to let us park the stroller anywhere the game was visible.  This was despite standing viewing areas that weren’t “revenue seats” at that time.

Since then, the rules have been relaxed a bit. And, the Yankees added a sizable kids play area.  Located in left field on the upper deck, there’s plenty of space for kids to play.  Couple that with a room for nursing moms and they’ve made some real family friendly enhancements.

Stadium Views

For those who don’t follow the Yankees, Aaron Judge is a young player on the team doing his best to take the league by storm.  He plays a part in another Yankees effort to make games more fun.  They rolled out the Judge’s Chambers this year.  You can’t buy tickets, but lucky fans get upgraded during each game to sit there.  They even get a robe, wig and gavel to join in the festivities.  We didn’t get the “upgrade”, but the security guards let us hang out for a minute before the game started.

The rest of the stadium has good sight lines for baseball fans.  There really aren’t any bad seats.  We’ve sat up high and down low, and enjoyed every minute (well, maybe not the $12 beers so much).

The Final Two Pennies

There’s not much more to say about my favorite team’s stadium.  Monument Park is where the Yankee legends are recognized.  It was closed during our most recent visit.  I’ll dig up some pictures and add them to the post at a later point.  Suffice it to say that it’s worth 30 minutes of your time if you’re headed to Yankee Stadium.

Yankee Stadium will cost you a bundle.  It’s not quite as crowded as it was during the heyday of the Yankees.  But, it’s a good place to watch a game.  The food and kids’ activities help make it more entertaining.  There are absolutely better stadiums in baseball, but the Yankees are catching up.  Still, for me, there’s already some great memories there.  I can’t wait to take my grandkids!

MLB:

• Yankee Stadium (One Final Night of Magic)
• Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)
• PacBell Park (San Francisco Giants)
• Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners)
• Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)
• Shea Stadium (New York Mets)
• Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
• Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)
• Coors Field (Colorado Rockies)
• Nationals Park (Washington Nationals)
• Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays)
• Turner Field (Atlanta Braves)
• Chavez Ravine, Dodgers Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)**The Red Sox will always be listed last any time I refer to baseball teams

NFL:

• Giants Stadium (Giants and Jets)
• FedEx Field (Washington Redskins)
• Qwest Field (Seattle Seahawks)
• M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore Ravens)
• Soldier Field (Chicago Bears)
• Candlestick Park (San Francisco 49ers)

NBA:

• Air Canada Centre (Toronto Raptors)
• Pepsi Center (Denver Nuggets)
• Madison Square Garden (New York Knicks)
• Brendan Byrne/Continental Airlines Arena (New Jersey Nets)
• Verizon/MCI Center (Washington Wizards)
• United Center (Chicago Bulls)

NHL:

• Pepsi Center (Colorado Avalanche)
• Madison Square Garden (New York Rangers)
• Verizon/MCI Center (Washington Capitals)
• HP Pavilion (San Jose Sharks)

College Basketball:

• Charles Koch Arena (Wichita State Shockers)

College Football:

• Neyland Stadium (University Of Tennessee Volunteers)

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