The Tuesday Discussion: Thoughts About Yankee Stadium
This week we asked the writers:
“As we get closer to the start of the season, please share what you love the most, and the least, about Yankee Stadium.”
Here are their responses:
Patrick Gunn – My favorite part of Yankees Stadium is the history and high standards it represents. No, it doesn’t have the same allure as the old stadium, but it still carries the same legacy. My least favorite part of the Stadium is how expensive it is. I understand that it’s a major league ballpark, but everything is so overpriced.
Paul Semendinger – I have grown to love the new Yankee Stadium because it is the place the Yankees call home, but I do miss the old park. As an “upper deck” fan, I feel much more removed from the game in my seats than I did in the old Stadium. There is passion there, with the fans, and such, but it’s a little more removed than it was, or seemed to be, formally. That being said, the seats are larger (or seem larger) making for a more comfortable experience. It’s not the old park, a place I miss, but it is home to the Yankees now and because of that, I have come to love it.
Ed Botti – I loved the old Stadium, and miss it.
Pros. Better food.
Cons. The new Stadium has a much more corporate feel to it, that I do not like. I believe the right field “power alley” is too short due to the fence being straight and not bowed away from home plate. The configuration of the upper decks seems to have taken a lot of the loud fan noise, cheering and booing away. The home field advantage is not the same because the fans used to be right on top of the field, and the new stadium is much more spread out.
And of course, the prices are insane.
But, it still is Yankee Stadium and that is good enough for me!
Andy Singer – At the end of the day, Yankee Stadium is where the Yankees play, so for that alone, I have to like it. To pick one thing though, I like the sight lines throughout the stadium – there really isn’t a bad seat in the house, and I’ve had great views in both expensive and relatively inexpensive seats.
However, the stadium is far too corporate for my tastes. The word I’ve used when describing Yankee Stadium to multiple people is “sterile.” I stand by that description, even after being impressed by how loud it got when I was on-site for the first time Sevy out-dueled Chris Sale. I loved the House That Ruth Built, and new Yankee Stadium will never be the cathedral of baseball in the same way.
