Today was the day! I picked up my $1.10 (plus $3.50 in Ticketmaster fees) hard ticket from will call for the game. I am tempted to frame this because of the ridiculous price:
The will call window area was very slow, and although they have many lines inside the office everyone gets stuck on one waiting outside. That means that unlike at the old stadium you can’t just jump onto a line with less people because folks around aren’t paying any attention.
Here are my pictures from today, mostly from the Great Hall. I didn’t get a chance to check out the Yankees Museum and whatever else there was because the will call line delayed my entry by more than I was expecting and I didn’t want to miss the actual baseball going on:
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- Some of the Yankee Legends banners.
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- Some of the Yankee Legends banners.
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- Banner of Bill Dickey in the Great Hall
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- Whitey Ford and Bill Dickey banners in the Great Hall
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- Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard and Phil Rizzuto banners in the Great Hall
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- Banner of Joe DiMaggio in the Great Hall
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- Banner of Lou Gehrig in the Great Hall
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- Roger Maris and Yogi Berra banners in the Great Hall
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- Banners of recent notable Yankees in the Great Hall area.
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- Banners of recent notable Yankees in the Great Hall area.
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- Andy Pettitte on one of the Great Hall TVs.
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- The view from 417, Row 12, Seat 30. Where I sat today.
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- Where am I again? I forgot.
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- The out of town scoreboard now gives more information, but shows less games at once.
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- How the lineups are displayed on the new monitors.
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- A shot to illustrate the different seating decks.
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- Everything that can be sponsored, is sponsored.
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- Monument Park is not as prominently displayed as it was previously.
I plan on hitting up the other areas by getting to my first Friday game early since I am taking the day off to attend anyway (I still don’t get why it’s a day game but that’s neither here nor there).
I also took some random videos.
First off, Andy Pettitte’s 2009 intro video:
Next up, the stupid baby picture thing. I happened to have my camera ready so I just let it go:
Lastly, the new Yankees memory match game. If you saw it last year, you may remember that it was just like a flip the Yankees logo and the guys underneath are revealed very quickly thing. This year, they went all Brady Bunch with it for reasons beyond my comprehension:
The weather was really inclement and there is no hiding area in the tier (er, excuse me, I mean the grandstand) the same way as there was in OYS. It’s very open with no shelter, which is how they are doing things at newly built stadiums these days (it was the same at both Great American and PNC–the latter of which is used as a model for new buildings). That means when it’s very windy like today was, you’re going to get creamed if you don’t go to one of the overpriced restaurants or bars if you come unprepared. Luckily for me, I’ve got my blanket-thing that I drag to Yankee games when the conditions call for it ready.
It’s also worth noting that because of the slats in the back of the grandstand the covering doesn’t really protect you that much from rain if you are in the upper rows and your seats get soaked.
Windy with a chance of dingers.