Most of the 39,000 people (sellout with standing room only) sat or stood through the 2-and-a-half hour delay. We paid prices above normal for those tickets which were gone by Opening Day.

We waited for the storms to pass and they did after about an hour (a little less, actually). It waned to a barely noticeable drizzle then quit altogether with one brief shower (about two minutes in length). The field drained well. About an hour into the delay, the tarps could have been removed. They were not.

We continued to sit, watching highlights of the 1960′s Yankees/Pirates World Series.

And sat…

And sat…

Finally, with no rain in the air, no thunder, no lightning, no players to be seen (through the entire duration), the game was called. We were told it was because the National Weather Service said more storms were in the offing.

Those storms never arrived.

39,000 went home utterly disappointed. The rubber game between the greatest team in baseball and our lowly Pirates washed out.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I pieced together what happened. Undoubtedly, the Yanks were on the plane before the fans were out of the ball park.

The decision was a lie. The real reason that game was called is because the Yankees had to play the next day at 2:00. I have no doubt in my mind that the game would not have been made up if the Pirates had negotiated that. I’m sure the negotiations went something like this:

Yankees: “Hell, we’ve got a game at 2:00 tomorrow. (And why in the world would we need this game with you, the lowly Pirates.)

Pirates: “Okay, we’ll call it as long as you come back. (We can sell most of those seats a second time.)”

Together: Deal!

Pirates officials talking it over with umps. “Okay, we need to hold off calling this for another hour or so so that more rain may fall and give us cover.”

Ump: “And what if it doesn’t fall?”

Pirates, Yankees, everyone: “Screw the fans. We’re Major Leaguers.”

Am I mad? You bet I am. I drove all the way from Indiana to watch that game. So don’t come crying to me about your poor prima donas missing some sleep.

The solution is a cold war era step toward adopting mutually assured desctruction (MAD). If opposing teams don’t make the final game of a series a day game (like they do for other teams) the Yankees should schedule the last game of the series at night and force smaller market opponents (root of the problem) to live like they do when on the road. Because if they can use the money rationale, why can’t we… every team needs more money.

Imagine if teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs et al (big away drawing teams) started acting like the rest of the smaller market teams… things would change because players would get fed up with it. MLB, owners and MLBPA would have to sit down and adress it at some point.

do the fans want interleague play, or do they simply want to see the Yankees?

does attendance spike when the Marlins play the Rays?

the Yankees are a draw wherever they go.