Scenes from the dismantling

May 14, 2009 by Benjamin Kabak 85 Comments

Tom Kaminski, WCBS 880 AM’s man in the sky, took Chopper 88 for another pass over Yankee Stadium. As the photogallery shows, the crews are hard at work dismantling the stadium. The right field seats are nearly gone, and sections of the wall have been stripped bare. We’ll miss the old gal. That’s for sure.

In other stadium news, NYU students are ripping into the Yanks for not allowing any of them to sit in the plush seats during yesterday’s graduation ceremony. After the jump, a photo of the scene. By now, though, we’re used to seeing empty seats right at field level. Gothamist has more shots from the ceremony.

EmptyYankeeStadium

http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

In other stadium news, NYU students are ripping into the Yanks for not allowing any of them to sit in the plush seats during yesterday’s graduation ceremony.

This is getting ri-god-damn-diculous.

What, people can’t even sit in the seats when there’s not even a game scheduled that day?

I have no clue as to the Yankees thought process there. I mean, really. You let NYU use the stadium for their graduation… but they can’t sit in the seats at the front. Were you afraid they’d be carrying bags of rat feces in their back pockets and your precious seats would be ruined forever?

I can usually find a logical defense for ANYBODY’S position, no matter how tenuous, but I’m baffled here. They’re seats, they’re not holy sepulchers that must be constantly defended from possible defamation by infidels and saracens at all costs.

THEY’RE SEATS.
- http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  I would assume it’s because entry to that seating section is through a different level (i.e. I don’t think you walk down to those seats from the regular concourse, I think you enter from some private lower level), and they didn’t want to parade all the students through all the fancy suite areas in the bowels of the stadium in order to get them to those seats.
  
  Solution: Tear down that stupid concrete wall.
  - http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
    
    Solution: Tear down that stupid concrete wall.
    
    Mr. ~~Gorbachev~~ Steinbrenner, tear down this wall.
    - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
      
      REAGAN SMASH!!!!
      - Evan
        
        It’s just Reagan. Leave him alone, he will tire himself out.
        
        Reagan Sleep…
    - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      Haha, I walked into that one.
    - Mike HC
      
      hahahahaha
  - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    PS: I actually find the NYU story to be kind of silly, and that’s coming from someone who definitely falls on the “critical” side of things when it comes to the new stadium. Who cares if they weren’t allowed into that fancy front section? Did they need to get a close-up view of the action? This time, I can’t get too riled up. This seems like a bunch of college students getting themselves worked up over nothing.
    - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
      
      I agree with you that NYU shouldn’t be making a big deal about not sitting in the good seats.
      
      But the Yankees making it a big deal in the first place by NOT sitting them in the good seats is even dumber.
      - Chris
        
        I don’t know the details, but what if there weren’t enough ‘good seats’ to accommodate all of the graduates, and they would have to enter through a different level. That would just make the logistics much more difficult since you would now have the students split up. There are perfectly reasonable explanations for why they’d have the seating this way.
      - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        “But the Yankees making it a big deal in the first place by NOT sitting them in the good seats is even dumber.”
        
        Yeah… I agree. That’s why I said they should just get rid of that concrete wall, I think the wall is the culprit in this situation. I’m thinking they had a choice – sit the students behind the wall or provide for the suites-area to be open and staffed with the appropriate security personnel so that a few thousand of the students could be paraded down there and out into the empty seats. I understand why the Yankees said “just sit behind the wall,” it’s clearly the easier and more reasonable way to go about it.
        
        If they would just get rid of the wall and station one security guard at each of the entrances from the field down to the suites areas beneath the main concourse, they’d never have a problem like this again. They’d be able to keep the hoi polloi (the hoi polloi who are spending $400/seat lol) out of the private suites, so the people who spend $2500 will still have their fancy areas, and they won’t have to deal with the wall anymore and the logistical and PR problems it creates.
    - BJ
      
      The problem was that they had all the graduates on the field level and all the family on main level and up, so you couldn’t really get good pictures. Last year when I graduated at the old stadium the grads were right close to the field so the parents could sit behind them on the same level. But w/e it was a great day and the stadium was beautiful, even if a few of the yankee employees were power tripping assholes
- Jeremy
  
  According to the article, the Yankees’ stated reason for preventing the students from sitting near the field was to prevent streaking.
  
  Seriously.
  - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
    
    Which explains why the field level sections next to the expensive seats clearly have students sitting in them all the way down to the edge by the field.
    
    That’s a hot steaming plate of bullshit.
Axl

It’s people like the NYU students complaining all the time that make the medio in New York relentless against their own team…

That and the money…and the stupid things everybody does…and everything else.
- Axl
  
  “medio” is my way of saying “media” by the way…trying to start a trend here…I guess…
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Dude, think about it this way:
  
  You’re the Yankees. You reach an agreement with NYU to hold their graduation in your new stadium, the new stadium that you’re having problems selling the expensive seats to.
  
  Wouldn’t it make sense to invite as many members as possible of the graduating class of this prestigious, quasi-Ivy League university (a university that includes one of the most respected schools of Business and schools of Law and college of Acting in the country, a university that employs some of the best paid faculty in the nation, a university full of kids of wealthy parents) to sit in the good seats?
  
  Because, I don’t know, maybe they’d be taken by them and they’d have the desire to buy them in the near future when they start their jobs, or maybe they’d give you free advertising by talking about the seats to their bosses at their Wall Street firms and such?
  
  I mean, to dust off my old analogy, when I walk onto a GM lot, the salesman doesn’t have the Cadillac Escalade roped off and surrounded by armed guards and refuse to let me sit in it. Even if I came there to by a used Dodge Durango, he’s going to suggest I sit in the supple leather of the Escalade before I buy, because part of his job is to cultivate the desire for me to buy his expensive products that make him the most margin.
  
  This is freaking salesmanship 101.
  - Cozimoto
    
    ietc
  - Axl
    
    It certainly is…but the complaining is “Cry Baby 204″. If they don’t let you sit in them that’s their own mistake. Let them suffer. You know? If I win a free flight somewhere…I don’t stomp and kick and scream if I don’t get first class. I sit my ass down in coach and I appreciate the free gift.
    It’s terrible marketing strategies accompanied with a bunch of cry babies. So in conclusion. Nobody should care. lol
  - A.D.
    
    Flip side is its adding to the “Mystique” they need to buy a ticket just so they know how the seat feels
  - deadrody
    
    What planet are you living on that you think recent NYU grads can afford seats in a section that costs over $1000 a seat per game ??????
- A.D.
  
  The same NYU students that holed themselves up in the dining hall and demanded to discuss how their tuition was spent?
http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Aunt Becca-Optimist Prime

Some other school graduated at Citi and they weren’t allowed to sit near the field either.
- http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  I don’t see any stories about that… Where did you hear that?
  - http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Aunt Becca-Optimist Prime
    
    Alas, I don’t remember. May have just been via Twitter.
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Yankees and Mets = Marie-Thérèse
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake
JP

Ok enough about NYU. The – stadium – is – going – – – ‘sniff….
- Mattingly’s Love Child
  
  Seriously. It is painful to look at, and tough to imagine. Living in NC I probably won’t get to a game at the new Stadium this summer, so it’s really jarring to see images of the old Stadium coming apart without being able to really visualize where they are at now. When I watch on tv, its like they are playing a road game or something. Once I get to a couple of games I’m sure I’ll be used to it.
manimal

The yankees know better, those seats are for rich asshole’s only.

Pun.
http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel

Didn;t anybody read the article? Apparently a student streaked on the field last year during the ceremony, so they didn’t want a repeat of that. Also, logistically, only some of the students would have sat in those seats, you would have had students entering and exiting from different portions of the Stadium. This makes a lot more sense. This article would never had made the paper if there was still a shred of journalistic integrity left out there.
- Mattingly’s Love Child
  
  If there was any left I think I used it for TP when we ran out the other day…
- http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
  
  Moshe, in the wide angle shots there are students clearly sitting in the non-expensive seats in sections 129 and 130 all the way down by the field.
  
  They need to keep the students away from the field to prevent streaking, but only in the expensve seats? It’s okay to leap the wall and streak from Field Section 130, but not from Legends Section 29 15 feet to the right?
  
  Also, there’s like a bajillion cops circling the field. Moot.
  
  Smells like BS to me.
  - http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
    
    Alright, maybe not a “bajillion”. But it does look like there’s a security ring at the edge of the infield grass watching the students.
    - http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel
      
      I’m sure they had security last year too. I would think its easier to police one or two sections near the field rather than many. Even if you dont buy it, from a logistics point of view, seating some people in that area would have been a mess. Why not have everyone in the general seating area?
      - BJ
        
        No, you could get to those seats from the same entrance. It is just separated by stairs and a burly yankee employee in a light blue shirt
Zack

Look how many people were there- they wanted to sit all the students in the same section, rather then 1/2 in the nice seats and 1/2 seperated from them.
http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Aunt Becca-Optimist Prime

I know it’s off topic, but speaking of field access:

“According to the new rules, posted on the Yankees’ Web site, fans can watching batting practice starting three hours before the start of each home game. Fans can stay on the field level and in the bleachers until the players leave the field or 1 hour 45 minutes after the gates open. Then “all fans will be asked to return their respective seats.”

<a href=http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/yankees-to-allow-field-level-access-to-all-fans-before-games/?src=twt&twt=nytimesbats
http://www.myspace.com/rbisportsradio Joey H.

*Sighhhh*
Mike HC

Part of the fun of going to the Yankee game is feeling like all the fans are in it together. Any perception of that has been completely obliterated now. There are the haves and the have nots now. Students can’t even sit field level when there is no game going on? Who is making these decisions? It is insane. Someone please tell the Yankees that they have FANS, and while they are also faceless customers, they are fanatics first and foremost. Nothing lasts forever and if the Yanks are not careful, this new, “we are condescending assholes” policy that they have enacted will back fire big time.
- Zack
  
  So who picks who gets to sit in the field level seats? first come first serve? by last name?
  
  Is it that hard to see that they sat all the students in one section together instead of splitting them in half?
  - Mike HC
    
    Who cares how you pick. What are we in kingerdarden where either everyone gets to play or no one gets to play. The stadium seats in the lower level should be the first to get filled. How did they decide who sat in the first level as compared to the second, as compared to the upper deck. I dont know. You honestly think that it is normal for the entire lower level to be left empty when no one is sitting there? I think you are grasping at straws here.
    - Zack
      
      Then people would complain that the Yankees were seperating the “haves” from the “have nots” right?
      
      The upper levels are for the family, the family arent the ones being honored, the students are and they’re all sitting together like they should be.
      
      “What are we in kingerdarden where either everyone gets to play or no one gets to play.”
      -So you dont care that some seats are $2000 right?
      - Mike HC
        
        I have a hard time believing that you think it is normal to not fill the best seats first. The Yankees have managed to brainwash people into thinking this is the way it should be. Sorry, but I am not getting on board.
        
        Zack
        
        Have you ever been to a graduation in which they split up the students in that way?
        
        And if they did split them up, you dont think pictures would be taken and complaints on how the seating was arranged?
        
        Mike HC
        
        I have never been to a graduation at Yankee Stadium before, but if I was, I would expect them to do things a bit differently in order to adapt to the venue. I don’t know who should sit in the lowest seats, by grade maybe, by certain honors maybe, I dont know. I do know that they should have figured it out, and if you are going to be in Yankee Stadium, I would expect to have the best seats utilized. That is just me though, you obviously would have people sit as far back as possible in order to keep them together. I would find some way to decide who gets the lowest seats. Two different ways of thinking.
        
        Zack
        
        “That is just me though, you obviously would have people sit as far back as possible in order to keep them together.”
        Yeah cause one section up is so far back, they kept all the graduates on the same level and thats how it should be.
        
        With your plan you put certain students up front you A.) have too many students so you’d have to move some to a different section or B.) have 1/2 of the “best” seats empty.
        So then you would complain about that.
        
        Mike HC
        
        I understand that you do not agree. I would fill up the best seats and move out from there. Nothing is perfect, but I would figure out a way to do it as fair as possible, because it is way to crazy to have an entire stadium for graduation, but not use the best seats. It is just my opinion
        
        Zack
        
        You cant have it both ways. “Fair as possible” and “use the best seats” for only 1/4 of the students
        
        Zack
        
        But whatever, you have your opinion and I have my opinion.
        
        Mike HC
        
        Lets just agree that we are both Yankee fans
    - Zack
      
      I’m the one grasping at straws? When people are complaining about empty seats for graduation? How about they just enjoy the ceremony and honor the 4-6 years those students put into getting their degrees, because some people arent given that opportunity.
      - Mike HC
        
        Yea, you are right, because I’m not dying of AIDS in Africa, I am not allowed to complain about anything.
        
        Zack
        
        Complaining about how the staff arranged where students sat for graduation, I know it’s cool to jump on the bandwagon of killing yankees stadium but come on.
        
        http://twitter.com/tsjc68 tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside
        
        I believe you mean:
        
        “jumping on the bangwagon”
        
        Mike HC
        
        Yes, I am sitting in my living room alone in my boxers, blogging on a Yankee website about NYU graduation, because I think I am cool. You hit the nail on the head. What is the next “cool” thing I should do? Maybe I will go play dungeons and dragons next, you know, just so I can be cool.
        
        Zack
        
        Sorry you missed the point.
        
        Right now it’s easy to criticize the Yankees for every move they make, so no matter what they do it’s going to be a huge deal.
        
        Mike HC
        
        So, you base how you feel on a certain subject on whether it is easy or hard to feel that way? Maybe you are a contrarian by nature, but I like to make my own decisions, whether a lot of people think like me or not.
        
        It is not a huge deal. RAB posted an article, and I gave a first impression comment on the article.
        
        Zack
        
        Again, you didnt get the point.
        I did not say that’s what I do, if that’s what I do then I would be criticizing the Yankees.
        
        The graduation seating arrangement is not a story, the only reason it’s being talked about is because Yankees are getting criticized for the stadium and this is has to do with the stadium and seats so suddenly it must be talked about.
        
        Mike HC
        
        Ok. So you are saying that you don’t care, and the only reason that you responded to my post, was to tell me that I should not care either?? Is that your point, since I am having so much trouble understanding what you are trying to say.
        
        Zack
        
        I responded to your original post because I disagreed with your statement- sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture instead of just thinking ‘use the best seats’ because if they split the students up you and others would complain that Yankees are showing they’re about the ‘haves and have nots.’
        
        You can complain about whatever you decide, and if I disagree and look at it a different way then i’m going to respond. obviously you just think they should have used the best seats no matter and i think they should keep the graduates together.
        
        Mike HC
        
        Lets just agree that we are both Yankee fans and neither of us have decision making power over the seating
- http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel
  
  Please. The Stadium has always been separated by haves and have nots, all the Yankees did is add one more layer of separation. I’ve been to 50-70 games in my life, and I’ve sat on field level twice, in the loge twice, and the rest of the time in the upper deck and bleachers. In the bleachers, we chanted “box seats suck.” The Stadium was always stratified by how much you were willing to pay. So the Yankees added another layer of stratification within the lowest deck. Big freaking deal. I really do not get this indignation that just seems to be the way the discourse is going to go about the Stadium for the foreseeable future.
  - Mike HC
    
    Because at the old stadium, it was all connected. I can’t count the amount of times I have been able to sneak down to lower level seats that were empty. The seats were more expensive, yes, but I didn’t get the feeling that you needed to be a millionaire to sit there. Now, you can’t even get to those seats from the same entrance. They completely separated the rich from the “not as rich.” There used to be one stadium, now there are two distinct stadium experiences. One for the rich and one for everyone else. They have every right to do that if they want, but don’t expect me to like it
    - http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel
      
      The Yankees took away your right to sit in seats you didnt pay for. Big deal. Also, the bleachers were separate from the rest of the Stadium, and I was a frequent Bleacher creature- it was a distinct stadium experience.
      - Mike HC
        
        I understand that you like the new strict policy. I don’t enjoy living in a po lice state, or as the Yankees go, an overly secure stadium. I am just speaking as a lifelong fan who enjoyed the old stadium experience. The new one seems way more corporate and less fan friendly. Sorry that I don’t like it.
        
        http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel
        
        That’s fair. I’m just saying that for some of us, it has always been a segregated experience. At least now, I can go into most of the Stadium if I decide to sit in the bleachers. I think it is better that they are segregating the rich than the way it was in the past, where they segregated those less able to afford decent seats.
        
        Mike HC
        
        I have never sat in the bleachers, so I really can’t comment on if the bleacher experience is better or worse. I am glad that the Yanks did at least one thing right then.
        
        http://theyankeeuniverse.com Moshe Mandel
        
        You know, i think a lot of this may have to do with each person’s game experience. I go to a game, get some food at the start, and sit in the seat I paid for for the entire game. It is always a cheap ticket, because if I needed to see perfectly, I would stay home. I just want to be in the building. So for me, I love the fact that I now have access to most of the Stadium even from the bleachers so I can get to all the food options, but it doesnt bother me that I cant move down to seats that I never was going to move to nor would ever pay for. I can see how people who like to move down or who used to be able to afford better seats would be upset.
        
        deadrody
        
        Me too, Moshe. I have never understood people that find a need to move out of the seats they paid for. What’s more, the idea that someone would be upset when their ability to move into seats they didn’t pay for is restricted sounds petty and stupid.
        
        If someone wants to be upset on principle, fine, but at that point, aren’t you just whining to whine ?
        
        Mike HC
        
        My idea of going to see a baseball game must be completely different than yours. You pay to get into the stadium and for the entire stadium experience. If seats are empty, what is it to anyone that I move down. I believe in a fan base that is together. I love everyone who is like, “I stay in the seats I paid for, because that is the right thing to do.” It is a baseball game for gods sake. Lighten up. I should not feel as if I am going to the white house where I have to watch where I walk and what I say. It is supposed to be relaxing and friendly.
        
        deadrody
        
        A police state ? Come on, ease off the melodrama already.
    - Zack
      
      Mike HC says:
      May 14th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
      
      “…What are we in kingerdarden where either everyone gets to play or no one gets to play…”
      - Mike HC
        
        Implying what there … that I miss spelled kindergarten? Who cares
        
        Zack
        
        It had nothing to do with the spelling, I dont care how you spell on a blog.
        
        One minute you say this isnt kindergarten so not everything is going to be equal.
        
        Then the next minute you’re complaining that you cant sneak down to the nice seats and the stadium is seperate and it’s two different experiences.
        
        Mike HC
        
        It is two different things. One is graduation and one is a baseball game with paid seats. My opinion will be different, when two different things are being argued.
        
        Zack
        
        It seems like uour opinion is different when the situation affects you.
        
        Don
        
        This from Yankees.com:
        
        BATTING PRACTICE
        Remember fans, on game days, arrive early. Yankee Stadium Gates on Babe Ruth Plaza and Gates 2 and 8, open three hours prior to the start of every home game. All fans are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy batting practice and infield workouts from select areas of the Field Level and the Bleachers; specifically, all fans may watch batting practice and infield workouts from Field Level Sections 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136 and from all Bleachers Sections. Please note, on certain game days the Yankees may elect not to take batting practice, infield workouts or both. Those fans who take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy batting practice and infield workouts from the Field Level and/or the Bleachers may remain until the players leave the field following the conclusion of the Yankees batting practice or 1 hour and 45 minutes after the Gates open. At that time, all fans will be asked to return their respective seats.
        
        Maybe the “Stadium Police” will put their guns in their holsters for a while until the next affront to their sensibilities.
        
        Mike HC
        
        I am having trouble following you here. Situation one: NYU graduation – the best seats are left empty — my opinion is that they should fill the best seats. Situation two — Yankee games where the lower section is completely blocked off and there is a separate entrance — my opinion is that the entire stadium should be connected and that certain sections should not have completely different entrances which are guarded like a frickin army base.
        
        Zack
        
        So should you have the right to go up to ARod’s private suite and see the view from up there too? Should you be able to go up and talk to George or Hank or Hal or whoever shows up for a game?
        
        Guarded like a frickin army base? dont think that’s a little bit of a stretch?
        
        Zack
        
        Like you said, we’re both Yankee fans with different views of the situation
        
        Mike HC
        
        yes, it is a stetch. And I would love to talk to George, Hank or Hal. Can you recomend that to the Yankees. As stated up, lets just agree that neither of us has decision making power, so we both are stuck with what they give us, no matter if we like it or not
  - deadrody
    
    It’s called class warfare, Moshe, and it plays real well with people – enough to get you elected President!
Don

Yawn.
deadrody

Hate to break it to them, but if they are complaining about not getting to sit there, imagine the howling and whining when only HALF of them get to sit there. How, exactly, do you determine which half get the expensive seats and which don’t ????

Seems to me that was the only equitable solution.
Thomas A. Anderson

This NYU thing aside, the more I hear Randy Levine an Lon Trost open their mouths, and the more I watch how the Yankee brass operates, I have come to believe that the most human and most compassionate person in the whole Front Office all these years really was King George.

As blusterous and bombastic and huffy as George may have been at times, he probably was the only one in the FO who actually loved ALL of the people that came to his ballpark.

Really, who knew?