This is upsetting

The Yanks really have me on an emotional roller coaster this year. They're up and down on the field and I've documented how I'm torn over our whole ticket situation. Thankfully, it looks like the Pinstripe brass is learning the harsh realities of picking the worst time ever to build a $1 billion-plus baseball palace (see photo below, we're voting with our feet/butts):


Plenty of seats to go around

And then I read this, and this is almost the last straw. Stuff like this also helps me fully understand why there were only like 350 people at the A's game Wednesday:

As anyone who’s tried to sit in the bleachers for batting practice at the new Yankee Stadium could tell you, the Yankees are serious about making sure you have the proper ticket for the proper area of their new digs. (On YES, Paul O’Neill had even commented that he was turned away from the Yankees clubhouse because he didn’t have his credentials on him.) But this is going too far: Over the weekend, unofficial fan mascot Freddy Schuman (better known as Freddy “Sez,” of colorful sign-and-frying-pan fame) was denied entry to Yankee Stadium.

In the past, Schuman, 83, had either received tickets from a sponsor (like Modell’s) or was simply allowed to enter through the press gate. Which makes sense: He’s a stadium mainstay, and doesn’t occupy a seat anyway. (When we were at Fordham, where he occasionally would bring his pan to basketball games, he’d get the red-carpet treatment: press pass, lunch in the press room, the works.) He was even allowed entrance on Opening Day, through the press gate as usual. But all this weekend, he was turned away by stadium security.

So Freddy was forced to beg for a ticket, holding a sign that read “I can’t go in. Must buy ticket!” which is the saddest Yankee Stadium image we can possibly imagine. Luckily, fans came through by giving him tickets — costing upwards of $100. The Yankees chalked it up to “miscommunication,” which it better be. Because otherwise, we’re ready to trademark “The Curse of Freddy ‘Sez,’ ” which would clearly bring the Yankees decades, if not centuries, of bad karma in their new stadium.

Me and Freddy in Happier Times

The Yanks swung and missed here (what a stupid pun). First, he doesn't sit down during the game, he's walking around the whole time (not that the Yanks aren't hurting for empty seats--against the A's yesterday, it looked like Tropicana Field circa 2002).

Second, the guy's a freaking part of the experience, and it was always fun to see Freddy come around our seats in the 7th inning. Of course, if we ended up in the seats that the Yanks offered, who knows when he'd get out to right field.

Finally, give us some credit for being savvy here in New York. If we feel that you don't respect us or that you think we're suckers, we're going to tell you where you can stick your new stadium. In this economy, the suits better be careful--their failure to recognize realities already generated a season's worth of bad press six games in. Time to start treading lightly and let Freddy in.


From NY Magazine via NY Post