#21 Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium

1 East 161^st Street

Bronx, New York 10451

Capacity:  49,642

Indoors/outdoors:  Outdoors

Selected Game Attended:  Reds at Yankees; May 20, 2012

A famous movie character once said that “greed, for lack of a better word, is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works.”  Unless you live under a rock, you recognize this line from Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film “Wall Street.”  The merits of this line (and of Gekko’s existence himself) have been debated over the years but one thing is for sure; if you agree with Gordon Gekko, and if you romanticize his character and lavish 1980s yuppie life-style you will feel right at home at the (new) Yankee Stadium, home of the 27-time world champion New York Yankees and #21 (surprisingly a number that has not been retired by the Yanks) on our list.

You first experience Yankee Stadium (built in 2009 to replace the old Yankee Stadium, which was renovated in 1976 to replace the REAL old Yankee Stadium – the one that Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle played in – more on this in a second) as you drive up (assuming you choose to drive).  One time passing the parking signs asking for upwards of your first born son and you quickly come to the realization that you are about to be gouged as you enjoy your day out at the park.  The other option, of course, is to take the train.  I’ve found New York City subways to be efficient and reliable despite most stations smelling like a toilet bowl.  It’s also a lot less expensive than driving.  New York prides itself on offering boat loads of public transportation, no matter what part of the area you are coming in from so, as a piece of friendly advice, I’d say leave the car at home. 

I know several Yankee fans and most of them were fairly torn on the idea of building a new stadium for their team.  On the one hand, replacing an icon of sports history is not an easy thing to do.  On the other hand, the former Yankee Stadium, like most buildings erected while Harding was in office, was in slight disrepair and wasn’t the most comfortable of places (I can recall feeling like a sardine walking up the narrow walkways to the concourse at the old Yankee Stadium).  The hot-button issue of building this place even caused a chasm between two beloved New York City sports talk hosts (watch the whole video, trust me).  Nobody asked me, but since you’re reading my blog I will offer my opinion.  While I certainly respect the lore of those great Yankee teams from the 20s, and 30s, and 40s, and 50s (gah, hit me in the face with a tack hammer), I feel as though once the older stadium was renovated, that took away a lot of the history behind the park itself.  Many people feel like even the old Yankee stadium wasn’t TRULY the House that Ruth Built but was rather just a reconfiguration of cement over hallowed ground.  I didn’t really have an issue with building a new park, so long as they got it right.  And did they get it right?  I honestly don’t know.

The Yankees did their best to maintain as much charm from the old stadium as they could.  The white lattice that was so notable in both iterations of the old place remains here, and they kept the short right field porch so overrated bums like Mark Teixeira could still hit 30+ homers a year and pretend that he is worth the almost quarter billion dollars that the Yankees are paying him.  Talk about greed, I mean really, you’re gonna pay that guy….woah, head rush…time out.  Need an aspirin.

Ok where was I?  Oh yea, Yankee Stadium.  Sure some of the charm from the old place (you know about Monument Park, right) is still there but, despite that, the interior just seems…inauthentic and antiseptic, like it was a kit bought at Target for a kid’s Christmas gift and slowly pieced together – sure it’s nice on the inside, and comfortable, but does it really serve as a suitable replacement?

Perhaps I am being a little unfair.  I realize it’s hard to take the place of an icon – just ask Lou Gehrig when he took over for Wally Pipp.  I shudder to think about when my beloved Camden Yards finally goes the way of the Dodo as there is just no way to properly replace it.  Standing alone, without considering the former stadium, I like Yankee Stadium quite enough.  There are generously wide concourses, comfortable (although expensive) seats and plenty of various concessions and beer to choose from.  I personally enjoy going for a few beers with some Nathan’s Hot Dogs (the best ever) and follow that up with a sundae from Carvel.  If you’re over the age of 12 you probably don’t enjoy that same fare but there is a lot there – just bring your AmEx Black Card.

Going back to the greed aspect (the theme of this entry, if you haven’t caught on) is the grotesque amounts of money everything costs.  The first few seats of the stadium are almost always guaranteed to be empty (unless it is a big game) owing to the fact that they cost, on average, $510.00 (the most expensive being $2,600.00).  I love baseball, but I don’t love it enough to pay that sort of money to see a game live.  There is also signs of Corporate America all over the place, again, not necessarily a bad thing, but adds to the whole lack of charm aspect the stadium tries to avoid.  There is the Audi Yankees Club, the SAP Suite Level, the Jim Beam Suite, etc etc.  There is also the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar which deserves extra derision.  If you are attending a game here, I cannot emphasize this enough, do NOT purchase tickets in left or right center field lest you run the risk of having a good chunk of the outfield blocked off by this monstrosity.  I only went in here once and, in addition to the fact that you need a special ticket, wasn’t blown away by it at all.  The view is poor, the drinks are expensive and there is assigned seating once you are in there.  Avoid at all costs.  In fact, I’d stay away from any of the bleachers period.  During cold games the area behind you acts like a wind tunnel, turning a baseball game into The Wall and you’re always running the risk of meeting a looney tune or two if you have the wrong team jersey on.  Instead buy a ticket above home plate in the Gulden’s Mustard Luxury Box Suite Area (note:  this name is possibly made up) and enjoy yourself.

So, that’s Yankee Stadium.  I wasn’t sure how to approach this write-up since there is so much about this place that is controversial but I think I did OK.  It’s not the greatest stadium on Earth and it’s certainly not anywhere near its predecessor (despite trying) but there are much worse places to see a game and, for all its faults, will still sell you a $14 beer.

Oh yea, as for stuff to do outside of the stadium, you’re in New York City.  You’ll find something to do.  Duh.

#22: Kauffman Stadium

 Kauffman Stadium

One Royal Way

Kansas City, MO 64129

Capacity:  37,903

Indoors/outdoors:  Outdoors

Game Attended:  Twins at Royals; September 29, 2010

Anyone who knows me relatively well knows that I am a boatload of useless information.  From being able to name every US President in order, to having an uncanny ability to remember song lyrics, if you have a trivia team in need of assistance, I am your man.  I often wonder how much more I could accomplish in life if I devoted only part of my brain’s ability that is currently used to store worthless NBA Finals history, but then I pop open a beer and move on.  Who wants to be perfect?  Anyway, one of the first “factoids” that I can remember learning was from my father.  We were watching an Orioles/Royals game and I remarked how weird it was that you could see a major highway right from the seats in the stadium.  This highway, of course, is Interstate 70 which stretches from Baltimore to Utah.  Imagine my surprise when my old man told me that this was the same road right in our backyard!  The world instantly became a much smaller place.  The purpose of this seemingly random anecdote is that Kauffman Stadium’s location (out in the sticks, right off the highway) is precisely why it’s ranked so low.  The home of the Royals, coming in at #22 on our (slowly) growing list.

As mentioned earlier, the first thing you will notice about Kauffman Stadium (formerly appropriately called “Royals Stadium”) is its poor location.  While technically in Kansas City, it’s not near any sort of discernible downtown.  This gives it two immediate strikes:  bad pre and post game atmosphere and poor views from the seating bowl.  Right next door is Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs (and a long list of mediocre quarterback play since, uh, 1993?).  Obviously there is a huge parking lot here but I do not remember any sort of intense tailgating going on, indeed a sin when you are gifted with a bunch of open parking spaces in one of the country’s premier BBQ towns.

Kauffman Stadium opened in 1973, the height of the previously-discussed cookie cutter era.  Make no mistake, this place is far from a cookie cutter.  While the seating bowl itself is quite symmetrical, the outfield view (inside the stadium) is quite lovely.  The giant royal-shaped logo scoreboard can’t be missed and is quite unique – one of the more unique scoreboards in baseball.  And, of course, there are the fountains.  An iconic part of Kauffman Stadium for years, other parks have mimicked the “water inside the park” feature, but the Royals, as far as I know, were the first and, I won’t lie, they’re pretty nice looking, shooting off between innings and whenever the Royals hit a home run. 

I would also recommend checking out the Royals Hall-of-Fame in the outfield.  While I was there I was greeted by a gentleman dressed as a dead-ball era baseball player.  He was very into his job and probably knows more about the Royals than any other person on Earth.  Also inside the museum is an entire exhibit dedicated to the “pine tar game.”  For those not familiar, the Royals and Yankees had quite a rivalry in the late 70s and early 80s.  In 1983, with both teams in contention, they played a game at Yankee Stadium which resulted in Royals’ star George Brett hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the 9^th inning.  The Yankees asked the umpire to inspect Brett’s bat and, after determining the pine tar on the bat was too far up the barrel, declared Brett out and gave the Yankees the win.  Eventually the Royals protested the ruling and ended up winning the game, but they are pretty bitter, still, about the whole incident.  They have everything in this exhibit, including the bat itself (borrowed from the HOF) with the major league baseball rules attached, explaining why the bat wasn’t illegal.  They also have a letter from Richard Nixon stating he believes the Royals were correct the whole time.  It’s a little looney, but I loved it.

Aside from that, the stadium doesn’t have much else noteworthy.  It’s plenty nice to take a game in, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere.  The upperdeck is very odd on either end.  There are no upper deck seats in the outfield and the sides of the seats literally end in a “point” – something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

Finally if you’re in Kansas City, I recommend you check out Arthur Bryant’s for some amazing BBQ (St. Louis residents won’t like this, but KC is superior).  Also, since you probably like baseball, the Negro League Museum is a can’t miss.  The College Basketball HOF and Experience is interesting but a bit cheesy.  Also, you can gamble on river boat in this town.  I lost a few bucks to a nice dealer named “Florida.”

So that’s Kauffman Stadium.  Enjoy.  By the way, did you know Frank Robinson is the only player to ever win the MVP award in both the American and National league?