Yanks still chasing their Thanksgiving treat

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Never too early to plan a trip to Spring Training!

The Yankees issued a press release yesterday, outlining plans for Spring Training 2009.

You can find the Yankees complete Spring Training 2009 schedule here.

There is definitely some noteworthy information for those of you planning a trip down to Florida (like myself). According to the press release, this is the earliest start to Yankees Spring Training games in the past 60 years (apparently that is as far back as their data goes)- good news for those late February travelers to Florida who usually see nothing more than players working out! More importantly, the World Baseball Classic will be running from March 5 - March 23, so expect some of the headline players to be absent from Spring Training for a good portion of the schedule.

Headline games of Spring Training will likely be March 3rd, when the Yankees host team USA (which team will A-Rod and Jeter play for?!) at Steinbrenner Field and the 7:15 PM game against the Red Sox at home on March 24th. The seamless transition from Legends Field to Steinbrenner field is complete. It is truly the "House that Big Stein built."

Now is the time to start booking the hotel, plane, rental car etc. Season tickets for the entire home schedule of Yankees Spring Training 2009 go on sale in the 2nd week of December (date TBA) and individual game tickets go on sale sometime in January (date TBA).

See you in Tampa!

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Dismantling of the old Yankee Stadium set for March 15, old Stadium Tours over

I don't typically link articles, but since this is the quiet season for NYYSI, I will link to this piece by the NY Daily News about the final tour at the old Yankee Stadium being given. It is a must read due to the buzz word "nostalgia" in the article. Nostalgia? Yankees? Yankee Stadium? No way.

No word on when the tours of the NEW Stadium will begin, but I would assume there won't be too much of a delay after the new digs are complete. That is free money and the Yankees are a money-making machine. This article cites March 15 as the start date for demolition of the old Stadium, which flies in the face of information that blog nemesis Peter Abraham mentioned a couple of days ago.

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Kiss the Ring

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Its official - Cubs to open up the new Stadium with two exhibition games

The news comes courtesy of NJ.com - The Cubs will officially usher in the new era of Yankee Stadium with two exhibition games in early April.

While exciting, it is also a bit disappointing. The first regular season game at the new Yankee Stadium is bound to be anticlimactic after these two games are played only two weeks earlier. Before you laugh, these "meaningless exhibitions" will have a lot more meaning than most. Lou Piniella will be back in town, along with old friend Alfonso Soriano representing the lovable loser Chicago Cubs. Tickets will likely be reasonably priced, although the ticket office is not yet releasing ticket information - meaning more real fans will be in the house that Big Stein built. April 3rd will have the feel of opening day night (the game starts at 7:05 PM] at the Stadium, a cool early early Spring evening, full house at the big ballpark in the Bronx. But it will only be a dress rehearsal.

The bottom line? This game will end up being a little too fun, taking all of the anticipation out of the season opener in the new Yankee Stadium. Yes, most teams warm up their new ballparks with exhibition games, but these are the Yankees we are talking about in the greatest city in the world. That game on the 16th should really be the day they break in the new digs.

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Check out our Wang!

NYYSI has ponied up $30 and is sponsoring Chien Ming Wang's baseball-reference.com page for the 2009 season. Why not support the best #2 starter in all of baseball in his bounce-back season? Seriously though, baseball-reference.com is the best baseball statistic site out there, and with as much as I use the site, they deserve my support.

Anyone have suggestions for other guys we should sponsor (if more ad money comes our way)?

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The Swisher to the Yankees trade was years in the making

In case you are living under a rock, the Yankees acquired Nick Swisher (he of Moneyball fame - and the cheap, young man's version of Jason Giambi) for Jeff Marquez, Wilson Betemit and Jhonny Nunez.

What you may not know is just how long evil genius Brian Cashman was plotting the move (pretty much since he read Moneyball in April 2004). Lets review the moving parts in this trade and break down how the Yankees received them:

Wilson Betemit
The Yankees received Wilson Betemit for Scott Proctor who they had received for Robin Ventura who they got for David Justice who they had received in exchange for Ricky Ledee [INTL signing by Yanks], Jake Westbrook, and Zach Day the latter two they had received for fat toad Hideki Irabu [INTL signing by Yanks](along with Christian Parker)

Jhonny Nunez
The Yankees received Jhonny Nunez for Alberto Gonzalez who they got for Randy Johnson (along with Luis Vizcaino, Ross Ohlendorf, and Steven Jackson) who they got for Javier Vazquez, Brad Halsey [drafted by Yanks], Dioner Navarro [INTL signing by Yanks] the former they received for Nick Johnson [drafted by Yanks], Juan Rivera [INTL signing by Yanks] and Randy Choate [drafted by Yanks]

Jeffrey Marquez
The Yankees drafted Marquez 41st overall in the 2004 MLB amateur draft.

Like I said - Brian Cashman = evil genius.



Much thanks to the indispensable MLBTR Brian Cashman trade history

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Out with the old, in with the new... (Stadium pictures)

Some more great Yankee Stadium photos, courtesy of WCBS880.com:

Monument park is just about empty in the OLD stadium:



But could this be its home in the NEW stadium?



The seats are going in down the left field line!!!



All photos: Tom Kaminski/ WCBS 880

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WCBS 880 Video of Monument Park being picked up and moved

Here is some fun video of construction workers picking up monument park and moving it. Mystique, aura and ghosts be damned:


Thanks to WCBS 880 for dropping me a line, alerting me to this video!

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Stadium Constuction 12.5 Days ahead of schedule, set to finish on February 4th

Everyone knows that this blog has had its issues with Journal News Beat Blogger Peter Abraham. While we will never be fans of his opinion, persona or attitude, we do recognize that when he is doing what he is doing best - getting pertinent Yankee information to the fans before even the Yankees can - he is a revolutionary figure in the blogoshere.

With that said, Abraham is the first out of today's Yankees/Cisco press conference with up to the minute Yankee Stadium construction information.

Of note, the Stadium is 12 and a half days ahead of schedule. In a previous post, we had referenced the original completion date of February 17. Without any delays, the Stadium should now be complete on February 4 - 85 short days away! The new Metro North Station is behind schedule (like everything else the MTA does) and will not open until at least the third homestand (May 15,2009). Finally, Lonn Trost gave word that there are still 7 unsold luxury suites due to the economical downturn. Sell your stocks people, investing in the Yankees is the way to go!

You won't often find us citing Abraham's blog since you can find link dumps on many of the 1,085,093 Yankee blogs out there. However, when he is first with information pertinent to Yankee season ticket holders, it needs to be done.

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Cisco Systems and The Yankees bring us StadiumVisionTM

There was a fancy press conference in Midtown Manhattan today announcing a joint-venture between the Yankees and Cisco Systems that will provide cutting-edge technology to the new Yankee Stadium. Getting down to the nitty gritty, the new Stadium will have HD televisions - a LOT of them - displaying actual HD content. This is a far cry from the old Yankee Stadium where the only HD television in a public location that I ever saw was at a loge-level "Stadium Services" booth. This 42 inch flat screen regularly displayed standard definition Yankee classics stretched sadly to fit the 16:9 screen. It was really a microcosm of how outdated the "old" Yankee Stadium truly was.

Beyond the HD televisions everywhere, another item of note from the press release is the technology that the stadium is equipped for:

Fans of the Future: Cisco and the New York Yankees have also kept an eye toward the future to ensure that the stadium remains state-of-the-art for years to come. For example, the new stadium is equipped to support future fan use of mobile devices for ordering concessions from their seat, viewing instant replays or chatting in real time with friends inside and outside the stadium. In addition, the stadium has the capability to allow fans to communicate with players before or after the game using interactive video-based technology.

Note that the release is very clear that this technology is not to be expected right away. When the Stadium opens in April, you can expect a lot of new HDTVs, but not much other exciting tech-toys. To put things in perspective, it does not appear that there will immediately be anything cutting-edge in the new Stadium rivaling Seattle's Safeco Field "Nintendo DS Fan Network". They are "keeping an eye toward the future", so I am hopeful that some fascinating technology will be heading our way soon enough.

The entire release is available on Cisco's Website.

UPDATE: Not mentioned in the release, but information that came out of the press conference is that the ENTIRE stadium will be high speed wi-fi enabled. This will eventually be used for the "fans of the future" features explained above. No word yet if this will be an open network that your uber-cool Iphone will be able to access on opening day.

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Yankee memorabilia auctions on Ebay for a very good cause

I received this email in the inbox today about some Yankee memorabilia auctions on ebay with proceeds going toward a very good cause.

Tom Clark, a clubhouse manager for the Yankees in Trenton shared the following story:

I've been a clubhouse manager in the minor leagues for 20 years, the last four employed by the Yankees. For many years I worked for the Canton/Akron AA affiliate of the Indians. About a week before opening day in 1997, my wife's sister was murdered by her husband in the most senseless, tragic act of domestic violence. For a long time it was all I could do to deal with the ramifications of this tragedy, and to do my best to raise my late sister-in-law's son.

Two years ago Phil Hughes was the most prominent player on my team in Trenton. I've never been much for collecting autographs, but toward the end of that season I figured I could ask Phil to sign a couple of balls for me that I'd auction off for the local domestic violence shelter. Phil was happy to oblidge, but about ten minutes later he came back to me saying, "Tonto, the balls are only going to bring about $50 each, but I've got some other stuff that would be pretty good."

By game time that night he had loaded up my desk with game used hats, gloves, spikes, photos...all signed. I raised a little over $2600 which at Phil's request we split between the shelter and a local Trenton youth baseball group.

Last year I collected what I could throughout the season and did the auction on Ebay, raising a little over $5000 for the shelter, much of it on some great stuff Joba signed for me.

Different stuff will be popping up at this link over the next week or two, with auctions ending on November 20. According to Tom, 100% of the profit from the sale of the items goes to the shelter, and each item comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Yankees AA affiliate Trenton Thunder.

Good to see Phil Hughes so active in a charitable cause like this, and a great idea by Tom to reach out to the blogosphere to spread the word.

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Irrational Nostalgia already lives in the new Stadium!

C'mon people - you didn't think the late 90's Yankee nostalgia would die with the old Stadium, did you?

Today, there was a symbolic "dirt moving" ceremony from the old Yankee Stadium to the new Stadium. In a shocking development, stars from the 1998 Yankees were there to move the dirt.

No, this is not a bad joke, it is actually the only news coming out of Yankee Stadium these days.

Check out the quality journalism by Yankees.com writer Anthony DiComo. Riveting stuff, I know.

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