Yankee Stadium Field Level Seats Behind Home Plate Will No Longer Be Covered By a Screen

A memorable feature of the old Yankee Stadium was the on-again, off-again mesh wire screen that ran from the backstop up to the mezzanine level. It seems that the Yankees were never sure whether or not it was necessity, as it disappeared without notice during certain seasons. Luckily, the screen has been there lately, especially when a drunk kid jumped off of the upper deck back in 2005.

This screen served the obvious purpose of protecting the fans in the seats behind home plate, in the main level of the old stadium. Player's families sat back there, and it was important to keep them covered. The screen also added a bit of fun into the stadium. When balls were hit onto the screen, the momentum would carry the balls up the screen and directly toward the seating area of outside of the few suites at the old stadium. The rich kids who were lucky enough to be sitting in those seats always had huge fishing nets ready for these foul balls, and were booed loudly if they didn't capture them before they rolled back down the screen.

All of that fun is in the past, as this photo from inside of the new stadium reveals the view from behind home plate, complete with the permanent "Be Alert For Bats And/Or Balls" sign:


Photo Courtesy of Newsday

The seats back there should be a hotbed for foul balls in the new stadium. If anyone ponies up the big bucks and decides to occupy those seats, they better bring a glove and be ready to flash some leather. The balls that are fouled straight back usually don't lose much of the velocity of the pitch by the time they are on top of you. That being said, all it will take is one Yuppie getting smacked in the face by a foul ball and the screen will be back.