New Yankee Stadium Tours to begin on May 4, Cost $20

Slowly, but surely, the Yankees are ironing out all of the details about the new Yankee Stadium. Sometime in the past day or so, the Yankees added their 2009 stadium tour information page on Yankees.com.

A new stadium means a higher price, of course. When we took the tour last March, it was only $15. Now, the tour will run you $20. For that $20, here is what you get:

The Classic Tour lasts 45 minutes to one hour and includes visits to the New York Yankees Museum, Monument Park and the dugout. Guests will pass through the batting cages and Yankees clubhouse area before ending the tour in the Great Hall near the team store.

And before you freak out about the higher cost:

Proceeds from the tours benefits the Yankees Foundation, a non-profit arm of the NY Yankees organization.

Isn't "non-profit" arm of the NY Yankees an oxymoron? Such a thing exists?

$20 would have been worth it to tour the old stadium because of the history involved. Will it be worth $20 for a tour of the new digs? Only you can answer that question. We'll probably take the plunge.

The tours commence on May 4 and run through September 25. Tickets are available directly from Yankees.com the tour obviously does not run when the Yankees are at home, so be aware of the following blacked out dates: May 7, 13, 16-17, 23-31, June 4, 6-7, 13-14, 18-19, 24-25, 30, July 3-6, 15, 18-19, 22, 25-26, August 4, 8-9, 12, 21, 27, 29-30, September 7, 12-13, 23. Also know that additional blacked out dates may arise during the course of the season. Read the full post, after the jump

More about the Food at the New Yankee Stadium, Ticket Sales, Stadium Tours and More Monday Night Yankee Thoughts

If we didn't have a day job, this would be spread across multiple posts. Here is a day's worth of thoughts neatly bullet pointed for your reading pleasure:

• We happened across one of the engineers working for Turner Construction (the company building the new Yankee Stadium) on Twitter, and he liked our blog. Next thing you know, we're being offered an All-Access tour of the New Yankee Stadium on Tuesday evening. We're told that posting photos from the tour are a no-go, but that is likely only for the "backstage" areas such as the clubhouses. There will be a full report up tomorrow night, and we'd like to give you all the opportunity to participate in some way. We are collecting questions that you would ask one of the engineers who worked on the new Yankee Stadium. Questions about any construction delays, obstructed seats, or anything else that someone from Turner could answer are fair game. We need to send the questions off tonight, so please fire away in the comments section.
  
• The food options at the New Yankee Stadium are pretty amazing. When my girlfriend utters the words: "I'm starting to like this new Yankee Stadium," you know they are doing something right. We knew the food would be an improvement over the old stadium, but selection is truly surprising. It sure does make us look forward to embarking on our New Stadium Insider food tasting series.
• Also from today's release, the revelation of $6 beers is a pretty big deal as well. As far as we can remember, beers hovered around the $9 mark for the past couple of seasons. Perhaps with the increased numbers of points of sale, the Yankees can afford to lower prices a bit. Bud Light or not, it will cost less to get intoxicated at a Yankee game. We've never understood people who likes to spend a small fortune to go to a baseball game just to not remember it, but to each their own.
• Some people get pretty riled up about the Coke vs. Pepsi debate. Anyone paying attention to the photos that have been leaking out from the interior of the stadium noticed the Pepsi ads plastered all over the place. Today, Legends Hospitality Management confirmed that the "House That Big Stein Built" is a Pepsi palace. We'll stick with beer and water. What else do you need in life?
• This morning at 10AM, the lucky Yankee fans who won the public presale lottery got their F5 on (the refresh key for those not privy to internet language) and tried to score tickets to the premium games. Sadly, it seems that the luck ran out for most of them. Many of these formerly lucky souls were greeted with the all too familiar $2,625 seats right above the Yankee dugout. Astute commenter "HorseRun" points out that if the Yankees can't sell these seats for the first ever game in the brand new stadium, when will they sell them?
• Never has the crass term "if there's grass on the field, play ball" seemed more appropriate. There is no longer grass on the field at the old Yankee Stadium, and they will no longer be playing ball there. Back off, Chris Hansen, its just an expression.
  
• We'd get all stat-heady and uppity about Joe Girardi's revelation that Xavier Nady is the opening day right fielder, but driveline mechanics did all of the work a couple of week ago and Kevin Goldstein piled on today. Some will base their argument on the 2008 season and claim that it is a coin-toss. We would like to point out Swisher's terrible luck on balls in play last season and his history of being a masher. Bold prediction: if Nick Swisher gets 500+ ABs in 2009, he will approach 30 home runs. Scott Boras must somehow be involved in this. Last year we learned that Joe Girardi reads Baseball Prospectus, now he is picking Xavier Nady over Nick Swisher in a position battle. Something is fishy here.
  
• We posted on Twitter about this earlier, but since when do hookers have the right to run to the press with stories? There is something seriously wrong with our culture when newspapers provide a platform for people who have sex for money to air their secrets about superstar athletes like Alex Rodriguez. We don't condone ballplayers cheating on their wives, especially with paid whores. However, women have been making tons of money in the world's oldest profession since Wooly Mammoths were roaming the earth (OK, maybe not that long). Everyone's favorite Yankees of yester-year like Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, Jason Giambi (ha) all frequented prostitutes. This Eliot Spitzer/A-Rod hooker is clearly trying to get out of the game, but all she is doing is putting the entire profession at risk. Athletes are going to start paying non-professional whores and just make them sign an NDA. Journalism isn't the only field undergoing major change.

Don't forget to give us some ideas for construction-related Yankee Stadium questions to ask tomorrow. This may be the last time to ask these types of questions, as Turner Construction will soon be on their way to building a 2 billion dollar stadium somewhere else in the world. Or they just won't be in the Bronx anymore. Read the full post, after the jump