The Dimensions Will Be The Same For The Players On The Field, But What About The Fans In The Stands?

The Yankee players aren't worried about the layout of the new Yankee Stadium, but should the fans be? Those who spent countless summer nights in the claustrophobic confines of the cheap seats at the old stadium got used to certain quirks that captured their attention and affected their every day experience.

Fans sitting in the Tier Box seats in right field fair territory were able to take solace in the fact that even though they were in some of the worst seats in the house, they had a very good chance of catching a home run ball from a lefty slugger. With the new upper deck being more recessed from the field of play, upper deck home runs may be a thing of the past.

What about the left field upper deck? It was pretty exciting to see a right-handed slugger tee off and slug one into the cheap seats in left. The fans up there didn't expect it, but when a ball came their way, it was cherished.

Home runs "in the black" in center field are no more. Michael Kay meticulously kept count of how many home runs had been hit there and was constantly gushing about how rare it was. Is Mohegan sun the new black? Is it possibly that A-Rod will plant an A-bomb on TOP of the Mohegan Sun Sports bar? We will have to wait and see.

The Tier boxes down the lines in sections 7 and 8 were hotbeds for foul balls at the old Yankee Stadium. We never did create our proposed foul ball tracker, but from observing many games at the old Yankee Stadium, we came to the conclusion that fans had the best chance of capturing a foul ball by sitting in those sections. The question now is whether or not the foul balls will even be able to reach the upper deck. It is likely that they will reach the upper deck directly behind home plate, but down the lines is now an iffy proposition

We have already touched on the fishnet situation behind home plate. Even if you never had the opportunity to sit in those suites and make failed attempts at catching a ball in a net, you had the chance to boo the little rich kids who failed at it.

It has already been touched on that Yankee Stadium's new seat layout leaves the distinct possibility of a less imposing home crowd. We're less worried about the noise factor, and more worried about the fun quirks that were left behind in the old place. We'll certainly keep an eye out for the new and exciting things that people who spend way too much time at Yankee Stadium notice and learn to love. Read the full post, after the jump

Crazy Mets fan: "souvenir? I don't want no stinkin' souvenir!"

In the 4th inning today, A-Rod blasted a foul HR, deep to left field:


Apparently that confused fan wanted no part of the $12.99 baseball that beat the odds and made it up to his section. Forget that it had a commemorative logo honoring the last season at Shea. Forget that it was hit by possibly the greatest HR hitter of all time. Forget that it was a FOUL BALL, and did not tie the game, or have any impact on the score. That guy must have always wanted to "throw it back" and for better or for worse, he was going to do it.

Kudos to him... I guess.

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump

C'mon guy - save some balls for the other out of towners!

First off, a little announcement - I will be heading out of town for a week (Vegas and Seattle), so the blog may be a bit quiet for the next week or so. Don't worry - I'm not quitting the blog. As a matter of fact, NYYSI will be visiting Safeco field in Seattle next Friday night to see the woeful Mariners take on the surging Tigers. Should be fun.

Anyway, on to the post. Our friend "CanoHoops" from the NYYSI message board visited the city from out of town this weekend and wanted to share his story of Friday and Saturday's games with the Yankee Stadium Insider readers. Click here to read the full story.

In a separate thread, Matt (CanoHoops) mentioned that he got a ball in batting practice on Friday night - that is common enough, as a lot of fans get balls in batting practice. Then, he came back on Saturday with a foul ball from during the game. Lucky guy right? Well, it turns out that he has a history of getting balls when going to baseball games.

Wrigley field, I caught a foul ball in the 10th inning a couple years ago.
Fenway Park 2005, Robinson Cano coming off the field throws me a baseball
Yankee Stadium today, I caught an Ichiro batting practice homerun.

Three of the most historic parks, and I've got a ball at each!

I have gotten a couple of foul balls in my years, but this is pretty amazing, especially considering that he got ANOTHER ball after he created that post. I'm sure there are a lot of jealous fans out there who want to go to a game with Matt.

Hey, maybe Matt has secretly started my foul ball tracker project? Maybe Matt will be kind enough to tell us what section he was in if you ask him over at that thread in the forums.

One other note - Kaybli's copy of Paint Shop Pro went corrupt on him, which is why he hasn't been contributing his hilarious photoshops lately. If anyone wants to write in and help donate some money so the poor guy can buy a new version, feel free. I for one miss his work. He tried doing it with the regular Paint and it just isn't the same.

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump

Foul Ball Tracker at Yankee Stadium?

With all of the hooplah about Hit Tracker Online lately, it has made me revisit some thoughts I have been having for years about FOUL BALL tracking.

As I sit at the 20-40 games per year that I go to, I often times keep rough tallies in my head of where the most foul balls go (by section). In my rough estimation, it seems that sections 6-10 in the Tier Box MVP and sections 7-11 on the other side get the most foul balls, but that is only because I am in the upper deck in section 1 and I can't see the lower decks.

I have ALWAYS wanted to go to EVERY single home game for two straight seasons (a total of 162 games) and tally EACH and every foul ball to see once and for all which section statistically gets the most foul balls. I'm not sure where I would have to sit in order to gather this data, but I am assuming it would have to be somewhere in the bleachers with some binoculars. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure there even is a spot in the stadium that would have a view of every spot where a FOUL ball could be hit. I think two full seasons would be a large enough sample size, but I am not great with math, so I could be totally wrong.

Now, the money question - why the HELL would anyone want this information... Well, we all know that everyone secretly wishes to come home from a baseball game with a souvenir in tow- whether they bring their handy baseball mitt or not. I'm fairly certain that if I could statistically prove what sections in Yankee Stadium have a greater percentage chance of receiving a foul ball, it would help people in making a decision of where to buy tickets. C'mon we have all seen the little kid that is sitting in the upper deck clutching his baseball mitt making his mom and dad stay until the final out of a 13 run blowout just for the chance to get that last foul ball hit into the stands. If there was statistical information (NO GUARANTEES) breaking down which section has the best chance of getting a foul ball with righties on the mound, with lefties on the mound, with a right-hand dominant lineup, with a left-hand dominant lineup, with an offspeed pitcher on the mound, with a flamethrower on the mound it would have SOME value for SOMEONE.

Not sure if I could ever make money off of this idea, as I hardly think that I am the first one to think it up. Most likely the Yankees wouldn't want to get involved because they wouldn't want people to think that if they bought tickets in a certain section they were "guaranteed" to get a souvenir. Who might get involved? Possibly someone like Stubhub.com or another ticket reseller so they could improve the resale value of tickets that might have otherwise been undervalued.

I would love for readers of this blog and the message boards to provide feedback on this idea. Has it been done before? Is it a terrible idea? Would have ABSOLUTELY no value to do this? Would it be possible? Do you think this has some sort of monetary value to someone? Should I have not just posted it on a public blog for everyone to read?

Discuss it here at the NYY Stadium Insider Message Boards Read the full post, after the jump