Where Was I: New Yankee Stadium (Sunday, May 5th)

Stadium count:

- 1st for the trip. 
- Active MLB: 13. 
- Overall MLB: 21. 

Seat: Section 214B Row 17 Seat 1

Result: Oakland A's 5 New York Yankees 4. 

Sitting in the stands, I really could not escape the feeling that this is more of a replica of Yankee Stadium, with some improvements (and more luxury boxes), rather than a brand new stadium. Absent is the 'back-to-the-past' aspect of Camden Yards, the modern feel of Miller Park in Milwaukee or Citizen's Ballpark in Philadelphia or even the combination modern/nostalgic mix of Comerica Park in Detroit. New Yankee Stadium is basically Old Yankee Stadium revisited: the same general outside look, the same white canopy circling the top of the Stadium, the same dimensions to the outfield, the same seating layout, including the overhang in right field, probably the same fans looking to create a Yankee home run by stealing the ball from the present day version of Tony Tarrasco's glove.  It really makes one wonder why they had to build a new one... Oh yes, of course, I remember now: a naked cash grab (re: the aforementioned luxury boxes, and a chance no doubt to move the yardsticks on the price structure). 

If I wanted to be particularly mean, I would say that New Yankee Stadium is a Las Vegas-style reconstruction of a landmark stadium, but I will not go quite that far, as there are a number of positives to the park:

- From the main entrance, fans enter into a grand hall, which (I think) spans the height of the stadium and curves around the southern end. The hall has an almost Greek or Roman feel to it with high arches letting in the light. The arches feature large banners of former Yankee greats and provides a nice transition between outdoors and the Stadium proper.  Seeing it from the 200 level provides a true appreciation of its scale. It is a unique feature of the New Yankee Stadium which I cannot recall seeing in another ballpark. 

- The concourses (at least at the 100 and 200 level) are extremely wide. It was nowhere near to a sell-out on Sunday (maybe 75 per cent of capacity), but I imagine that even if when place is full, heading to the concessions during the game should not cause fans to miss much more than half an inning.

- There is the now de rigueur walk-around terrace in the outfield, which provides great views of the field. Evidently, one can also visit Monument Row, but either they do not allow it on game day or I arrived too late. 

Random observations:

- They still make a damn good hot dog, maybe not quite as good as in the old  Yankee Stadium, but still one of the best I have ever had. It may be a combination of the kosher franks and the brown French's mustard they serve it with. 

- I was sitting on the first base side, in the 200 level, which is the South side. We were in the shade and were quite cold, due to the wind, even though it was a nice, sunny mid-60's spring day. 

- There is an electronic scoreboard/display which spans the front of the 300 level. During mid-inning breaks, flashed through its entirety around the stadium whatever ads were shown on the main scoreboard, or the logos of the sponsor of whatever particular contest or activity was featured. This meant that between half-innings, there was no linescore (or even linescore summary) to be found anywhere in the stadium. That, to me, is a major failure for a ballpark. 

- I had to explain to the gentleman behind me that even though Travis Hafner did in fact have 13 walks, he did not have an on-base percentage of .986 and that,  rather, that was his OPS (on-base + slugging). I would say score one for sabermetrics, but I do not think much of OPS, as it is a complete construct of a stat that does not really represent anything. 

- Kevin Youkilis did not play, which was a bit of a blessing as I did not want to see him in a Yankee uniform, or hear Yankee fans chant 'Yoouukkk'; face it, Yankee fans, it is not your chant. 

- Best tid bit they showed on the score board: Jed Lowrie was the only player on the A's active roster to ever have previously faced Andy Pettite (Sunday's starter for the Yankees). It shows how inexperienced the A's line-up is.