I had not bought a ticket prior to turning up to the stadium, so with some trepidation, I joined the queue at the ticket stand. I was slightly star-struck when I found I was standing three people behind current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. I don't think anyone else recognized him. Another guy in the queue was directing some friendly banter towards Magnus' friend, who was wearing an Oakland A's t-shirt. The queue was sizeable but went pretty fast. When I turned up at the counter to buy my ticket, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ticket was half-price if I paid by Mastercard. So I did and saved $26.
I took my savings and went to look for some food. I took advantage of another Mastercard special to buy a combo that contained two Premio hotdogs and a diet soda. The hotdogs were the best stadium food that I came across on my tour. They were spicy and tasted like they contained a good proportion of real meat. I would say they were good by any standard.
Due to the size of the stadium, there wasn't much free standing area close to the action. This was about as close as I could get:
I stood and enjoyed my hotdogs in the shade, before heading up to my seat.
Yeah, it was a little far away from the field, but the viewing was unobstructed. The surrounding fans were pleasant, and contributed to a good vibe. It seemed like folks were interested and really got into cheering for the home team, without being abusive douchebags. I was also impressed by the general baseball knowledge on display.
As for the baseball action, the Yankees won on the back of two home-runs from rookie 1st baseman Greg Bird, who was filling in for the oft-injured Mark Teixeira. The Yankees get deserved criticism for spending hideous amounts of money to lure veteran free-agents away from other teams*, but the bulk of their success over the years has come from developing their own talent. Maybe Greg Bird will be the next great Yankee star, and I will be able to say that I was at his first multi home-run game. Hopefully not though. They are still the evil empire and I will happily root against them (except when they are playing Boston). Actually, there are quite a few teams that I dislike more. Lets say they have gone from very hateable to moderately dislikeable in my books.
The Yankee Stadium experience was really cool, and I would recommend it to anyone. The food was good, the fans were great and the stadium is fancy. In a non-biased ranking, it may have come in first place. However, I am very biased toward my favourite team's home stadium, so my afternoon in the Bronx comes in at 2nd place.
* Yes, I realize the Mariners signed away Robinson Cano from the Yankees.
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