Take Us Out to the Ball Game: The Ladies…do New Yankee Stadium

New Yankee Stadium has been open for almost two months now, but I finally got to see it for myself this week. I was at the game Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn’t happy when I first found out that they would closing down old Yankee Stadium and building a new one. But by this time I had pretty much come to terms with it. There was a new stadium whether I liked it or not. However, it was still really strange at first getting off the 4 train going to see the Yankees and it was at a different venue. I saw the Yankees play at the same place for the last 18 years. It was sad seeing the ballpark I ever saw my first game at looking like an empty, abandoned construction site. But enough about old Yankee Stadium. How about the new Stadium that cost a boat load of money to build

New Yankee Stadium is really pretty. It could never compare to the old stadium in history, but it definitely makes up for it in looks. It is cleaner, brighter, and flashier. My first thought when walking around was, “This ballpark looks expensive.” And that makes perfect sense.

If there is one piece of advice I can give to anyone planning to visit the stadium, do not drive. It is not worth it. I saw a parking garage that was actually charging 30 bucks! Take the 4, B, or D train and save yourself the 28 dollars. You are going to need it if you plan on eating and drinking at the game.

The new stadium has a lot more choices food wise, and drinks. Beer is still the most popular choice drink wise. And at only 9 dollars a pop, you can’t go wrong. Not much of a beer drinker…how about some liquor? There is the Tommy Bahama’s bar one escalator ride up from the main entrance. Also, if you’re sitting in field level seats, you can have liquor ordered straight to your seat. A shot is only 15 dollars.

Drinking tends to make people hungry, and the new stadium does not disappoint. They even offer sushi but I don’t know how I feel about eating raw fish at a ballpark. I recommend the garlic fries or cheesesteaks. The garlic fries are amazing. But be warned, if you eat them, you will need at least 10 pieces of gum to get the taste of garlic out of your mouth.

Now about those cheesesteaks…they are from Carl’s, which is my all time favorite place to get cheesesteaks. They are even better than the cheesesteaks I’ve had in Philly. That’s right, I said it! They cost $10.50 but they do fill you up. Your other choices are hotdogs and pretzels (of course!), loaded nachos, cheese fries, chicken sliders.

Walking around, everything feels new and different. Once in your seat watching the game, everything feels a lot more familiar. Most rituals from the old stadium moved over to the new one. There is still the roll call from the bleachers, the YMCA, Freddy is there with his pan and spoon, and “God Bless America” during the 7^th inning stretch. The only thing missing was “Cotton Eye Joe”. But I didn’t really miss that too much.

And I realized one thing: the Yankees can try to be as classy and highline as they want with their shiny new stadium and luxury box seats. They are still filling the seats with rowdy Yankee fans. I was sitting in my nosebleed seats (I’m a poor college student…that’s all I could afford), enjoying the game when there was a bunch of commotion about 2 sections next to me. Everyone stood up and started yelling. I looked over and saw these 2 guys coming down the steps beating the crap out of each other. The fight was quickly broken up and a bunch of people were being dragged down the stairs by the cops.

It may be a brand new stadium and there are a lot of differences, but everything is falling into place nicely.