The House That Ruth Built and The Shanty That Marv Throneberry Built?

For the last couple years my buddy Brian and I have been talking about getting out to see Yankee Stadium before they tear it down and since this is the last summer for it, well, we decided to make those plans a reality. So, last weekend we met up in NY for a weekend of baseball and hanging out in the city. And since we were there, we thought it was a good idea to see Shea before the Mets move into Citi Park or whatever they are calling it. Two games in two days. I wish I could do that every weekend.

Here are some thoughts on the ballparks and experience:

1) The two New York teams reminded us both of the two Chicago teams...not how they play, win, etc, but in the dynamic between the teams in the city.

a)The Yankees are obviously the historical favorite and "big brother" just like the Cubs.

b)The Yankees play in more of a neighborhood setting like the Cubs in Wrigleyville, with no real parking at either.

c)The Yankees have the more wealthy fanbase (and ticket prices) just like the Cubs.

d)The Yankees fans are mostly white or Asian, while the Mets had many more hispanic or black fans...just like the Sox. There were also more Jews (Queens) which is not exactly a parallel, but noticeable because of the yarmulkes.

e)Yankee Stadium is to Wrigley what Shea is to Comiskey.

2) There was practically airport security to get into Yankee Stadium, which was strange and it took at least 10-15 minutes of standing in line to get in. I don't know how long they have been screening that way, but I have not seen anything like that other than when GW Bush threw out the first pitch on opening day at Busch Stadium a few years ago (there were sniper all around the roof, which was cool). There was only smiling, happy faces to greet us at Shea.

3) The atmosphere at the parks was different. This was twofold (at least):

a) The fans: Brian put it well when he said of the Yankee fans, "They were much more cohesive and invested in the game." Truly, there was a lot more "fan unity" at Yankee and maybe some of that had to do with it being sold out as opposed to Shea being maybe 3/4ths or so full.

b) The "aura": Part of this is the history of the parks, for sure, but you also feel closer to the field at Yankee and it is more enclosed than at Shea. The word intimacy is used a lot, but I think it fits. Everything is just so open and spread out at Shea. Even the announcer at Yankee Stadium sounds like he is still in the 30's or something. Not his 30's but the 30's. Just the pace of his voice and way he would say, "Now batting, shortstop,...Derek...Jeter...". It just seemed more "New York" to me. (After some looking, I found this is Bob Sheppard, who has been doing this since '51) What Shea offered was planes overhead every 2 or 3 minutes, literally. It is hard to sum up how it felt at the games, but it was markedly different...and not just because of expectations.

4) I was not overly impressed with either Stadium, really. I doubt anyone thinks Shea is one of the great parks in the game, but seeing Yankee Stadium on TV I expected something different. I think the renovations a few years back ('74-'75) diminish the look. There are no more support beams/poles and the facade around the top no longer has the "arches" or whatever you would call these. I could see why they are building new parks, since neither really has luxury boxes and the outfield backdrops are pretty crappy. They just seem so old, rundown, ugly. Monument Park might be cool, but you really can't see it for the most part. The Mets really should do something about that Homerun Apple, too. It looks like a bad paper mache project.

5) The hunt for nachos. We both love nachos and looked forward to enjoying some at the games. Well, we never did find them at Yankee. The girl at one concession stand looked at me weird and said she didn't think they had them in the Stadium. What?!

When we were at Shea it didn't seem much better...until we spotted a sign pointing the way to different concessions, which included "Super Nachos". Promise! So, we walked around and found the solitary nacho stand in the whole place, all the way on the other side of the park. Mediocre. But what is the deal with the lack of nachos in NY. Isn't it a ballpark/stadium staple? Very weird.

6) Maybe the coolest thing of either game was the Yankee "Roll Call" from the right field bleachers. I had no idea they did this, but the bleacher fans began chanting the names of the outfielders at the beginning of the game, which the fielder then turned and acknowleged the fans with a tip of the cap, wave of the glove, etc. "Jon-ny, Da-mon" "Bah-bee, Bah-bee" and so on. Nice connection with the outfielders, I thought...and then they carried that to chanting for the infielders, too. I liked the acknowlegement of the fans that it brought. That doesn't happen all that often.

7) The other cool thing was the Rocky-Yankee montage before the Yankees batted in the 8th. They were down 6-3, but then Rocky began training, spliced together with great Yankee moments of the past few years and then...4 run rally. 7-6. Culminating with Ichiro failing to catch a fly ball in right-center. I don't know if it was the sun, but it was misjudged. And Molina (Jose..."America's favorite game, Name That Molina!") drove in the winning run. Well, winning after Mariano came in from the bullpen to Enter Sandman, which a surprisingly large percentage of fans sang all the words to...verses and all. It was a good game.

8) One last thing...NY fans boo a lot. Whether it was Ichiro coming up to bat, Shelley Duncan making an error, Jose Reyes botching a grounder, Delgado popping up...there was a lot of booing. I understand both teams are underplaying expectations and all, but you don't hear that much at most parks (Philly excepted). Maybe I should have booed the lack of nachos. I think I would have fit in.