Our first trip to the new Yankee Stadium: Home of the New York Yankees!

 

Yankee Stadium, the Bronx, New York

My first recollection of seeing the New York Yankees was in October of 1981, when my family emigrated to New York City, United States.  My dad was a fan of the team, so he turned us onto watching the playoffs and eventually the Fall Classic (World Series) that year.  I didn’t know the team or any of the players at first, but I soon learned to embrace the team as my hometown baseball team.

New York Yankees would face their familiar foe in Los Angeles Dodgers that World Series.  Two teams, as I would eventually find out, played in the World Series on several occasions, as recently as 1977-1978.

The first two games were won by the Yankees, who would then go on to lose the next four games!  It was the highest of highs to see your home team win games, only to experience the lowest of lows to see your team lose the series just a week later.  

I got to watch great players like Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, Dave Winfield, and Reggie Jackson, then promptly fell in love with those players and the team ever since.  Over the years, I got to visit the old Yankee Stadium, with friends and family.  

Walking out to the stands to see the unreal, greenest of green grassy baseball field for the first time was definitely a goosebumps-inducing kind of an experience.  I imagined iconic legends of Yankee baseball like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, walking out on the same patch of field, getting ready to hit their high and deep home runs.

I have some great memories of watching Dave Winfield hit mammoth home runs, with those home runs sounding like rifle shots, majestically climbing to incredible heights, before succumbing to the laws of gravity.  Night games were memorable in that the temperatures often got so cold even in the warm summers, where we longed for jackets.

Eating a hot dog while watching a ball game at the ballpark seemed so American, that I felt like singing the National Anthem, as I was munching on one!  The experience is something that I highly recommend to everyone, American or not, to appreciate as part of Americana.

Baseball is as American as ‘Apple pie’, and it’s also called ‘America’s Pastime’ for a good reason.  You can visit any small town in America on a weekend, and see a baseball game being played by kids, and the young-at-heart.  

Baseball is timeless, and it is still as popular as ever.  All around the world, the same game is played in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Canada, just to name a few.

Watching a Yankee baseball at Yankee Stadium should be on any baseball fan’s bucket list.  I’m glad I got to visit the old Yankee Stadium several times, but I admit I didn’t get a chance to visit the new Yankee Stadium since it opened in 2009.

When my brother-in-law asked if we wanted to see a game at the new Yankee Stadium, as he had free tickets to the Delta Sky 360 Suite, we totally jumped at the chance!  My wife, my sister-in-law, and myself went on a muggy Labor Day to watch the New York Yankees play the Minnesota Twins at 1 o’clock.

We left for the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and headed for the nearby Target shopping center, about 2 blocks away from the stadium.  This was my brother-in-law’s recommendation and it was great one, as we hit much less traffic going in and out of the parking lot, and it was cheaper than parking closer to the stadium.   We saw lots closer to the stadium were charging over $40(!), but we paid $30 for about 5 hours of parking.  

After parking, we started to walk towards the stadium, and after a block, we passed by the famous ‘Stan’s Sports Bar’, which is a popular spot to watch a ballgame.  We couldn’t resist taking a photo of the street sign for Yankee Stadium, ‘161 Street Subway Station’.  

Drawn by the raucous fans walking towards the stadium, just like moths to a flame, we couldn’t help but see the gigantic stadium.  It is really hard to miss, as it’s easily bigger than the old Yankee Stadium.  We marveled at the humongous footprint and its size, then continued towards the hallowed grounds of baseball, that is Yankee Stadium.

Stan’s Sports Bar

161 Street Subway Station sign

New Yankee Stadium!

There were so many people near the stadium!  We were first time visitors to the place, and we were overwhelmed.  We lined up at one of the queues forming up for the suites, not knowing if that was the right one.

I asked one Yankee Stadium employee, followed by another, and another, until we figured out that we needed to go in from Gate 2.  We lined up, totally sweaty and a bit flustered, but the line started to move after about 10 minutes.  

View near Monument Park, center field, Yankee Stadium 

We got inside the stadium, and headed to Monument Park, a place where all the Yankee greats are honored.  We zigged then zagged along the impossibly long corridors to get to Monument Park, only to see that the line to get into the park was long, like a freight train!

We got to the end of that long line, then lined up.  Immediately, we saw we weren’t the last ones lining up to get into Monument Park.  There were easily about a dozen people after us, in less than 5 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, a Yankee Stadium employee came over to tell everyone the line to Monument Park would be closed in two minutes.  We were so glad we lined up when we did.  We had made it!

The line started to move at a glacial pace (at least to myself, who was sweating profusely by then), but after about 15 minutes, we finally made it inside Monument Park.  

Tip:  Monument Park closes 45 minutes prior to the start of the game, so plan accordingly.

Monument Park, Yankee Stadium 

Passing the darkened tunnel, then to see the hallowed grounds where all the iconic Yankee legends are, made me giddy with excitement.  The line inside Monument Park moved slowly, thanks to everyone taking their time to read their favorite players’ plaques.  We also took our time to read up on all the Yankee legends.  

It was a great experience and something that I’ll never forget.  Just to read up on all the historic, iconic baseball legends, made all the crazy running around the corridors to get to Monument Park, well worth it.  It really gave me goosebumps, to see all those retired numbers and players all in one place…Tip: Visiting Monument Park should be on every baseball fan’s bucket list!

It must’ve taken about 15 minutes or so to see all of the plaques at Monument Park.  Afterwards, we walked out of there, so we can get to the Delta Sky 360 Suite.  We walked back to where we had started, near Gate 2, then proceeded to take the elevators to what we thought as the suites.

We were wrong!  We asked (yet again) multiple employees, but none of them knew exactly where to go.  Looking back, it was partially my fault, for not asking the right question, which should’ve been, “How do we get to the Delta Sky 360 Suite?”  

I honestly didn’t know myself, so I kept showing the digital ticket on my phone, but no employee took the time to see where we needed to go.  The most egregious example of stadium employee who didn’t know was the security guard who was standing right under the sign that said Delta Sky 360 Suite, but who asked us to go to a different place.  Argh!

We backtracked multiple times, but we finally figured it out.  We needed to go down one flight of stairs from where that clueless security guard was standing, and there it was!  Sweating, exhausted, and a bit ticked off, we finally made it inside the suite.

After getting our wristbands, we sat on one of the comfortable sofas, enjoying the godsend air conditioning.  We needed to cool down for a good five minutes before we can muster up enough energy to grab something to drink and to snack on.

Soft drinks/waters were free, as was light snacks like popcorn, and peanuts.  We munched on all of them while cooling down, savoring the much needed cold drinks and cold bottled water!

My sister-in-law made a suggestion that we eat some sushi and hot dogs, her treat!  I was not about to resist!  

We ate voraciously, chomping down on spicy salmon roll and spicy tuna roll.  For dessert, we ate delicious hot dogs.  They sure were heavenly…Life seemed so much better at that moment, with our bellies full, and our bodies no longer exhausted and sweating!

Delta Sky 360 Suite, Yankee Stadium 

The game started, but we barely noticed, thanks to our after-meal euphoria.  I paid attention only when Aaron Judge came to bat, making sure I didn’t miss his mammoth home runs, and his chase for the elusive ‘Triple Crown’, where a player leads in all 3 offensive categories:  batting average (BA), home runs (HR), and runners-batted-in (RBI).  

Delta Sky 360 Suite’s set up is awesome.  There are assigned seats if you want to catch a game out on the stands, but you can also stay indoors in nicely air conditioned comfort, if you so choose.  For the most part, we stayed indoors, sitting on bar stools with perfect view of the game below us.

View from Delta Sky 360 Suite, Yankee Stadium 

We watched the game unfold and we watched the Yankees take the lead thanks to several home runs.  One particular home run was indeed hit by Aaron Judge, which was a monster shot.  I was lucky enough to see it in person from the stands when the bat makes that loud, cracking sound when it connects with a baseball.  

The home run was a usual Aaron Judge home run:  hit really hard, no-doubter, absolutely crushed, into the seats in the blink of an eye, home run.  I thanked the baseball gods that I got to see and feel that contact when he connected to that baseball.

I could just about guess what the opposing pitcher must’ve felt and said when he gave up that home run.  He probably said something like, “That ball is not coming back…”, or maybe he said something along the lines of “…fill in your favorite four letter curse word here!!!”

The game was relatively quick, thanks to no long innings by either team.  It ended around 4 p.m.  It definitely wasn’t a typical Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees baseball game, which are notoriously long and dragging.  

Instead of following the massive crowds leaving the stadium at the same time, we instead decided to wait around 30 minutes before making our way outside.  It turned out to be good decision as we made it outside in about 3 minutes.  

Stadium as crowds were leaving, Yankee Stadium 

We followed the much smaller crowds dispersing in front of the stadium to get to their destinations.  We turned right to get back to the Target shopping center for our return trip back.  It was a great day of baseball on a Labor Day.

In conclusion:

Although many sports fans may argue American football is the most popular sport in America, I still think baseball is.  Whereas a football game is played once every week for a total of 17 games, a baseball game is played just about every day, for a total of 162 games.  That means more people are paying to watch baseball games vs football games.

As much as I personally love the speed, athleticism, and at times the brutality of football, I was always a baseball fan first.  I truly feel that baseball is still America’s past time.  There’s just something incredibly satisfying about watching a ball game that transcends generations.  

It is something that unites people together.  From a grandfather who grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle, to a youngster who grew up idolizing Derek Jeter, it truly brings people together when we’re passionately debating who was a better player.  

It gives us, at times awkward men who can’t bear meeting other men at social functions, something to freely talk to each other about…This, I think, is the beauty of baseball, or any sports for that matter.  

Thank you all for reading and enjoy a baseball game at a stadium!

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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