For the past month or so, I have visited New York on various work assignments for ABF Freight, my place of employment. Working an early shift and having the afternoon and evenings off was awesome because I got to explore the baseball world of Brooklyn and Queens. I visited local parks, Citi Field in Queens, and on this most recent trip, I decided to take a ride out to the Bronx and the new Yankee Stadium. Despite having many friends and even family members who are Yankee fans (Yuck!!!), I can honestly say that I detest the Yankees – always have, always will. I will admit – it has been fun having spirited debates with these friends and family members over the years. And I believe they detest the Red Sox as much as I detest the Yankees, so at least we have that in common. My thoughts heading out to the Bronx… I suppose I could check out Yankee Stadium but if they win, I’m really not going to be happy!!!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I elected to take Amtrak to NY for travel, so I was without a car. I mostly used ride sharing services or my own two feet to get around for dinner, groceries, and exploring. I got a quote for Lyft from my hotel to the Bronx and it was a whopping $70. Hmmm, not worth it. Then I remembered I was just minutes from the NY Subway, so I opened my NY Transit app. $5.50 round trip, two trains – L and 4, roughly 45 minutes of travel. That sounds a lot more reasonable. So, that’s what I did. The NY Subway makes it really easy to pay and go. I just tapped my credit card on the turnstile and entered the platform for the L train headed into Manhattan. Departed the L and made my way over to the 4 heading towards the Bronx. Stood the entire trip but didn’t care. I made it E 161st Street and walked down the stairs and there it was… the new Yankee Stadium.

I arrived about an hour before game time. The NYY were hosting the Tampa Bay Rays, so I knew it was going to be a good matchup. Since I had some time, I took a walk around the stadium. The stadium’s lot stretches from E 161st Street, down River Avenue, over to E 164th Street, then back up Jerome Ave in a massive rectangle. Along the way, I noticed signage on the stadium that featured former Yankee greats. Two of my favorite, non-Red Sox players are Don Mattingly (should be in Cooperstown) and Derek Jeter (is in Cooperstown, deservedly) were featured and I stopped to pay them some respect. Around the back of the stadium, the NYPD were hosting a community playground event. And making my way around the stadium to Gate 2, I noticed nothing but Mantle, Judge, Rizzo, and Jeter shirts of all sizes and colors donned by the many thousands of fans going to the game. I elected to go with a non-Red Sox baseball shirt for the game, although it was red. Just didn’t say Red Sox on it.

On presenting my ticket (on my phone from SeatGeek) to the ticket attendant, I asked why there wasn’t a special discount for Red Sox fans. He jokingly said “well, I don’t have to let you in” then comedically paused and then scanned my ticket. Once inside the stadium, I casually observed all the World Series photos, memorabilia, murals, trophy presentation posters, and NYY signage that took up every square inch of every wall inside the stadium. I thought about what could make my trip better. First thing that came to mind – A Michael King shirt. So, I hopped into a few T-Shirt shoppes and searched around for one. I’m a very impatient shopper, so I skipped the rack after rack shopping for a more direct approach. I just asked the store manager and she said “unfortunately, I don’t have one.” Bummer, but then I thought, maybe I will see King pitch tonight. Trying to stay positive…

I still had plenty of time to walk the perimeter of stadium so I started at home plate and made my way around the third base dugout, into left field, center field where the monuments are located now, into right field, then back over to the first base dugout. I liked that the stadium was accessible to walk the entire perimeter and I got some cool shots of the park from different view points.

As far as seating goes, I didn’t bother to look where my actual seat was. I found a spot, had my dinner and lemonade, and remained there until about the 3rd inning when the actual ticket holders arrived. I got to watch the first pitch by the NYY Carlos Rodon, the first at-bat by the NYY Aaron Judge (harmless single), and a towering home run by the Rays Randy Arozarena into the left field seats. I moved a few times after my initial seating to deeper left field, just behind home plate, then over to the first base side.

The Rays had gotten to the NYY Rodon early and the game really wasn’t close at all. Tampa’s Zach Eflin pretty much dominated a mostly lackluster Yankee’s batting order for the better part of 6 innings. At one point, the score was 5-0 (Rays) but it felt like 50-0. The crowd got very excited every time Aaron Judge walked to the plate, standing and cheering and being baseball fans, but for the most part the stadium was pretty subdued. Most of the fans, honestly, were younger fans out for a good time in a beautiful venue, and most weren’t really into the game on the field.

After a rather exciting Aaron Judge long fly ball to deep center field charged up the crowd fell innocently into the glove of the Rays Jose Siri, I felt it was time to depart Yankee Stadium. I had a big smile on my face knowing that not even Judge could save the day for the Yanks. Final score (per the 11pm news) was 5-2, Rays. I walked out the exit, down the street, up the stairs to the 4 train and waited for my subway to arrive to take me back to Manhattan, over to the L, then back to my hotel in Brooklyn. I had successfully turned my frown upside down indeed and had a very positive New York Yankees Baseball Experience!