The Yankees Have A Mascot?

While watching the video of A-Rod and Jerry Hairston Jr. playing stickball with kids in the Bronx that has been circulating the Interwebz recently, I noticed an interesting spectator lurking in the crowd.

Wha, wha, whaaaat? As A.J. Burnett might say "That motherfucker?".

The Yankees with all their "class" and "tradition" and "pride" would never have a mascot, would they?

Well, yes, actually, it turns out that once upon a time, they did.

From an article in the New York Times from 1998 (h/t WasWatching), we found out that Yankees did in fact have a oversized fuzzy costume representing the franchise from 1982-85. Unfortunately Dandy did exist, despite the fact that both George Steinbrenner and Lonn Trost both denied remembering so back in '98. Steinbrenner might have had an excuse, but I'm guessing Trost was just lying.

So, back to the current fuzzy disgrace. What is that thing supposed to be? Does it have a name? Was this just an ad hoc creation? It doesn't look like a mascot designed specifically with the Yankees in mind with the red belly and all. Did someone throw that jersey on a generic mascot? It's looks kinda short though, like it was custom fit, doesn't it? Perhaps the Yanks have a mascot that goes around to events where kids will be? Are we okay with this as long as it doesn't show up at the Stadium?

It shows up aroung the 1:00 mark. Discuss.

“This is not just a stadium for baseball”

That's what Lonn Trost thinks of the New Yankee Stadium:

"This is not just a stadium for baseball," Yankees COO Lonn Trost said. "It's a stadium for college and university football."

To refresh, this is Lonn Trost, the man whose fingerprints are all over the New Stadium and who was more responsible than anyone else for designing it. Got it? Now take a look at this:

See how well the football field fits into the dimensions of the baseball configurat... wait, I'm sorry, what's that? It doesn't fit at all and the dugouts might have to be filled-in during these games just to accomodate the corners of the endzones? Just look at how the stands unnecessarily jut away from from the 50 yard lines! I like what you did there, Lonn. There's hardly a good seat in the house!

You'd think that if someone with Mr. Trost's "appreciation of the history" of the Old Yankee Stadium might have thought of this beforehand, if they truly had wanted to play college football games there. Perhaps the need popped up after the Yankees' revenue projections fell short for this year and they are taking steps to cover their behinds just in case the economic conditions don't improve.

But the fact remains that it IS a Stadium just for baseball, which explains what it was explicity fucking designed for it without taking any other events into consideration. You can try to shoehorn a football grid into it or put a stage for a concert in centerfield, but it's going to be completely awkward because baseball parks aren't meant for anything else. Just like football stadiums weren't meant to house baseball games. Again, historically, this was done out of necessity. Now it's being done out of nostalgia and greed and I'm not sure which of those is worse.

November 2010... FEEL THE EXCITEMENT!!!1!

If you watched last night's game from the beginning on YES, then you probably experienced the excruciating half inning sit-ins by Rich Ellerson and Charlie Weis. The head coaches of the Army and Notre Dame football teams were there to promote the meeting between the two powerhouses of modern college football in November 2010, verbally excrete as many cliches as possible and slowly lull anyone watching the broadcast to sleep before three outs were recorded.

I have mixed feelings about having football games played in the New Yankee Stadium to begin with. The reason that they played football there in the past was out of necessity, since there wasn't a football stadium in the area. However, now there most certainly is, and by the 2010 season, there's going to be a brand new one in the Meadowlands (where Notre Dame already has plans to play Navy that year). It's yet another example of Lon Trost & Co. making misguided, nostalgic attempts to celebrate the history of the Old Stadium. You can acknowledge the past with out reliving it, Lon. This is a brand new billion dollar baseball stadium, they can play football in the brand new billion dollar football stadium across the river.

These guest visits were another issue all together. It was little more than self-congratulatory back slapping for the Yankees and the YES Network and served no purpose to the fans who tuned in to, you know, watch a baseball game. Why distract from a sporting event that's actually unfolding right in front of our eyes? They did nothing but promote an event that isn't going to happen for 16 months and figures to be totally lopsided, unwatchably boring or both when it's finally played. Save the date, folks!

There was already a press conference about the football game. Isn't that enough? Let's be realistic, no one is making plans for the game yet. Yes, it raised the awareness. But we are going to be battered over the head with promotions for the next year and third and most people aren't going to decide until that day or possibly during that game if they are going to watch it.

Especially after the amount of innings spent ignoring the action on the field with visitors in the booth yesterday, you'd think that YES would have refrained from doing two more today. Instead we got to hear Ellerson talk about his team's practice schedule and Weis go on about how he always wanted to be a Yankee announcer in the most lifeless drone ever heard in a broadcast booth. I can't imagine why that didn't work out for you Charlie.

Enough with the guests. We just want to watch the game.

Randy & Lonn Go To Court

Our New York State Capital Correspondent, Big Willie Style, informed me that our two least favorite Yankee Front Office execs are back in Albany today, talking with Richard Brodsky. Brodsky, as you may recall, became a Fack Youk favorite when he challenged Levine to an "in-your-face fistfight" back in January. 

Trost and Levine's side of the argument have called Brodsky's demands "grandstanding", "a personal vendetta", and "a grab for attention on his part". 

Brodsky complains the Yankees are "bullying" him and has countered by pointing out that the New Stadium has cost roughly twice as much as Citi Field, and claiming "The state could have bought the Yankees for less than it cost to build the stadium."

The issue that they argued over today was the release of records in conjunction with the construction of the New Stadium that Brodsky is demanding. The assemblyman from Westchester wants to see roughly 1.39 million emails and attachments and 408 boxes of records. The Yanks claim the emails alone would cost $5.5M to process with the paper records adding "several million more dollars" to the cost. 

One comment I found interesting from Trost was: 

I am fairly certain that some of those boxes contain documents relating to the project, however the boxes are not indexed in such a way as to determine which boxes contain such documents and therefore a fulsome review would need to be undertaken to determine which boxes contain responsive information.

On one hand, the Yankees are crying foul that they will have to pay, say $8 or 9 million dollars for the documents to be "fulsome(ly) review(ed)" by a swarm of lawyers being paid by the hour, but they are also the ones claiming that it is necessary for them to be reviewed. Maybe you should have organized the documents produced during the 1.5 billion dollar construction project a little better, Lonn.

After talking with our resident law school graduate, Joe, I've gathered that the review allows the Yankees the chance to redact anything confidential before it becomes part of the public record. As a private business, there are a vast array of things they don't need to disclose, but that would not include documents relating to public financing. 

Even if Brodsky does manage to force the Yankees to turn over the relevant documents, it will be after the Yankees' lawyers have had a chance to pour over them with a fine-toothed comb, a process that will certainly take a great deal of time. After that, The State will have to review what is turned over to them, which will most likely take as long or longer and cost the taxpayers even more money. 

In principle and for the sake of transparency, it seems like the Yankees should have to turn over these documents, because while $5.5M is a lot of money, they've received far beyond that in State funding for the project. What I'm thinking after doing some digging on the issue is that, A) It's going to take an eternity to do this and, B) I highly doubt that the Yankees are going to anything incriminating slip through the cracks if they can help it.

Sorry Brodsky, but I'm still in your corner for the Randy Levine fight. 

 

Lonn Trost Does Not Acknowledge The Third Ammendment

Notice the all of the white-covered Navy hats populating the Legends seats. Sam Borden acknowledged that the Yankees were giving these tickets away for Fleet Week from Thursday through today. I have absolutely no problem with the Yankees opening up these seats for members of the armed forces, children's hospitals, in exchange for donations to charity, to people who volunteer in their community, etc... I'm not asking for one. 

But that is the reason you shouldn't say something like "Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? If you purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?", Lonn Trost. Of all the dumb shit that has been said about the Stadium, I think that quote really stands out like a sore middle finger. So now you are quartering soldiers in people's homes, Lonn? 

By trying to preserve those seats as exclusive and Legendary (TM), even when the Yankees are trying to do something good, they open themselves up for bad PR. If everyone in the Yanks' front office was like Felix Lopez, who has acknowledged that there are things wrong with the Stadium, I wouldn't take nearly as much perverse pleasure in pointing out when they are off-base.

The building itself is beautiful. The only things wrong with it are fixable - the ticket prices, the exclusionary policies, the on-field dimensions, (the urinal dividers). If you agree with this and you aren't already, start reading New Stadium Insider. Ross and the guys over there have done a great job of keeping the Yankees honest and actually trying to get them to change some of their flawed policies. It's a blog, so it doesn't get acknowledged nearly as much as it should, but NSI has certainly been the first to publicly point out many of the now-familiar gripes with the new joint.
 

Here's The Difference

I'm a little late to the party on this one, but it's never the wrong time to rip Lonn Trost. Very quickly... Yesterday as the Yankees were revealing their absurd - I mean, completely reasonable, free market - Old Stadium memorabilia prices, Lonn Trost was asked about the New Stadium's policy, which does not allow fans from other sections to come down to the Field Level to watch batting practice up close. He had this to say:

Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? If you purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?

Here's the difference, Lonn. Seats at a stadium aren't a home. People can't go there when the Stadium is closed. Purchasing those seats allow for people to sit in them for before, during and after home games. It's a "suite" only because you call it that. Nowhere else is in the world are padded plastic seats without a roof considered a "suite". Actual suites are in hotels and on cruise ships and chalets in the Swiss Alps. The New Stadium is an outdoor sporting event venue, not a vacation destination. 

And as PeteAbe has brought up, those seats are almost always empty in the hours leading up to games. If fans from other sections were watching BP from down there and a ticket holder politely informed them that they were in their spot, I'm sure they would move out of the way. Apparently the obscene ticket prices at the New Stadium have spared the wealthy the indignity of interacting with us commoners for even the briefest of moments. Which would be fine, but again, those tickets still aren't totally sold. The Yankees are still screwing their real fans in the name of their make-believe dream customers. 

Game 22: #6

YMCA...

It's never going away. Thanks Lon Trost!

A Simple "Yes" Would Have Done

From Wallace Matthews of Newsday: 

When I asked Yankees vice president Randy Levine if this meant the team had misjudged the market, he [said] "For a very small number of seats, in this economy [...] I guess it was a mistake.''

Reason #446,785 why I hate you, Randy Levine. You are that guy. The one who will never admit when he's wrong. 

It's not even entriely your fault. The economy went south between the time you set the prices and the when the time came to sell the tickets. Not too many people saw that coming. 

"A very small number of seats?" Okay, maybe in relation to the capacity of the Stadium, but they represent a huge chunk of the revenue. For one $2650 Legends ticket (there are 122 total), you could buy 189 bleacher seats or 120 in the Grandstand. There are 1200 seats priced over $325 and the prices of about 600 of them have been effectively cut in half. Those seats were what the entire "Robin Hood" pricing model of the New Stadium was built around. That's not a "very small" loss in revenue. 

A fun little aside... Here's a nice fabrication that I turned up in the ESPN article linked above, dated March 21st, 2008:

The New York Yankees will charge $500 to $2,500 for seats near home plate in the first five-to-eight rows of their new ballpark. They already have commitments from ticket-buyers for all 122 of the front-row seats.

Oh, did they? Then we must have varying definitions of the word "commitment", because those are the seats that they are now halving prices on and giving away to those who already purchased at full price.

Randy, you fucked up. We all see the empty seats. It's not up for debate. Are you 7 years old? Stop acting like you didn't break the window, we saw you and Lon Trost throwing the ball as hard as you possibly could on the front lawn. Would it kill you to just admit that things didn't go according to plan? 

YMCA Is Coming To The New Stadium? Why?

I was watching the updated version of "Cathedrals of the Game: Yankee Stadium" on MLBHD last night and caught this little tidbit from Lon Trost at the end:

(Sorry for the terrible quality)


In light of reading an article this morning entitled "Stadium Laden With Trost's Fingerprints", I would tend to take the man at his word. I'm not a fan of your fingerprints, Mr. Trost.

Obviously, the emphasis was on carrying over traditions from the Old Stadium, but this "tradition" started in 1996. The song had been out since 1978, it's not like it was an original idea. YMCA blared in every roller skating rink I was unfortunate enough to have attended an elementary school birthday party at.

If they had dumped that kitschy convention, no one would have missed it after the third homestand. It was a perfect place to part ways, but now we are stuck with it indefinitely. Is Cotton Eye Joey going to make the trip too? I say that sarcastically, but seriously, if it does, we may have to organize a boycott.

Just like the food options, this is an instance when tradition is a bad thing. Do you think anyone would miss Famous Famiglia Pizza if Ray's got the contract? The Yankees represent New York City, not just the Old Stadium. There should be burrito places, Gray's Papaya, deli's, burger joints, and Chinese take-out in along with pizza, sausages and Cracker Jacks.

There's a difference between tradition and nostalgia.

I guess everyone was going to find out tonight (or maybe not...), but that is still really disappointing.

Joba Strong, Cone Wrong, Shelly Goes Long

[Last night was the first chance I've had to catch any Spring Training action this year. Although the games are not at all compelling, it's a great thing to have on in the background while you cook some dinner and dig your apartment out from a couple weeks of neglect.

It also serves the purpose of establishing some sort of a game recap posting convention for when the regular season rolls around. For now there are screen grabs and some commentary, but nothing too analytical. There are plenty of places you can get that stuff at a higher level than I am capable of.]

Joba looked strong and struck out 3 in his three innings, and topping out at 96mph. He needed only 29 pitches (20 strikes) to get through the Reds, allowing one run on three hits without walking a batter.

A fastball on the outside to Jay Bruce. As you can see, Joba was already halfway to the dugout before the ump finished his punch out. Disgraceful.
A slider on the outside corner that Brandon Phillips didn't have a shot at.
And a breaking ball right over the dish that froze Juan Encarnacion.
I wasn't going to bring this up, but David Cone made this ass-backwards point twice:

"...we kind of touched on it earlier, how effective [Nady] was as a Yankee. He had a great year in Pittsburgh, but when he came over in the trade with Damaso Marte... he was solid. And really, probably the reason Bobby Abreu wasn't re-signed was because of how well Xavier Nady played for the Yankees last year so they know he's a right field option for them... And he's the reason that Bobby Abreu was not re-signed."

He's right. Except he's completely wrong. Here are Xavier Nady's splits by team last year:

• Pirates - .330/.383/.535 (144 OPS+)
  
• Yankees - .268/.320/.474 (105 OPS+)

He was excellent with the Pirates last year, but barely above league average offensively as a corner outfielder in his time with the Yanks. He did have 12 HRs in 59 games with the Yanks as opposed to 13 in 89 games with the Pirates, which in a way is worse, because those stats already take that into account, meaning he was more of an all or nothing hitter with the Bombers.

I'd say the "the reason" they didn't sign Bobby Abreu was that he was looking for a 3 year deal when the free agency period began and Nady was only arbitration eligible. Ironically, however, Nady ended up getting a $6.55M contract, while Abreu was forced to settle for $5M.

-----

Leading in to the top of the third inning, YES showed the following message:

I don't think this is your target market, Yankees Ticket Sales. How many people do you think were watching the third inning of a Spring Training game saying to themselves, "Hey, I was wondering what I could do with that $52,650 I have just sitting around! Field Level Yankees season tickets... Why didn't I think of that?"

"LIMITED TIME ONLY"? If they were really going so fast, they probably wouldn't have to advertise their availability. Yes, it will be a limited amount of time until the prices are lowered. So... "PURCHASE TODAY!"

I'm all for the Field Level subsidizing the rest of the stadium with ridiculously inflated ticket prices, like Lon Trost and others have claimed it does. But if they are going to sit empty, that sort of fucks that plan in the ear, no?

-----

A high-five, Shelly? You just hit a three run homer. What happened to the signature Shelly Duncan Forearm Bash(c) ??? My sincere guess is that word came down from the front office that he needed to stop because he was probably going to hurt someone.

P.S. I don't care if Kei Igawa pitched two perfect innings, I'd still rather pretend he doesn't exist.