| 21 June 2010
One of the most gratifying aspects of running this blog for the past couple of years has been helping to out-of-towners get the most out of their Yankee Stadium experience. We have the "Stadium Tips" section of the blog, but we'll always take the time out to help people with a direct response, hoping that someone from another city would do the same for us if we were traveling one day.
Below is an email we received from Mark in London. It's fun to see the excitement for the trip to Yankee Stadium from people who have no idea about the game of baseball, but really want to learn:
Hi there I'm over with a friend for a long weekend from London at the end of of August and have just bought tickets for the Mon 2nd game agianst the Blue Jays. We're football (soccer) fans so have never experienced a baseball game. We've been to NY several times but never Yankee stadium - what's the best way to experience the game, soak up the atmosphere and work out how the game is played? Do you suggest getting there early to have a few drinks and soak up the atmosphere? I've also noticed the game goes over 3 days - why is that? Thanks and looking forward to your response.
And our response:
Glad to hear you're making it over to check out Yankee Stadium. I'd recommend getting to the game a couple of hours early and checking out the few bars that are outside on River Avenue.
During non-game days it probably isn't an area of New York City you'd choose to visit, but on a game day it is bustling with activity and is a great time. If there is one bar I could recommend for an authentic "Yankee bar" experience, it would be Stan's.
As for the game being played across three days - what you are seeing is a series of three games. Whenever teams get together to play, they play 2-4 games before heading to the next city to play. There are 162 games in a baseball season, so each team sees the other a lot of times.
Once you go inside the stadium (gates open two hours before game time), I'd recommend checking out the Yankees museum and monument park (as some of the "How May I Help You" concierge folks how to find them). That is where all of the tradition and information about the franchise can be found.
If you enjoy good steak, I'd recommend having a $15 steak sandwich from Lobel's, which is down the left field line on the field level (again, just ask someone where it is and they'll point you in the right direction). Make sure you ask for the LOBEL'S steak sandwich, as there are impostor steak sandwiches that aren't as good.
You are free to walk around all of the concourses at Yankee Stadium to see the field from a bunch of different angles, but you can't access any of the seats except for the ones you have purchased. The security guards are extremely rigid and do not budge from this policy.
If you want to review the rules of baseball, this website covers the EXTREME basics.
We're certain that other "Yankee Stadium Insiders" will have slight variations of these recommendations and hopefully they'll chime in with comments below. For anyone who stumbles across this entry via Google or other search engine, feel free to email us via the link at the top of the page for any more specific questions. Enjoy the games!
