April 23, 2009--The House That Greed Built
Though we’re just two weeks into the new baseball season, there are already four things we know about the Yankees and their new $1.5 billion stadium:
Pretty much everything having to do with the Yankees is about money.
During the off season they signed and spent more on two high-priced free agents than any other team in baseball history—left-handed pitcher C.C. Sabathia got $171 million over seven years; and first baseman Mark Teixeira signed an eight year contract worth a cool $180 million.
From them we are already learning that money doesn’t always lead to stellar on-the-field performance. Teixeira is batting only .222. The Yanks would expect him to be hitting well over .300 and bashing home runs into the short porch at the new stadium (more about that in a moment). He has hit three, which is not too bad. And C.C., who has had four starts, should be at least 3 and 1 and have a positive strike-out-to-walk ratio is struggling to get anyone out—his record is 1 and 1, he has an ERA of 4.81, and he has struck out only 12 while walking 14.
Their other mega-priced superstar, Alex Rodriquez, (he is being paid $275 million over 10 years) has yet to play in a game—he is out after having hip surgery. And their recent number-one pitcher, their ace, Chien-Ming Wang, is off to one of the slowest starts in Yankee history: he has pitched in three games but completed a total of only 6.0 innings and has a staggering ERA of 34.50. Some wag calculated that he would have to pitch something like 35 scoreless innings in a row to get his ERA down to his lifetime average. No one in baseball history has every pitched that many scoreless innings in a row.
Then there is the problem of empty seat at the Stadium. The Yanks and New York City euphorically poured money as well as concrete into the new ballpark and, since the business plan to make this profitable was draw up while times were still good and many in New York were wallowing in their private era of excess, the Yanks not only filled the edifice with dozens of so-called “luxury suites” (the real justification for abandoning the old stadium was that the old place, the House that Ruth Built,” which was good enough for the Yanks to win 26 World Series didn’t have enough of these pleasure palaces for the corporate princes of Wall Street) but they also put a price tag of $2,625 for many hundreds of the “best seats,” those in back of home plate and behind the two dugouts.
But most of them were empty during the first six home games. There they were staring you in your face. On TV, from the camera in center field, which is used for every pitch during every at-bat, to the embarrassment of the Yankee organization, there was no avoiding seeing them.
At first I thought everyone was out at the bathroom or dining at one of the numerous new fancy restaurants, but inning after inning, there was no denying it, they remained empty; and I realized that I wasn’t witnessing either price resistance or an epidemic of prostatitus but rather one consequence of the collapse of New York’s banking and real estate industries.
And if these missing fans had actually been out rummaging for food, they would have had to shell out $5.00 for a small bottle of water, $6.75 for a hot dog, and $9.50 for a paper cup of tasteless, watered-down Miller Lite. If during the seventh inning stretch they rose to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, the peanuts and Cracker Jacks made famous in those 100 year-old lyrics would have cost them $4.50 and $5.00 respectively.
Most ignominiously, after just four home games, the House that Greed Built is turning out to be a virtual Homer Dome. Through the first four games, a total of 20 homers were belted. Most by the visiting Cleveland Indians—who, by the way, still sport that offensive logo of theirs, the caricature of the grinning Indian. That’s an average of five per game. Among all other stadiums, the average is just 2.2.
These are the Yankees who used to Field Murderers’ Row, teams that featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Guys who hit homers before steroids and the juiced-up ball. It is looking like the current Yanks are playing in a Little League bandbox of a field.
Before laying the first brick the architects did all sorts of studies to determine how wind currents coming off the adjacent Harlem River would affect play on the field. Since they were attempting to replicate the old ballpark, it was important to know this even though the new place was just literally across the street from the original. They were convinced that there would be no significant changes.
But over the weekend when every other ball seemed to be jumping out of the park—even those that should have been pop fly outs—the announcers and sports journalists began to speculate about the winds. Were they blowing out to right field with such forces that if The Babe were still playing he’d hit 150 a year? Or was there something in the dimensions of the new field that was contributing to all the homers.
The Yankee brass were adamant in asserting that the footprint of the new playing field is identical to the old. The distances to the fences are the same and the fences are of exactly the same height.
But, according to blogger Greg Rybarczyk, who laid satellite images of both the old and new park over each other, the new field, especially in right filed, is considerably smaller. To be specific, out by the Yankee bullpen, the new field is nine feet shorter. On average, he proves, on average, right field is five feet closer to the batters box.
This, he further demonstrates, is because the Yanks, to accommodate the humongous new scoreboard, straightened the fence. In the old stadium, from the right field corner to center field, the fence made a gentle, graceful curve. (Check this out on the New York Times article linked below.)
So for the remaining Miller-Lite-besotted fans behind home plate who are too busy texting to watch the game live, they can now watch the key plays almost three dimensionally on the monstrous new Jumbotron.
In the meantime, little Melky Cabrera already has four homers, including yesterday’s winning walk-off shot. Poor Babe.
Pretty much everything having to do with the Yankees is about money.
During the off season they signed and spent more on two high-priced free agents than any other team in baseball history—left-handed pitcher C.C. Sabathia got $171 million over seven years; and first baseman Mark Teixeira signed an eight year contract worth a cool $180 million.
From them we are already learning that money doesn’t always lead to stellar on-the-field performance. Teixeira is batting only .222. The Yanks would expect him to be hitting well over .300 and bashing home runs into the short porch at the new stadium (more about that in a moment). He has hit three, which is not too bad. And C.C., who has had four starts, should be at least 3 and 1 and have a positive strike-out-to-walk ratio is struggling to get anyone out—his record is 1 and 1, he has an ERA of 4.81, and he has struck out only 12 while walking 14.
Their other mega-priced superstar, Alex Rodriquez, (he is being paid $275 million over 10 years) has yet to play in a game—he is out after having hip surgery. And their recent number-one pitcher, their ace, Chien-Ming Wang, is off to one of the slowest starts in Yankee history: he has pitched in three games but completed a total of only 6.0 innings and has a staggering ERA of 34.50. Some wag calculated that he would have to pitch something like 35 scoreless innings in a row to get his ERA down to his lifetime average. No one in baseball history has every pitched that many scoreless innings in a row.
Then there is the problem of empty seat at the Stadium. The Yanks and New York City euphorically poured money as well as concrete into the new ballpark and, since the business plan to make this profitable was draw up while times were still good and many in New York were wallowing in their private era of excess, the Yanks not only filled the edifice with dozens of so-called “luxury suites” (the real justification for abandoning the old stadium was that the old place, the House that Ruth Built,” which was good enough for the Yanks to win 26 World Series didn’t have enough of these pleasure palaces for the corporate princes of Wall Street) but they also put a price tag of $2,625 for many hundreds of the “best seats,” those in back of home plate and behind the two dugouts.
But most of them were empty during the first six home games. There they were staring you in your face. On TV, from the camera in center field, which is used for every pitch during every at-bat, to the embarrassment of the Yankee organization, there was no avoiding seeing them.
At first I thought everyone was out at the bathroom or dining at one of the numerous new fancy restaurants, but inning after inning, there was no denying it, they remained empty; and I realized that I wasn’t witnessing either price resistance or an epidemic of prostatitus but rather one consequence of the collapse of New York’s banking and real estate industries.
And if these missing fans had actually been out rummaging for food, they would have had to shell out $5.00 for a small bottle of water, $6.75 for a hot dog, and $9.50 for a paper cup of tasteless, watered-down Miller Lite. If during the seventh inning stretch they rose to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, the peanuts and Cracker Jacks made famous in those 100 year-old lyrics would have cost them $4.50 and $5.00 respectively.
Most ignominiously, after just four home games, the House that Greed Built is turning out to be a virtual Homer Dome. Through the first four games, a total of 20 homers were belted. Most by the visiting Cleveland Indians—who, by the way, still sport that offensive logo of theirs, the caricature of the grinning Indian. That’s an average of five per game. Among all other stadiums, the average is just 2.2.
These are the Yankees who used to Field Murderers’ Row, teams that featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Guys who hit homers before steroids and the juiced-up ball. It is looking like the current Yanks are playing in a Little League bandbox of a field.
Before laying the first brick the architects did all sorts of studies to determine how wind currents coming off the adjacent Harlem River would affect play on the field. Since they were attempting to replicate the old ballpark, it was important to know this even though the new place was just literally across the street from the original. They were convinced that there would be no significant changes.
But over the weekend when every other ball seemed to be jumping out of the park—even those that should have been pop fly outs—the announcers and sports journalists began to speculate about the winds. Were they blowing out to right field with such forces that if The Babe were still playing he’d hit 150 a year? Or was there something in the dimensions of the new field that was contributing to all the homers.
The Yankee brass were adamant in asserting that the footprint of the new playing field is identical to the old. The distances to the fences are the same and the fences are of exactly the same height.
But, according to blogger Greg Rybarczyk, who laid satellite images of both the old and new park over each other, the new field, especially in right filed, is considerably smaller. To be specific, out by the Yankee bullpen, the new field is nine feet shorter. On average, he proves, on average, right field is five feet closer to the batters box.
This, he further demonstrates, is because the Yanks, to accommodate the humongous new scoreboard, straightened the fence. In the old stadium, from the right field corner to center field, the fence made a gentle, graceful curve. (Check this out on the New York Times article linked below.)
So for the remaining Miller-Lite-besotted fans behind home plate who are too busy texting to watch the game live, they can now watch the key plays almost three dimensionally on the monstrous new Jumbotron.
In the meantime, little Melky Cabrera already has four homers, including yesterday’s winning walk-off shot. Poor Babe.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:16 AM
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