Yankee Stadium -- MLB, you've got to do something about "fan" behavior there Options

[xjack]

I just got back from Yankee Stadium, where I went to tonight's game with my father and a couple friends. It was the worst game I've ever been to, and I'm not talking about what happened on the field.

For the record, I've been going to Sox-Yankees games at the Stadium since 1994, and while it's always been a rough crowd for Sox fans -- I stopped wearing Sox caps and jerseys to night games years ago -- my feeling, until tonight, was that it had been getting better -- that the Yankees' stepped-up security was making a difference.

Boy was I wrong. We were sitting in the upper deck, section 25, and it was just shocking to me how much beer-throwing, peanut-tossing and obscenity-hurling went on there. Now I know that Fenway isn't a walk in the park for Yankees fans, but I've never seen it get as in-your-face at Fenway as it was tonight at the stadium. And I was just a bystander.

Security people showed up in our section for good around the 6th inning, but that was only after a mini-brawl broke out three rows in front of me... A drunk girl threw a beer cup at a Sox fan, but missed and hit a drunk Yankees fan. She stumbled over to apologize, but the guy was too angry to listen. He started mouthing off at her, the girl's boyfriend got involved, punches were thrown, and next thing I notice was that the girl had a bloody face and her boyfriend was pushed down two rows on top of some poor schmuck. Of course, the guy who threw the punch managed to leave the scene before the police showed up.

All in all, there had to have been 15 people removed from my immediate vicinity from the sixth inning on. Of course, if there had been a security presence from the start of the game -- as there was at both of the '04 ALCS games I went to -- I doubt it would have gotten so bad towards the end.

Now I know what the reaction from some quarters is going to be to this stuff: It's Red Sox-Yankees: what did you expect? .... Thing is, I'd like to be able to take my 7-year-old twins to a Sox-Yankees game at the Stadium some day, but that's never going to happen if the Yankees front office continues to tolerate the kind of drunken, abusive behavior that was rampant there tonight.

This post has been edited by xjack: May 22 2007, 08:49 AM

[Matty005]

Maybe when they open their new ballpark in 2009, things will improve. I know in Philly, ever since they opened Citizens Bank Park, things got much better (less fights, etc).

[Hatcher Steals H...]

I had a friend there last night and as soon as the game ended he gave me a call. In his section, he thought the ushers and security people actually made things worse. According to him (he's also a Red Sox fan) 5 or 6 Red Sox fans were thrown out in his section, and none of them seemed to be causing problems. One guy was pointing to the Red Sox lettering on his shirt during a mini 'Boston Sucks' chant and an usher ran up to him and gave him a warning. The next time the guy stood up, the usher ran up to him and gave him "warning number 2." Finally the guy took his jersey off, only to have a Matsuzaka t-shirt on. When the usher saw that, he threw him out; he was the first person thrown out in that section, and things escalated from there, as people were first booing the usher, then those ignorant of the situation were booing, I guess for the sake of booing.

This post has been edited by Hatcher Steals Home: May 22 2007, 06:31 AM

[bmacfarlane]

I sat upstairs in section 30 along with my son in full Red Sox gear and had no problems, I never do. Three mfy fans got tossed but I don't know why. I was surrounded by mfy fans and the ball busting was great fun we all shook hands, gave a semi-quiet asshole cheer to one another and left, promising to battle another day.

[AcroBrat]

I just got back from Yankee Stadium, where I went to tonight's game with my father and a couple friends. It was the worst game I've ever been to, and I'm not talking about what happened on the field.

For the record, I've been going to Sox-Yankees games at the Stadium since 1994, and while it's always been a rough crowd for Sox fans -- I stopped wearing Sox caps and jerseys to night games years ago -- my feeling, until tonight, was that it had been getting better -- that the Yankees' stepped-up security was making a difference.

Boy was I wrong. We were sitting in the upper deck, section 25, and it was just shocking to me how much beer-throwing, peanut-tossing and obscenity-hurling went on there. Now I know that Fenway isn't a walk in the park for Yankees fans, but I've never seen it get as in-your-face at Fenway as it was tonight at the stadium. And I was just a bystander.

Security people showed up in our section for good around the 6th inning, but that was only after a mini-brawl broke out three rows in front of me... A drunk girl threw a beer cup at a Sox fan, but missed and hit a drunk Yankees fan. She stumbled over to apologize, but the guy was too angry to listen. He started mouthing off at her, the girl's boyfriend got involved, puches were thrown, and next thing I notice was that the girl had a bloody face and her boyfriend was pushed down two rows on top of some poor schmuck. Of course, the guy who threw the punch managed to leave the scene before the police showed up.

All in all, there had to have been 15 people removed from my immediate vicinity from the sixth inning on. Of course, if there had been a security presence from the start of the game -- as there was at both of the '04 ALCS games I went to -- I doubt it would have gotten so bad towards the end.

Now I know what the reaction from some quarters is going to be to this stuff: It's Red Sox-Yankees: what did you expect? .... Thing is, I'd like to be able to take my 7-year-old twins to a Sox-Yankees game at the Stadium some day, but that's never going to happen if the Yankees front office continues to tolerate the kind of drunken, abusive behavior that was rampant there tonight.

Posting about it here is fine, but try writing a letter to the Yankees front office – I'd be shocked if they didn't care. I know our own FO will bend over backwards for fans that have had a negative experience at the park -- as they should: it's good business. I don't know what will come of it, but these guys realize that dollars are at stake, and they are providing entertainment. If their venue is unsafe, that should be a serious (and avoidable) problem.

[V.I. Tessie]

Posting about it here is fine, but try writing a letter to the Yankees front office – I'd be shocked if they didn't care. I know our own FO will bend over backwards for fans that have had a negative experience at the park -- as they should: it's good business. I don't know what will come of it, but these guys realize that dollars are at stake, and they are providing entertainment. If their venue is unsafe, that should be a serious (and avoidable) problem.

Worth a try, but I seriously doubt he'll get a response.

I had very similar experiences to exjack's the last two times I went to Yankee Stadium which was in the late 80's. Crap thrown at us, cursing, etc. We actually asked for help from security guards and got laughed at. We ended up leaving early both times and I vowed never to return to that dump again. Not good times at all.

After the last incident, I wrote to the Yankee FO and told my story. I never heard back from them. Nothing, not a peep.

[StatGeekNY]

As a girl who generally attends games with at least one male Yankee fan, I think I have it a little easier at the stadium. If anything, they usually get on the guy I'm with for bringing a Sox fan to the game (nevermind that it's usually me who planned the trip).

The one time I had serious trouble was after Game 6 of th 2004 ALCS. I had driven to the game and my friend took the subway. He offered to walk me back to my car, but I declined, saying I'd be fine. I was on the upper level of the parking garage right next to the Stadium when I got cornered by 6 guys who threatened to "rip that Red Sox shit" right off me and rape me. I have never been so afraid for my personal safety. Luckily, they were drunk and I could run faster and in a straighter line than they could, so I made it to my car with no harm done.

I wrote a letter about this incident to the Yankees and to the company that manages the parking garage and never got a response. I'm sure the Yankees figured it wasn't technically on their property, but I think if they took better control of things at the game, it wouldn't spill out like this into the surrounding area.

I think fans on both sides need to realize this is just a game, and it wouldn't be any fun if everyone liked the same team.

[The Gray Eagle]

The way Gammons and the Glob guys used to bash Sox fan behavior back when Duquette was the GM, you'd think they'd decry obnoxious Yankee fan behavior as well. Just out of fairness, if nothing else.

[PseuFighter]

They're not going to care. I wrote a "complaint letter" - at customer service before leaving the toilet - about an incident that took place (that I wrote about somewhere on here) during the subway series last year. I still haven't heard back.

[TheoShmeo]

Not only do the people who run the Toilet not care, but they seem to have a policy that Sox fans get tossed on a no-fault basis if there is an incident of any kind with a Yankee fan. "Policy" may be too strong a word, but I've seen evidence of that several times over the past few years, and there were a few times when it was just ridiculously unfair in my view.

That said, I guess it's where you sit and luck of the draw. My perspective is that Yankee fans have been a lot more subdued since the events of October, 2004 and they lost their favorite "19-18" toy. Yeah, there are always idiots in every ballpark, but on the whole they've seemed more calm to me recently. That's especially so after Sox wins; they used to walk out with defiance -- "see you in October" -- and now it's pretty quiet.

[86spike]

I usually get to one Yanks/Sox game in the Bronx each summer and have never had much of a problem beyond the usual heckling, which I'm fine with. It's no different from what I've seen at Fenway, so let's not pretend Sox fans are better to Yanks fans than vice versa.

Maybe this long spring of sub-.500 baseball has made the assholes angrier.

[xjack]

It's no different from what I've seen at Fenway, so let's not pretend Sox fans are better to Yanks fans than vice versa.

This may be a function of where you sit.

I've never seen behavior at Fenway half as bad as what I saw last night at the Stadium. For that matter, I used to live in Philly, and I never saw anything that bad at Veterans Stadium, which supposedly had the rowdiest fans in baseball.

It may have something to do with layoout of the upper deck -- the extreme slope of the stadium seating in the upper deck basically allows you to mouth off and throw things at fans 10 rows down. You can't do that at Fenway.... Then again I usually sit in good box seats at Fenway, but when I go to the Stadium, I'm always in the upper deck.

This post has been edited by xjack: May 22 2007, 08:14 AM

[SouthPaw21]

This is not Red Sox vs. Yankees related but I thought it was rather appalling either way. I was at a Yankees vs. A’s game last summer and sitting in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium. It was a very mixed crowd in our section, but right next to each other were a group of 10 very drunk men, and a family of 4. These drunk morons managed to sneak a full bottle of Jack Daniels into the ballpark somehow, and were passing it amongst each other for the first few innings until it was gone. Upon finishing their bottle of ‘Jack’ most of them began smoking in their seats. The family with their two young children had a problem with it and asked them to please stop. The men wouldn’t stop, so security was brought over, but since none of them were dumb enough to be smoking when security got there nothing was done, other than a warning.

The plea to stop smoking only seemed egg these guys on because as soon as security left they all lit up and began blowing smoke directly at these people. Some off the men began taken pictures of themselves (cigarette in one hand and empty bottle of Jack in the other) harassing this family. Other people in the surrounding area attempted to persuade these men to stop, but instead fights broke out between the “peacemakers” and these drunken idiots.

Finally the family was forced to leave the game in about the 7th inning. They must have called security on their way out the door because the men were given another warning soon after the family was gone. Ultimately nothing was done to these guys, and after the game they left behind an empty handle of Jack Daniels, and a bevy of cigarette butts.

[Smiling Joe Hesk...]

I have not yet been to Yankee Stadium, but these stories are reinforcing my conviction that when I do go it will not be for a Red Sox game. I'll see the Angels or the Tigers beat up on the Yankees instead. I don't need this crap in my life.

Rape threats? Continued game-long harrassment? I'll pass, thanks.

[Jethro Q. Walrus...]

I sat upstairs in section 30 along with my son in full Red Sox gear and had no problems, I never do.

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't wear Red Sox gear in Yankee Stadium. Unless I wanted to attract negative attention on myself because I was in a mood to dish out and receive abuse. I mean, I'm going to be cheering for the Sox anyway, which will tip off anyone around me who I'm rooting for, but why make it easy and obvious for the oblivious drunks?

No one deserves to be physically threatened, and I'm not condoning violence, but this seems like a case of two wrongs making an even worse wrong.

[Phil Plantier]

I haven't been to the Stadium in a while, but I did have a friend who got a response, and some very nice tickets, after a bad experience led him to write a letter to the Yankees front office.

He was a Tigers fan, though, so maybe not mentioning your allegiance will produce a more favorable response.

[Shelterdog]

I live in NY and go to a few sox-MFY games a year in Yankee stadium.

Two anecdotal observations:

1.) The nicer your seats, the fewer problems you have. The ad execs and bankers with their kids and clients in the fourth row really won't heckle you or get in a fight. In the upper sections, well, you will get heckled.

2.) It's much, much worse when the Yankees are losing or when they're having a bad season. There's real anger and hostility towards the Sox fans this year that goes beyond the normal taunting.

[Rudy Pemberton]

I've been to Yankee Stadium tons of times over the year, and only had a problem during Opening Day '05. Otherwise, I generally wear a Sox hat and keep to myself...you get the lame insults hurled at you, but it's like anything else, if you don't show that it bothers you than the clowns stop. Of course the ushers are going to throw out the Sox fans, there are a lot fewer and often times it may be for your own protection. If you are cheering for the Red Sox loudly (which ideally, you would be able to do of course) something will probably happen.

I will caveat this by saying that I will never sit in the bleachers again...as it is like a zoo out there, complete with feces throwing monkeys. The people who sit out there would rather start a fight than watch a game, and they'll try. Sit in the upper deck though, and you'll largely be fine if you keep to yourself. Sad that it is that way, and I probably wouldn't bring children to the game, but it is what it is.

Unless with your a pretty big group, I agree that it's probably best to leave the jersey at home and stick to a hat. Does that suck? Sure, but lets not pretend that Yankee fans are welcomed with open arms in Fenway. It's all about knowing your surroundings.

[Razor Shines]

One staggering difference between the two stadiums is the way female fans of the opposing team are treated.

In Yankee Stadium, a girl wearing Sox gear will have P&G-type stuff shouted at her as she walks up the isle to her seat. You don't really hear that type of thing in the Fenway bleachers. (Male fans wearing enemy gear are treated pretty equally in both venues, IMO).

The upper-deck of the Toilet is much worse than the bleachers, most likely due to the no-beer policy of the bleachers.

[riveraulwick]

I agree with Rudy in that the bleachers should be avoided. I've been fortunate to never have a problem at the toilet when sitting anywhere other than the bleachers. Last game I went to there was in Sept. 2003, when the Sox spanked Clemens (in what was supposed to be his last game against the Sox in a NY uniform.)

I was with 3 guys, we all wore Sox jerseys and weren't at all quiet about how the game was going. Not a peep from anyone. At the end of the game some people actually congratulated us for the win. I think that experience and the rape threat pretty much constitute the full range of experience one can have at Yankee Stadium.