My Yankee Stadium Tour

[JPL]

Today I had an opputunity to tur the New Yankee Stadium on a private tour arrange through the Yogi Berra Museum. We arrived at the Museum at around 8:15 and were greeted with coffee and donuts and a chance to explore the museum for about a half hour before leaving for the stadium. The Berra Museum is small but very well done. They have lots of memorabillia and it's always nice to see the new displays they change out. This year they had a Lou Gerig display. At about 9 AM we boarder the bus and were of to the Bronx. On the bus we had more donuts and coffee and were give the first 2 gifts of the day a DVD and a Pin from Old Timers Day iin 2006. We arrive in the Bronx surprisingly early since we hit no traffic at all and had some time to kill. It's still really weird to see them dismantling the old Stadium that I grew up with but the new stadium sort of makes up for it and I still have my great memories from the old one. We were scheduled for a 10 AM tour and had a few minutes just to look around Grand Hall and take some pictures. I was very surprised that they do not allow any video inside the stadium. I had taken some of the outside and the field and was planning to make a little montage including the stadium museum and monument park. I took about a little bit outside before we entered and some of the field before getting yelled at when shooting a bit of the concourse (which they actually made me delete on the spot) Now I understand they don't want video of the locker room etc. but the concourse, monument park, and museum make no sense to me. We took some pictures and started our tour with a trip to the museum. Now I tried to visit during Old Timers Day but the line was ridiculous so I passed. It was really nice being in there with only about 15 other people so you really had time to enjoy and appreciate the exhibits. I was shocked to see Thruman Munson's Locker in the museum. I knew they were moving it to the new stadium but was under the impression they were moving it to the clubhouse(where IMHO it really belongs!). After our tour guide talked for a few minutes about the museum and the exhibits we were free to explore on our own. After the museum we headed to Monument Park. The tour explained a little about it's history and the special monuments to the victims of 9/11 and the Papal Visits. Now this place give me chills looking at all the Yankee Greats and retired numbers. This is another place we had to ourselves and were able to get great pictures and take some time to read the plaques and just really get the feel for the place. After Monument we headed to the Yankee Dugout. It was awesome sitting on the same bench as the players and looking at the stadium from their point of view. We took some pictures and hung out for a bit before heading into the clubhouse. They made a sttrong point of telling us not to take our camera or even cellphones. The one security guy actually said if you take out your cellphone it will be erased totally by the team. It was still awesome seeing the players actual lockers and some of their personal items in the area. Some players had news clipping and others had pictures of family. Each locker stall is equipped with a Laptop computer mounted on the stall that soprt of flips out so the players can stay connected. After the clubhouse we headed back to the Grand Hall and of course to the Yankee Team Store but not before receieving our gift a special keychain. I will say the prices in the Team Store are insane! One of the guys in our group saw a coffee mug and said that would be cool and I need a new mug. The mug didn't have a price on it so he asked at the counter $35!!! I tell you this mug was absolutely nothing special, actually looked like something you would find in your local dollar store. Well it was time to get back on the bus and head back to the museum. The bus ride was a mess the driver decided to take a local short cut to get to the bridge and it took us about 3 times as long as it should have Good thing they had water and snacks on the bus ride home. Overall a very nice day and I would recommend it to any sports fan not just Yankee fans

I am posting the pictures I took enjoy!

Yankee Stadium Pictures

[Nini]

We took the regular tour last Tuesday. The only differences are that we didn't get the gifts, and couldn't do the locker room because it was a game day. Also, as we were in the dugout Derek Jeter came in off the field and signed a couple balls for two young boys. I was about two feet away from him!!!! Then he disappeared into the locker room. Our tour guide was as shocked as the rest of us. I asked her if he drops in on tour groups very often, and she said that that never happens! We got lucky!!!

It is a beautiful new stadium and I'm glad we took the tour. It's really the only way to see Monument Park. We tried, but weren't able to get in on a game night last year.

Denise