Calling out the Yankees

I'm sure you will all appreciate reading this. Who doesn't like to criticize the Yankees. I was reading an article in my newspaper about the Yankees new stadium and their seats in the first nine rows called Legend's Suite. Those seats cost $500-$2,625. (I would never pay that much money for seats...what will they cost in the playoffs...but I'd take them for free) Those seats surround the area where players usually sign autographs during batting practice. Those Legend's Suite seats are off limits to anyone who isn't a ticket holder. Basically unless you pay $500 or more for your seats than you will be unable to get autographs during batting practice. I think that this is a terrible mistake on the Yankees, and baseball's part. When baseball is dealing with steroid issues the worst thing it can do is be fan unfriendly. Not only are those prices ridiculous (as evidenced by the fact that almost no one buys them...if people bought them it wouldn't be ridiculous) but they also prevent the regular fan from getting autographs from a player.

When I was young one of the biggest reasons for going to a game instead of watching it on TV was to go to batting practice and hopefully get a signature or meet one of my favorite players. I'd look forward for just batting practice. Sometimes batting practice was just as good if not better than the game itself. I have so many autographs because of batting practice. It made me a bigger baseball fan. One of the charms of going to a baseball game when you are young is being able to get autographs of your favorite player. For generations this has happened. Babe Ruth was famous for signing autographs for all of the kids that asked him around town. Player accessibility is a major way of generating new fans and keeping fans. Especially kids. If kids aren't interested in the sport of baseball when they are young then they won't be when they are older. Baseball, and the Yankees don't want to risk alienating their fans. Yes the Yankees are the Yankees, and if any team has enough history and big enough fan base to absorb any backlash it's them. Still I think their policy of not allowing all ticket holders to get autographs during batting practice is going to hurt the game of baseball and possibly alienate some of their current fans and future fans.

If I were the Yankees I'd figure out a way to get current players available for autographs for their young fans.