FanHouse YankeeStadium

NEW YORK – The Yankees and their memorabilia partner, Steiner Sports, on Tuesday announced plans to sell artifacts from the old Yankee Stadium.

See if you can pick out the actual items for sale and those we just made up:

• Piece of live sod: $120 for 1x1 foot; $280 for 2x2 feet

• 17 partially eaten Babe Ruth hot-dog buns: $3,333 each

• Pair of stadium seats: $1,499.99

• Yogi Berra's unfinished Master's thesis in English: $8,000

• The bat rack from the Yankees dugout: auction item

NEW YORK -- You pretty much have to hate your offense to bring your infield in with the score tied 0-0 in the bottom of the second inning and the other team's No. 9 hitter at the plate. But while Bob Geren obviously wouldn't admit to such dramatic motivation, that is what he did Tuesday night against the Yankees. And he did cite his team's offensive struggles as the reason for the move.

"The way we've been scoring runs, we just wanted to not give up a weak run right there with the 9-hitter up," the Oakland A's manager said after his team's 5-3 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Just Geren's luck, the A's gave up two runs right there as Brett Gardner grounded a single past second baseman Mark Ellis. And just like that, Oakland was staring up a hill. And these A's don't have what it takes to do the climbing.

I almost feel sorry for the place. It isn't the fault of the new Yankee Stadium, with its $1.5 billion price tag and $2,625 top ticket and sizzling party scene and ThinkPad computer in every clubhouse locker, that construction was completed amid the worst economic climate since the Great Depression. In another era, we'd be hailing it as appointment architecture, the most magnificent sports facility ever built, a shiver-worthy replica of the original that whisks us forward with every possible amenity, technological advancement and concession item, including tofu, calamari, edamame (edamame?) and taralli.

"We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ball field in the middle of it," said Yankees executive Lonn Trost, whose description pretty much nails it.

NEW YORK -- A little more than two hours before the first pitch of tonight's exhibition game between the Yankees and the Cubs, I found myself in the visitors dugout, where Cubs players were milling about, checking out the new Stadium. (Yes, we capitalize "Stadium" when we talk about the one the Yankees play in.)

"Nothing's changed," Cubs pitcher Chad Gaudin said, looking out at the field and pointing. "The lines, the alleys, you had the bullpens right there in the same places. It's the same."

Gaudin sounded disappointing, and while his analysis had some holes (one of the bullpens is in right-center and the other in left-center -- in the old Stadium they were next to each other in left), his fundamental point was a decent one.

NEW YORK--Just went down to check out this "Great Hall" they have here. Pretty nifty. Long, high, wide hallway with open archways all along to give it an open-air feel (not ideal on this night, as it means you get rained on, but the effect is good). They have banners lining it, with pictures of Yankee greats on them. (Line of the day from Lou Piniella, on whether he saw any pictures of himself: "No, I didn't go into the men's room.")

They have monstrously huge hi-def flat-screen TVs broadcasting the game. And they have noise -- they play highlights in between innings with John Sterling's voice bellowing the narration.

They also have a variety of concession stands down there. And not that I want to be pegged as the guy who always blogs about food, but I did notice a couple of interesting things. Sure, there's the typical hot dogs/peanuts ballpark fare, but the new Yankee Stadium has a couple of concession quirks that skew a bit more modern.

NEW YORK - There's nothing unusual about ballplayers having pictures of their families hanging in their lockers. But at the new Yankee Stadium, everything's new and snazzy and ... at least a little different from what you're used to. So when you enter the cavernous home clubhouse, with its plush Yankee carpeting, ultracomfy-looking leather chairs and huge flat screen TVs (all tuned to the YES Network, of course), you notice the pictures hanging up on the lockers. And then you notice what's different about them.

The Yankees like to say they're taking the ghosts from the old Yankee Stadium across the street to the new one.

But Bob Sheppard won't be making the trip. Not yet anyway.

The Yankees said Tuesday that because of illness, Sheppard, the long-time public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium, will not be on hand for the two exhibition games this week against the Chicago Cubs or the April 16 regular season opener.

Perhaps you've heard: There's a new Yankee Stadium in town. Indeed, the House That Modern Technology And Bribes From Public Officials Built appears to be nearly finished; today, photos (and this video game footage!) have made their way to the internet via the tubes. The most notable photo? That one just above there, a smallish shot of the Yankees' team restroom, which Diamond Hoggers says is "substantially bigger and fancier than this picture does justice." All jokes about what happens in the Yankees' bathroom will be left to your imagination.

I guess this counts as politicians doing their part to give back during these trying economic times. But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his administration, against a backdrop of economic turmoil, are giving up their luxury boxes in both the new Yankee Stadium, and Citi Field.

All together now: Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Senior Bloomberg aides had fought hard to get the luxury boxes, describing the perk in internal e-mails as "a big issue to the mayor" during negotiations with the teams in 2006. (...)

Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent said the new agreement means the city will receive cash payments for the use of its Yankees box. Future mayoral administrations will have the option of using the box or being paid for it. (...)

State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who accuses the city of conducting the stadium negotiations behind closed doors, said the Bloomberg administration is clearly worried about how it looks to be haggling over luxury boxes now that the city is grappling with dramatic budget cuts, job losses and tax hikes.

"This whole thing has been an embarrassment," Brodsky said. "I think they were scared about the public reaction to this entire fiasco."

Any chance that money the city is getting could be put towards a halfway decent transit system so my fare doesn't go up to five bucks per round trip? Yeah, I thought that might be too much to ask. With my luck, that money will probably go towards a new flat screen television so the mayor can enjoy baseball in the comfort of Gracie Mansion so he doesn't feel so bad about losing his luxury box.

This should come as no surprise, but Steve Harshman, the fan who caught the last home run ball ever hit at Yankee Stadium, has decided to cash in. The ball will be up for sale along with a bunch of other Yankee memorabilia by the auction house Guernsey's later this month. From the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune:

"We talked about it as a family and we said we can keep it locked up in a safe deposit box and when I die the kids can fight over it, or maybe it can go to a good collector with a massive Yankees collection, and we can take the money and do some good with it," Harshman said.

Harshman wants to pay off a few debts, donate money to his church and charity and help pay for his children's college educations.

He's absolutely right. The ball is expected to fetch at least $200,000 -- catching it is like finding a winning lottery ticket on the ground. I'm sure some traditionalists out there will criticize Harshman for acting on his capitalistic impulses, but he's not doing anything that every other non-millionaire wouldn't do (especially when you consider he'd still owe truckloads of extra income tax even if he held onto the ball).

If you have a few hundred grand stuck in your couch cushions and you want to own the most expensive leather sphere Jose Molina will ever hit, you better act fast: the auction takes place this coming Saturday.