The entire Trost/writers exchange

Yesterday, we read Lonn Trost’s reaction to being asked about not letting fans into the Legends “suites” during batting practice.  “Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? Trost said.  “You purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?’’

Today, Neil Best, who originally posted this quote, posted the entire exchange between the writers and Trost regarding fans and batting practice here.

Reporter: Are there any plans to change the policy to allow fans closer to the field during batting practice?

Trost: Well, the fans are able to get down to certain areas. They are not able to get into the suite. Right now, that's what the policy is.

WatchDog: What was the rationale behind that originally?

Trost: The rationale behind what?

WatchDog: The rationale behind the policy to not let them get down to that area right by the field during batting practice.

Trost: Well, there is an area by the Legends Suite that is not an area that the fans can get into.

Reporter: That is different than the old stadium.

Trost: But there was no suite there.

WatchDog: So is it primarily a logistical matter that once you start having people down there you have to clear them out?

Trost: Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? You purchase a home, you want somebody in your home?

WatchDog: By the suite you're talking about the seating area, not the eating area? You're talking about the seats.

Trost: Yeah.

WatchDog: OK. Got it.

I still don’t understand why those seats are called “suites.”

I want people to keep making this an issue, as the media did with the empty “suites.”  The Yankees have messed up yet another time and Trost is to blame.

Words of wisdom from Lonn Trost

Two posts down, I mentioned how whenever Lonn Trost speaks, the more I can’t stand him.  Well, that was before I read this post from the great Neil Best.

Yankees COO Lonn Trost made it quite clear about an hour ago that the team has no current plans to reconsider its policy of not allowing fans into the Legends Suites area during batting practice to seek autographs or simply to get close to their heroes.

I asked him the rationale behind the policy. His blunt comment on that:

“Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? You purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?’’

Wow.

When I think “suite,” I think of private luxury boxes with their own bathrooms and food above the field.  The seats behind the plate are just that: seats.  Yes, they look like first class seats that you would find in an airplane, but they are seats nonetheless.  The concrete moat that is in place is just another metaphor for Yankee greed.

Stadium memorabilia sale to begin

The Yankees are paying the City $11.5 million to sell Yankee Stadium memorabilia, because the City owns the now-closed Stadium.

Later in this article, we find out that the Yankees are selling pairs of seats for $1,923, in honor of the year the building opened.  For reference, the Mets sold their pairs of seats for $869.

$1,923 for two seats?  What a great deal relative to what the team is charging for the primo seats in the new building!  I can’t wait to see the list and prices of other things they’re planning on selling.

Update – 1:15 p.m.: Here is the press release from Steiner Sports, touting “timeless pieces of Americana.”  There will be an online auction that begins today that features 1,500 pieces from the Stadium.  Here are some other details:

• 1 ft. x 1 ft. pieces of live sod from Yankee Stadium: $120
• Pairs of Stadium seats: ranging from $1499 - $1999; commemorative single seats: $750
• Final Season Crystals with Genuine Dirt from the original Yankee Stadium: $80
• Original bricks from Monument Park in a glass case with etched Yankees logo: $150

Toward the end are words from the great Lonn Trost.  The more I read from this guy, the more I can’t stand him.

"We are excited to give our great fans a chance to take home a piece of the Yankee Stadium legacy through this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said New York Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn A. Trost. "These treasures allow the Yankees' legacy to live on and provide fans with keepsakes they can pass along from generation to generation."