NEW YORK (AP) -The Yankees are monitoring the wind and home runs at their new ballpark along with the empty seats close to the field, but they plan no changes.
Chief operating officer Lonn Trost said Tuesday more wind studies will be done at the $1.5 billion stadium, but the weather during the first two homestands might have been unusual. Forty-seven home runs hit, four shy of the record for the first 13 games at a major league ballpark. Thirty-two of the homers were hit to right field.
“There were wind studies performed before. They’ll be wind studies performed as we go forward, and we’re just looking like you are to see whether or not it’s the weather, the wind, what happens when the old building goes down,” Trost said after a news conference to announce memorabilia sales from the old ballpark.
The home-run total is vastly higher than the most in the first 13 games of a season at the old Yankee Stadium, 36 in 2007, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
and wind studies, the winds we were having were the least likely winds to occur,” Trost said. “We’ll always look and we’ll always analyze. And right now, I don’t know if I can do anything about wind.”
Trost said the Yankees were considering changes in 2010 to the first row behind the outfield fences. Possible fan interference already has led to a pair of umpire video reviews.
“We’re going to have to look at that, you know, this year to see whether or not that row, which is both in left field and right field, impedes play in any way,” he said. “But we can’t do anything this year.”
He said no changes were planned to the policy preventing fans with tickets in other parts of the stadium from getting close to the field during batting practice. Seats in the first nine rows, called the Legends Suite, cost $500 to $2,625 and come with access to three restaurants and lounges. The area is separated from the rest of the lower deck by a concrete moat.
“There’s an area by the Legends Suite which is not an area that fans can get into,” Trost said. “If you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? If you purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?”
are giving free tickets to those with season plans for seats that cost $325 or more a game.
“Every day we look at it and analyze it,” he said. “Could you really tell what’s taken place in two homestands with 90 percent of them in rain? I can’t.”
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