YankeesGadfly

I just sent to this my Yankees Account Executive:

Thank you for putting me in touch with Manager of Guest Relations. She and I had a very nice conversation Friday with regard to the use of my camera at Yankee Stadium.

Although I enjoyed speaking with her and she was very friendly, I am greatly disappointed that she, representing the New York Yankees, did not clarify whether I will be able to use my camera at Yankee Stadium next season.

According to her, there will be a new fan guide in 2011 that is more precise than the current guide with regard to the use of cameras, but it will not be published until March 2011.

However, the Yankees require renewal of annual accounts well before March, meaning that the Yankees expect me to make a $7,000 commitment to the New York Yankees while the Yankees are so far not willing to make a corresponding commitment to me.

Given that lack of reciprocity, I am inclined not make such a commitment.

Just so you and the Yankees management team know what kind of Yankees fan you will be throwing away if the organization decides to interfere with a hobbyist’s photography:

I have been a loyal Yankees fan since 1961, attending games at Yankee Stadium since May 26, 1962, when my father, a World War II veteran, first took me there as a child. That’s more than 48 years of loyalty.

Since 1997, for more than 14 years, I have had an annual account and during the period attended 15 World Series games, plus scores of ALDS and ALCS games.

I estimate that I have contributed at least $75,000 in ticket revenue to the New York Yankees during those years, often selling your less-than-desirable mid-summer day games with non-contenders to my friends. That’s not to mention the many thousands of dollars in food, beverages, and souvenirs I have purchased at Yankee Stadium. I have brought scores of new Yankees fans: friends and relatives, including parents, my wife, brothers, cousins, children, and grandchildren to games, many of whom would not otherwise have come to Yankee Stadium.

In 2009, the Yankees effectively forced me from my longtime infield location at section M14 in the old Stadium because, when you changed Stadiums, you raised the price of such a location from roughly $6,000 per year to $16,000. So now, I must sit more than 300 feet from home plate, which is the reason I need a stronger camera lens to take photos.

Throughout nearly half a century of loyalty to the Yankees, under the owners Dan Topping, Del Webb, CBS, and George Steinbrenner III, I have always been able to photograph my heroes without interference.

As I mentioned, the photographic equipment I use is a hobbyist’s. It’s not professional equipment, but it is superior to the inexpensive pocket cameras that parents use to take photos of their kids at the game. It poses no threat to the New York Yankees or the professionals who photograph each game. (For your reference, I use a Nikon D300 SLR and a 70-200mm. zoom lens).

I urge you, in the name of the pride and respect for which the Yankees are known, to respect fans like me who get pleasure from photographing their heroes. Let me know, and let all of us know, before you ask us to commit thousands of dollars to your organization, that you will respect us and let us continue to take photographs as we have for more than a decade.

There is nothing more I can say. This is a matter of your conscience and decency. I think that Boss George, if he were still alive, would respect the fans for whom he worked so hard for more than 40 years to bring winning teams to the Bronx.

Do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey Fox

Rememeber when Yankee Stadium was a place where you went to enjoy yourself without being frisked, blocked by security guards, and prevented from taking decent photos?

Starting in late September, I was repeatedly harrassed at Yankee Stadium for carrying my Nikon D300, with a 70-200 lens. (This is hardly a pro lens, especially since it’s the minimum I need to shoot from the outfield where the Yankees have forced me to move due to their drastic increase in ticket prices since 2008). I managed to get into the game with it, but my complaints to the Yankees have so far fallen on deaf ears.

I have been told that, come next year, there will be an even stricter definition of what cameras you can’t use at Yankee Stadium, than this policy that’s now on the Yankees.com site:

Single-frame flash photography is permitted. Tripods, extended length zoom lenses, other professional camera equipment, movie cameras and any other video or audio recording equipment are not permitted in Yankee Stadium.

Hey, Yankees: Is it really a threat to the pros from Sports Illustrated and ESPN if I take a few decent shots per game from 300 feet away? So far, no magazine has bought any of my shots. And I’ve been shooting happily since 1996. Why do you suddenly want to clamp down on me, and thousands of other photo hobbyists?

Is it just me? Or is anyone else fed up with this greedy organization, which has routinely pissed away our money on deadbeats like Carl Pavano, Javier Vazquez, Kevin Brown, Hidecki Irabu, making it less and less pleasant to enjoy a game at a Stadium for which we and our parents and grandparents paid billions over the past 87 years?

Hank and Hal: WE Built This City.

Not you, the carpetbaggers from Cleveland. We, the true New Yorkers who showed up even when you fielded dreadful teams. Horace Clarke. Stump Merrill. Jack Clark. Ed Whitson. Rainbow Trout. We watched all of them fail. It’s our team, our city, and OUR Stadium.

So stop trying to turn Yankee Stadium into a Rikers Island on the Major Deegan. Let fans take photos to their hearts’ content. Stop frisking little old ladies. Return Yankee Stadium to Yankee fans!!