There was a presence you felt walking into the old Yankee Stadium. It felt like a pilgrimage to baseball nirvana. The smell was inescapable. It was a mixture of a musty subway station in the dead of summer and urine. But it didn\u2019t matter because you knew you were standing inside a living, breathing history book.<\/p>\n
That died in 2009.<\/p>\n
To be clear, the Yankees needed a new stadium. But that heaviness, that sense you were entering a museum, doesn\u2019t exist with this version \u2014\u00a0of the stadium and, increasingly, the club, as tradition after tradition is erased.<\/p>\n
The new Yankee Stadium has always felt like a corporate, soulless shopping mall designed to attract businesses that could buy up the luxury suite inventory and Legends seats, rather than catering to the families of the Bronx. The old stadium felt sacred; this one feels as transactional as a bank.<\/p>\n
Over time, that shift hasn\u2019t just been rooted in the architecture, but also has seeped into other areas in the organization.<\/p>\n
For decades, the Yankees separated themselves through tradition. They didn\u2019t follow trends; they set them. But Wednesday\u2019s news that the players have pitched wearing alternate road jerseys<\/a> to the team\u2019s higher-ups is just another example of the Yankees considering bucking tradition for modernity, player preference and, of course, revenue. It\u2019s unclear if the club will move forward with this proposal, but the fact that it\u2019s even a conversation says everything.<\/p>\n Some alternate jerseys are undeniably cool. The Atlanta Braves\u2019 powder blue City Connect jerseys, for instance, are beautiful. But just because some Yankees players want to hop on the alternate jersey trend doesn\u2019t mean owner Hal Steinbrenner should approve this. The Yankees can\u2019t constantly preach tradition and \u201cThe Yankee Way,\u201d while chasing trends from other teams.<\/p>\n An official alternate jersey would be another way for the club to make more money, and since when have you known the Yankees not to want to make an extra buck? After all, they put hideous Starr Insurance patches on their jerseys because the company is paying $25 million annually<\/a> for the rights to be known as the entity\u00a0that soiled the sport\u2019s most iconic uniforms.<\/p>\n The Yankees changed their road jerseys a few years ago when they removed the white piping that surrounded the letters, at the urging of Aaron Judge. But introducing a new jersey is a line the Yankees should never think about crossing. It is beneath them and would be an identity shift.<\/p>\n You can already feel a disconnect inside the stadium with how they\u2019re treating their most loyal fans. The constant, incessant, droning sounds in between each pitch that blare from the sound system are manufactured slop, screeching \u2018NEW YORKKKKKKKK! MAKE SOME NOISEEEEEEE!\u2019 Since when do Yankees fans need cues to make noise? Can the club find a way to have that played just in the suites, where the patrons may only care if the lobster they\u2019re eating is from Maine or Canada?<\/p>\n The people who\u00a0show up in suits might be spending more money than the average fan, but they\u2019re not the ones who built the atmosphere and make the stadium feel special. The old stadium didn\u2019t need gimmicks. It\u2019s also a slap in the face to fans to read the organization\u2019s response that the cacophony is to appeal to a younger crowd.<\/a> Just say this is what the players and marketing team wanted, and we did not care to survey our own fans.<\/p>\n