Yankee Red Sox Question: Fenway Have Many Yanks Fans?

[Eddy G]

I've been in both situations and can tell you from my experiences there are way more Boston fans in NY then Yankee fans in Boston.

I can also say with out question the Boston fans are no way as nasty as the NY fans. I've seen twice as many fights and bad behavior in NY then Boston. It's frustrating for Yankee fans this year but this has been the case as far back as the first time I went to the Bronx back in 95

Go to the game and have a good time. Wear your Yankee's hat if you want. Expect a little ribbing but don't worry about it.

And by the way, Fenway is just as much an attraction as the house that Ruth built.

[jusplainjesse]

...or you could just make the right decision and be a red sox fan. GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!! (all in good fun, guys) in all seriousness, just dont be a jerk and you should be fine...expect the occasional yenkees suck comment here and there, but you'll be fine.

[Homer12]

Originally Posted by Eddy G

I've been in both situations and can tell you from my experiences there are way more Boston fans in NY then Yankee fans in Boston.

I can also say with out question the Boston fans are no way as nasty as the NY fans. I've seen twice as many fights and bad behavior in NY then Boston. It's frustrating for Yankee fans this year but this has been the case as far back as the first time I went to the Bronx back in 95

Go to the game and have a good time. Wear your Yankee's hat if you want. Expect a little ribbing but don't worry about it.

And by the way, Fenway is just as much an attraction as the house that Ruth built.

Fenway is as much an attraction as Yankee Stadium, please tell me that is a joke. I am a Yankee fan, but not a huge Boston Hater. The thing I do not like about the Red Sox that I respect about the Yanks is the way the players have to present themselves. No chewing, clean shave, and presentable haircuts. I think all teams should have these rules. These players are role models, they should not look like thugs or Captain Caveman like Damon looked prior to changing teams. Just my opinion.

I still can not believe you said Fenway is just as much an attraction as Yankee Stadium. Most recognized sports stadium and team in Sports History in the World. Fenway and the Sox would not even make the Top 100 regarding that statement. :-)

[badluck]

Not to sound like a broken record but, they are totally self serving, grown men playing a children's game for millions of dollars not for the fans but for corporate investors and sponsors and they would all sell their souls, grow their hair, cut their hair, grow a beard, shave their beards and testicles etc all for an extra zero on their contract...so, whose role models are they really? None of them have ever held a job. And ok, you win...'your' sports team is better than 'our' sports team and 'your' baseball field is better than 'ours'...now what?

Originally Posted by Homer12

Fenway is as much an attraction as Yankee Stadium, please tell me that is a joke. I am a Yankee fan, but not a huge Boston Hater. The thing I do not like about the Red Sox that I respect about the Yanks is the way the players have to present themselves. No chewing, clean shave, and presentable haircuts. I think all teams should have these rules. These players are role models, they should not look like thugs or Captain Caveman like Damon looked prior to changing teams. Just my opinion.

I still can not believe you said Fenway is just as much an attraction as Yankee Stadium. Most recognized sports stadium and team in Sports History in the World. Fenway and the Sox would not even make the Top 100 regarding that statement. :-)

[Homer12]

Originally Posted by badluck

Not to sound like a broken record but, they are totally self serving, grown men playing a children's game for millions of dollars not for the fans but for corporate investors and sponsors and they would all sell their souls, grow their hair, cut their hair, grow a beard, shave their beards and testicles etc all for an extra zero on their contract...so, whose role models are they really? None of them have ever held a job. And ok, you win...'your' sports team is better than 'our' sports team and 'your' baseball field is better than 'ours'...now what?

I never said anything about being better, certainly would not say they are this year. I do not like the fact that Athletes are Role Models, but they are. Athletes are the most common role models for kids, always have been, and probably will be for a long time. That said, what is wrong with me liking the fact the Yankee's make their players look presentable. They are professionals, they should look it. This is my opinion. As far as playing a childrens game you obviously never played. Baseball has some of the best athletes in sports and is one of the hardest to play at a Professional level. I do agree they are spoiled and have no idea what work is and they make way to much for what they do.

[ogre]

Hey, the grubby look you've seen with Sox players in recent years fits okay with Boston's bohemian college-town image. The "Large Apple" has Wall Street, so the short-haired corporate image fits their team better. May actually make them seem TOO corporate. May be one reason so many people--all over the country, not just in Boston--love to hate 'em. Those old enough to remember the '70's will recall how most major league teams used to bring relievers in from the pen in golf carts. Well, at Ruth's House they used a CADILLAC--decked out in pinstripes and plastered all over with that superimposed NY logo. Talk about in-your-face arrogance. Anyway . . .

A couple of notes on the grubby look. It's actually got a real history in baseball. Anyone else notice all the articles in '04 comparing Boston's "Idiots" to the old Cards Gashouse Gang from the '30's? As for Damon, the story goes that his entire head, incuding his face, was so tender to the touch for months after his outfield collision in the '03 playoffs, that it hurt to cut his hair or shave. Supposedly that's how the Caveman look started. Okay, okay, so he kept the look even after he COULD have shaved.

As for those big crowds . . . I haven't been to a game in a number of years. Never seem to get out to the ticket office in those few hours in December it takes the next season's tickets to sell out. Going back some time before that, I remember so many Yankee fans at THOSE games that I lost interest in going to THOSE games. Not as fun when so many people are pulling for the other team. I'd guess it's probably true, as noted above, that there are fewer Yankee fans there now BECAUSE most of the next season's tickets sell out the day they go on sale, leaving no opportunity for fans from out of town to show up in Boston shortly before a game and get tickets, unless they want to get SCALPED by the scalpers. Why the big surge in attendance? It's not just Boston. You know, the population of the U.S. is over 300 million now. There are just more people out there, and more going to sports events. In general, sports seems to be as big a business as ever. Major-league attendance keeps setting records. When I was a little kid, just starting to follow sports, a MLB team that drew a million for a season was having a good (not great, but good) year for attendance. Now, a million is just a decent warmup.

As for Boston in particular, this fanaticism for the Sox just seems to have grown over the years. You still have passionate fans among baby boomers who fell in love with the team in '67 and '75, and now you've got gens X and Y added to the mix. Changing ownership over the years may have had an effect as well. True, the Sox have been "good for years," but some past front offices seemed adept at putting together teams just good enough to be interesting, without ever taking the final step of making them that little bit better that would have put them into serious contention. The current leadership put together a world champion within a couple of years. Maybe now people are more optimistic that they'll frequently see a truly first-rate team, not just a "good" one.

By the way, I'd go along with the other advice related to the original question. Once you're at the game, don't be the one causing trouble, and you should be fine.

[danielleinsagharbor]

I saw my first game at Fenway last August. I bet my best friend's brother (lives in Westwood, MA) on Memorial Day he couldn't get me a ticket to a late season Sox/Yanks game. He not only got us two tickets to a Saturday day game, (Beckett vs. The Mullet, Randy Johnson) they were in the EMC club. Holy smokes. So my response is clouded.

I'm strange. I like them both, love the game, love to watch. I'm admittedly NOT hardcore. It's the one sport I'll watch with enthusiasm. I won't say I like one team more. Child of divorce syndrome? Who knows.

Anyway, I chose not make my experience at this incredible, intimate, historic, beautiful ballpark about rooting for one over the other, which is oddball, sure. I cheered for them both. Stood for both. Laughed, took some teasing, some sideways glances. The kid next to me asked his dad if I was a nutbag. Had one of the best days I've ever had. Seriously. Yanks beat the stuffing out of the Sox, and yet no one seemed nasty after the game.

In mid-September, a diehard Yankee fan of mine called to offer me a ticket to a day Yanks/Sox game at Yankees. None of his guy friends would go; it was like 200 degrees out and his tickets were all the way in left-first row, next to the "hedge" of the bullpen--by those baseballs? I'd never been to the Stadium either.

I know. Just read.

He was mortified that he even had to offer the other ticket to me; his wife's one of my good friends, and she made him call me. The fact that I can love both teams is completely unacceptable, but he said I could go. If I kept my mouth shut the whole time.

Off we went. As we walked through the tunnel, I saw the actor who plays Bobby Bakala on The Sopranos--in fact my entire experience that day felt like an episode of the show. Violence and stellar displays of intelligence...

I heard some boos at Fenway, but nothing overtly terrible--no inappropriate language--children attend these games--or lousy sportsmanship. Though the Sox did get manhandled that day, so who knows, maybe that kept everyone quiet.

The anti-Red Sox jeers began before the first pitch. I saw two shoving matches in the first inning after Papi opened with a homer. I had a big smile on my face--and cheered, naturally. He rules. It was exciting, right?

The guy behind us told my friend to tell me to sit down. That's how it began.

Long story short, same guy, 4000 beers later (5-3, Sox) told Huckabee he was gay as he jogged down the ramp in his cleats and gear beside us. He'd been catching Timlin in the bullpen. This "You're gay!" comment raised excited cheers from the obviously brilliant crowd around us--so I yelled, "You rule, Huck! Screw these guys!" Laughs from Timlin--who waved, smiled. I asked if I could come sit with them. It was funny.

Drunk guy didn't think so. It got bad rather quickly. Herd mentality. I had cheered when Melky dove over the left-line wall and made the Jeter-like PLAY a few innings earlier, and so the hostile crowd didn't know what to make of me. What they did sense was I felt differently than they did. I wasn't decked in pinstripes or the Saux SUCK! regalia. I was grinning, drinking water, badly sunburned--and still having a blast.

My point: You have the opportunity to see the best two teams in baseball duke it out? Go to Fenway, dude! Cheer the Yankees--they need it. Treat fans around you with respect and HUMOR; it doesn't have to be a We-Are-the-World video hugathon or anything. Expect some teasing. I seriously doubt you'll get a beer dumped on you, or a fist in the teeth, unless that's what you go in looking for. I didn't stay up in the EMC seats the whole time. I walked around, got different perspectives, different vibes all over Fenway--everyone wasn't in a Walt Disney movie mood; however, I really didn't sense the glaring hostility--the willingness to be a bully or a fat slob sore loser--as I did at Yankee Stadium.

I'm jealous. Go have fun.

-Danielle

[bluecountry]

1) The Yankees bring the most of any team to Fenway?

2) Do the Red Sox bring WAY more to New York than the Yankees in Fenway or is it not to disproportionate?
-Why do you think this occurs, is it more due to stadium size than Boston having more fans or passion?

3) Overall are the Yankees well represented or really outdone by the Red Sox in this rivalary with fan road trips?

[manchester]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

I'm sure you'll hear the "yankees suck" chant, although red sox fans chant that sometimes even when they aren't playing the yankees.

There will be a good % of yankees fans there. Both fans can be very annoying and there usually is a fight or two. Most fans are well behaved and it is in good fun, but some do get out of hand...on both sides.

I went to a soccer game between an english team and an italian one , strange thing was that there were 3 young drunken men singing yankees suck wasn't a baseball game or even had the yankees there


I've lived in boston and new york , My conclusion is that the hatred is much more off the red sox, don't get me wrong the yankees don't like the sox but the hatred from the sox to the yankees is much more

friend
go and enjoy yourself, beproud to be a yankees fan and enjoy you game.
could be worse it could be like a football(soccer) game in england or europe where thee is severe trouble , fans get segregated(as it should be) and much moe hatred going each way