Freddy Sez: Let Me In!

We've all heard how Yankee season ticket holders, whether for two years or twenty, have felt screwed by the new stadium's economics. The screw just keeps on turnin':

Freddy "Sez" Schuman, the one-eyed, cookware-clanking octogenarian who's been an unofficial pinstripe mascot for 22 seasons was forced to panhandle for tickets at the new Yankee Stadium this past weekend. In years past Schuman, who like

Yogi Berra

turns 84 next month, received free season tickets from sponsors such as Modell's, or was simply let through the press gate with a wink from a stadium official. On Opening Day he had no trouble getting into the new ballpark for free through the press gate, but on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday he had to depend on the kindness of fellow Yankee fans for free seats. On Sunday he stood outside the stadium holding his frying pan and a sign that read, "Freddy Sez, Yankees say 'I can't go in. Must buy ticket!" "The Yankees say I am a part of the stadium. What part am I, the toilet bowl?" Schuman said. "But the fans have come through. They gave me $40, and even $100 tickets." - - >8 - - Yankee officials insist that shutting out their superfan was just a "miscommunication." When Schuman first told the Post he was nervous about being shut out two weeks ago, a team spokeswoman said "We love Freddy and will accommodate him."

Let me engage in a minute of foolhardy cynicism here: what right does Freddy have to free access to the new stadium?  There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of paying season ticket holders financially forced out of their preferred seats by the new stadium's inflated prices.  I've heard stories of season ticket holders  since the mid-seventies told they could either pay the $900 to $2500 their current seat would cost them or go sit in the bleeds.  Maybe they haven't run around the stadium for 22 years banging a pan and making people smile, but they've certainly paid a lot of money to an organization that has been trying for years to price them out of their seats. When I'm 62 years old, I plan on buying the Obstructed Seat Season Ticket Plan.  I'm going to prance around the stadium with a pan flute and tap shoes, singing dirty limericks that rhyme the players names while fans of all ages rub my belly.  I figure after about ten years or so, I will have made an institution of myself and the Yankees won't be able to get rid of me.  Fan support and sponsorship from the Buy N Large Corporation will ensure that I will always get in for free, even if the Yankees won't accommodate me. Look, I like Freddy.  I think it's neat that he walks around the stadium and gives people something to smile about.  It's that type of color that gives a place charm, even when it's a huge concrete shopping plaza with a baseball field in the middle.  This article would annoy me a lot more if Freddy hadn't said, "The Yankees say I am a part of the stadium."  It would stand to reason that there was indeed a miscommunication. What bothers me is the entitlement.  If the Yankees told Freddy that they wanted to continue the relationship, that's fine.  But as the article states and Freddy has told many people, Modell's used to buy his tickets for him.  If the Yankees were accommodating him, why did he need Modell's buying his tickets?  If his sponsor bailed on him, is that the Yankees fault?  Does that mean the Yankees are on the hook for his tickets now? If Freddy is that important to the Yankees, and he truly is part of the stadium, why not make him a part time employee and throw him a couple of bucks?  I assume that Freddy will be given some special privelages, like wandering around the Legends box seats where mere Bleacher Creatures are not allowed.  Rather than treat Freddy like some Super Fan with entitlements, help the guy out and make it official. I hate to say this, but this is the type of nonsense you never heard about when King George was running the place.  As much of an impetuous blowhard as George Steinbrenner could be sometimes, when it came to taking care of people, he always seemed to do the right thing.  He was rude to Yogi and probably fired his managers a bit too many times, but he always made sure people who wanted to stay within the organization would still have a job. If Steinbrenner were still running the show, I doubt this article would have been written.