Cops Arrest Yankee Stadium Vultures After Last Game

AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews.

At least 18 baseball fans were arrested after the last game at the old Yankee Stadium Sunday night, as attendees ran amok trying to grab whatever souvenirs they could get their hands on. We're talking precious mementos such as cup-holders ripped off of seats, which can now be yours on eBay! According to the Post, one fan sneaked onto the field after the game and blended in with the groundskeepers, almost managing to steal third base, some priceless grass and sacred dirt.

Yesterday the area outside the doomed stadium was crawling with entrepreneurs looking to cash in on all the nostalgia. Carmelo Paduani, a grown man of 25, was observed at the scene using a screwdriver to scrape loose paint from the exterior wall. He told the Post, "I'm just hanging around getting paint off the wall." Yankee officials say they're going to have to hire a private security company to patrol the area to stop people from damaging it before it can be razed.

Also, a Bronx schoolteacher who attended the last game says he might sue the Yankees after security guards forced him to turn over the stadium's last home run ball to a man from Colorado. Paul Russo, 31, says his rival—known only as "Steve"—grabbed the ball when it landed in the netting above their seats but was unable to dislodge it. Security ordered Steve to release it, whereupon it rolled down into Russo's hands. Russo tells the Post that guards proceeded to "take it from my hand. They grab it, flip it to Steve. I said, 'Whoa! What's going on?'" Yankees spokesman Howard Rubenstein says the team "doesn't have enough details in order to make a judgment."

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By John Del Signore in News on September 23, 2008 4:35 PM

Comments [rss]

OmahaYankee

Ok People, I'm no New Yorker here, but even us Huskers from Omaha know that you can't be arrested (Constitutionally) for stealing what already belongs to you. The team may have an owner but don't you Yanks from NY own the stadium? After all, you've paid for it with tax dollars how many times over? - OmahaYankee

budlzrd22

As if George Steinbrenner, Hank Steinbrenner and Hal Steinbrenner did not have enough money with the yanks franchise... they are stopping this from occurring because they do not stand to profit from any of these actions. Think about it... c'mon people!

whitecastlerock

This is another fine use of the police force. Protect a building about to be torn down. If Mayor Mike wants agencies to trim the fat, here is a good way to start. Stop deploying cops to ball games. They do nothing anyway...

RoDogg

I don't understand this, if the building is going to be destroyed, why are they stopping people from taking a few items? Over the years, fans paid money for tickets to go to the game, NOW they say "fuck your money, you can't take shit!". They arresting someone for chipping off paint.

PoliteNewYorker

Taking a few items from Yankee Stadium will get you arrested. Defrauding the city, robbing The Bronx of parkland and ripping off fans gets you hundreds of millions in dollars of tax breaks.

NannyState

"Game-used dirt", "game-used grass", "game-used paint flecks", "game-used fans", "game-used stadium", "game-used city". And all of it for awaits some rich, fat douchebag.

Future Taliban

"stop people from damaging it before it can be razed."

I get it; they don't want people destroying it before it can be destroyed.

MrCow

yo, can someone summarize why they're closing in 1 sentence?

Snoopy

And who is going to guard the landfill 24/7 in perpetuity? The mob has nothing to do with this do they?

AHT

#9: Demolition, Vegas-style, is outlawed in the city. The stadium has to be taken down piece by piece.

RevWaldo

So how are they gonna demolish it? Piece-by-piece or a Las Vegas-style implosion?

ides_of_march

I wish they would arrest the bandits on Wall St and in Congress for raping and pillaging from the taxpayers. I'm not too worried about a few souvenir hunters running amok in a stadium slated for demolition.

Snoopy

"stop people from damaging it before it can be razed." Huh?

finnthecat

that's SIR sidney ponson to you, bubba.

Gothamist_Cynic

it's just a fucking baseball stadium. people who sell and buy this stolen shit off ebay are tools.

Outter Burrougher

personally I think these guys should appear in court and claim that they thought the taxpayers owned the stadium, since we're putting so much of our money (through tax-exempt bonds and the theft of parkland) into the building of the new stadium.

kinojesi

Who's Malina?

smitty

Someone also got thrown out for yelling to Sidney Ponson to eat a salad. Ridiculous.

mrguy

given how greedy the yankees are, i'm shocked that they're not just letting souvenir hunters take whatever they want from the stadium for free. those vultures would strip it to the metal girders, at which point a demolition crew could be hired for much less than it would cost to demolish the whole stadium from scratch.