Upper Deck is releasing several new, rare Joe DiMaggio cards in 2009

Upper Deck and the estate of the great New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio reached an agreement to produce trading cards that include DiMaggio memorabilia and cut signature cards.

To commemorate the exclusive deal for UD, a limited Joe DiMaggio card, #0, will be packed inside 2009 Series One Baseball packs coming out this week. The card features “Joltin’ Joe” next to a chalkboard after he tied the Major League Baseball consecutive games hitting streak record at 44. On the chalkboard it calls out “44 EQUALS RECORD” with a smiling DiMaggio kneeling behind it.

“We are thrilled to be able to work with the estate of one of the biggest names in baseball history,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s senior brand manager. “Collectors and sports fans should be excited about finding Joe DiMaggio content inside of many of Upper Deck’s 2009 baseball card releases. In this day and age when records fall frequently, DiMaggio still holds one of the most amazing baseball achievements of all time.”

It’s baseball card season again kiddies!

Hank Steinbrenner has made a name for himself in his few shorts months as the face of the New York Yankees, so one wouldn’t think that he would need a Facebook page.

Hank Steinbrenner on Facebook? (Blast Magazine Staff Illustration/Bill Palmer)

I guess this is a good idea to keep in touch with the young generation that is in his clubhouse, but it does seem a little unprofessional to be in a group called “Papelbon Needs a Pap Smear.” However, it is a good thing that he doesn’t update his status very often because that really gets on my nerves when people clog my news feed.

The one question I have is, how about MySpace? You figure that a guy from New York ould be all over it.

So, here’s to seeing how Mr. Hanky creates his web image and waiting in anticipation for his next drunk wall post.

The Associated Press reports that Rodriguez, 62, was sentenced to five years in prison and credited for the four he has already served since he was arrested in 2004.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez, a Yankees fan, was watching a playoff game on television in Boston. The Red Sox won 6-4 and the group started teasing the New York fan. He then pulled out a gun and shot three of them, killing one.

The outburst was apparently alcohol-fueled, and Rodriguez says he has no memory of the incident.

“As the wrecking balls ready themselves to start demolishing the old site, the Upper Deck Company has released the largest baseball trading card set ever assembled in tribute to the world-renowned sports shrine. The “Yankee Stadium Legacy” (YSL) collection is a 6,661-card compilation,” the company said in a statement this week. “It began its official debut in February by being inserted in random packs of Upper Deck’s 2008 Series 1 Baseball release. Since then, seven of the nine additional Upper Deck baseball launches including YSL insert cards have packed out.”

With the old Yankee Stadium playing out its last regular season this week, Upper Deck decided it was a great opportunity to acknowledge the incredible history and happenings that have occurred at Yankee Stadium since its doors opened in 1923. Besides chronicling 85 seasons’ worth of Yankees home games, this enormous compilation also includes some of the most famous sporting events that have taken place at Yankee Stadium including: legendary Notre Dame Football coach Knute Rockne’s famous “Win one for the Gipper” halftime speech inside the Yankees locker room (Nov. 10, 1928); the then-Baltimore Colts’ 23-17 overtime victory against the New York Giants in the NFL Championship game, which is often referred to as “the greatest game ever played” (Dec. 28, 1958); and Muhammad Ali’s title defense against Ken Norton (Sept. 28, 1976). 

“Not only is this an ambitious effort by our Product Development Team, but it’s a timely tribute to one of the sporting world’s most celebrated franchises ever, “ said Kerri Stockholm, Upper Deck’s director of sports marketing. “And we packed the cards out in a very unique way as we decided to insert them inside of ten different Upper Deck baseball product launches during the course of the year, giving collectors everywhere a chance to share in the tribute.”

The card set has its own website that includes message boards where collectors can share their personal Yankee stories. There is also a comprehensive YSL Checklist, which shows all 6,661 game cards within the set as well as seven “miscellaneous events” cards from Yankee Stadium’s glorious past that Upper Deck has included.

We’re curious about this one. If you somehow have assembled the entire or close to the entire set, contact us and tell us about it!

Talk about something you never hear from anyone within the Yankees organization. Hank Steinbrenner actually said the Yankees will eventually get everything straightened out, even if it means doing so next year.

“We’ll get this fixed,” he said. “If not this year, then next year.”

Wow! No one with a payroll as high as the Yanks should ever say something like that in mid-May. We’ll be watching any upcoming moves by the Yankees to see if they do indeed reflect “next year.”

“She never braked, and she accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people,” prosecutor Susan Morrell said of Ivonne Hernandez, who is charged with reckless second-degree murder in the death of Beaudoin, 29.

“She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way,” Morrell said.

Well, they didn’t. Arrested on the scene, Hernandez admitted that she was drinking, but refused a breath-alcohol test. The charges include aggravated drunken driving and she has being held without bail.

One of the greatest rivalries in all of sports is between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. And two of the most legendary parks in baseball belong to these teams in Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium.

This year, the Bronx Bombers play their final season in Yankee Stadium. The building served as home to players like Ruth, Mantle and DiMaggio and decisive championship moments forever etched in our memories. Like them or hate them, the Yankees’ home is one of the most storied ballparks in America.

So why is Yankee Stadium being torn down to be replaced by a new park? What pressures did the owners succumb to? Or what financial benefit do they see in the move? And, in that case, why are the Red Sox not following with their own new stadium?

There are six main ways baseball teams generate revenue: corporate sponsorships, luxury box sales, general ticket sales, concessions, local television contracts and merchandise.

Let’s compare Fenway Park to the new Yankee Stadium and see which team is mostly likely to have the strongest financial performance in each category.

Corporate Sponsorships: Even

The Red Sox and the Yankees are the most popular teams in baseball and both national and local companies are looking to sponsor with these clubs. Companies will line up to partner with these two teams, regardless of where they play. Revenues are strong for both clubs in this category.

Luxury Box Sales: Yankees

The new Yankee Stadium will contain three times as many luxury boxes as the current venue, far surpassing comparable boxes in Fenway Park. The Yankees are building more boxes at the expense of regular seats because the revenue from each box is larger and more consistent. The boxes will sell out and the Yankees will collect revenue whether or not the ticket-holders show up.

General Ticket Sales: Red Sox

The Red Sox have one of the smallest seating capacities of any MLB stadium, while the Yankees have and will have one of baseball’s larger venues. At first glance, it would appear that this is a win for the Yankees, but it may not be. Seats do not generate revenue; people in those seats account for ticket volume and the amount they pay for those seats drives ticket revenue.

Entering the 2008 season, the Red Sox sold out 388 consecutive games-a trend that does not appear to be ending any time soon. The Bombers do not always sell out. They do fill all the seats during big games and weekends, but typically leave thousands of seats empty during weekday contests.

The Red Sox also have the highest ticket prices in baseball and will be raising tickets an additional 9 percent for the 2008 season, according to the Boston Globe. How can the Red Sox charge so much? It is a matter of supply and demand, or scarcity as CNN Money refers to baseball ticket sales.

A team like the Yankees knows it will not sell out every game and therefore must keep prices lower to encourage those price-sensitive fans to come to a mid-week game. The Yankees are controlled by the supply, meaning that in order to optimize revenue, they can only charge as much as the last person is willing to pay.

The Red Sox, on the contrary, have a surplus demand. With more people willing to pay for every game than seats are available, the Red Sox can continue to raise prices until exactly the same amount of people are willing to pay the premium price as there are seats in the stadium. (This is not entirely true because tickets for sporting events and concerts are kept artificially low to allow more people the opportunity to afford the tickets).

Therefore, what revenues the Yankees generate from high ticket sales, the Red Sox match and will arguably surpass with revenues from higher ticket prices.

Concessions: Yankees

The Red Sox charge more for ticket prices, but a team can only charge so much for a beer and a hot dog before fans say “enough” and do not to eat at the game. Since prices are even, concession sales are then dependant primarily on attendance volume. This benefits the Yankees who have a larger stadium and will have more people to potentially purchase concessions.

Local Media Revenue: Yankees

The Yankees received more than $91 million in local media contracts, including $67 million from the YES Network to broadcast games on television, Forbes.com reports. While the organization will not keep all of that money due to the league’s revenue sharing agreements, they still retain a significant share.

The Bronx Bombers benefit from a larger market, as the New York metropolitan region is by far, the most populous in the country. The Yankees also have a higher net worth than the Red Sox and can demand larger contracts. While the Yankees and Red Sox have roughly equal numbers of national fans, the fact that more people live in the New York area benefits the Yankees.

Merchandise Sales: Red Sox

Unfortunately, no census is taken of all Yankees fans and Red Sox fans. ESPN reports that since winning the first of two World Series championships in the past four years, Red Sox merchandise sales have skyrocketed. Sales from Sox and Yankees gear account for more than half of all MLB merchandise revenue. USA Today reports, that when on the road, attendance at the opposing ballparks is about 1,300 fans more when the Red Sox are in town than the Yankees.

There are several other reasons why I give the edge to the Red Sox. First, international sales should be up for the Sox. The New York squad has better name recognition, but the Sox have won the Series more recently and played a pair of games in Japan to begin the season. Second, the Red Sox are not involved in the steroid controversy. Roger Clemens’ jerseys are not flying off the shelves this spring.

The Verdict?

Both teams have a distinct business strategy and both are positioned to perform very well.

The Red Sox, by not building a new stadium and leveraging Fenway’s small seating capacity to produce more ticket revenue, are positioned to yield higher profits and retain more of their earnings.

The Yankees are growing their revenues, but also are incurring costs of higher player salaries and financing a new stadium. They have positioned themselves to generate higher overall revenue to supplement their costs. Each strategy compliments the team’s business model.

Regardless of where they play, the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry will continue, escalating with the advent of October. Yankees fans will learn to love their new stadium and Red Sox fans will continue to fill every seat of every game at Fenway Park. A baseball stadium is, after all, is more than a home-it is the soul of a team and its fans.