Today’s news is powered by . . . baseball fights!

• LoHud provides video tours of the new ballparks in town.
• Brett Gardner was a little befuddled by the new Stadium:

“I couldn’t figure out how to get into the Stadium this morning, they didn’t want to let me in, because I went into the wrong gate,” Brett Gardner said. . . .

“I couldn’t figure out how to get to the clubhouse, so I just said forget it and I walked down through the stands and into the dugout and found the clubhouse,” Gardner said.

• YESblog has lots of cool photos from the day’s events.
• Kevin Devaney of LoHud got player reactions to their new home, including:

Andy Pettitte: “I was out there last night and, the dimensions, it looks exactly like the old ball park. You just look from the dugout, it looks like it’s going to play big in left and there’s a short porch in right.

“Obviously you walk through the door and see this, the clubhouse. Just the facilities we have, how beautiful everything is and the lighting, it’s state-of-the-art. For me, I’m a big-time whirlpool guy. We have unbelievable facilities as far as swimming. It’s just unbelievable.”

• Hal Steinbrenner thinks some of the tickets may be overpriced:

“I think if anybody in any business had known where this economy was going to go, they would have done things differently,” Steinbrenner said Thursday. “Look, there’s no doubt small amounts of our tickets might be overpriced.

“You know, we’re continuing to look into that. But the bottom line is, the vast majority of them, it seems like they’re right on because we’ve sold 35,000 full-season equivalents, and a lot of the tickets have, you know, sold quite well. And, well, despite what’s out there all the time … there’s thousands of very affordable seating. And, you know, the public is excited, as excited as we are, I think.”

[My take: Ummm . . . Hal? You may want to take a look at this next article.  You’ve basically built a moat within the Stadium.  Oh, and how are the TV camera going to avoid showing the empty $500-$2,500 seats in those oh-so-special between-the-bases sections?]

• $72.97 . . . that’s the average ticket cost at the new Stadium, according to the 2009 Fan Cost Index (FCI):

The Yankees’ ascendance to the top of the FCI and ticket rankings breaks two long streaks by the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox have had the most-expensive average ticket since 1996, and have topped the FCI charts since 2001. . . .

About 31 percent of the Yankees’ high-priced premium tickets sell for $135 or less, according to TMR research, with prices famously topping out at $2,500 for some front-row season tickets. . . .

The Yankees have overtaken Boston ($50.24, up 0.3 percent) and the Chicago Cubs ($47.75, up 10 percent) for the priciest average ticket.

• Bill Madden predicts the Yanks will finish 90-72, behind both Tampa Bay (101-61) and Boston (94-68).

[My take: If the Rays win 101 games, without having called up David Price by May 1, I’ll eat my mousepad.]

• No matter the work status of Bob Sheppard this season, Derek Jeter will continue to be “announced” by him.

• The Yanks christened their new Hard Rock Cafe in quite the style:

Sports and music icons strolled down the blue carpet in the Great Hall, with Yankees legend Bernie Williams joined by rock legends Ace Frehley of Kiss, Scott Ian and Frank Bello of Anthrax, Anton Fig of The Late Show Band and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run DMC.

In lieu of a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony, the rock stars, Seminole tribe members and Yankees representatives, including Hal Steinbrenner, smashed 27 guitars, each one representing a championship the franchise has won, and an extra one for the title they seek this season.

“It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. I’m just thrilled that they invited me,” the Bronx-bred Frehley said of the stadium. “To help them open the Hard Rock Cafe, especially with the team I grew up with, is just great.”

• Hal Steinbrenner touts the park:

“I see it as classy,” Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner said. “We did our best to bring all the tradition this great franchise has had the last century into this ballpark. At the same time, we made it as nice as we can for our fans. I think this building is very classy, it’s going to be here a long, long time, and I think we did a great job. I think everybody in the organization is proud of it.”

Visitors will quickly spot the manually operated auxiliary scoreboards in left and right-center field, made famous in images of Don Larsen’s 1956 perfect game. Monument Park remains intact and on display after moving across the street, now located behind the center-field fence. . . . .

“I have been through every nook and cranny, but I still have a hard time getting around,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s going to take a while, it’s such a big facility, even compared to across the street. I just don’t think there’s a bad view in this stadium.

“I love that there’s seats that amaze me near the bleachers. You’re basically right out over the bullpens. Those seats are tremendous — it’s incredible to see the whole stadium with the frieze and all. That’s my favorite. Every time I do a tour, I make sure to go out there.”

Poll Time!

[poll id=”26″]

• Justin Christian, speedy outfield sub during the ’08 season, turns 29 today.
• Happy 80th birthday to Art Ditmar.  Ditmar went 47-32 with a 3.24 ERA over four-plus seasons with the Yanks (’57-’61), including finishing 4th in the AL in ERA in 1959 and 3rd in 1960.
• On this date in 1919, one of the most bizarre off-the-field incidents history takes place in Jacksonville, Florida. Yankees outfielder Ping Bodie competes against an ostrich named “Percy” in a spaghetti-eating contest:

After the eleventh plate Percy could barely make it to the platter. Percy’s eyes were bloodshot and his sides were swollen. Percy appeared about to explode. Grown men and women departed from the spectacle. They felt sorry for the stuffed bird. Percy looked at the twelfth plate and swooned to his knees. Ping, sensing victory, grabbed his plate of spaghetti and downed it. The ostrich never recovered, and Ping was the winner. The official verdict was a technical knockout when Percy couldn’t answer the bell for the twelfth plate.

• On this date in 1984, Yul Brynner tosses out the first ball and Kansas City opens with a 4 – 2 win over the Yankees. The threat of snow holds the crowd to just 10,006. Starter Bud Black, with relief help from Dan Quisenberry, tops Ron Guidry, still winless in Openers. Onix Concepción hits Guidry’s first pitch of the game for a home run, while Dave Winfield has a two-run homer for the Yankees.

[My take: Yul Brynner?  (blink . . .  blink) Yul Brynner?]

• On this date in 2003, at 27 years, 249 days of age, Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest player in major league history to hit 300 home runs. The Texas Rangers shortstop’s fifth inning three-run blast surpasses Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx’s mark who had accomplished the feat at 27 years, 328 days of age.
• On this date in 2005, in his first outing for the Yankees, Randy Johnson allows a run and five hits in six innings as New York opens the season with a 9 – 2 triumph over the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.