NEW YORK — The Yankees planned CC Sabathia’s number retirement as one of the emotional high points of their final regular-season weekend. Instead, the weather-driven scheduling change that moved the ceremony up a day left a group of fans angry over tickets they bought specifically to see the former ace honored.
The Yankees announced Thursday that Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles would be moved to Friday as the first game of a single-admission doubleheader because of the forecast for sustained inclement weather. Sabathia’s No. 52 retirement ceremony and Monument Park plaque unveiling were moved with it.
That created the controversy.
Only tickets dated Friday, Sept. 25, were valid for the doubleheader. Tickets for the originally scheduled Saturday game were not valid Friday, even though many buyers had purchased those seats because Sabathia’s ceremony was originally attached to that game.
Under the Yankees’ rain-check policy, paid Saturday tickets can be exchanged for tickets comparable in price and location to another similar regular-season game within 12 months, subject to availability. The policy says tickets generally are not subject to refunds and have no cash value.
For fans who viewed Saturday as more than another regular-season game, that distinction mattered.
Backlash grows as ordinary rain-check policy misses point
Newsday spoke with multiple ticket holders who said they bought Saturday seats specifically for Sabathia’s ceremony.
Casey Powell, the creator of KnicksFanTV, told the outlet the change was “absolutely disappointing.” His wife had purchased Saturday tickets as a birthday gift after the Yankees announced the retirement ceremony in February.
Powell eventually bought another set of tickets on SeatGeek so he could attend Friday.
Another fan, Desirae Ross, told Newsday she had purchased Saturday tickets as a Father’s Day gift and could no longer attend after the ceremony was shifted to Friday afternoon.
The frustration centered less on the weather — something the Yankees could not control — than on the choice to stage a single-admission doubleheader and allow only Friday tickets into the stadium.
WFAN personality Shaun Morash argued that fans who bought seats for the specific ceremony deserved a different solution. He told Newsday the club had “lost touch” with what makes events such as number retirements special.
The Yankees declined comment to Newsday.
The club’s published rain-check rules provide another wrinkle. Secondary-market tickets are treated differently depending on where they were bought.
In a single-admission doubleheader situation, secondary-market purchasers generally must deal with the original point of purchase. StubHub purchasers, specifically, are entitled under the Yankees’ policy to a full refund rather than an exchange.
That means the remedy can vary based on how a fan obtained the ticket.
Sabathia faced his own difficult choice
There was another side to the decision.
According to Newsday, the Yankees gave Sabathia and his wife, Amber, options after weather forced the schedule change, including moving the ceremony into next season.
Sabathia chose to proceed Friday because family members and friends had already traveled to New York for the event.
“Unfortunately, we had weather pop up,” Sabathia said afterward, while acknowledging that fans had also lost out.
For Sabathia, the ceremony carried enormous personal meaning.
The Hall of Fame left-hander became the 24th Yankees player or manager to have his number retired. He also became the fifth member of the 2009 World Series championship club to receive both a retired number and a Monument Park plaque, joining Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.
Sabathia spent 11 seasons with the Yankees after signing a seven-year, $161 million contract before the 2009 season. He went 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA in pinstripes and helped deliver the franchise’s most recent World Series championship during his first season in New York.
He called Friday’s ceremony “incredible” and “surreal.”
Yet the ticket dispute created an awkward backdrop to a day designed entirely around celebrating his relationship with Yankees fans.
Yankees face uneasy question over special-event tickets
The Yankees followed their stated rain-check policy. The issue is whether a standard rainout remedy fits a ticket whose real attraction was a one-time ceremony rather than the baseball game attached to it.
A comparable ticket to another 2027 regular-season game does not recreate Sabathia’s number retirement.
That is why the dispute has resonated.
The Yankees also had logistical problems to solve quickly. Saturday’s game could not be played as scheduled because of the forecast. Sabathia’s guests were already in New York. The postseason begins next week, sharply reducing the club’s ability to simply push the ceremony back several days.
But fans who arranged schedules, travel or gifts around Saturday were left with little notice and no ability to use those tickets for the ceremony they intended to attend.
The result was an unusual collision between a standard ticket policy and a nonstandard Yankees event.
Sabathia still received his place in Monument Park. No. 52 is permanently retired.
For some fans who paid to see that moment in person, however, Friday became memorable for a very different reason.
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