This is a little late, but I thought I'd share my experience of going to the Mariano Rivera bobblehead game on September 24th. My father bought three tickets explicitly because they were giving away the bobbleheads (and we couldn't get tickets to the final home game at any rate because they were all sold out).
We needed to leave early- even earlier than usual (around 4 P.M.) so we could make sure we were one of the first 18,000 fans in attendance to get the bobblehead. After eating a quick couple of pizzas (because we didn't want to get hungry during the game and we all know food is massively overpriced at the Stadium), we got on the 4 train and met my brother on the platform of the Yankee Stadium stop a bit later.
We were surprised at how many people were already there waiting in line, around two hours before game time. Our tickets suggested that we go to Gate 2, so we walked all the way around the stadium to get there. The line was long as hell there two, and went across the street on the other side. We all moaned because we thought that there was no way in hell we were going to get the Mariano Rivera bobblehead.
We waited in line for around 45 minutes, wondering what the hell was going on. Movement was slow at best. Turns out we later learned through someone on their smartphone with a twitter app (ah, the useful uselessness of modern technology) that the truck carrying the bobbleheads broke down, and when the line finally moved and we got to the gate,we were to our pleasure surprised that we would indeed get our bobbleheads- though we got a voucher for them to pick them up later.
The game was a terrible blow out. When I found out later that some people had missed multiple innings after the bobbleheads arrived, I can remind them that they really didn't miss out on much. I wanted to get the bobbleheads before the game ended. My dad didn't. He was right, as we would find out later.
After the game ended, there was no one really telling us where to go to get the bobbleheads. We needed to walk around the stadium- only to see a huge line, and then walk around the stadium again to get to the back of it. My father and I were really angry. My brother didn't really care, but he isn't much of a baseball fan anyway.
Given how long that line was, and how far we were away from the one area of the stadium where they were giving away the bobbleheads (only at one gate, when it really should have been at all exits), we thought we were going to be there for hours. Some of the Yankee Stadium employees even chided us that we would be there until 1 in the morning. How very professional of them.
My line at the time was that this situation is something that I'd expect from a place like the DMV, not from a supposedly first-class organization like the New York Yankees.
To my utter delight and relief however, the line began to move quickly after about fifteen minutes or so, and we got out relatively alright. Far better it seems, than the people who waited during the game itself. Dad 1, me 0.
A few days later the Yankees showed their professionalism by giving all ticket holders to that game a free game in the 2014 season (just as my dad said they should do while on the line). Faith restored.
And hey, I got the bobblehead.
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