New York Baseball

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The Yankees’ Judge’s Chambers: A Promotion to Dismiss?
By FILIP BONDYSEPT. 1, 2017


Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the Supreme Court, center, a Bronx native, and other fans seated in a Yankee Stadium section dedicated to Aaron Judge cheered as the outfielder came to bat on Thursday night. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times

There was a game Thursday night when the Yankees’ marketing ploy suddenly was golden; when a real Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor, donned a black robe and sat in the Judge’s Chambers at the Bronx stadium to cheer on Aaron Judge.

But on most other nights, the whole costume party feels about as timely as last year’s Halloween gala. Yankees employees must scour the stands before each home game for enthusiastic fans wearing Judge jerseys, then ask if they’d like to relocate to the Judge’s Chambers in Section 104 — a paneled area of 18 seats arranged in three rows, set below and adjacent to the right-field bleachers.

As further enticement, these fans are handed foam “All Rise” gavels, cardboard signs and black robes with Judge’s uniform number, 99, on the back. They can keep these items, they are told, as long as they remain in their seats for at least six innings.

“We weren’t sure, but it’s an experience,” said John Pipia of Massapequa, N.Y., who had hesitantly moved with his wife and three children to the Judge’s Chambers on Wednesday between games of a doubleheader, from a much better seating position behind home plate.

As a bonus, fans sitting in the Judge’s Chambers may be awarded five seconds of fame on television, shown standing and cheering when Judge does something special. But this last part of the deal happens with less and less frequency of late, as Yankees fans know all too well.

Many superstitious rooters might argue the chambers had something to do with that, right alongside the home run derby that Judge won during this year’s All-Star festivities. Too much pressure, too soon? Something happened to Judge, for sure.

The same Ruthian figure who batted .329 with 30 homers and 66 runs batted in, and with an on-base percentage of .448, swooned into an epic slump after the All-Star break. Since then, he has been hitting just around .180 and had managed just seven more homers going into Friday night’s game against Boston. He now strikes out in more than a third of his at-bats. During a recent record-breaking streak, he struck out at least once in 37 consecutive games.

Judge’s overall season numbers remain remarkable for a rookie. He still gets on base a lot because the pitchers won’t give in and give him a good pitch to hit, and end up walking him. But the arrow is clearly pointing in the wrong direction. Judge insists that opposing hurlers are not doing much differently, that he is just missing their mistake pitches.

There is a good chance that Judge will snap out of this thing soon enough. His struggles even led Manager Joe Girardi to bench him earlier this week. All these developments have made the Judge’s Chambers appear all the more silly — a jump-the-gun marketing gimmick that may have to disappear quietly after the season. For now, though, the club has no plans for dismantling the section.

This promotional idea was drastically uncharacteristic of the Yankees, who were never known for trumpeting individual players. There are no names on the backs of jerseys, except during special, league-mandated occasions. When the team installed the chambers in late May, it was a bit of a shock to traditionalists. The Bleacher Creatures, who sit right above the paneled area in right field, were particularly derisive about such a caprice and took to Facebook to express their discontent.

The club went ahead anyway, as part of a new marketing push aimed at filling seats with a younger demographic. The scheme worked well for a while. Now, unless a Supreme Court justice shows up, it is lost in the narrative of wild-card and division races.

On Wednesday, Judge was not in the lineup for the first game of the doubleheader. As a pinch-hitter, he fanned for the final out in the ninth inning. He was back in the lineup for the nightcap, batting cleanup, and the Judge’s Chambers were filled with a fresh crew. The recruits did their best to root on their hero.

“I have faith,” said Matthew Balgobin of Queens, who was moved to the chambers from a seat in the left-field bleachers. “Pitchers have found a way to pitch to him. But he’ll be back.”

In that second game, Judge’s performance was fairly typical of his second half. He reached first base on an infield single in the second inning, hustling hard and leading the chambers group to rise and cheer. “Got to start with something,” Pipia said. “We’ll take it.” Judge was called out on strikes in the fourth inning. He walked in the sixth. He flew out to right in the ninth.

The Yankees fell behind early and were routed, 9-4. It wasn’t easy to stay in those seats for six innings, to claim the robes. The day at the ballpark stretched close to seven hours, complete with two defeats. There was also a final twist: Even if Judge had blasted one over the fence, the home run was very unlikely to land in the chambers because of an overhanging deck.

Pipia, like Sotomayor, never really had a chance to catch a ball.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/sports/baseball/the-yankees-judges-chambers-a-promotion-to-dismiss.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbaseball&action=click&contentCollection=baseball®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront