1959 Yankee Stadium seat questions and pictures

[marvymelvin]

Last week I posted an article in the "Introductions" section entitled "Dad's trip to NY in 1959..." about his trip to NY as teenager and his attendance at a Yankees/Orioles game April 25th, 1959.

As a result of sharing the story I am wanting to purchase some seats from Yankee Stadium. In my search I have come across seats with:

Flat wooden slats on seat and back
Curved wooden slats on seat and back
Curved plastic molded seat and back (Steiner with repro cast sides)
Plastic back with padding

And then some seats had legs to the floor, and some have brackets that attached the chair to the cement wall behind the seat.

I also came across bleacher bench sections with blue metal tops as well as blue plastic tops.

My questions are:

What seats would have been in the stadium in 1959?

Did they replace each and every seat in 1973?

Did the stadium have seats with wooden flat slats, and wooden curved slats at the same time? (I have seen both curved slats and flat slats advertised as original 1923 seats)

The 1973 Korvette's Hardware advertising offers flat slat seats for $7.50, but no mention or picture of curved slat seats.

I have attached a few pictures of his original ticket stub as well as the two wooden seat styles I found while perusing Ebay.

I have concluded with the help of a fellow member who responded that his seat was in the lower section somewhere down the "first base" line. Possibly past first base down the line into the outfield a bit. If you have an opinion please share. And mainly today I am wondering what type of seat he was sitting in. As you can see by the ticket stub, it was Section 9, Row J, Seat 24,Gate 6.

Thanks so much,
Brad

[yanks12025]

Pretty sure the curved back didn't come around till the 1940s. And the plastic ones were after 1973, with the padding ones probably being later.

I own one flat back which was in the stadium from 1923-73.

[Dave Grob]

I have been researching stadium seats for a few years now. I was prompted to look into these in some detail after seeing some inconsistences with how dealers were describing/selling their seats when compared to what my survey of contemporary images and print references indicated. I have posted some excerpts with what I have for Yankee Stadium seats that may be of some interest or help to you given the time frame and portion of the stadium you are interested in.

Dave Grob
DaveGrob1@aol.com

[David Atkatz]

The flat-backed seats were continuous--the very long slats served as the backs of many adjacent seats. They were in the grandstand and reserved sections of the Stadium, and were installed in 1922, and, when the stands were expanded in 1928 and 1937. At that time, the box seats were actual chairs. The chairs were later replaced by the curved back seats--which were not connected.

[marvymelvin]

Thanks to Brock, Dave, and David. The information is awesome. So I am guessing since my Dad sat in the reserved seat section, his seat would have still been an original from 1923 flat back seat? Also, when where the seats painted blue? I see under the blue on many seats there is a light green color. Anybody know the timeline for seat colors/paint?

[khkco4bls]

here is the early version of the fiberglass bleacher section.sat in my neighbor's woods for over 40 years

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by marvymelvin

Thanks to Brock, Dave, and David. The information is awesome. So I am guessing since my Dad sat in the reserved seat section, his seat would have still been an original from 1923 flat back seat? Also, when where the seats painted blue? I see under the blue on many seats there is a light green color. Anybody know the timeline for seat colors/paint?

Yes, flat-backed. The seats were painted blue in the mid-sixties "freshen up," when CBS bought the team, and Mike Burke was president. The copper frieze and exterior concrete were painted white at that time. It was, IIRC, 1966 or '67.

[Dave Grob]

I think the color you are referring to is "Seafoam Green". When trying to gauge what 1959 looked like, I would suggest looking at color footage from the 1958 and 1960 World Series as this might provide the answer you are looking for.

Dave Grob
DaveGrob1@aol.com

[batsballsbases]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

The flat-backed seats were continuous--the very long slats served as the backs of many adjacent seats. They were in the grandstand and reserved sections of the Stadium, and were installed in 1922, and, when the stands were expanded in 1928 and 1937. At that time, the box seats were actual chairs. The chairs were later replaced by the curved back seats--which were not connected.

Hi David,
Not sure Im reading you right but the curved back seats were most certainly connected together. My pair was connected together and I have seen 4 seat and 6 seat sets all connected. Here is my pair that I took pics of as they went thru restoration. Also here was a curved back seat connector note the 2 seat connectors in the frame. The center connectors also had 6 places to bolt the seat backs to and the ends only had 3. You can also see the Sea Foam green color that they looked like. I left as much of that as possible...

[steve B]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Yes, flat-backed. The seats were painted blue in the mid-sixties "freshen up," when CBS bought the team, and Mike Burke was president. The copper frieze and exterior concrete were painted white at that time. It was, IIRC, 1966 or '67.

That's maybe good news for me.

I've had the sinking feeling seeing the seafoam green that my Fenway seat may actually be a Yankee Stadium seat. Both used the identical flat back seats in some areas. Fenway still has a lot of them.

Mine was supposedly removed during an early 70's renovation which as far as I can tell didn't happen at Fenway.

Were all the seats at Yankee Stadium repainted blue in the 60's? I'm hoping they were.

And, is there any way to tell the Fenway seats apart from the Yankee Stadium ones?

Steve B

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

Hi David,
Not sure Im reading you right but the curved back seats were most certainly connected together. My pair was connected together and I have seen 4 seat and 6 seat sets all connected. Here is my pair that I took pics of as they went thru restoration. Also here was a curved back seat connector note the 2 seat connectors in the frame. The center connectors also had 6 places to bolt the seat backs to and the ends only had 3. You can also see the Sea Foam green color that they looked like. I left as much of that as possible...

My mistake, Al. You are certainly correct.

[marvymelvin]

So, Dave G. great suggestion on watching movie coverage of 1959 era games. It has been very fun. All I have had to go on however is what is available on the net which isn't much. I can tell that the seats in the reserve section along the first base line were in fact flat backed, but the colors were tougher to discern as most of the video I could find was grainy and faded. Also with people in the seats one could hardly see the seats. I think it was a combo of small seats and slightly chubby patrons. So, I am still up in the air about whether the seats were blue or still green in spring of 1959. Also, it was mentioned that other parks such as Fenway had the same seats and colors. How can I tell the difference? Having a seat from Fenway and thinking it is a Yankees seat is akin to having a fake autograph, or maybe Ted Williams signature on my 59 Topps Mantle.

[David Atkatz]

They were green. They were not painted blue until 1966.

[Dave Grob]

He is a nice shot attributed to 1959. Sea Foam Green.

Dave Grob
DaveGrob1@aol.com