How I (legally) got to sit in $300+ field-level seats behind home plate for Yanks-Red Sox for the price of a $37 ticket

The Yankees, along with one of their sponsors, have figured out a rather ingenious method to get some of those empty field-level seats filled. And Thursday night, I was one of the beneficiaries! (I will write about the game itself later on today, but here's how I got to see this exciting, but ultimately infuriating, game up close!)

Here's the scoop. A few weeks ago, I bought a ticket to last night's game for Section 418,  between home plate and first base, but very high up -- it cost me a little over $37 when you figure in service charges. Anyhow, I got to my seat about a half-hour before the game, and I saw a very curious announcement. The Yankees ran an ad on their scoreboard which said that if you had an AT&T phone, and went to Section 331, you could exchange your current seats for field-level seats. I do (it's a "dumb phone," as I lost my iPhone on the subway, and am waiting to get a new iPhone later this month, but my dumb phone is all AT&T! Needless to say, I left my seat as fast as I could and moseyed on down to Section 331 to see what was what. 

I expected a torrent of people, but there were only a few folks ahead of me. So I asked the AT&;T folks, "What's the catch" about these tickets? Turns out there really wasn't a catch -- just had to show them my phone and give them my mobile number. 

When I got the field-level tix, I figured  that I would be sitting in those left-field or right-field field level seats that are near the bleachers, but cost much more money. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my seat for Section 120B was right behind home plate, about 10 rows behind the moat! And yes, those seats retail for around $311 plus service fees! I was so excited, I felt like that dad in the Booking.com ads, 

Now, unlike the moat seats, no free food was included. But they did have waiter/waitress service to bring food to your seat, which was cool. What wasn't cool was that the food was as lousy as ever, but I digress.

Anyhow, this is arguably the most fan-friendly idea the Yankees have *ever* been a part of in my lifetime, and I am more than a little surprised that more people didn't take AT&T up on their generous offer. I have never gotten such a great view at a Yankee game ever, and the fact that I got it for the price of nosebleed seats makes it all the sweeter. Oh, and the field-level seats are cushiony and comfortable, too! Sweet!

I have no idea how long this promotion has been going on, but it's a great idea. It fills up prominent seats with passionate fans, and gives them a great experience. Talk about a win-win!

With the great seats I had, it's too bad, of course, that the game has such a lousy outcome, and the Yanks didn't win-win! I will squawk on that tomorrow, but suffice it to say that I didn't lose hope after a five-run deficit, but I did lose hope (and scream "Noooo!) after I saw that Joba Chamberlain was coming into the game!