By JEREMY OLSHAN
March 25, 2008
Pillaging fans will try to steal the bases - and anything else not nailed down - when the last games are played at Yankee and Shea stadiums, the clubs were warned yesterday.
The two teams are negotiating with the city to allow them to buy the rights to sell artifacts from the ballparks. But people in the sports-collectibles business predict larcenous fans will try to beat the teams at their own game - by sacking the soon-to-be-demolished stadiums themselves.
"There have been full-scale riots at some ballparks," said Mike Heffner, of Lelands.com, an auction house that has handled several stadium sales.
On Sept. 30, 1973, after the home team lost the final game at Yankee Stadium before it shut for renovations, some 20,000 fans stormed the field.
Stadium security guard Harvey Levene was told to protect home plate.
"I stood on the plate and people came running at me with shovels," said Levene, now 69 and living in Las Vegas.
Levene did not budge, and refused several offers for cold hard cash for the plate, which was presented to Babe Ruth's widow.
The teams refused to say if they'll hire extra security.
