Some Yankees fans miffed over ticket policy for CC Sabathia's number retirement ceremony

The impending nor’easter forced the Yankees to reschedule Saturday’s home game against the Orioles  along with CC Sabathia’s number retirement ceremony.

But many fans who had tickets to see Sabathia get his number retired on Saturday are miffed by the alternative.

The Yankees announced Thursday evening that Saturday’s scheduled 7:15 p.m. game would be moved to the first game of a single-admission doubleheader beginning at 4:05 p.m. Friday. They also moved the Sabathia festivities to before Friday’s first game.

The problem? Only tickets dated for Friday were valid for the doubleheader; tickets to Saturday’s game were not. The Yankees announced Thursday that fans with paid tickets to Saturday’s game “may exchange them for tickets to a similar regular-season game at Yankee Stadium [subject to availability] as described in the Yankees’ rain check policy.”

That threw a wrench into the plans of fans who bought Saturday’s tickets strictly to see the Sabathia ceremony, including Rockville Centre’s Casey Powell.

Powell, better known in Knicks circles as “CP the Fanchise” and the creator of KnicksFanTV, said his wife bought Saturday’s tickets as a birthday gift for him after the team announced Sabathia’s number retirement plans in February.

“I'm a huge Yankee fan, and CC meant a lot to me as a Yankee fan, so I was looking forward to this day,” he told Newsday. “But as we were watching the weather this week, I was curious to see how they would handle it because it became more and more clear that the game wasn't going to be played on Saturday. So I was wondering how they were going to handle it.

“Then when the news came out, I mean, it was just absolutely disappointing. A lot of fans are feeling this way because with the season coming to a close and the playoffs starting next week, this is the only thing that the fans are really motivated to go to the game for, is to salute him and to celebrate his accomplishment in getting his jersey retired.

“So I think the Yankees dropped the ball on this in terms of just having a single-day doubleheader for today, and you basically screwed every single person who bought tickets for Saturday who was looking forward to the event.”

A Yankees spokesman declined to comment.

The Yankees, according to a source, presented their limited options for rescheduling the ceremony to Sabathia and his wife, Amber, and left the final decision up to them. Because so many friends and family members had come to New York for the ceremony, the decision was made to hold it on Friday afternoon.

Sabathia was asked about his message to the fans who bought tickets and missed out.

“Unfortunately, we had weather pop up,” he said. "We had a lot of people come into town, too, so they kind of lost out on tickets, too. So it's been a tough adjustment. But I'm just glad that the Yankees were able to adjust. They gave us the option to kick it to next year. But with everybody that we had in town and you know trying to get this done . . . I'm like, ‘let's get this done.’ But I love everybody that bought tickets and [I’m] just sorry that they couldn't be here. But thank you for all the support during the 11 years I played here in the Bronx and [continuing] now too.”

Powell’s tickets were purchased on the secondary market via Gametime, and he still was working through the proper solution Friday morning as he waited to hear from a Gametime manager.

He thought the Yankees should have pivoted to a split doubleheader Friday so tickets for Saturday still could be put to use.

The first 18,000 fans Friday also were set to receive a Josh Hart Yankees bobblehead.

“They get the Josh Hart bobblehead and they get to see CC get his jersey retired,” Powell said. “So what happens to the Saturday people? You just get nothing.”

Powell ultimately made it to Friday’s game, buying tickets on SeatGeek.

Selden’s Desirae Ross bought Saturday’s tickets as a Father’s Day gift for her dad and her best friend and his dad. She said the situation is “very unfair and unfortunate.”

“Now none of us are able to go,” she said in a text message. “It’s sad because he’s been looking forward for it. Don’t think how they handled it was very professional. They didn’t give a 24-hour notice and people should be allowed refunds.”

Bay Shore’s Shaun Morash, of WFAN’s midday show “Evan & Tiki with Shaun Morash,” sympathized with fans who were planning to go to the Bronx on Saturday. He told Newsday in a text message that the Yankees have “lost touch in what makes these events and number retirements special.”

“While you can’t control weather, you can control not screwing over your fans,” he added. “Offering fans free tickets to a game next year when many only bought tickets for this specific game to see a CC Sabathia number retirement is a disgrace. And CC himself deserves better than a half-empty stadium at 3 p.m. on a Friday. If this is how a number retirement is now being treated by a team to their fans, then they can no longer fight back that they have retired too many numbers, because clearly they have no problem treating this as if it isn’t special. And treating fans as if they wouldn’t care about being at the ceremony to begin with.”

He added: "I would just say it’s a shame it came to this and maybe there is another way to bring CC back next season for a lesser ceremony of some kind so fans that did want to go cheer him can, even if it means further honoring him at an Old-Timers’ Day if his schedule allows.”

The Mets had a somewhat similar situation last Sunday when inclement weather disrupted the plan for the retirement ceremony for radio broadcaster Howie Rose. Their game ultimately was played, but the team pushed the ceremony to next year’s opening weekend. The first 15,000 fans received a commemorative notebook and scorecard, and the Mets said fans holding a paid ticket received a “a digital ticket voucher for a ticket comparable in price and location to a 2027 April-May home game at Citi Field (exclusions apply*), subject to availability.”

“Lockout or no lockout,” Morash added, “there is no reason the Yankees couldn’t take a page out of the Mets book with the Howie Rose ceremony and move it to a date the next time we actually get to see regular-season baseball.”

Newsday's Roger Rubin contributed to this story.