While in the locker room at the local YMCA last week, I overheard the following conversation:

Old Guy: Did you see that new Yankee Stadium?
Other Old Guy: Yeah.
Old Guy: Pretty nice – but the tickets are so expensive, no one will be able to afford to go.
Other Old Guy: Yeah.
Old Guy: If Mantle and DiMaggio were alive, they would never have let that happen!
Other Old Guy: You’re right.
Old Guy: Did you notice that the Yankees waited for them to die before they jacked up the ticket prices?
Other Old Guy: Yup.

I’ve heard some strange statements made by old guys regarding the greatness and superiority of old-timey baseball, but this one is particularly weird. The notion that two retired baseball legends were somehow keeping Yankees ticket prices in check is truly bizarre.

I was going to try to track down yearly ticket price data for the Yankees for the years before and after Mantle and DiMaggio died in order to debunk this nonsense, but it’s really not worth it. This theory is so goofy that I can’t justify responding to it at length.

Unfortunately for me, this strange conversation is not even close to the most disturbing thing about being in the locker room at the YMCA.