SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8

LENGTH: 427 words

HEADLINE: YANKS' CREATURES HOWL OVER BLEACHER BEER BAN

BYLINE: By DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

BODY:
Say it ain't soda!

The Yankees yesterday banned beer sales in the bleachers, depriving the diehard Bleacher Creatures of their favorite form of liquid refreshment.

Outraged Creatures blasted the suds snub but vowed to keep rooting for their beloved Bombers. "We're not out there for the beer; we're there for the Yankees," said Chris Cartelli, 22, a Creature from Larchmont, Westchester. "They have us pinned as these awful people. All we do is sit out there and have a good time."

Anthony Griek, another Creature, said Yankee management was scapegoating blue-collar bleacher fans and coddling business execs in the expensive box seats.

"I feel bad for the guys who work hard all week and just want to have a beer at the game," said Griek, 23, of Fairfield, Conn.

Yankee officials defended the brew ban as part of a push to clean up the rowdiness that occasionally has erupted in the outfield stands.

"We have more kids out there, more families, more young kids than ever," said Rick Cerrone, a Yankees spokesman. "The last thing we want is people not coming because it is unruly."

The Yankees insisted they are not targeting the Creatures, who serenade the home team with their trademark roll call of players and taunt opponents with ribald chants and songs.

"The Creatures are some of our best fans," Cerrone said, noting that several hundred fans were allowed to buy season tickets in the bleachers this year. "We just wanted to be proactive about security."

The 5,500-seat bleachers have become increasingly popular in recent years. Lured by the Yankees' World Series successes and the $8 admission price, families often shoehorn into the no-back seats.

The ban should be easy to enforce, because the bleachers are separated from the rest of Yankee Stadium and fans are not permitted to bring in cans or bottles from outside. The ban will go into effect at the next home game, against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

The bleachers have been off limits to beer vendors for several seasons, but patrons could buy brews from concession stands behind the stands. The Yankees said they have made $250,000 to $500,000 a year from bleacher beer sales at the team's 81 home games.

Cerrone said the decision to turn off the taps was not a reaction to an ugly beer-fueled brawl in the stands that disrupted a Los Angeles Dodgers-Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field last week. But the Creatures say otherwise.

"They're really singling us out," said Anthony Raemdonck, 23, of Yonkers, who runs a Creatures Web site. "It's not fair."

GRAPHIC: ANDREW SAVULICH DAILY NEWS HOW DRY THEY'LL BE Bleacher Creatures, a bubbly lot shown in hoppier days outside Stadium in 1998, aren't taking Yankees' recent moratorium on beer in their stands sitting down.

LOAD-DATE: May 22, 2000