SECTION: Section D; Page 3; Column 5; Sports Desk 

LENGTH: 515 words

HEADLINE: BASEBALL;
Taps Have Been Turned Off In Kinder, Gentler Bleachers

BYLINE:  By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. 

BODY:
The renowned "bleacher creatures" and other denizens of the cheap seats at Yankee Stadium had less fuel for their fanatical cheering last night, as a ban on beer sales in the bleachers went into effect.

The rationale of the ban is to cut down on frequent fights and other boorish behavior in the 5,502 seats fringing the outfield. But underlying the move is a marketing reality: with attendance soaring and ticket prices for good seats rising over the last three years, the $8 seats in the bleachers are no longer undesirable. And the Yankees hope to transform them into a section where tourists and families feel more comfortable.

"It's becoming a popular seat and it's attracting a much more diverse group of ticket-buyers," the Yankees spokesman, Rick Cerrone, said. "It's becoming the seat of choice."

The bleachers have evolved over the last five years, Yankee officials said. They used to be cheap seats sold only on the day of the game on a first-come- first-serve basis. There were no numbers in the bleachers. Fans scrambled for whatever seat they could get.

Some of these fans, known as the bleacher creatures, created rituals like the roll call, in which they cheer for each Yankee on the field until the player tips his hat. The bleacher creatures were even mythologized by a local tabloid columnist, who saw in them something that was endearingly defiant.

But as the Yankees continued to win world championships and attendance climbed over 3 million, the bleachers began to evolve. Now many of the seats are sold in advance and they are numbered, to avoid fights over location. There are even more than 1,000 season ticket-holders in the bleachers.

And as the bleacher creatures have grown in the popular imagination, so has the desire among tourists and families on tight budgets to spend an afternoon among them, Yankee officials said. Even Boy Scout groups have been buying bleacher tickets, they said.

The problem, team officials said, was there were still far too many alcohol-related fights each year in the bleachers. And a previous step to ban beer vendors in the bleachers failed to cut down on the incidents.

So, the Yankees opted for the full beer ban, which seemed to draw a mixed reaction from fans heading into the bleachers for last night's game with the Red Sox.

"There's beer across the street," said Mike Quiles, 22, of the Bronx. "You shouldn't come here to drink beer anyway. It costs too much."

Julio Leonor, who was with his young son David, also endorsed the ban, saying "people get crazy" in the bleachers.

But Mark Cleere, 24, of Queens, who said he is a season ticket-holder in the bleachers, objected to the change. "In the middle of the season, they tell you you can't drink beer. It might have changed my mind when I decided to get season tickets."

Cerrone said the Yankees did not want to alienate the bleacher creatures. Stadium officials talked to some of the group's members about the beer-ban idea and got their blessing before making the decision, he said. "The leaders of these groups are in favor of this," he said.  http://www.nytimes.com

LOAD-DATE: May 27, 2000