(Photo: Lauren Klain Carton)

It’s a rare privilege to live within a few miles of ball teams so beloved (albeit only sporadically successful) that weeknight games against woeful opponents are blockbuster affairs. Of course, there’s a catch: If you want to go to the ballpark, there are 40,000 people with the same idea, and that drives up demand for finite resources like decent tickets, subway seats, and bathroom space. With a few wrong moves, an impulsive decision to catch a game can turn into a financial, logistical, and nutritional nightmare. But other than a few annoyances—the security line will be a pain, the middle relievers will struggle to locate their breaking ball—most elements of a stadium outing can be engineered to minimize hassles and maximize viewing enjoyment. Here, an all-encompassing guide to having a good time at Shea and Yankee stadiums. Play ball!

• More:
• Guides
• Articles by Ben Mathis-Lilley
• From the July 16, 2007 issue of New York