CITY COLLEGE— On a warm Friday afternoon, hours before the Yankees take the field, the scene on the sidewalks along 161 Street starts to shift. Vendors selling water, hats, shirts, and food line the curbs. Thousands of fans wearing their pinstripes emerge from the D train and clatter down the stairs of the 4 train. The smell of nuts fills the air. For most fans, the crowd, the atmosphere feels like the beginning of a fun night. But for those who live here, it spells inconvenience.
Many neighborhood people look at the baseball season stoically. “If I see a bunch of people in pinstripes heading toward the station, I already know I’m waiting for the next train,” said Sofia Cabrera, a psychology major at Hostos Community College. She grew up in the area. and jokes that she’s learned how to read the crowd like the weather. As she walked toward the 161 Street station she said, “It’s like a sixth sense you develop growing up around here.”
