{"id":186,"date":"2013-05-08T18:09:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T22:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2013-05-08T18:09:19","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T22:09:19","slug":"my-first-yankee-game-june-8-1967","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"My first Yankee Game – June 8, 1967"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"yankee<\/a>\"mickey_mantle_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazing what your mind will remember. Can\u2019t remember the name of the person I met 15 minutes ago at a cocktail party, but somehow remember my kindergarten classroom and teacher like it was yesterday.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all been there and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a medical term for this which I really don\u2019t need to know about right now \u2013 as I\u2019ll probably forget it by the end of this post.<\/p>\n

Not the least embarrassed to admit that The Yankees<\/strong><\/a> are my favorite sports team.\u00a0 Yes,<\/strong> because I grew up in the New York area, and No,<\/strong> not because they have the largest payroll in sports. \u00a0To those detractors who are thinking \u201csure, he likes them because they win all the time and it\u2019s easy to root for a winner\u201d \u2013 you\u2019ve got no clue.\u00a0 My love of this team started with my very first Yankee game in 1967, when the Yankees were terrible with a record under .500.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny as I was trying to organize this post I remembered a bunch of odd moments, players, home runs, events and stories of that night\u2026and was able to confirm some of it through the wonder of the Internet. Thanks Al Gore.<\/p>\n

The story begins around my 10th<\/sup> birthday in June.\u00a0 My father, an advertising executive at BBDO<\/a><\/strong>, is given tickets by an advertising sales buddy at Sports Illustrated<\/a><\/strong> (\u201cSI\u201d for those who know publishing) nicknamed the Bear, a close family friend for years.\u00a0 Oh, yes there’s a bunch of \u201cthe Bear\u201d stories too, but I would need his family\u2019s permission before sharing those!\u00a0 Anyway, Bear gives my father the four tickets to the Yankee Game on June 8th<\/sup>, 1967 vs. the Washington Senators; a couple of days before my 10th<\/sup> birthday and it just so happens we\u2019re in the Sports Illustrated box!<\/p>\n

Well, like any kid would be – I\u2019m crazy excited, as is my younger brother Chris.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about bringing our baseball gloves to catch foul balls and eating endless hot dogs; this game is going to be great\u2026but, there’s always a catch<\/strong><\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

On the day of the game, my father announces that we will both need to dress up in coat & tie for the game.\u00a0 We\u2019re thinking\u2026what, it\u2019s a baseball game?<\/em><\/strong> Well, it seems that these tickets included a pass to the Stadium Club where one can have a proper dinner and of course, a cocktail, therefore everybody had to be dressed appropriately. My parents, long time dry Manhattan drinkers, loved<\/strong><\/em> this idea because they could have a couple of \u201cpops\u201d pre-game (or as my kids call it now \u2013 pre-gaming), and avoid having to swallow a listless stadium draft beer \u2013 probably Ballantine.<\/p>\n

Wonderful. No, we won\u2019t stand out at all at ages 10 and 8 looking like Little Lord Fauntleroy\u2019s.<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0Figuring we looked like geeks in our blazers already, Chris and I passed on bringing our mitts to the game. Besides, they just didn\u2019t go with our outfits.<\/p>\n

We finished dinner at the Stadium Club (I think Chris and I still had hot dogs, but we held off the Manhattans) and headed to our seats, which were near the dugout, about 6 rows back from First Base \u2013 yeah, the base that Mickey Mantle played.\u00a0 It was a great night. I remember a few of the players; Joe Pepitone, Horace Clarke, Tom Tresh, Mickey\u2026good stuff. \u00a0The game turns out to be really exciting, lots of runs scored by the Yankees, and Jake Gibbs the catcher hits a home run to right field.\u00a0 At a moment during the game, the scoreboard announces that the \u201cYankees Welcome Joe Louis\u201d<\/strong> to the stadium and there\u2019s a bit of commotion around us as this enormous man stands up a row over and begins shaking hands with people.\u00a0 My brother and I ask \u2013 \u201cWho\u2019s Joe Louis?\u201d The look on our parent\u2019s faces is indescribable\u2026maybe \u201cincredulous\u201d or \u201cdisdainful\u201d might summarize it.\u00a0 Hey, look we\u2019re only 10 and 8, we don’t watch boxing, we box each other!<\/p>\n

The highlight of the evening however is a moment where a foul ball gets hit extremely high in the air toward the first base section. My mother screams \u201cWally, go catch it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I run down the aisle to the edge, only to be facing a very large pinstriped #7<\/strong> in front of me, who catches the foul ball, ending the inning.\u00a0 Heart still pounding that I was that close to Mickey Mantle; I run back to the seat out of breath and floored that I\u2019d seen my favorite player.\u00a0 Chris immediately asks me why I didn\u2019t catch the ball\u2026I pause for a moment, and then told him “I was going to catch it\u2026but then changed my mind” and said \u201cyou take it, Mick.\u201d You know, I think my brother bought that story for years and may still believe it today\u2026<\/p>\n

Have been to many more games at Yankee Stadium, both old and new, but will always remember my first visit the best\u2026and of course my “conversation with Mantle.” \u00a0We\u2019ll never know if I really said that or not, but that\u2019s my story and I\u2019m sticking to it!<\/b><\/p>\n

By the way\u2026.here\u2019s the box score\u2026oddly; there was no mention of my interaction with Mickey.<\/p>\n

June 8, 1967<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amazing what your mind will remember. Can\u2019t remember the name of the person I met 15 minutes ago at a cocktail party, but somehow remember my kindergarten classroom and teacher like it was yesterday.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all been there and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a medical term for this which I really don\u2019t need to know about right now \u2013 as I\u2019ll… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24,14,13,12,27],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Clfm-30","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wallyword.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}