Play Ball

Today was opening day at Yankee stadium. I once had a consecutive streak of going to 36 Yankee opening days back in the days of my youte.

My first opening day was in 1964 in the old Yankee Stadium. The great Yankees were making their last hurrah that year with Yogi as the manager. Mickey. Roger. Whitey. Tommy Tresh. Elston Howard. I took the subway and carried a sandwich in a paper bag. The only problem was that I had to sit behind a pole that blocked my view. That Tommy Kolwaski was one fat fuck.

Then it was the bad times. Horace Clarke was the symbol and the curse. Roy White and Bobby Murcer tried their best but they just couldn't do it. Every year they brought up young kids who were supposed to turn it around. Frank Tepedino from Staten Island. Johnny Ellis. Rusty Torres. They just never panned out. Still and all I was there for opening day.

Then we started to see some light. A tough talented barrel of a catcher called Thurman. A few decent pitchers starting with a fire balling Cajun. A slick fielding third baseman named Nettles. A few good trades. A crazy speed demon named Mickey Rivers. We made it back to the series only to be crushed by a Big Red Machine. Then craziness with Reggie and Billy and all the rest of the circus. Still and all I made opening day.

Back to treading water. A classy first baseman with the kid from Indiana. The greatest base stealer of all time with Ricky. Dave Winfield to give herpes to a seagull. Mel Hall. Free agents. Turmoil.Still I made opening day.

Finally the classic run. The core four. The Captain. Pettite. Posada. The great Mariano. The unprecedented run. The greatest team of all time! I had season tickets for the fifteen years and still and all I made every opening day.

Then I got married. The wife and I made four or five opening days. But life got in the way. It got more and more expensive in both time and money. We were saving up to start a business. So I gave up opening day. The smell of spring. The sound of the crack of the bat on a ball. Hot dogs. Beer. Summer of my youte. Gone now. Just a memory.

The Yankees won today. I listened to it on the radio. I am very happy. I still follow them religiously. I just can't get to church. I know they don't miss me since the pews are filled with rich fucks and loser cucks who pay the freight these days.

Still and all Opening Day is one of my favorite days in all the year!

It means summer is here.

Put me in Coach.....well maybe not.

I used to have Yankee Season tickets. In fact I had them for over 25 years.  Not a full season ticket. I ain't rich and even when they were five bucks a game in the 1960's I couldn't afford that. No I had a plan. I started with a Saturday plan. I had on for about 15 years. Saturday plans were great. It was almost always a day game. You got Old Timer Day. Almost always got plenty of Red Sox and Baltimore games. Plus some of the West Coast teams like the A's. You wanted to go in the daytime because it wasn't all that safe around the Stadium late at night in the 1970's,

Then I switched to a mixed plan. You could mix and match you games if you got 20 games. Plus you got one playoff ticket to every playoff game. That was great because you could pick the teams you wanted to see and not be locked into every weekend. The problem was the playoff seats were always in the nosebleed section. Once I had the very last seat on the corner with nothing to my left but a straight drop down to River Avenue. I was shitting the whole game with a iron grip on the railing.

In 1996 a got a better plan. Every week night. That was tough but I would sell off a bunch of tickets. It was easy because the Yankees were really good and I had great seats and everybody wanted them. The playoff seats were great too as they were the same seats. So I had them through the whole run.