DEBBIE'S FIRST BLEACHER WEEKEND - PART 1
May 30th, 1998
We all remember our first time….and today we go back to "Water Girl Debbie's" first bleacher weekend, a balmy late May weekend against the dreaded Boston Red Sox. Sellout crowds, a "foreign takeover" and the general lunacy that would not only accompany Yankees / Boston, but would accompany anything that went down on what used to be THE place to be on a weekend.
So lets kick it off with Saturday, May 30th
For whatever reason, a celebrity softball game had been scheduled that day, and for whatever reason, it was cancelled. That was met with mass rejoicing. With our without celebs playing the part of buffoon, the game was a sellout, which could be pegged beforehand from the "rioting in line" we noted. According to the tag on top, this was my 15th game of the year, and the Yankees were 13-1 with me in attendance. I am dubious about this, and shall doublecheck. Then again, its mentioned quite frankly on here that we came in 26 games over .500, and yet at least one person was "still bitching." Whoever it was, according to the card, was apparently longing for the days of Omar Moreno.
In regards to a slogan for the game, I simply scrolled, "Im a danger to myself and others." A nice quip.
Before the game charitable fund was being discussed, with a $1 donation recommended towards getting Stat Man a new shirt. To this day, over 10 years later, a new shirt has not been purchased. I would call that fund a smashing unsuccess.
George walked in, with a smile hidden by his nose, to chants of "Go Back to Israel!" You could feel the love for George, who was one of the first to take me into the family. Didn't stop me from joining in on the chant, though.
It was HOT in there. Over a decade later, when discussing her first series, Debbie remembered the heat - and the crazy Dominicans on hand later in the weekend - more than anything. On this card Kaplan agreed with the heat part, suggesting the next time the temps got so hot that we should all come out in bikinis. That's an idea that sadly never came to fruition. In lieu of a bikini, someone was actually parading around in a Bobby Meachem shirt. At one point I wrote down that "this lotion makes me smell gay." Going by the heat, I guess someone talked me into some sunscreen. No word on here if I was wearing my plastic Yankee helmet, which would literally become a danger to touch in the sun. According to our friends at Baseballreference.com, it was indeed sunny, winds of a whopping 3 MPH, and temps just over 80. We must have all been hung over to complain so much about 81 degrees.
Scorecard was getting lots of scribbly use. A poll was kicked off, on who people liked better, "Drunk Tom" or "Sober Tom." Well, 31 people voted, and your winner, with 21 of them, was DRUNK Tom! I bet that same result would have at least flipped the other way in later years when Drunk Tom was not nearly as funny as he seemed to be then. Oh, one more person appears to have voted, and they said "Don't like Tom either way." Fantastic!
Everyones favorite, Bozo, was on hand. I give Bozo lots of props on Hecklehouse. A pudgy guy with a clown wig and no other way of standing out. Bad Mouth Larry, watching Bozo gladhanding on his way in, admitted Bozo was a nice guy, but he just could not stand the hair, so to Larry he was pretty much an enemy. Shortly after Bozo settled in, everyones favorite, the Giant Hot Dog, made an appearance over in the box seats. "Your Dad is a Polish Sausage" someone screamed. To this, Hot Dog turned around, bent over, and shook his hot dog butt at us.
It was noted that I held beer like devoted Moms would hold a baby. I have to say that's simply cause I could not afford to drop them. Miltons bell was being crapped on again as a "rally killer." I guarantee those words appeared on over 100 of my 500 or so scorecards over the years.
Big Joe was in the crowd, and as rowdy as usual. Apparently he ticked someone off, who snapped back at Joe, who was putting on the pounds as we all know, "go eat a hot dog." Insults were bouncing, after I cracked on Larrys nose he replied, "you're no box of chocolates yourself, Tom." Some cowboy must have been hanging around, cause one of us broke out the old, "there are only two things that live in Texas….steers and queers…and he don't look like a steer to me" line in regard to them, and Big Joe randomly opined that "there are Ghost Towns in Texas."
Someone had a plastic megaphone, and you were able to punch in codes that would robotically yell out different rally calls. Pressing # 69 actually said "Lets Do It." I cant believe I did not commandeer that thing for later use in the bars. Another item of note was our amusement at the fact that for once only two guys were handling the hose during the watering of the basepaths in between innings, instead of the usual clown car amount of guys.
Looks like I missed the entire bottom of the 4th, with a streak of MOs (mystery outs) as I was apparently "buying beer." Not sure how to explain the other 5 MOs on the card, including the very first Yankee at-bat that day, by Chuck Knoblauch. In regards to guest scorekeepers, it looks like at least 2 other people had a hand in this one, but there are no telltale signs as to who.
As to the game, the Yankees dropped it 3-2, in front of 55,191. Your Boston lineup was CF D Lewis, DH Jefferson, 3B Valentin, 1B Homo Vaughn, LF the black guy with the Irish name Troy O'Leary, C Hatteberg, SS M Benjamin, RF Bragg, and 2B Merloni. Bragg drove in 2 of the Bosux runs, and Vaughn cracked a jack off of the pus-sy toad Hideki Irabu, his 15th. On the hill Bret Gayberhagen got the W, throwing 6.2 innings of 1 run ball, with Jim Corsi nabbing a hold and Flash Gordon coming in for his 19th save to that point. One funny note in regards to Gayberhagens line - whoever was handling the card at that point - and my guess is Gang Bang Steve - attempted to write them in upon Brets exit. He smartly added "take these with a grain of salt." Comparing to the baseballreference line, he was somehow short one hit and TWO strikeouts. Ah, the mystery outs rear their ugly head.
Our hometown Yankees showed this lineup - 2B Knoblauch, SS Jeter, RF O'Neill, 1B Tino, CF Bernie, DH Strawberry, LF Curtis, C Posada, and 3B Brosius. Bernie had 3 hits (he was batting .340 at the end of the day) while Straw whiffed 3 times. Over on the hill the much maligned Hideki Irabu dropped his 1st decision to 4 wins at that point, throwing 7 innings of 3 hit ball. Problem is he walked SEVEN. We also saw the big Australian G Lloyd that afternoon, and Jeff Nelson and his porno mustache wrapped things up.
The game fell in at just a shade under 3 hours - 2 hours and 57 min - which sucks for a 3-2 game. Your umpires were HP Ted Barrett, 1B Jim Joyce, 2B Al Clark, and 3B John Hirschbeck. We hope you enjoyed this version of SCORECARD MEMORIES!
http://www.baseball-reference..com/boxes/NYA/NYA199805300.shtml
May 30th, 1998
We all remember our first time….and today we go back to "Water Girl Debbie's" first bleacher weekend, a balmy late May weekend against the dreaded Boston Red Sox. Sellout crowds, a "foreign takeover" and the general lunacy that would not only accompany Yankees / Boston, but would accompany anything that went down on what used to be THE place to be on a weekend.
So lets kick it off with Saturday, May 30th
For whatever reason, a celebrity softball game had been scheduled that day, and for whatever reason, it was cancelled. That was met with mass rejoicing. With our without celebs playing the part of buffoon, the game was a sellout, which could be pegged beforehand from the "rioting in line" we noted. According to the tag on top, this was my 15th game of the year, and the Yankees were 13-1 with me in attendance. I am dubious about this, and shall doublecheck. Then again, its mentioned quite frankly on here that we came in 26 games over .500, and yet at least one person was "still bitching." Whoever it was, according to the card, was apparently longing for the days of Omar Moreno.
In regards to a slogan for the game, I simply scrolled, "Im a danger to myself and others." A nice quip.
Before the game charitable fund was being discussed, with a $1 donation recommended towards getting Stat Man a new shirt. To this day, over 10 years later, a new shirt has not been purchased. I would call that fund a smashing unsuccess.
George walked in, with a smile hidden by his nose, to chants of "Go Back to Israel!" You could feel the love for George, who was one of the first to take me into the family. Didn't stop me from joining in on the chant, though.
It was HOT in there. Over a decade later, when discussing her first series, Debbie remembered the heat - and the crazy Dominicans on hand later in the weekend - more than anything. On this card Kaplan agreed with the heat part, suggesting the next time the temps got so hot that we should all come out in bikinis. That's an idea that sadly never came to fruition. In lieu of a bikini, someone was actually parading around in a Bobby Meachem shirt. At one point I wrote down that "this lotion makes me smell gay." Going by the heat, I guess someone talked me into some sunscreen. No word on here if I was wearing my plastic Yankee helmet, which would literally become a danger to touch in the sun. According to our friends at Baseballreference.com, it was indeed sunny, winds of a whopping 3 MPH, and temps just over 80. We must have all been hung over to complain so much about 81 degrees.
Scorecard was getting lots of scribbly use. A poll was kicked off, on who people liked better, "Drunk Tom" or "Sober Tom." Well, 31 people voted, and your winner, with 21 of them, was DRUNK Tom! I bet that same result would have at least flipped the other way in later years when Drunk Tom was not nearly as funny as he seemed to be then. Oh, one more person appears to have voted, and they said "Don't like Tom either way." Fantastic!
Everyones favorite, Bozo, was on hand. I give Bozo lots of props on Hecklehouse. A pudgy guy with a clown wig and no other way of standing out. Bad Mouth Larry, watching Bozo gladhanding on his way in, admitted Bozo was a nice guy, but he just could not stand the hair, so to Larry he was pretty much an enemy. Shortly after Bozo settled in, everyones favorite, the Giant Hot Dog, made an appearance over in the box seats. "Your Dad is a Polish Sausage" someone screamed. To this, Hot Dog turned around, bent over, and shook his hot dog butt at us.
It was noted that I held beer like devoted Moms would hold a baby. I have to say that's simply cause I could not afford to drop them. Miltons bell was being crapped on again as a "rally killer." I guarantee those words appeared on over 100 of my 500 or so scorecards over the years.
Big Joe was in the crowd, and as rowdy as usual. Apparently he ticked someone off, who snapped back at Joe, who was putting on the pounds as we all know, "go eat a hot dog." Insults were bouncing, after I cracked on Larrys nose he replied, "you're no box of chocolates yourself, Tom." Some cowboy must have been hanging around, cause one of us broke out the old, "there are only two things that live in Texas….steers and queers…and he don't look like a steer to me" line in regard to them, and Big Joe randomly opined that "there are Ghost Towns in Texas."
Someone had a plastic megaphone, and you were able to punch in codes that would robotically yell out different rally calls. Pressing # 69 actually said "Lets Do It." I cant believe I did not commandeer that thing for later use in the bars. Another item of note was our amusement at the fact that for once only two guys were handling the hose during the watering of the basepaths in between innings, instead of the usual clown car amount of guys.
Looks like I missed the entire bottom of the 4th, with a streak of MOs (mystery outs) as I was apparently "buying beer." Not sure how to explain the other 5 MOs on the card, including the very first Yankee at-bat that day, by Chuck Knoblauch. In regards to guest scorekeepers, it looks like at least 2 other people had a hand in this one, but there are no telltale signs as to who.
As to the game, the Yankees dropped it 3-2, in front of 55,191. Your Boston lineup was CF D Lewis, DH Jefferson, 3B Valentin, 1B Homo Vaughn, LF the black guy with the Irish name Troy O'Leary, C Hatteberg, SS M Benjamin, RF Bragg, and 2B Merloni. Bragg drove in 2 of the Bosux runs, and Vaughn cracked a jack off of the pus-sy toad Hideki Irabu, his 15th. On the hill Bret Gayberhagen got the W, throwing 6.2 innings of 1 run ball, with Jim Corsi nabbing a hold and Flash Gordon coming in for his 19th save to that point. One funny note in regards to Gayberhagens line - whoever was handling the card at that point - and my guess is Gang Bang Steve - attempted to write them in upon Brets exit. He smartly added "take these with a grain of salt." Comparing to the baseballreference line, he was somehow short one hit and TWO strikeouts. Ah, the mystery outs rear their ugly head.
Our hometown Yankees showed this lineup - 2B Knoblauch, SS Jeter, RF O'Neill, 1B Tino, CF Bernie, DH Strawberry, LF Curtis, C Posada, and 3B Brosius. Bernie had 3 hits (he was batting .340 at the end of the day) while Straw whiffed 3 times. Over on the hill the much maligned Hideki Irabu dropped his 1st decision to 4 wins at that point, throwing 7 innings of 3 hit ball. Problem is he walked SEVEN. We also saw the big Australian G Lloyd that afternoon, and Jeff Nelson and his porno mustache wrapped things up.
The game fell in at just a shade under 3 hours - 2 hours and 57 min - which sucks for a 3-2 game. Your umpires were HP Ted Barrett, 1B Jim Joyce, 2B Al Clark, and 3B John Hirschbeck. We hope you enjoyed this version of SCORECARD MEMORIES!
http://www.baseball-reference..com/boxes/NYA/NYA199805300.shtml
