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Day Off Is Just a Day at the Ballpark with the Family
By Bernie Beglane
A busman’s holiday!!
What better way to spend the first day of the baseball season than at Yankee Stadium with two grandchildren, Norah, a fourth-grader, and Rory, who will enter high school in September.
And also with their father, Edward, a high school principal and the oldest of our four children.
You may call us prejudiced (and I guess you are right), but the young students can more than hold their own when it comes to the history of the Bronx Bombers.
An example:
“I can’t believe that girls in my class don’t know who Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were,” Norah said to us the night preceding the 9-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
As for Rory, we remember that some five years ago the first thing he did in the morning was open the newspaper and check the box score of the previous night’s games to see who was the Yanks’ leading hitter.
All right, enough of the bragging you say. Time to get back to the happenings that drew 55,035 fans for the opening of the team’s 82nd season.
Tributes to Kuhn, Lidle
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| Bowie Kuhn |
The happening – make that happenings – that meant the most to us were the tributes to Bowie Kuhn, the former Commissioner of Baseball who passed on to his eternal reward March 15, and to Cory Lidle, who died last Oct. 11 when his small plane crashed into a Manhattan high rise.
Kuhn was buried following a Mass of the Resurrection at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Ponte Verde Beach, FL.
Bowie was one of the finest gentlemen we encountered during our career. He was in office while we were an assistant dean and director of the Athletic Administration Program at St. John’s U.
Tom Villante, who played baseball for Blessed Sacrament parish, Jackson Heights, against us at St. Teresa’s, Woodside, was Bowie’s director of marketing and broadcasting at the time.
Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie, the first black to play in the majors (he made his debut April 15, 1947), sought out Kuhn to help minorities obtain front-office positions.
Villante contacted us to see what could be done. The (now deceased) Father Joseph T. Cahill, C.M., president of St. John’s at the time, and Barbara Morris, then-academic vice president, approved the establishment of the Jackie Robinson Scholarship Program.
Summer seminars were conducted and scholarships to St. John’s were offered to those who academically qualified, thanks to contributions from Major League Baseball.
Elaine Weddington, one of the early attendees, is now the legal counsel for the Boston Red Sox.
And Bowie was more than proud when that happened.
Now Mrs. Steward, she juggles her duties with motherhood.
Melanie Lidle, and her son, Christopher, who is six, threw out the ceremonial first pitches — both of them strikes.
We don’t mind admitting team tears swelled our eyes as we thought about Chris, who threw left-handed (just as his father did).
Thoughts went through our mind about that young boy having lost his dad at such an early age.
The same kind of thoughts expressed by Ed Wilkinson, our editor, when we discussed the game on the phone the next day.
There also was a memorial tribute to the late Hank Bauer, the Yankee outfielder who died since 2006’s opener.
Mary Messinger Sings The National Anthem
The Opening Day ceremonies, quite obviously, included the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by Mary Kay Messinger.
Beautifully rendered. No shouting… no screaming… no missed notes.
Ho Hum! A Fan Gets Ejected
What would a game be without a fan getting ejected?
Sitting in the lower stands in right field gave us the opportunity to observe the spectators more closely than when in the press box.
You guessed it… one fan was ejected despite his protests of “What did I do?”
Turned out he was involved in an argument with another spectator in the bleachers.
Who caused what to happen to whom? Maybe you have the answer.
Or is there ever one when such incidents take place?
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Tablet sports columnist Bernie Beglane visited the Yankees’ Monument Park with his son, Edward; granddaughter, Norah, and grandson, Rory. |
Visit to Monument Park
Prior to the game, our foursome visited Monument Park which is a tribute to former Yankees, living and deceased.
For us, it was the first time, so we were happy to have Norah and Rory as our guides.
Picture taking was in order, so we made sure that one was taken of the monument for Whitey Ford, our friend from Astoria.
Hopefully he will autograph it soon for Norah and Rory.
‘Welcome Home’ Dinner
That night, following the opener, the annual ‘Welcome Home Dinner’ was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.
The event, which we did not attend, is for the New York Yankees Foundation and raised $1,000,000 thanks to the close to 1,200 in attendance.
Another tribute was afforded Cory Lidle – Christopher and Melanie were on hand.
And there was the presentation of two awards – the Pride of the Yankees to Tino Martinez and the Lifetime Achievement to Bobby Murcer.
Murcer, a standout player and now a broadcaster currently recovering from brain cancer, was on hand at the Stadium for the game.
Flashed on the screen, he drew a standing ovation, and later said, “Even though I was not going to be in the broadcasting booth, I had to be here.”
At the dinner, he told how he wound up behind the microphone.
“It was during a road trip in 1983 and George Steinbrenner (Yankee owner) called me in my hotel room,” Murcer explained.
“There were injury problems at first base at the time and George stated, ‘We’ve got to have some strength there.’
“‘You know we’re in a pennant race, right?’”
There was a method to the owner’s talk. The so-called pep talk was a thinly veiled request for Bobby to retire and move into the broadcast booth.
“We’ve got a kid named (Don) Mattingly and we need your roster spot for him.
“You think about it and I’ll call you back in 30 minutes.”
Pausing to catch his breath, Murcer concluded, “Exactly 30 minutes later the phone rang and George said, ‘You know I’m not putting any pressure on you, right?’
“I accepted.”
Little wonder that story drew laughs!
11 New Members Will Be Inducted Into Girls’ High School Hall of Fame
The Girls Catholic High School Athletic Association will induct 11 new members into its Hall of Fame on Wednesday, April 25. The induction ceremony will take place during a dinner at Russo’s-on-the-Bay, Howard Beach, beginning at 6 p.m.
The newest members include:
Kelly Connaghan-Dengler of Bishop Kearney H.S., Bensonhurst; Nicole Dixon, St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows; Rita Draghi, St. Saviour’s, Park Slope; Lisa Edwards, St. John’s Prep, Astoria; Theresa Gannon, Bishop Kearney; Chaqmique Holdsclaw, Christ the King, Middle Village; Kathryn McCabe, St. Francis Prep; veteran track official Warren Ring, Jr.; volleyball official Ed Savage; Bill Shea, Fontbonne Hall Academy, Bay Ridge; and Chris Wright, St. Edmund’s Prep, Sheepshead Bay.
Tickets for the affair are $75 and are available by calling Sal Fischetti at St. Francis Prep, 718-423-8810, ext. 223.
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