WasWatching.com

« Happy Bucky Dent Day | Main | Sardinha On LDS Roster »

October 02, 2007

Dogs And Dummies At The Ballpark

This morning, I was listening to Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez, on X-M Radio MLB Home Plate, lament about some fan in the stands (of the Padres-Rockies play-in game last night) who brought his dog to the contest (and who was somewhat distracting during certain camera angle shots).

Hearing this reminded me a Yankee Stadium experience that I had around 20 years ago. I’m pretty sure that it was 1987. But, it could have been 1986 as well? For sure, I know that it was after 1985 and before 1988.

Back at that time, I was a recruiter for a small savings bank in New York City – just a pup, only out of college for a couple of years. This was at a time where companies didn’t frown upon employees getting gifts from vendors, etc. And, I used to get stuff from head-hunters all the time – looking to establish a relationship with me and get some job searches that I might be doing for the bank.

One guy gave me two tickets to a Yankees game – again, around 1987. There were very good seats – field level on the first-base side, near home plate. I took my dad to the game. When we got there, we noticed a guy sitting over to our left – who decided to come to the game pretty much dressed in full Yankees uniform.

Now, while that might seem odd to some – it’s the not the story here. The guy also had a ventriloquist dummy with him – also dressed in full Yankees uniform – and the dummy was sitting in his own seat (next to the guy that brought him). And, during the game, the guy and his dummy would talk to each other.

True story – I swear.

At first, when my dad and I saw this, I laughed and made one of those "Only at Yankee Stadium!" comments to my father. But, as the game went on, this sighting reached the status of "O.K., stop staring at him now" because it became more and more distracting as the guy and his dummy, both in their Yankees uniforms, kept talking to each other throughout the game.

The next day, the guy who gave me the tickets called me. He asked if I enjoyed the game. He asked if the seats were good. I told him that we had a good time and that the seats were awesome – and thanked him again for the gift.

Then, just before we got off the phone, he said to me: "Steve, I just have one more question that I have to ask. Was the guy with the dummy there?"

I laughed and told him "Yeah, he was there" and then asked how he knew about it – since I never mentioned it on our call. He then told me that those were company tickets that he gave me – and, that, all his clients who had used them in the past had commented afterwards about the guy with the dummy.

Thinking about this now, I wonder how many thousands of Yankees fans are out there now who all share this same story – about the guy at the game with ventriloquist dummy, with the dummy having his own seat, both dressed in their Yankees uniforms?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 2, 2007 10:20 AM

Comments

Posted by: Raf at October 2, 2007 03:05 PM

Posted by: Steve Lombardi at October 2, 2007 03:12 PM