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The Fat Lady Sings at Yankee Stadium

Posted by ROBERT STEIN in At TMV.
Sep 21st, 2008 | Comments

Soon after returning to the Bronx from World War II, I went to the Stadium to see a football game. The home team, called the New York Yankees, was inept but all through the game a stout woman sitting alone several rows away was loudly cheering her heart out.

Watching her, I thought about the emptiness of some lives that could only be filled with devotion to a team of professional losers. I was overcome with emotion over such pathos until someone told me that the woman was Kate Smith, whose business manager Ted Collins owned the team, bought no doubt with his percentage of her earnings as one of the most popular singers of the time.

During the seventh inning break at tonight’s final game before they demolish the Stadium, there will likely be tears on and off the field as the booming sounds of Kate Smith’s “God Bless America” fills the storied arena for the last time.

As it does, I will be thinking of the day I felt so sorry for the fat lady who is singing for the last time at the field of dreams that has meant so much in so many lives.

More Yankee Stadium memories here.

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Ricorun

I was a rabid Yankees fan as a kid. I followed the team religiously. So my first trip to Yankee Stadium was like a pilgrimage to mecca. I was nine. And I lived in a small, bucolic little town that at the time had a total of two restaurants, one general store (no supermarkets), and a total of zero stop lights. It wasn't just my first visit to Yankee Stadium, it was my first time to ride on a train and my first time visiting New York City. The whole trip was "something completely different", and totally magical. We didn't see a whole lot of NYC -- the train stop was about a block away from the stadium. But just that was like being thrust into a Hardy Boys reel or something. The hustle and bustle of city life was completely foreign. I remember all the buildings, all the people, the crampness, the hawkers. And then, walking out from under the tracks, there it was... Yankee Stadium! It looked gigantic. It was the biggest building I had ever seen.

But it got even cooler. As soon as we got inside they gave me a baseball bat! Not a little memento bat, a real bat! A brand new one, too. It wasn't like it had been split and my dad had to screw it back together. It was a brand new bat! A Louisville Slugger! I almost felt guilty. I felt like I should be giving them something, rather than the other way around. I was in Yankee Stadium for cryin' out loud.

Then we came out of the tunnel and saw the playing field for the first time. It was so green. And there were all these guys running around smoothing the dirt out. And Jeez the place was big! Unfortunately, so big that the players looked like ants. But there they were -- Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Tom Tresh, Elston Howard, Joe Pepitone, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Clete Boyer, and (if my memory doesn't fail me) Jim Bouton on the mound. I don't remember who they played. I don't remember what the score was. I just remember the Yankees won that day. And it was one of the most memorable days of my life.

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