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With all apologies to a movie with special effects that bring a smile and the genuine heart and humor of baseball (It Happens Every Spring, of course), I’m delighted to announce the fourth annual Maple Street Yankee Annual, this one subheaded 2010 Continue reading It Happens Before Spring

We are the champions... In Asia just three days earlier, the World Series trophy made a road trip to Westchester this weekend.

White Plains, NY, February 6, 2010 Hello Excellence, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.

With apologies to Paul Simon, those words, and others just like them, whirled through my head on Saturday, February 6, as we made the trip to White Plains to see the New York Yankee World Series Trophy in person. The predicted snow had stopped south of Westchester County, and when we arrived we had just a 25-minute wait until it was our turn. Continue reading Hey, Gorgeous!

View From 420b

Bronx, N.Y., January 8, 2010 — I made my annual birthday celebration/trek to Yankee Stadium the other day. The reason I give myself (and anyone asking) for why I brave the chilly winds of the South Bronx in January each year is to pay off the coming year’s season ticket plan, but in reality it’s more a pilgrimage than a buiness trip. I actually bumped into Joe Torre on this trek two days into 1997, shaking his hand and thanking him for one of the best summers of my life just three months after a glorious downtown parade. I’ve been hooked into carrying out this trip ever since. Continue reading Winter Numbers

Bronx, N.Y., October 29, 2008 — Of immigrant stock, I date my family’s arrival in the United States from the day my father and his family arrived in New York in the mid-1920s. They immediately gravitated to the Bronx, arriving around the same time the House That Ruth Built opened for business. Dad fought in World War II, married Mom and had four Baby Boomer children (I’m “the baby”), and moved us into a house in New Jersey. Continue reading Hit the Road, Jack

Bronx, N.Y., January 18, 2008 — I’ve been pretty deep in thought since my annual pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium over the New Year holiday this year, but the news (and pictures) about the name “Yankee Stadium” being added to the new edifice across 161st Street has prodded me to share some thoughts and photos. It’s always with a somewhat sentimental turn of mind that I take these midwinter trips to the Bronx. I feel reassured paying off my season plan invoice in person, it’s true, but there is also something contemplative about seeing a great baseball venue in the throes of winter. Continue reading Wintry Stadium(s) Day

Bronx, N.Y., January 6, 2008 — Hall of Fame selection days have been frustrating and disconcerting trials for some ballplayers, an annual cycle in raised then banished hopes that ex-Yank closer Goose Gossage hopes to escape in 2008. It has been a great day for others, though, including one-time Yank Phil Niekro, who celebrates the 10th anniversary of his selection Sunday. Continue reading An Orwellian (1984) Dilemma

Bronx, N.Y., December 2, 2007 — Heard any good Yankee rumors lately? Just kidding. If you’re breathing and linked to the rest of the planet in the most rudimentary fashion, you know New York (and baseball) is abuzz with the Yanks’ attempts to trade for Minnesota southpaw Johan Santana. And if you have a 24/7 hookup? Well, forget the cold. Back away, step outside and clear your head. Continue reading In Medias Res

Bronx, N.Y., January 27, 2007 — Yankee individual-game tickets go on sale Wednesday, a fact that brought to mind the annual January 2 birthday pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium I took almost four weeks ago. As anyone who has known me for any time can attest, I am convinced that minus the occurring-every-four-years February 29, my birth date is the year’s worst. Lost in the Christmas/holiday crush some years, far removed from the glorious baseball days of summer, it’s also usually the day one goes “back to school” early in life, and “back to work” afterward. Continue reading Winter Stadium Signs

NEW YORK, N.Y., December 30, 2004 — I experienced a poignant moment the other day when I heard that Yankee organist Eddie Layton had passed away. He was taken from us just one year after retiring to a life of leisure, one final contradiction in the life of a Renaissance man who played the soundtrack to several generations of Yankee fans. I had the good fortune to meet and spend an afternoon with Eddie back in 2001, and it remains one of the greatest thrills in the life of this Bronx-born fan. Continue reading Meeting a ‘Legend’

New York, N.Y., February 16 — Well, it’s official. Even the Yankees Web site says so now. The Yankees have a new third baseman, and it’s megamillionaire Alex Rodriguez, the shortstop of the Texas Rangers until a couple of days ago. Boston fans are generally angry, and fans of small-market teams that dot the landscape are aghast that the Yankees have gotten the best player in baseball, again. Continue reading From the Top of the Deck