NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 24 — Well, not ramparts exactly, but from Yankee Stadium tier box 622 we were watching a scene that would be dear to any American, and doubly special if that citizen happens to have a place in their heart for New York and the Yankees.

Sue and I didn’t know when she snapped the picture below that my good friend Bernz (he with the Yankee heart under that uniform) was down in the outfield among those assembled in front of the outfield wall, though when I heard the announcement about USAF personnel from McGuire AFB in New Jersey, I knew it was possible.

Earlier in the day when we unexpectedly got to the Cathedral hours before game time because of traffic, parking and crowd paranoia, we decided to visit Monument Park with the digital camera. We didn’t know that when Burns Security, the NYPD and Yankee Stadium staffers were overly solicitous of the grass in front of the retired numbers that Bernz would be hearing a similar caution about the outfield grass.

And when we were happy to be watching the tail end of Yankee batting practice and Paulie, Scotty and Alfonso taking their last pre-game swings, we didn’t know that Bernz was seeing Joe and Zim, and then Andy, Paul and Jorge, and that he was exchanging a few words and a ball with Andy.

And even when Bernz stopped by Box 622 just before first pitch looking heroic and substantial in his dress blues, we were thrilled (as were many in the box) but we still didn’t know which man he had been out there as the National Anthem wound down and the Eagle Challenger prepared to soar.

And finally, not one of us — not Bernz in his uniform, not Sue and I in our Yankee regalia, not Joe or Zim, not Jorge or Andy, not Pauly, Scotty or Alfonso — knew that the spot Bernz stands in this picture, right in front of the “r” and “m” in the Armitron ad board in front of the right field bleachers, 15 or 20 feet to the right of the 385-ft. marker, that three and half hours later it would be almost the exact spot on the wall over which Alfonso’s historic Mariners-killing two-run home run would soar.

BTW, TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!