October 2nd & 3rd, 1993 - Close the Curtain!

October 2nd and 3rd, 1993 - Yankees host Tigers
The curtain closes on 1993

This puts a wrap on 1993. By this point, we were mentally strained as the Yankees had fallen out of the race in the previous week. The Stadium was barren, empty and cold, and psychologically we were all set to resume our lives outside the Stadium. For me, it was mundane. I was new to the city, having moved there just a year before, and still heading home to Long Island every weekend to be with my friends there.

I found another family in the bleachers, and I enjoyed the camraderie. There were no Bleacher Creature offseason happy hours back then, and outside of the two or three people we each ended up running with, for the most part we did not even exchange phone numbers. When we left the Stadium that cold October 3rd afternoon, we knew we would not see one another again for 6 months. And it sucked.

These scorecards are devoid of anything. So I am just going to combine them and tie a bow on 1993. Leafing ahead, things pick up in 1994, the jokes are more biting and there are are a whole host of new characters you will learn to love to help spice things up.

October 2nd, 1993 was a chilly Saturday, and the Yankees were hushed by the Tigers 4-1 behind the efforts of Bill Krueger of all people. The day started off with some smirks as Chuck Mangione played the Anthem on his trumpet. I know he was sincere and all, but it was still Chuck Mangione and the Anthem did not sound right.

In clear letters I see "Velarde - Player of September" on here...I do not have the interest in checking to see if this was a Yankee thing, and if it was in any way legit. Judging by the snide Velarde remarks I have seen on these, I dont think he cold have had that kind of month. Walkman John?

Ah, I see even back in 1993 a Chinese man could still be met with the old "I'll take the number 4 with spare ribs" joke. A few of the regulars were in bad spirits, as I mentioned Old Ali the Cowbell King "clocked the soda guy" (I am sure it was not as serious as that sounds) and "Brewski leaves with buttons - top 7th" - as in he up and left, choosing not to give out his free "COUSIN BREWSKI" pins to people simply asking for them as he usually did. Instead he handed out a few to the more jovial insiders of the group, and that never went over well with the others.

Tony Phillips out in right gave us the finger, that was always good for a laugh. Future skip Alan Trammell had a Hall of a day, going 3-4, with a home run, and Doofy Dan Gladden went 4-5.

I had "a reporter" autograph the scorecard, so even then they were lurking about trying to sniff out a story. I also wrote a quote from him - "just a matter of time." I wish I knew what he was talking about....till assigned seating? An alcohol ban? The Yankees in the playoffs? What???? Fu*k, I hate when I write things thinking they would make sense 17 years later.

Wade Boggs went 3-4, and I noted he was at .300 with just one more game to go. He finished the year at .302, sitting out the final afternoon (where Bernie Williams actually led off in his place) Jim Abbott started for the Yankees and pitched ok, but was tagged for a loss ending his nondescript 11-14 season. Future bullpen coach Rich Monteleone mopped it up. For a meaningless end of year affair, I am not seeing many unknowns in the lineups, even though the ever-mysterious Mike Humphries played left for the Yankees and went 0-3.

33,249 actually showed up for this game (or so they claim....that would severely drop the next day) and your umpires remained Ken Kaiser-roll, Mark Johnson, Jim McKean, and Vic Voltaggio.

LAST DAY - OCTOBER 3rd, 1993

Well, this was a wrap. I remarked it was quite cold - I have a handful of pics from that day and we were bundled up like Nanook of the North. I mentioned that on my ride in my train got stuck, and I ended up drinking the 6 pack I was carting up with me for sidewalk sips on the subway instead. I already had the 6-pack and was bringing it along cause the old "cant buy beer till noon" edict that ran afoul of us back in those olden days. Thank God I had it. I was not even late for the game, cause back then I would show by 9:30 for a 1:00PM start to get my drink on.

"Quite the insulting remark towards a gabby woman was not only snarled, but written on the card for posterity...I am pretty sure that sorta word does not appear on too many of these. We stayed away from sexist comedy, as there were plenty of women out there who were willing to throw a punch.

There were a few Tiger fans near the front of the empty bleachers for whatever reason - Christ knows what they were doing there, and we were letting them have it. We finally hollered to our buddy Tony Phillips in right "Tony, go back to Detroit and take the front row with you!" Phillips, as was his wont on this sort of occassion, broke into a dance for our entertainment.

Someone was out there "looking like a movie usher with that jacket." We sang the "lets go out to the lobby - and grab ourselves a snack" song for him a few dozen times. A beach ball actually found its way out there, and security actually chased it down after a merry chase. They usually dont get so directly involved in that sort of thing and let the drunks pop it on their own.

We spent the top of the second arguing about Don Mattingly...I dont know who was on what side, but he was a source of argument even then...I wonder if it was the old Puckett/Mattingly argument with different voices doing the arguing. On the old Bleacher Creature message board a Mattingly / Puckett Hall of Fame argument spanned a couple of hundred pages and a number of years.

One funny note was a boxseat scuffle that ended with a few people tumbling down a couple of rows. That was always funny. The amiable and bearded Captain Bob signed my scorecard yet again (geez, I hope I grew weary of this gimmick by 1994) with a nice "just have a good offseason" message. That was big for me back then, I was in awe of people like Bob.

Yankees ended up pinching one with a run in the 9th for a walk-off win. Mike Stanley was a fitting hero, capping off a fine season, stroking the game winning hit and plating pinch-runner Spike Owen, who came in after Jim Leyritz was plunked and removed with one out. Danny Tartabull was intentionally walked, and Stanley notched his single off of Tom Bolton. The beneficiary of this was Bobby Munoz, who actually stunned the crowd by tossing up a scoreless 2 innings for the win.

The announced crowd was 28,942, but there was nothing close to that inside the Stadium. In my pics you see us posing with a beautiful background of emtpy blue seats framing us completely. And your umpires were STILL Mark Johnson, Jim McKean, Vic Voltaggio, Ken Kaiser.

So that was that. I was basically just finding my place out there, still a newbie, and still keeping to myself a bit. I think I still thought Big-Nosed George of all people ran the place to some extent, and Queen Bee Tina was indeed the muscle. I had nothing but reverence for them, Captain Bob, Animal, Ali and his cowbell, Chico and his sketchy money pools, and the rest of the clowns festering about. My pack back then consisted of this guy Chris, who simply dropped off the Earth, Dennis who appears mysteriously every few years like a wraith, and a few others lost to memory. You just wait until the likes of Big Tone Capone, Gang Bang Steve, 41, Grover, Knoblauch, Metssuckballs, Bald Vinny, and Midget Mike and the like make their way out there, and on here.

Hope you enjoyed 1993....business is about to pick up!