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Yankees Legend and NYS Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Morante Talks About How Monument Park Tours Give the Yankees One Leg Up 1-24-25 · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:02
Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Derrek. Well, a week from today
0:08
Speaker 1: is Pinstripe Pride and where all the Yankee you know,
0:12
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers and all the legends are going to
0:14
Speaker 1: be an American dream. But I've got a man who
0:17
Speaker 1: not only knows them by heart, but has been part
0:20
Speaker 1: of the legendary franchise under the New York Yankees, mister
0:24
Speaker 1: Tony Moranzi, Tony, thanks for joining me.
0:27
Speaker 2: Oh, you're welcome. It's my honor, all right.
0:29
Speaker 1: You might have seen Tony on Yanke Geography, different yes,
0:32
Speaker 1: network things as well, because he's the man behind the
0:35
Speaker 1: whole monument park tours and now he's evolved to bring
0:39
Speaker 1: the love of baseball to the classroom. We'll get to
0:41
Speaker 1: that in a bit, but Tony, talk to me a
0:44
Speaker 1: little bit. Tell me how you became the tour guide
0:47
Speaker 1: for Yankee Stadium and then how the whole thing started.
0:50
Speaker 1: Because the monument park tours are going today too.
0:54
Speaker 2: Wow, Well, it was a fun thing. I was a
0:58
Speaker 2: member of the Bronx County Historical Society back in nineteen
1:02
Speaker 2: seventy two, seventy three like that, and the one of
1:07
Speaker 2: the main people in that society, and I became friends
1:12
Speaker 2: so from time to time he would come to the
1:15
Speaker 2: Yankee Stadium for lunch and I would take him around.
1:18
Speaker 2: At that time we had we had carte blanche. I
1:21
Speaker 2: took all over the place on the roof and the
1:24
Speaker 2: basement everything, So you know, I got to know him
1:28
Speaker 2: really well. And by in nineteen seventy nine, he said that, Hey, Tony,
1:33
Speaker 2: you think you could do a tour for us for
1:36
Speaker 2: of Yankee Stadium. What do you mean, say, Well, everything
1:39
Speaker 2: that you've showed me people would enjoy seeing. So yeah, okay,
1:45
Speaker 2: no problem. So they hooked it up for Veterans Day
1:50
Speaker 2: on this on the seventy nine, nineteen seventy nine, and
1:59
Speaker 2: I was I never spoke in front of people before,
2:02
Speaker 2: and I was up tight as I kept on getting
2:05
Speaker 2: messages that the tour was growing by leaps and bounds
2:09
Speaker 2: and everything, and I'm praying for rain, snow, sleet, hair.
2:14
Speaker 2: I didn't want to do this tour, but I couldn't run,
2:18
Speaker 2: I couldn't hide, and I had to do the tour.
2:21
Speaker 2: You know what I lived. There was life after the tour.
2:26
Speaker 2: I had one hundred and twenty five people from the
2:29
Speaker 2: Borough President's office, and that was actually the first formal
2:33
Speaker 2: tour of Yankee Stadium.
2:34
Speaker 1: Now Tony you actually were the only one doing the tours.
2:38
Speaker 1: You didn't have any coworkers or helpers at the time.
2:41
Speaker 1: So I'm sure the man responsible for even that starting
2:44
Speaker 1: is the man who brought you on board, mister George Steinbrenner.
2:47
Speaker 1: And it's actually, I can't believe what I'm saying. It's
2:50
Speaker 1: fifteen years since he passed away. This year, it's twenty
2:53
Speaker 1: five since I was, you know, welcomed in by the Steinburner.
2:56
Speaker 1: But here you are a living legend that I like
2:59
Speaker 1: to take the goodness of George because he brought you
3:02
Speaker 1: into the family almost right as he brought the team.
3:04
Speaker 2: I right, absolutely, because when he came in, actually it
3:09
Speaker 2: was January third of nineteen seventy three, he opened up
3:14
Speaker 2: a group in season sales department. Now, up until that point,
3:18
Speaker 2: all season or combination plans of things. They didn't have
3:21
Speaker 2: any combination plans. It was either season ticket holder or
3:24
Speaker 2: the public. And he opened up this group and seasoned
3:28
Speaker 2: sales department, and I got in on the ground floor
3:30
Speaker 2: at that point. So by the time the first tour
3:36
Speaker 2: evolved in seventy nine, as I mentioned, I had been
3:41
Speaker 2: in there for five years, six years already, and it
3:44
Speaker 2: was something that I enjoyed doing, but I wanted to
3:49
Speaker 2: get a little more revenue. So I started doing tours
3:53
Speaker 2: for VIPs for about five years, and then I brought
3:58
Speaker 2: in the schools. And once we started with the schools
4:01
Speaker 2: making visitations to Yankee Stadium, it developed and as time
4:06
Speaker 2: was going by, a lot of my time was being
4:08
Speaker 2: spent on my department that I was getting paid for
4:12
Speaker 2: a group in season sales, and I was not getting
4:16
Speaker 2: any money for doing the tours, and I thought this
4:18
Speaker 2: would be an adjunct to the group and season sales.
4:21
Speaker 1: You want to do so much more. That's what that
4:23
Speaker 1: was about. And look at what you created. You created
4:25
Speaker 1: basically the tour template that I think is so in place,
4:29
Speaker 1: and look at that in a minute, the Yankee Museum,
4:31
Speaker 1: which has now been fully functional in the new stadium.
4:34
Speaker 1: But your love of the Yankees obviously made you want
4:37
Speaker 1: to do these tours. So talk about the history. I
4:38
Speaker 1: hear you were a season ticket holder, Am I correcting that?
4:41
Speaker 2: Yes, that we were out in Shase Stadium in seventy
4:45
Speaker 2: seventy four and seventy five, and so I was in
4:49
Speaker 2: group and season sales up until that point, and I
4:52
Speaker 2: decided I didn't have enough of the New York Yankees
4:54
Speaker 2: during the day. I got one of my partners from
4:58
Speaker 2: the season sales department to go half with me on
5:01
Speaker 2: full season tickets. So after five point thirty, I was
5:05
Speaker 2: able to motivate from my office to the stadium, club
5:10
Speaker 2: or whatever venue there was for this because I've sold
5:14
Speaker 2: some of those people that were in the club this
5:17
Speaker 2: season tickets. So I had a nice, you know, a
5:20
Speaker 2: nice camaraderie with those folks.
5:23
Speaker 1: You know, we too a monument park, and I'm sure
5:27
Speaker 1: one of the stories you told on the tours was
5:29
Speaker 1: about Bobby Mercer climbing through those monuments. So tell us
5:32
Speaker 1: how it went from being on the field in center
5:35
Speaker 1: field to fence in the new stadium. Were you part
5:38
Speaker 1: of that reconstruction at all?
5:40
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't play much of a part. It was
5:43
Speaker 2: it was the It was Joe Byrne, who happened to
5:48
Speaker 2: be a Bronx boy, who was in charge of the reconstruction.
5:54
Speaker 2: We had demolition and there were other construction groups that
5:58
Speaker 2: I got to know that put anticipated in the tearing
6:02
Speaker 2: down to the old stadium and building a new one.
6:06
Speaker 2: So it was an honor for me. When they were
6:11
Speaker 2: moving the monuments, I got a call. I said, Tony,
6:15
Speaker 2: we want you out here with the monuments. We want
6:18
Speaker 2: you to be here when we open up Gabe bay Ruth,
6:23
Speaker 2: and we want you to unveil him as this is
6:26
Speaker 2: the start of a new era era. What an honor
6:30
Speaker 2: that was, really?
6:32
Speaker 1: All right? So tell us about your Yankee knowledge and
6:34
Speaker 1: why you felt confident that you could be the one
6:36
Speaker 1: delivering the tours, Like what was it about the Yankee
6:39
Speaker 1: history that you wanted to tell and share?
6:41
Speaker 2: Okay? Well, I started coming to the stadium in seventy nine.
6:46
Speaker 2: My dad was an usher at the time, and then
6:49
Speaker 2: the ushers were allowed to take one or two of
6:53
Speaker 2: their kids to the game and they could wait outside
6:57
Speaker 2: while the ushers would be in a sign. It was
6:59
Speaker 2: done on this aority basis, So in all likelihood my
7:03
Speaker 2: father was going to work, well, I was going to
7:07
Speaker 2: watch the game. But while they were getting assigned, I
7:11
Speaker 2: was out in right field, okay, in the in the
7:15
Speaker 2: box seats out in the right field during batting practice.
7:19
Speaker 2: So people cherish at baseball, going to a game and
7:22
Speaker 2: get a baseball. I would come home with two or
7:24
Speaker 2: three baseballs a game. I was, you know, I was
7:27
Speaker 2: like a popular, most popular kid in the neighborhood giving
7:31
Speaker 2: these baseballs out like but Stet started me. And for
7:35
Speaker 2: about ten years I was doing that until my dad
7:38
Speaker 2: came up to me and he said, hey, Pow, you're
7:41
Speaker 2: coming up on the arm long enough. You're going to
7:43
Speaker 2: have to start earning it. What do you mean, Yeah,
7:46
Speaker 2: you want to come to the game, you gotta work
7:48
Speaker 2: for it out. What do you mean work? Yeah, this
7:53
Speaker 2: is an usher's myth. You just start ushering now, I
7:56
Speaker 2: don't want you want to watch the game. This is
7:58
Speaker 2: the deal. So I became an usher in fifty eight,
8:04
Speaker 2: so I had sixteen years by the time we hooked
8:08
Speaker 2: up with mister Steinbrener in seventy three.
8:10
Speaker 1: And look at the people you got to watch as
8:13
Speaker 1: an usher. I mean the fifties, Yogi, Risuto, all of them, right,
8:17
Speaker 1: I mean, my goodness.
8:19
Speaker 2: Eight champions they were involved in eight championships that decade.
8:23
Speaker 2: And the other names that you mentioned, they were all icons.
8:27
Speaker 1: And you get to know them. How cool is that
8:29
Speaker 1: that you were only not just an osher, but then
8:31
Speaker 1: you get to know all of these legends as well.
8:33
Speaker 2: Well, yeah I did, and that was a part of
8:38
Speaker 2: my growing up that really resonated with me. That just
8:41
Speaker 2: gave me more impetus to learn more about our history.
8:45
Speaker 2: And nobody has more history in sports than the New
8:48
Speaker 2: York Yankees.
8:50
Speaker 1: You know. Another thing about the Yankee lore and our
8:54
Speaker 1: connection with mister Steinburner is that I do want to
8:58
Speaker 1: go there for a minute because maybe make people notice
9:00
Speaker 1: on Yes Network, you have one arm, I have one hand,
9:04
Speaker 1: I should say I have one leg. I feel like
9:07
Speaker 1: the Yankee has been so inclusive to be with disability,
9:09
Speaker 1: and I feel like we're example of that. Am I right?
9:11
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely? They never had any compunction about bringing me forward,
9:16
Speaker 2: sending me up, introducing me to a lot of the
9:19
Speaker 2: high end people that came to the Yankee Stadium, especially
9:22
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight when the city was going down.
9:25
Speaker 2: I would get calls to come out and a lot
9:31
Speaker 2: of I could throw a lot of good names at you,
9:32
Speaker 2: but one that really really sticks out of my mind
9:35
Speaker 2: was actually nineteen ninety and that was I got a
9:38
Speaker 2: call from the media department, Tony, could you come out here.
9:41
Speaker 2: We got some special people who want to take around
9:44
Speaker 2: Monument Park. Sure, so I come out there. Who was
9:48
Speaker 2: standing there with Nelson Mandela. Wow, Wow, he just got
9:54
Speaker 2: out of the stir which he was in for twenty
9:56
Speaker 2: seven years. I'm walking him around Monument Parking. This guy's
10:00
Speaker 2: got nothing but a smile on his face, and I'm thinking,
10:03
Speaker 2: oh my god, how impactful this thing is to me
10:06
Speaker 2: that I'm taking this guy who's been away from life
10:12
Speaker 2: virtually twenty seven years, and here he is just enjoying
10:18
Speaker 2: this whole moment. And then New York City had a
10:21
Speaker 2: big presentation down in the Financial Senate the next day,
10:25
Speaker 2: and I was invited to go down there and tell
10:27
Speaker 2: them of my experience with with Nelson Mandela. That's one
10:31
Speaker 2: that I'll never forget. I could throw a lot of
10:33
Speaker 2: names that you brought.
10:34
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you any other dignitaries, because
10:36
Speaker 1: obviously President Bush throughout that emotional first pitch in two
10:40
Speaker 1: thousand and one. So let's go about the president. I've
10:43
Speaker 1: seen President Clinton in the suite, I've seen VP Cheney,
10:47
Speaker 1: I've seen President Bush. Were all these dignitaries with you
10:50
Speaker 1: doing the tour before these games?
10:54
Speaker 2: Well, you know I had that there was an honor.
10:58
Speaker 2: It was an honor. You know, they were artists, television stars, Uh,
11:03
Speaker 2: you know, we don't need the names, but they they were.
11:07
Speaker 2: There were big timers, and uh to me for them
11:11
Speaker 2: to have me out there representing the New York Yankees
11:14
Speaker 2: and Yankee Stadium, which is the icon. I I know,
11:19
Speaker 2: I get all about Madison Square Garden being the most
11:22
Speaker 2: popular arena, but we're the most popular outdoor arena. So
11:26
Speaker 2: it's not we don't want to take anything away from
11:29
Speaker 2: Madison Square Garden, but we are the outdoor arena as
11:34
Speaker 2: good as it gets. This is this is, this is
11:36
Speaker 2: the epitome of outdoor sports.
11:39
Speaker 1: Now, as your job with the tours was also to
11:41
Speaker 1: maintain the monuments, made sure they were crisp and clean
11:45
Speaker 1: for visitors. I mean, did you maintain them as well as.
11:47
Speaker 2: To the grounds that was on the grounds crew. They
11:50
Speaker 2: did a wonderful job. They made sure those monuments were
11:54
Speaker 2: being able to be represented to the public on any
11:58
Speaker 2: given day, at any moment. So they always they was,
12:01
Speaker 2: they were always on top of it.
12:04
Speaker 1: I want to ask you this because obviously you actually
12:06
Speaker 1: went from the old stadium to the new stadium, and
12:08
Speaker 1: so when they transported the monuments, how did that work?
12:13
Speaker 2: Well?
12:14
Speaker 1: Uh, was it complicated because there were so many out there?
12:17
Speaker 1: I didn't know the process of moving them from the
12:19
Speaker 1: stadium to the new stadium.
12:21
Speaker 2: Well, they what it was. So I don't know if
12:24
Speaker 2: you recall, but there was we called a death valley
12:27
Speaker 2: out in left center field, and it was four hundred
12:29
Speaker 2: and fifty seven feet away from home plate. So bulls
12:33
Speaker 2: that were hit out there, especially by right handers who
12:36
Speaker 2: uh through their careers, really had to struggle, including Joe DiMaggio,
12:41
Speaker 2: big right handed bull hitter. Right, he wasn't shooting that
12:45
Speaker 2: bull to the porch and right field, no, he was.
12:48
Speaker 2: He was going where his swing took him. And a
12:51
Speaker 2: lot of the times they were out in death valley,
12:53
Speaker 2: and that's where dead that you know, bulls died out there,
12:56
Speaker 2: so to speak. So when they moved it in between
13:01
Speaker 2: seventy apartment not seventy three and seventy four, from seventy
13:06
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight to two thousand and nine, is
13:08
Speaker 2: this is.
13:08
Speaker 1: Where we are, right, yes, yeh yeah.
13:10
Speaker 2: Okay, So we had also taken the monuments from the
13:14
Speaker 2: outfield and brought them into their present site.
13:19
Speaker 1: Okay, that's right, yes, all right.
13:21
Speaker 2: So we had the numbers on the ledge in the
13:24
Speaker 2: front between the fence and the stands and the bleachers,
13:30
Speaker 2: and they had the plaques on the back wall and
13:34
Speaker 2: the monuments were front and center. And then we added
13:38
Speaker 2: two monuments after that. So when you gain monumental status,
13:44
Speaker 2: that's that's big time. It's as good as it gets.
13:47
Speaker 1: Really, you know, we're about how you're passing the game
13:50
Speaker 1: along to the next generation through your program. But I
13:54
Speaker 1: want to ask a couple of more things. First of all,
13:57
Speaker 1: you're in New York City Hall of Fame or Baseball
13:59
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you, Tony Mont?
14:03
Speaker 2: What an honor? You know, to get tapped to be
14:06
Speaker 2: representing New York in a Hall of Fame which is
14:10
Speaker 2: exclusively for New York sports figures. Uh, I still, you know,
14:17
Speaker 2: I still can't wrap my head around it. But uh,
14:23
Speaker 2: they said, your longevity and what you contributed to this,
14:26
Speaker 2: you know, you know, so they tapped and they tapped
14:29
Speaker 2: on me and I, oh my god, what a thrill
14:32
Speaker 2: that was.
14:33
Speaker 1: And then you're Italian American And now the I A
14:36
Speaker 1: b F Is in the Hall of Fame as well.
14:38
Speaker 1: They just got inducted this past year. That must have
14:40
Speaker 1: been really special to.
14:41
Speaker 2: See absolutely a member of the Italian American Baseball Foundation
14:47
Speaker 2: along with Don Scalah and a few of the Yankees.
14:52
Speaker 2: The last one I was hanging out with Dave Righetti,
14:55
Speaker 2: who was one of our great pitchers going back into
14:58
Speaker 2: the early eighties. And and I also meant Bob Manford
15:04
Speaker 2: that at that time, and we talked about the future
15:07
Speaker 2: of the game, and I'm talking a little about globalization
15:10
Speaker 2: of baseball, and that's where it lies right now, because
15:13
Speaker 2: we're actually struggling with the other sports. We are not
15:17
Speaker 2: that top rung. I keep using term. We the New
15:21
Speaker 2: York Yankees are not the top rung as far as
15:24
Speaker 2: fandom is concerned.
15:25
Speaker 1: And remember they were known. I mean when Matt Suey
15:28
Speaker 1: came over, they were so popular in Japan. They have
15:32
Speaker 1: I mean, the New York insignia, though, is still prolific
15:35
Speaker 1: all around the world.
15:36
Speaker 2: Isn't it absolutely that there's no insignia that's more popular.
15:41
Speaker 2: You could go to any airport, I'll guarantee that you're
15:44
Speaker 2: going to find an NY logo with the white the
15:47
Speaker 2: white NY logo with the blue background, with the blue hat.
15:52
Speaker 2: And you mentioned Matt Suey. I got to know Matt
15:54
Speaker 2: Sui because what happened was back in eighteen eighty two,
16:01
Speaker 2: there was a professor by the name of Wilson who
16:04
Speaker 2: was teaching in Japan in Tokyo University. And what he
16:10
Speaker 2: did he brought the game of baseball. This was the
16:13
Speaker 2: New York Game. A lot of baseball evolved around the
16:16
Speaker 2: New York Game, which basically start when people ask me
16:20
Speaker 2: the birth of the game and all that stuff, it's
16:22
Speaker 2: hard to pin. But in eighteen forty five, when the
16:24
Speaker 2: New York Knickerboxes gave twenty new rules, that became known
16:30
Speaker 2: as the New York Game. So Professor Wilson takes the
16:33
Speaker 2: New York Game to Japan. Japan falls in love with
16:36
Speaker 2: the game and now that's the national pastime. So what
16:39
Speaker 2: happened was in two thousand and three we get Hitdeki
16:43
Speaker 2: Matsui comes over and they wanted me to talk to
16:47
Speaker 2: the Japanese press and everything, which I did, and it
16:51
Speaker 2: was obviously it was an honor for me to represent
16:54
Speaker 2: the Yankees once again in this setting, so I got
16:59
Speaker 2: to know Hideki through. What happened was a lot of
17:03
Speaker 2: a lot more Japanese media were coming around and they
17:07
Speaker 2: were asking for me. And I'll never forget this one
17:11
Speaker 2: one time, Alex that I was standing on the ledge
17:19
Speaker 2: and then the retired numbers are in front of me. Okay,
17:22
Speaker 2: you got the picture left center field. And after I
17:26
Speaker 2: finished my speel about the numbers and things that were
17:29
Speaker 2: going on with the monuments and the plaques and stuff
17:31
Speaker 2: like that, they were lining up to take a picture
17:36
Speaker 2: with me. So I asked the interpreter, I said, could
17:41
Speaker 2: you tell me what's going on here? Why are they
17:43
Speaker 2: all lining up for me? I don't know these votes.
17:46
Speaker 2: He said, You're a big star in Japan. They know
17:50
Speaker 2: you because what was happening. They took some of some
17:55
Speaker 2: of the tours that I had been doing, even though
17:58
Speaker 2: Deki hadn't been with us at that point, and they
18:01
Speaker 2: wanted to bring that back to Japan. So being that
18:05
Speaker 2: it's their national past. I'm also it was very popular,
18:09
Speaker 2: popular thing to do, you.
18:11
Speaker 1: Know, as a tour guide. By the way, you mentioned
18:14
Speaker 1: the popularity of the tours. As a tour guide, though,
18:17
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of you probably were on that yank yard
18:20
Speaker 1: through of Mattsui with all these guys, the knowledge you
18:23
Speaker 1: have to have for all these different monuments and these players,
18:26
Speaker 1: how did you compartmentalize that as a tour guide and
18:29
Speaker 1: how were you able to recall it so quickly. What
18:31
Speaker 1: was your process before every tour?
18:33
Speaker 2: Well, this there are two things that are going on
18:36
Speaker 2: in your brain. There's stuff that goes into the immediate
18:40
Speaker 2: part of the brain which you could task for up
18:44
Speaker 2: to the moment type of stuff, and there's stuff that
18:46
Speaker 2: you need to be a little more judicial with. But
18:49
Speaker 2: when you get that judicial stuff repetited, repeated over and
18:53
Speaker 2: over and over again, it comes into that first part
18:55
Speaker 2: of the brain, which is right there anytime you need it.
18:58
Speaker 2: So that's what happened. Could you know, the perpetuation of
19:03
Speaker 2: the history just came implanted in my brain and that's
19:08
Speaker 2: why it's it's part of what I'm about.
19:12
Speaker 1: And you know, you know these these tours now are
19:15
Speaker 1: not just mining park. They go on different places. Where
19:19
Speaker 1: were you able to take them when you first started
19:21
Speaker 1: all of.
19:21
Speaker 2: This, Well, I had cart blanches to take them all over,
19:25
Speaker 2: but I wanted to condense it into one hour, so
19:29
Speaker 2: I had I would meet them at the press gate,
19:32
Speaker 2: either go up to the press box, down Monument Park
19:36
Speaker 2: on the field, into the dugout and the clubhouse was
19:39
Speaker 2: available at that time, into the clubhouse, and that was
19:43
Speaker 2: really popular because at that point when I started doing
19:48
Speaker 2: the tours in the clubhouse. I took them people back
19:52
Speaker 2: to Thurman Munson's locker, yes, which is which used to
19:56
Speaker 2: be Roger Morris's locker. And when I got the Iris
20:00
Speaker 2: family had come to me for a special tour, which
20:04
Speaker 2: I did and you should have seen the emotion. It
20:07
Speaker 2: was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
20:09
Speaker 2: But that was that was a major part of the
20:12
Speaker 2: tour at that time.
20:13
Speaker 1: Then as and you went all you got to know Thurman,
20:17
Speaker 1: I mean, tell us about your relationship or friendship with them.
20:20
Speaker 1: And Monson had.
20:22
Speaker 2: A good relationship with Thern, but he was all about
20:25
Speaker 2: the game and winning. And I remember one particular time
20:32
Speaker 2: that we were trying to advance the sale of tickets
20:37
Speaker 2: because I was still in the group and season sales department,
20:39
Speaker 2: I was doing the tours as an adjunct, right, thinking
20:42
Speaker 2: that that front revenue was going back into group in
20:45
Speaker 2: season sales, which it wasn't. It was going into the
20:47
Speaker 2: Yankee Foundation, a five oh one c three nonprofit part
20:51
Speaker 2: of the organization which Recourage stated the money into the
20:56
Speaker 2: city coffers for education and recreation program for the kids.
21:01
Speaker 2: So when I had the where was I going with
21:05
Speaker 2: this Alex.
21:07
Speaker 1: Well, you basically when you were starting the sales, I'm
21:10
Speaker 1: sure you had Thurman involved to try and sell tickets.
21:12
Speaker 1: Is that wrong?
21:13
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, thank you. Okay. So we would say, if
21:19
Speaker 2: if a community bought a thousand tickets from me, we
21:23
Speaker 2: would give them some perks, like I would take them
21:25
Speaker 2: up to take the leader up to Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer,
21:31
Speaker 2: Bill White in the upstairs in the press box, introduce him,
21:37
Speaker 2: get him on the air like that. We had four
21:41
Speaker 2: seats that were designated right behind the dugout. We gave
21:45
Speaker 2: them complimentary seats on top of that. And one of
21:48
Speaker 2: the things that we did we offered them an opportunity
21:51
Speaker 2: to present a plaque to a player of their choice.
21:56
Speaker 2: And I'll never forget there was this one time, I
22:01
Speaker 2: think it was a July fourth double header and seventy
22:04
Speaker 2: four that we had the Boston Red Sox. Okay, Now,
22:11
Speaker 2: it wasn't the Boston Red Sox rivalry that we know
22:15
Speaker 2: of today, because it wasn't until later on in eighty
22:18
Speaker 2: six when Red Shaughnessy had started calling the Yankees, and
22:23
Speaker 2: you know, well, so what happened was they chose Thurman
22:27
Speaker 2: Munson as the recipient of this honor that we had
22:33
Speaker 2: bestowed because they actually bought sixteen hundred tickets, which was
22:36
Speaker 2: six hundred more than they had to buy. But wow,
22:42
Speaker 2: wow Gold. The main guy was Aaron Silver from PepsiCo,
22:49
Speaker 2: who said that he wanted to acknowledge Sturman Munson. So
22:55
Speaker 2: the first part of the doubleheader was Bill Lee against
22:58
Speaker 2: Catfish Hunter. Now I told you about Thurm and winning.
23:02
Speaker 2: Uh to the nth degree. He did not like to lose,
23:07
Speaker 2: especially to the Red Sox and the fact that Kat
23:10
Speaker 2: was pitching. My god, So after the first game I
23:14
Speaker 2: had to go down and get Urn to bring him
23:16
Speaker 2: out onto the field. And uh, I go down into
23:22
Speaker 2: the club and now that Yankees lose one nothing was
23:25
Speaker 2: It was a tyscho zero zero into the nineth in
23:27
Speaker 2: and the Socks pushed across one run and that was it.
23:31
Speaker 2: We couldn't respond to that, and the game was over.
23:34
Speaker 2: So I'm going into the clubhouse now looking for Thurn
23:37
Speaker 2: and he's not by his locker. I said, where's Stern,
23:41
Speaker 2: where's Tern? Uh? Uh, oh, he's he's I'll call it
23:46
Speaker 2: the restroom. Okay, he's in there. He's in the restroom.
23:50
Speaker 2: So I go back into the bathroom and Uh, I
23:54
Speaker 2: hate turn Yeah, it's Tony Maranty. What do you want
24:00
Speaker 2: we could bet we have to make a presentation to
24:04
Speaker 2: to Aaron Sylvie, your buddy. I ain't going. What do
24:08
Speaker 2: you mean you're going? I told him he didn't want
24:13
Speaker 2: we lost the game. He didn't want any part of
24:16
Speaker 2: anything happening at that point, so he was hiding from everything,
24:20
Speaker 2: whatever his business was at that point. But we had
24:23
Speaker 2: a great relationship. Thurnman was he was the heart and
24:27
Speaker 2: soul of the team. He lifted all out on the
24:29
Speaker 2: field and then some. As a matter of fact, there's
24:32
Speaker 2: a dinner that's coming up and watch I would mention, Uh,
24:35
Speaker 2: Thurnman months and dinner.
24:37
Speaker 1: And I hope to see you there because I'm playing
24:38
Speaker 1: on going to that, so that should be really special.
24:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe I'll see you there. I'm planning on around
24:45
Speaker 2: that myself, Tony.
24:47
Speaker 1: I gotta say there are a few people continuing the
24:50
Speaker 1: legacy of mister Steinbrenner and uh and someone who was
24:53
Speaker 1: very close to Ray Negron is someone that I consider
24:58
Speaker 1: a mentor or a brother, a friend, and I know
25:00
Speaker 1: we know him well. You Ray, Jenny and Haley and
25:05
Speaker 1: the Simon family all continue the dead's legacy as well
25:08
Speaker 1: as Rob Gomant. So I want to give ah out
25:10
Speaker 1: to all of them while we have this moment, because
25:12
Speaker 1: I know you know every one of them like I do.
25:13
Speaker 1: And it's been a special run with the Cyburner family.
25:16
Speaker 2: Good good job, Alex, good job that they deserve that recognition, absolutely.
25:24
Speaker 1: They do, because the media won't give it. So we
25:26
Speaker 1: got to give it here, you know what I mean.
25:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hear you. And they're so humble. I'll never
25:32
Speaker 2: forget the humility that is in the Steinbrener family. In
25:38
Speaker 2: the Yankee Museum, we had a section that was laid
25:42
Speaker 2: up for mister steinbern a tribute to mister Steinberner. So
25:46
Speaker 2: that was part of the tour at the time, and
25:48
Speaker 2: I took people into Monument Park into the museum. I
25:54
Speaker 2: must have had about ten or twelve people on the
25:56
Speaker 2: tour at that point. And in front of mister Steinbrenner's
26:02
Speaker 2: uh scene there and I'm looking at it, I said,
26:08
Speaker 2: and here's something very special. He ladies in general, a
26:11
Speaker 2: famous quote from mister Steinbrener. If you do it, if
26:16
Speaker 2: you do a good deed for someone and more than
26:19
Speaker 2: two people know about it, you and the person you're
26:21
Speaker 2: doing the good deed for, then you're doing it for
26:24
Speaker 2: the wrong reason. Those are the exact words of this
26:28
Speaker 2: famous quote. Ginny was there and they didn't want any
26:34
Speaker 2: accolades or anything, and she was not appreciative of me
26:38
Speaker 2: bringing this positive thing, and she mentioned it after the
26:42
Speaker 2: tour was over. But I had to mention it because
26:46
Speaker 2: people didn't know about George because he did everything. They
26:49
Speaker 2: go sub Bros underneath under the table.
26:52
Speaker 1: And thank you for sharing that quote, because I've heard
26:53
Speaker 1: that on many occasions. So I'm glad you read and
26:56
Speaker 1: say that for people who may not know that quote.
26:58
Speaker 2: Never forget it, Never forget it.
27:01
Speaker 1: And look at all the goodies done only in New York,
27:03
Speaker 1: but in Tampa with the families of first responders. I mean,
27:06
Speaker 1: it's just amazing. They even named the school after him
27:08
Speaker 1: down in Tampa. I believe. I want to go back
27:10
Speaker 1: to the popularity of the tours also, because all right,
27:14
Speaker 1: so you get this going right and then all of
27:16
Speaker 1: a sudden it gets really busy. Did you start hiring
27:19
Speaker 1: people to help you with the tours or how did
27:21
Speaker 1: you manage? Yes?
27:22
Speaker 2: So here's what happened back in nineteen ninety eight. The
27:25
Speaker 2: tours were really growing at that time because they were
27:27
Speaker 2: winning well. Not only that that was that was one
27:30
Speaker 2: of the major reasons, obviously, but more over than that,
27:33
Speaker 2: we started doing it to the public. Up until that point,
27:36
Speaker 2: it was actually nineteen ninety that we started opening up
27:39
Speaker 2: to the public. Up until that point it was basically
27:42
Speaker 2: for the schools. We were charging two dollars for a
27:45
Speaker 2: child and four dollars for a teacher for a full
27:48
Speaker 2: tour of Yankee Stadium at the time when we opened
27:50
Speaker 2: it up actually in nineteen eighty five. So by nineteen
27:53
Speaker 2: ninety it's popularity I had grown so much, said we
27:56
Speaker 2: got to open up the tours to the public. Did
27:59
Speaker 2: we just have to do this? And it went on
28:02
Speaker 2: deafias Deafia's deaf yas until mister Steinberner got it. In
28:05
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight. I get a call up to his office.
28:08
Speaker 2: I said, Tony up here before with this memo and yeah,
28:13
Speaker 2: I know, mister Steinberner, I just wanted to hoping that
28:16
Speaker 2: you would read it. And he said, well, I know
28:19
Speaker 2: one thing that the tours are going to work. You're
28:22
Speaker 2: the man. You don't have to report to anybody. Just
28:24
Speaker 2: let me know what you're doing. Okay, you have a
28:28
Speaker 2: new department. Now you're going to be working exclusively. Oh
28:34
Speaker 2: my god, how big was that? So had it up
28:38
Speaker 2: from bop and season sales and it went to the
28:43
Speaker 2: I opened up the tour department, and the tourists started
28:46
Speaker 2: to grow, hired more people jobs. Security people would hire
28:50
Speaker 2: more security. So it was an important part. And as
28:54
Speaker 2: I believe I mentioned before that the tours were a
28:59
Speaker 2: nonprofit with basically five o'h one C three not not
29:04
Speaker 2: for profit and that money that was spent in that
29:08
Speaker 2: direction went to the city conference for education and recreation
29:12
Speaker 2: programs for the youth, which was a good thing. So
29:16
Speaker 2: here we are, we're doing a service, a good public service,
29:20
Speaker 2: and we're even helping them financially. So it was a
29:26
Speaker 2: good It was a good family. Really.
29:30
Speaker 1: You know, I gotta say, you are truly a Yankee historian.
29:33
Speaker 1: What does it mean to be called that historian of
29:36
Speaker 1: the game? Because here you are in this next chapter,
29:40
Speaker 1: after your Yankees career, you're bringing this history of not
29:43
Speaker 1: only Yankees but baseball to the class to like these programs.
29:47
Speaker 1: You tell us about the programs and your website.
29:50
Speaker 2: Right, no Baseball, the New York.
29:52
Speaker 1: Game, Baseball in New York will tell us about that.
29:55
Speaker 2: How the national pass that. Okay, here we go. Now
30:00
Speaker 2: what happened was back in twenty and fourteen, As I
30:02
Speaker 2: mentioned to you, I was doing tours for the schools
30:06
Speaker 2: and getting to know the teachers. So we were opening
30:09
Speaker 2: up an education program to try to have the kids
30:14
Speaker 2: understand a little bit more about what our approach was.
30:17
Speaker 2: And one of the things that was very important was
30:20
Speaker 2: talking about leadership. So I got Derek Jeter Mark, the sheriff,
30:26
Speaker 2: to help me with public service announcements, to put on
30:30
Speaker 2: the a slide show bringing out all this stuff. So
30:36
Speaker 2: what happened By twenty and fourteen, the popularity was actually
30:40
Speaker 2: really growing well at that time. But I saw the
30:45
Speaker 2: National Assessment for Educational Progress report card in twenty and fourteen,
30:51
Speaker 2: and it stated that only eighteen percent of our eighth
30:55
Speaker 2: grade students were proficient in social studies and that was alarming.
31:01
Speaker 2: So I got permission to open up an idea that
31:05
Speaker 2: I thought would be something that would help these youngsters,
31:08
Speaker 2: and that was basically to present a program that would
31:12
Speaker 2: bring American history and baseball into the same folder. Okay,
31:18
Speaker 2: so there was a symbiotic relationship because if we go
31:22
Speaker 2: back to the period of George Washington. General George Washington
31:25
Speaker 2: during the Revolutionary War, for example, there was a time
31:29
Speaker 2: where he wanted to advocate more leisure and exercise for
31:34
Speaker 2: his troops between the battles and the boredom of the
31:37
Speaker 2: time between the battles. So he wanted this exercise to
31:40
Speaker 2: be going on, so he advocated leisure and exercise and
31:46
Speaker 2: games of ball.
31:48
Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, the ball that they had
31:50
Speaker 1: was so big, it was a lot bigger than the
31:52
Speaker 1: regular baseball, right, So it really started not just in
31:56
Speaker 1: that regular MLB ball recually it was a big baseball
31:59
Speaker 1: back in the day.
32:00
Speaker 2: Well they you know, they didn't have They started fine
32:04
Speaker 2: tuning it because what that was part of the early
32:07
Speaker 2: part of the game, and baseball wasn't actually baseball, it
32:14
Speaker 2: was basically folk games. And into the nineteenth century when
32:19
Speaker 2: the market revolution came about and our country started to
32:25
Speaker 2: leave the green fields of the pastures and bring them
32:29
Speaker 2: in and that's when urbanization came around, and that was
32:32
Speaker 2: an ideal time for baseball places to play play their games.
32:39
Speaker 2: And being that it evolved on. The game evolved on
32:42
Speaker 2: the Lower East Side of New York basically around Broadway
32:45
Speaker 2: and eighth Street, and it started to move up and
32:48
Speaker 2: as as the developers were coming, they were taking up
32:51
Speaker 2: that prime land. So they were moving these the game
32:55
Speaker 2: up further until they got up to Fourth Avenue. He
33:00
Speaker 2: went twenty sixth Street and they and this was a
33:03
Speaker 2: Niga boxer in eighteen forty five, and they said, we're
33:06
Speaker 2: not running anymore. We got to get out of here.
33:08
Speaker 2: So they moved over to a Lesian field in Hoboken,
33:11
Speaker 2: New Jersey as their home home place to play the game.
33:15
Speaker 1: Is it, by the way, does this because I know
33:17
Speaker 1: New Jersey's home to you know, in Patterson they have
33:20
Speaker 1: that Hinchcliff Stadium. Does this history also cover the Negro League?
33:24
Speaker 1: Like really, isn't the evolution from the eighteen eighties upward?
33:29
Speaker 2: No, the Negro League didn't start until nineteen twenty by
33:33
Speaker 2: Rube Foster. That and it wasn't the New York Yankees.
33:38
Speaker 2: But what Yankees participation in the Negro push at that
33:42
Speaker 2: time was that Jacob Rupert, Yeah, that the Negros were
33:46
Speaker 2: coming on strong, so he rented the stadium out to
33:49
Speaker 2: the Black Yankees from thirty six. From thirty six to
33:55
Speaker 2: forty seven, they were part of a Yankee Stadium because
34:01
Speaker 2: he was a businessman, and Rupert didn't want to turn
34:05
Speaker 2: down an opportunity for more revenue because we're going through
34:08
Speaker 2: the depression at this time. The game the popularity had ebbed.
34:12
Speaker 2: People didn't have the money to but baseball was always
34:16
Speaker 2: there and to expand on that, we had the Negroes,
34:20
Speaker 2: and the Negros were very responsible for bringing night games
34:24
Speaker 2: in because they used to have these quotable night stands
34:27
Speaker 2: when they were going around with their in the different
34:30
Speaker 2: parks in the the middle of the country and everything
34:32
Speaker 2: and playing games at night. So then it was I
34:36
Speaker 2: guess it was nineteen thirty eight that we had the
34:41
Speaker 2: night game with the Cincinnati and that was like the
34:43
Speaker 2: first big professional major league night game played and that
34:49
Speaker 2: was once again a forerunner of great ideas of Brent Rickey.
34:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Brent who signed Jackie Robinson.
34:58
Speaker 2: Of course, Yeah, he was the main man. He was
35:02
Speaker 2: pushing Jackie from about nineteen forty one and it was
35:06
Speaker 2: going on death fears because the Tennesaw Mountain Land, as
35:11
Speaker 2: the commissioner at the time, was beholden to the owners.
35:15
Speaker 2: The owners didn't want to see any kind of integration
35:20
Speaker 2: at that point, so as time was going by. Ricky
35:24
Speaker 2: was always out there pushing and then finally he had
35:29
Speaker 2: his scouts take a closer look at this guy, Jackie
35:33
Speaker 2: Robinson Kansas. He went to the Montreal. He went to Montreal.
35:37
Speaker 2: He was up in the minor leagues of Montreal. Then
35:39
Speaker 2: he came and opened up the Black team in nineteen
35:43
Speaker 2: forty seven, and he became so important not only to
35:49
Speaker 2: America to baseball, but a lot of the corporations that
35:53
Speaker 2: had seen the success of the Yankees that was growing
35:55
Speaker 2: at that point in time, and they see that the
35:58
Speaker 2: Yankees crossed that line and that what happened with with
36:02
Speaker 2: corporations up at the top levels, they says, oh, yeah,
36:06
Speaker 2: we have to promote the African American community. Also, he
36:10
Speaker 2: was the major man at that point. And I'll never
36:14
Speaker 2: forget I'll never feet the first guy who came in
36:17
Speaker 2: Yankee pinstripes, and that was a guy by name at
36:20
Speaker 2: Elston Howard, Yes Ellie, one of the nicest guys I
36:25
Speaker 2: ever met. I'll never forget that. During lunchtime and if
36:32
Speaker 2: the Yankees were home then we're playing night games, I
36:35
Speaker 2: would go up a hunch sixty first raid have a
36:38
Speaker 2: bite to eat up there. And then I'm gonna come back.
36:40
Speaker 2: And I would go through the field level box area
36:43
Speaker 2: from the loading guy, from the loading doctor by gate too,
36:47
Speaker 2: and I'm walking along there and I'm looking, Oh my god,
36:50
Speaker 2: that's gotta be Elliot. So he's behind home played in
36:54
Speaker 2: the box seats, just behind the fence. I woke up, Eldie,
36:58
Speaker 2: mind if I sit down?
37:00
Speaker 1: No, sure.
37:02
Speaker 2: Every time I went to launch it, he never turned
37:05
Speaker 2: me down. He was always he was always a gentleman
37:09
Speaker 2: to me. I got to know Orlean and his family.
37:12
Speaker 2: Uh and and I was so happy to see him
37:17
Speaker 2: be successful. He was a good man. And I think
37:21
Speaker 2: that the players, the players even supported him when they
37:24
Speaker 2: were on the road, and there were some of the
37:26
Speaker 2: towns that weren't weren't open to integration at that point.
37:31
Speaker 2: They said, you don't want you don't want him, and
37:33
Speaker 2: you're not kidding us. That's it. And that's the way
37:37
Speaker 2: the teammate. His teammates supported. They loved him. And uh,
37:42
Speaker 2: I you know, I saw him when he came back
37:45
Speaker 2: if it was with Boston for a while, and he
37:46
Speaker 2: came back later on after the renovation of the stadium,
37:51
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, I had I had a chance
37:54
Speaker 2: to see him from time to time. Good man, good,
37:58
Speaker 2: really good. No.
38:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, remind me of the teammates he had around
38:03
Speaker 1: him at that point.
38:05
Speaker 2: Well, we're talking about Yogi, Scooter had moved on, Joe
38:12
Speaker 2: d wasn't around. We had Bob Turley, we had Charlie Silvera,
38:21
Speaker 2: we had uh, let's see Nikki, Jean Woodland, Hank Bauer
38:30
Speaker 2: in the outfield, shortstop, Joe McDougal third base, rather short stop.
38:39
Speaker 2: Who was by the short stop.
38:42
Speaker 1: Was Kubec around the time at that time.
38:44
Speaker 2: Tony Kubeck. Yep, thank you. How could I forget Kubec?
38:48
Speaker 2: He was such a part of the organization and in
38:51
Speaker 2: that period, and so you had you had a great team.
38:57
Speaker 2: Don't forget that. During that fifty period the Yankees went
39:00
Speaker 2: to the World Series eight times.
39:02
Speaker 1: Eight times. And I believe Casey was managing at that time,
39:06
Speaker 1: Am I right?
39:08
Speaker 2: Yep? Casey was the main man in nineteen sixty. If
39:11
Speaker 2: the Yankees lost in fifty nine and he was let go,
39:19
Speaker 2: Ralph Holck took it over. I'll think me a little
39:22
Speaker 2: bit about Ralph Holck. I have to say it as
39:24
Speaker 2: a former veteran myself. He was a major part of
39:28
Speaker 2: the Battle of the Bulls in Best Stone in World
39:31
Speaker 2: War Two, and he did a lot to capture enemy
39:37
Speaker 2: machine gun nests. Wow wow, And that's that's why they
39:43
Speaker 2: called the major.
39:44
Speaker 1: Well, we got to do another episode based on that too,
39:47
Speaker 1: because the wartime cut into players careers but also showed
39:51
Speaker 1: their devotion to the country. I mean, there's no doubt
39:54
Speaker 1: you cut your playing times order to vend and serve.
39:57
Speaker 1: That's a big deal. You know, everybody makes a big deal,
40:00
Speaker 1: makes a big deal. Out Ted Williams cut his careers
40:02
Speaker 1: because he served, But he did it because he loved
40:05
Speaker 1: the country. I mean that was first and foremost for
40:07
Speaker 1: these guys. Yo h, I mean all these guys, Yeah, Norman,
40:12
Speaker 1: tell them the podcast part of your page us history
40:16
Speaker 1: baseball dot com. What can we finally listen to podcasts?
40:21
Speaker 2: Well? How important the military was. Don't forget the Star
40:26
Speaker 2: Spangled banner, a lot of the things that evolved around
40:33
Speaker 2: around military history and even the president in nineteen forty
40:39
Speaker 2: two when the Commissioner Landis sent him a letter saying,
40:43
Speaker 2: what would you want us to do? The game of
40:45
Speaker 2: baseball was right for being picked to go over and
40:49
Speaker 2: join the mission, and he said no, the game has
40:52
Speaker 2: to go on. They called it the green light letter
40:54
Speaker 2: to let baseball continue because he wanted the people to
40:57
Speaker 2: have some enjoyment. So there, and you know, Jerry Coleman,
41:02
Speaker 2: the guy I was speaking about, had over one hundred
41:04
Speaker 2: flights between World War Two and the Korean War, a
41:08
Speaker 2: few more than from Ted Williams. Williams didn't have much combat,
41:13
Speaker 2: but Jerry Coleman didn't. I got to know Jerry afterwards
41:16
Speaker 2: and another great guy.
41:18
Speaker 1: So and he also went to the broadcast both after
41:20
Speaker 1: his playing days for San Diego for all those years.
41:23
Speaker 2: My goodness, yes, yeah, you know what. And I was
41:26
Speaker 2: asked to do a program on that and I was
41:29
Speaker 2: in touch with him.
41:31
Speaker 1: And.
41:33
Speaker 2: Then he passed away while I was in the middle
41:35
Speaker 2: of doing something. So I had a fondness for Jerry Coleman.
41:41
Speaker 2: He was a great second basement and the Scooter and
41:46
Speaker 2: Coleman great combination, double play combination.
41:50
Speaker 1: Well, as we get closer to the anniversary of mister
41:52
Speaker 1: Simmons past, I want to just delve into his connection
41:55
Speaker 1: to you more and what he provided you know, and
41:58
Speaker 1: gave you the tools to really make this tour work
42:01
Speaker 1: and real quick are the tours where you wanted to
42:05
Speaker 1: be today. Are you still following the progression of the
42:07
Speaker 1: ANXAM because they are doing them a lot. I mean,
42:10
Speaker 1: they have a lot of tours. Still do you follow
42:13
Speaker 1: that today or not as much?
42:15
Speaker 2: Well, not quite as much. I'm in the process of
42:18
Speaker 2: doing a second book right now, and it's a workbook
42:21
Speaker 2: on the first book that I had written.
42:25
Speaker 1: It's and also I understand you know the guy who
42:28
Speaker 1: moderates the museum now, am I right?
42:30
Speaker 2: Brian Brian Richards. He came with us in two thousand
42:33
Speaker 2: and eight and I thought, I, you know, I don't
42:39
Speaker 2: remember the historical Society and the meetings that we had
42:41
Speaker 2: up in the boss's office. They asked what the departments need.
42:45
Speaker 2: He's going back to two thousand and five, and I
42:47
Speaker 2: kept on raising my hand that we needed a museum,
42:50
Speaker 2: a museum, and he kept on knocking it down until
42:54
Speaker 2: Brian Cashman and Sonny Height had said, no, we got
42:57
Speaker 2: to get a museum. So they we put the plans
43:01
Speaker 2: in for a museum. And they saw what I was
43:04
Speaker 2: doing with the tours growing and everything, and they didn't
43:07
Speaker 2: want to take me from that, to move me there
43:09
Speaker 2: or make me join that. So Brian Richards, who had
43:14
Speaker 2: been doing some internship in Cooperstown in the natural wol Fame,
43:20
Speaker 2: and he came down and he's doing a great job.
43:22
Speaker 2: I mean we were able to talk baseball in finite
43:27
Speaker 2: about the game. His office was just a couple of
43:30
Speaker 2: doors down from mine, so we spent a lot of
43:32
Speaker 2: time together in those early years and he's doing a
43:35
Speaker 2: wonderful job.
43:36
Speaker 1: Now, one last thing before I let you go, Tony MORENDI,
43:39
Speaker 1: there's been an honor to have you on for this segment.
43:42
Speaker 1: But again, we're gonna have you on as the year progresses.
43:44
Speaker 1: I mean we're not even to ward opening Day. We
43:46
Speaker 1: all get stay in touch for baseball because I know
43:48
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to react to that maybe on this show,
43:51
Speaker 1: So we'll definitely do that as the season progresses. Also,
43:53
Speaker 1: But one last thing. Did the tours change in the
43:57
Speaker 1: new stadium? I mean, obviously the dimensions changed. You weren't
44:00
Speaker 1: in center field anymore the way it was with the Bullpends.
44:03
Speaker 1: You were sort of a morseclosed area where they put
44:07
Speaker 1: Monument Park. But did that change the tours at all
44:10
Speaker 1: in the new stadium or not?
44:11
Speaker 2: Really? I'm not too familiar with what they did in
44:14
Speaker 2: this pissed Yeah, I haven't been. I've been working on
44:18
Speaker 2: what I have to do here, sure, and I just
44:20
Speaker 2: didn't have the time to kill the whole day or
44:23
Speaker 2: a good portion of the day. But the tours are
44:27
Speaker 2: basically what I had mentioned, Monument Park, the dugout, the
44:31
Speaker 2: field sometimes and the press box. So I think they're
44:39
Speaker 2: very limited as far as seeing anything in the clubhouse now.
44:43
Speaker 1: And also it's different error because I feel like the
44:45
Speaker 1: nineties and eighties, who could do whatever you wanted those
44:47
Speaker 1: at the other stadium, because let's face a nine to
44:50
Speaker 1: eleven change everything too. I mean that whole attack change security.
44:54
Speaker 1: Back in the day, I'm sure you felt you could,
44:56
Speaker 1: you know, go anywhere with these people, But at nine
44:58
Speaker 1: to eleven, everything change, every security protocol change. So I'm
45:01
Speaker 1: so that was a change in the tours as well.
45:03
Speaker 1: After two thousand and one.
45:05
Speaker 2: No, I'm not really, Alex, not really. The stadium was
45:11
Speaker 2: well represented as far as security was concerned, so my
45:15
Speaker 2: places weren't in hidden places where somebody might be doing
45:20
Speaker 2: some nefarious type of stuff. Because I'm out in Monument Park,
45:24
Speaker 2: I'm in the press box, I'm on the field, I'm
45:26
Speaker 2: in the dugout. These are all wide open areas, and
45:30
Speaker 2: we had a great security detail at the stadium at
45:34
Speaker 2: the time, and the only time that there was any
45:37
Speaker 2: question was when we went into the clubhouse, and that
45:43
Speaker 2: was rather limited. I didn't even know if they used
45:45
Speaker 2: the clubhouse anymore, Alex.
45:48
Speaker 1: All right, well, Tony Morante, Tony Ranty, so glad to
45:52
Speaker 1: have you on, and we'll do this again soon. And
45:55
Speaker 1: can I promote the website one more time? US history
45:57
Speaker 1: Baseball dot com. Can we will email you and reach
45:59
Speaker 1: out to.
46:00
Speaker 2: You absolutely, Yanktony at gmail dot com and why at
46:06
Speaker 2: gmail dot com.
46:08
Speaker 1: Love that name. All right. We'll get into more as
46:10
Speaker 1: the season rolls around and progresses, and as we get
46:14
Speaker 1: to ward the fifteenth anniversary of the passing Missus Stiburner
46:17
Speaker 1: and my own twenty fifth anniversary meetings. I mean, everything's
46:20
Speaker 1: happening this year. So thanks for kicking off the twenty
46:23
Speaker 1: five years of being with the Yankee family for me
46:27
Speaker 1: on this podcast.
46:28
Speaker 2: Oh, I appreciate that, and I know how you feel.
46:33
Speaker 1: Hey man, All right, Tony, thank you so much.
46:36
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you. It's beIN aana