I arrived as the employees were waiting to get into work. Yes, I was way too early, but that's a matter for another day. The mass of employees took up nearly all of the River Avenue side of the Stadium, all the way from A-Rod to Nick Swisher. I was shocked to learn that Yankee Stadium had that many non-playing workers.
After I took some sad pictures of the old Yankee Stadium, I waited for my friends to arrive, but in the interim, the circus acts. In fairness, some of them worked for the Yankees, but some just happened to be there.
My first encounter with the novelty acts was a team of jugglers, one of them complete with carnival barker skills, representing a local business board. They were talented, but, being from New York, I didn't bat much of an eye at street performers. When a set of identical twins arrived, I changed my tune. They were, I think, promoting a Spanish language radio station, and posing for pictures...including with a couple of gauchos. Yes, there were two Hispanic gentlemen wearing cowboy hats and other typical rancher gear. As the twins and the cowpokes took their pictures, the vibe became even more three-ring like as a couple of little women went in to their jobs in Yankee Stadium. They may have just been short, but they seemed to be a littler shorter than average, but it just added to my perception of something slightly awry. One of the more colorful Bleacher Creatures soon added to the feel by bellowing John Sterling's trademark game-ending call, all while being covered nearly head to toe in navy and white paint. Soon, my one of my compatriots arrived, but the parade of unusual characters continued, as a family walked past us, all wearing bright pink boots. A man in an ornate Yankee wheelchair showed up right near our location, right before Joba Chamberlain's dad went by us in his wheelchair. All that was missing, as I pointed out to my friend, was a stilt walker. As we met up with the rest of out group outside McDonald's, he tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me of my previous statement, before pointing to...a man on stilts, dressed like Uncle Sam. Perfect.
I also met Chris Shearn of YES, who also knew me from our Twitter conversations and my call to his podcast. All of these shenanigans took place before we entered Gate 6 and took in the classy Opening Day festivities, but I already would never forget this day.
For my pictures from the entire day, click here.
