The Program Story

 

(Photo: Steve Feldman)

Going to a game used to always include the temptation to buy a scorecard/program or a yearbook. You'd hear the vendors yelling.

"Get your programs! Yearbooks! Yankee Yearbooks!"

The cadence and the sound of the voice -- they all sounded the same -- still live in my mind.

Times, of course, have changed. 

The Renegades, for instance, had a program that was available online. The idea of a digital program meant that it wasn't some static printed document. It could evolve and it was pretty cool.

To that end, I wrote a story for it back on the day of the home opener. I decided that I would post it here after the end of the season. 

So, with this being the first day of the offseason, I felt it was a perfect time to share it with you. It allows me to use something that was previously written and give my brain a night off since I'm exhausted. Somehow I recorded a podcast and did "Doubleheader" today. Oh and I mowed the lawn.

I'm nuts. Anyway, enjoy the story.

*****

This is Yankees Country.

I know, there are other teams in Major League Baseball. There’s even another team from New York. 

But, I’ll say it again: This is Yankees Country.

I mean no offense, Mets fans. 

But this is where I grew up. I’m from what’s now the 845, which was 914 when I was a kid.

I played baseball – hours of baseball – at my cousin's house in Fishkill. Even if it was just the two of us, all we talked about were the Yankees. The names changed over time – Murcer and Munson became Mattingly and Winfield, who then became the Core Four.

There were so many Friday nights spent at the Stadium. Honestly, did the building need to be called anything else?

So it makes a lot of sense that the Yankees would pick the Renegades – our Gades – as their new affiliate.

The Hudson Valley loves baseball. You know this. You’re one of the 4,494 that came through the turnstiles every night. You laughed at Zolz. You played the between-inning games. You listened. You enjoyed the concessions. You own the merchandise through each change of the team colors.

You watched those players who wanted to climb the ladder when the Gades were an affiliate of the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays.

But, the Yankees?

It’s different and we all know it.

It goes beyond those 27 titles. It stretches from the days as the Highlanders in Manhattan to the Polo Grounds to the old Stadium to the refurbished Stadium to the new Stadium.

It’s iconic. Go anywhere and you’ll see that logo. That NY.

There are the stars but there also the others who have made an impact. You can name them, from Dooley Womack and Celerino Sánchez to Shane SpenCer and Aaron Small.

But, oh, those stars. Too many to name when you basically know your Mount Rushmore.

Ruth. Gehrig. DiMaggio. Mantle. 

COSTANZA! No, seriously, only the Yankees could wind up as a recurring plotline on one of the most important TV shows in history.

Keep in mind, Jerry Seinfield is a Mets fan!

So now we can watch the players before us as they try to join the list of those who played in the Bronx.

I’ll be sitting in the radio booth describing it. Me, a baseball-mad kid from Mahopac, who grew up wanting to wear the pinstripes, getting a prime seat for every home game.

It’s a fairy tale. My son will be next to me, running a camera. We have a cat named Rascal.

For me, tonight is also about the voices that I worked with and those who have been a part of Renegades baseball since 1994. From Bill Rogan to my friend Sean Ford to Geoff Brault right on through to tonight, I’m proud to uphold the tradition of play-by-play announcers who called Dutchess Stadium home.

Welcome to the High A East League.

For those entering, welcome to Yankees Country.

Home of the Hudson Valley Renegades.