Kids in the Stadium (Club)

Lynne R. Di Pietro

It was a balmy afternoon for our annual family night at Yankee Stadium.  Every year we were treated by my Dad's company to see the Yankees "Play Ball"!

My brother Bob, freshly oiled his glove in hopes of catching a foul ball or two.

Fortunately, this annual outing included parking in the Stadium parking lot which eliminated having to park outside the Stadium lot and walk to the Stadium,

passing by the Bronx House of Detention from which cat calling emanated all night long.  It also included dinner in the Stadium Club and Box Seats along the 1st baseline.  We were all appropriately dressed in our "Sunday Best" which was the protocol for all games we attended - Box Seats or General Seating.  That was the expected attire for all fans attending major league games back in the day.

Once seated for dinner, my Mother looked around and excitedly discovered one of our fellow diners was "The Scooter", Phil Rizzuto.  She could barely talk, kept nodding her head in the direction of his table.  Once we realized she was not having  neck spasms, we caught on and she whispered "That's Phil Rizzuto!"  My brother and I asked if we could go and get his autograph.  We went over to his table so I could show-off my Yankee pinstripe dress and my brother, his freshly oiled glove, and asked for his autograph.  

He signed the program we gave him and complimented me on my blue pinstripes-on-white background dress and asked my brother what position he played.  Mr. Rizutto was wowed when Bob told him he was a pitcher and center fielder.   We politely thanked him, and he wished my brother and his team good luck in their Little League season.  

We returned to our table looking like two kids who just raided a candy store.  After dinner, we went to our Box Seats hoping to secure more autographs (Yogi's, Moose Skowron's, Whitey Ford's, Elston Howard's, Enos Slaughter's).  Not to be.  Nor did my brother catch any foul balls, but it didn't matter because he saw his hero Whitey Ford pitch a shutout.  As for me, I couldn't wait to show all the boys on my street  "Scooter's" autograph.  

On July 20, 1958, we two kids in the Stadium felt we had hit a homerun (maybe Grand Slam) by snagging "The Scooter's" autograph.

Oh, and the Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics  8-0!