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.Next thing you know, Todd is coming back from the concession standwith one of his babysitters with this big smile on his face.He runs up tome and says, proud as a peacock, Mom, I did just like you told me.A manbuying popcorn asked me if one of the Yankees was my dad, and I saidyes, and he said which one, and I said Graig Nettles! At one game Todd, about four years old at the time, was sit-ting on the lap of our good friend Bob Halloran, in a seat on theaisle in the family section. Can you get me a foul ball, UncleBob? Todd started saying even before the first pitch of the game. Catch me a foul ball, please! Bob said he d do what he could, and they settled in to watchthe game.Bottom of the first, an ice cream vendor with a big white boxstrapped to his shoulders came by.Todd wanted an ice creamsandwich, naturally, and Uncle Bob was happy to get one for him.The ice cream vendor flipped open the lid of his box at the sameinstant that crack! a foul pop sailed up into the stands andlanded.smack-dab in the middle of the ice cream box. 194 " BOBBY MURCERBob, who was getting his change from the ice cream sandwich,grabbed the ball just before a scrum of fans descended on the spotfighting to get a souvenir.Nobody was hurt in the melee, but thepoor vendor s box got knocked six ways to Sunday, with ice creamsandwiches flying everywhere.The batter who sliced that weak pop up?Number 1 for the New York Yankees, Bobby Murcer.Kayodd held on to that ball for dear life all through the first four or fiveTinnings.Then, sometime in the middle of the game, he and I wentback to the concession area.As I was paying for our popcorn, I heardTodd say, Hey, you want a baseball? And he handed the ball to anotherkid in line behind us. Why did you do that, Todd? I asked him when we got back to ourseats. I could tell he wanted it, Todd said, and Daddy can hit me anotherone. As Kay and I were thinking about this chapter and the rolebaseball played in our family life, she suggested that I ask Tori andTodd what memories they had of growing up as baseball brats.So we asked them both, tell us off the top of your head what youremember from those days.Not big games or special momentsnecessarily, but just whatever comes to mind.Here s what they had to say.Toriremember Mom doing needlepoint in the stands all the time andI not really paying attention to the game.fans coming up to usand asking for autographs.cruising the Stadium for cute boys.hanging out after the game with other families in the family room. YANKEE for LIFE " 195counting the number of multiple back handsprings Kenny Griffey (hewas just a little kid!) would do outside the locker room.playing Truthor Dare and Spin the Bottle while waiting for our dads to come out of thelocker room.staying up REALLY late and eating at the Carnegie Deliat midnight.I remember Dad sleeping in until noon.eating fried bologna sand-wiches, his favorite.the boy who sent me a letter after seeing me onBobby Murcer Day in 1983 after Dad retired (Flash: That boy is now aman who works for MLB.).getting ice cream at that little place inFranklin Lakes we loved and seeing Brooke Shields there once, shop-ping at the malls.seeing Dad walking through the stands to our seatsand being cheered by people at the last game of the World Series; thiswas the first time he d ever sat in the stands to watch a game.beingaway from the ballpark, at a mall or something, and having fans freakout when they noticed Dad like he was some big celebrity.Todd, being a boy, of course had the advantage of getting tohang out in the clubhouse and in the runway behind the dugoutsduring games.Toddremember playing bumper pool with Billy Martin after he gotI thrown out of a game.fighting with the other kids over the choc-olate-chip cookies he d bring into the clubhouse for us.listening witha bunch of kids to Pete Sheehy talking about Babe Ruth and DiMaggioand Mickey Mantle and all the Yankee greats and finding a coat hangerhooked on the back loop of my pants after I walked away (that was oneof Pete s favorite tricks).seeing Luís Tíant roller skate up and downthe passageway behind the dugouts in nothing but his jockstrap and abig cigar in his mouth, with a Speak & Spell in his hand so he could studyEnglish.eating all the junk they had laid out for the players.sittingaround and listening to Ron Guidry play drums.(He was cool.)I remember playing in the batting cages before games.driving 196 " BOBBY MURCERback with Dad late at night through the Bronx after a game and kidscoming up with rags to clean the car windows at street corners (onethrew a hubcap at the car once after Dad didn t roll down his window togive them money).rubbing down game balls with mud in the umpiresroom after they showed us how.taking tape and sanitary socks fromthe trainer s room to make a ball so that we could play scrub with it un-derneath the stadium during the game.stopping when a loud noiseerupted and running down to the grounds crew s dugout to see whatwas going on.scoring a brand-new set of golf clubs that Dad gaveme after Bobby Murcer Day in 1983.being awed by Kenny as he dgo back-flipping up and down the passageway under the grandstand.telling Dad on the way home one night that Kenny was the greatestathlete I d ever seen. Even though baseball enriched our lives in many, many ways, weall paid a big price for being away from home six months of theyear, and having to build a new home in a different place everysummer.I missed a whole lot of Tori s and Todd s growing up.Imissed way more dance recitals and Little League games than Iever saw, and I don t think spring vacations every year in Floridamade up for that.They sure didn t for me.But it worked out pretty good all around, I think.After a semester at the University of Oklahoma, Tori went tothe Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Tech-nology in New York.She worked in New York for 14 years doingPR for the likes of Calvin Klein and Anne Klein before gettingmarried and starting her own family.(She also did unpaid volun-teer work as our own personal guide to the Big Apple.Withouther, all we d know is that the Bronx is up and the Battery s down,and that people ride in a hole in the ground.)Todd went to the University of Oklahoma on a golf scholarshipand earned his BA with a major in economics.Later, he got hisMBA from Boston University.He played a couple of years on themini-tour circuit before deciding to go get a real job and restrict YANKEE for LIFE " 197his golf to taking money off his old man.He s now a director of asmall firm in the telecom business.They re both happily married to wonderful people, and be-tween them Tori and Todd have given Kay and me five wonderfulgrandchildren.Not even Mr.Steinbrenner could ask for a betterstarting nine than that. 15PPI NSTRI PE ALL-STARS,INSTRIPEALL-STARS,11969 TODAY969TODAYy New York Yankee All-Star Team (1969 today) isalmost certainly going to cause a little buzz amongMYankee fans, each of whom most likely has a favoriteor two I m going to have to pass over.(Let s hear it, Steve Balbonifans.)So have a look.And while you re doing that, I m going to gounlist my telephone number.Starting LineupC THURMAN MUNSON.A no-brainer, at least in my heart.Thurman s my captain, and always will be.Can t leaveyour captain off your All-Yankee team.The AL Rookieof the Year in 1970, when Thurm and I first really got toknow each other, and the AL MVP in 1976, when he led 200 " BOBBY MURCERthe Yankees to the AL pennant while I was trying to figureout the wind in Wrigley Field.I miss him to this day.C JORGE POSADA
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