I had just settled into my Loge seat for last night’s game, it was about 10 minutes before the first pitch at 7:05. The Yankees were playing the first game of a 3 game series against the Minnesota Twins, who have been red hot. I have tickets for all 3 games.
The guy seated to my left, who appeared to be in his late 50s or early 60s, asked me: “aren’t you the guy who use to live in Florida but now lives in New York ... a reverse something or other?” What the hell, thought I? Long story short - his name is Tom Kostecke, he is retired, lives in Rochester, NY, spends January, February and March in Ormond Beach, FL, comes down from Rochester every year to see 3 Yankee games, and last year we had sat next to one another for a game. Wow!! What a memory on his part and what are the odds that we would be seated next to one another a year later. But, it gets better ...
Seated in front of us were 5 younger guys, in their early 30s, that in my head I named “THE BAND OF BROTHERS.” Why this name? Well, they had been in the Marine Corps together but only one remains on active duty and he is stationed in Guantanamo Bay. The rest now live in different parts of the country, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and New York. None of them had ever been to Yankee Stadium, so they had planned this trip as a reunion and to see The House That Ruth Built in its final season. None of them are Yankee fans, but that didn’t matter. Tom and I had a nice running conversation with them during the course of the game and it was so obvious that these were 5 guys who genuinely cared for one another, were avid baseball fans and understood the significance of being in The House That Ruth Built for their first and last time. There was such positive energy coming from these guys and it made us all feel real good, even though one of them did get a bit loud and profane in the late innings, but it was in a funny way.
One of the guys couldn’t believe that Tom and I didn’t know one another and he said that he thought that Tom was my son. Hum ... not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, we kept explaining to him the randomness of our meeting but he never really bought it. It didn’t help matters that when Tom left in the top of the 9th he said: “Seeya later Dad.” But, there is more ...
To add to the evening - the early 50s guy sitting to my right grew up in the Bronx but now lives in Sarasota, FL, has a 20 game partial season ticket package like mine, and comes up from Florida 5 or 6 times during the season. He said he found my “Reverse Snowbird’ status to be “most interesting.”
What an interesting evening. When the game was over it got pretty emotional and we all shook hands first and then hugged and said goodbye. I haven’t been able to get the feeling out of my head, quite frankly.
Oh, about the game - the Yankees kicked ass and won 12-4 making it 4 in a row. Bad news - Jorge Posada is going on the Disabled List (DL) and will probably be out for the rest of the season.
THE BAND OF BROTHERS
The guy on the left is the one still on active duty. To his right is the most vocal of the group and the funniest. The two on the right are actually brothers. The 5th guy is not in the picture because he is now a New York City Cop and didn’t want to be photographed. He is also a White Sox fan.
Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com
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