Copyright 2008, Susan DeLay
There are fans and there are Bleacher Creatures. The New York Yankees baseball team has them both.
Yankee Stadium, located on East 161st Street in The Bronx, has long been referred to as “The House that Ruth Built” (as in Babe Ruth). About the time Yankees starting winning, Babe Ruth’s star was in motion. So, which came first? The Yankees winning or Babe Ruth hitting his stride? We’ll never know.
But in the first game the Yankees played at their new three-tiered stadium on April 18, 1923, the 28-year-old Sultan of Swat hit a homer to help defeat the Boston Red Sox and the fans went wild. (The Sox had unceremon iously dumped The Babe from their team a few years earlier.) The Yankees went on to win their first World Series that year—their first in the 57,000+ seat Yankee Stadium.
Talk about fans that go wild. In Section 39 of Yankee Stadium, located just behind the right field fence in the Bleacher section are the Bleacher Creatures. The Yankees most ardent and, shall we say, outspoken fans pay only $14 for one of the 2,385 seats in the bleachers (compared to $23 for an upper tier seat in the nosebleed section).
Roll call is their starting whistle. As the announcer shouts out the name of a Yankee player, the Creatures begin to chant, and they don’t stop until the player acknowledges them—usually with a wave. No amount of ignoring them will make them go away, much to the dismay of the visiting teams. Greetings from Section 39 to visiting players include a disparaging personal remark that ends in “you suck.” (It’s their favorite cheer.)
No wonder Stadium officials have banned the sale of beer to all Bleacher Creatures. (Every other section of the Stadium sells beer through the fifth inning.) Nothing ramps up the rowdy factor like an adult beverage. Officials should also ban the sale of candy since everyone knows what sugar can do to three-year-olds. Or people who act like three-year-olds.
In anticipation of the Yankees-Mariners game when Seattle’s right fielder Ichiro Suzuki made his first appearance at the stadium in the Bronx, the Bleacher Creatures learned enough Japanese to greet him with obscenities in his own language. Ah. So just to make him feel at home.
When the Yankees are so behind in a game that not even dismissing the opposing team would help them win, the crowd in the stadium thins out. But not the Bleacher Creatures. They are there until the bitter end, chanting about people who sit in box seats (“Box seats suck!”) and even turning their insults on each other. (“You suck!”) Some of these derogatory comments center on anyone who didn’t wear proper attire (a Yankees jersey) or even what kind of combat boots a BCE2s mother wears.
Shouts and jeers are one thing, but the Creatures aren’t content with that. They also throw things like money, knives, and batteries. (Who hasn’t thrown a battery at someone from a distance? Besides me.) I’m sure the players would prefer money to knives, but that’s just a guess. Creatures are also known to throw punches—usually at each other.
Ali Ramirez was the original Bleacher Creature. For about 15 years, he entered the stadium through one of the two rear entrances carrying a cow bell. (Bleacher Creatures are not allowed to go through other entrances.) Using his cow bell, he would get the crowd going with their chanting, and he never missed Yankees games. Well, not until he died in 1996, leaving behind a legacy and a big cow bell. In his memory, the Yankees affixed a gold plaque to Seat 29, row A, Section 39 that reads: This seat is taken in the memory of Ali Ramierz, The Original Bleacher Creature.” (Ali’s timing was off. He died before the Yankees won the Series that year.)
Things are about to change for the Bleacher Creatures.
The Yankees will play their final home game at the House that Ruth Built on Sunday, September 21. When the new season opens, they will move across the street to their new stadium. And the Bleacher Creatures will have to find a new place to roost. Sure, there will be right field seats, but who knows how far away they’ll be? In 2009, it’s possible the chants of the Bleacher Creatures could be a mere echo.
And that, as they say, would suck.
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