Stadium Traditions

[MWillyamz]

This post is inspired by YTown_Tribe_Fan's post about the paper bag gag. I would appreciate it if you can help me out by listing some unique ballpark traditions, i.e Cub fans throwing back HR balls. I'm very curious about this.

I would like you to list any traditions involving what fans do during the game (like the Yankees roll call) or what happens at the stadium when a HR is hit (like the cheap looking apple popping up at Shea).

Thanks,
Mark

[Kroxquo]

They don't have them any more, but when the Vet first opened, there were these two colonial looking characters named Phil and Phyllis who walked around the stadium. There were also large versions of them beyond the outfield fence and they would ring a large Liberty Bell for every Phils' homer (not often in the early 70's).

[RR]

Here are some things that I consider Stadium traditions:

Fenway: rhythmic clapping and sound effects to foul balls rolling on the screen.
Baltimore: give that fan a contract.
Yankees: roll call, characters (freddy the tin pan man, scatman, the old dancing postal worker)
Toronto: ok, blue jays, Lets. Play. Ball.
Montreal: banging the seats.
Mets: the apple, by the way, was the brainchild of Al Harazin in 1981. "Let's Go Mets". "oooh".
Cubs: throwing back home runs and ronnie woo-woo.
ChiSox: Nancy Faust, playing songs that are cute take offs on player names.
Phillies: Wolf Pack for Randy Wolf starts.
Columbus Clippers: ringing the bells.

[Kroxquo]

The organist at Three Rivers (and I assume that they took him to the new park whose name escapes me at the moment) had a different song for every player in the majors based on the player's name, nickname or something else about him. He would play the James Bond theme for Barry Bonds, the Dick Van Dyke Theme for Andy Van Slyke, music from the movie "El Cid" for Sid Bream, Strawberry Fields Forever for Darryl Strawberry, etc. He said one time that the only player he could never come up with a song for was Dickie Thon. He said it drove him nuts, but he couldn't think of one appropriate for him.

[MWillyamz]

Does the new Comiskey Park have an exploding scoreboard like Old Comiskey had when players hit HRs?

[The Commissioner]

Yep, its still there. That's one of the only features that they retained in the new Comiskey.

[SouthsideTom]

Unfortunately some of my South side breathern have decided that the "throwing the home run back" tradition was cool enough to import to Comiskey Park.
Nancy Faust (long time Comiskey Park organist) also plays "Na-Na-Na-Na-Hey-Hey-Hey-Goodbye" whenever an opposing pitcher is pulled from the game (along with fan sing along).

The exploding scoreboard is back from the old park

Tailgating is getting popular in the parking lot to the southwest of the Park.

Elvis Appreciation Night has been there for a few years (Beetle's Appreciation night was scrapped for some reason this year)...cheesy...yes, but better than Barney the Purple Dinosaur singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" on the Northside.

Just after Jerry Reinsdorf took over the team, the Sox got their first mascots that I can remember.....a pair of oversized alien looking muppets named "Ribbie" and "Roobarb". They didn't last too long.

At Olde Comiskey Park during the Bill Veeck (God rest his soul) years, many of the ethnic communities had their own day at the Park (Greek Day, Irish Day, Italian Day, Lithuanian day, etc.) There was a Fun Run that was run through part of the neighborhood, with a finish line at home plate held every year at the beginning of September.

And of course, there was Andy the Clown at olde Comiskey Park. A guy just showed up one day dressed as a clown and started shouting "Goooo...youuuuuuu Whiiiiite Sox.....and made baloon animals for the kids......regretfully the current regime ended his stay shortly after they took over.

[retrofan]

I remember Philadelphia Phil and Philadelphia Phyllis ringing the Liberty Bell. Plus, the Phillies always came up with a gimmick for opening day to deliver the first ball. Anybody remember Kite Man?
A nineties tradition was to buy cheap tickets and work your way down to the field seats, which were always empty. Ahh, the Vet...

[SouthsideTom]

At Comiskey Park, in another of the corporate "tie-ins", has a mini-UPS truck that delivers the baseballs to the umpires at the beginning of each game.

It brought back some other memories of the olde Park. There used to be a small sack of bseballs on an "elevator" that was located behind and to the side of home plate. If umpires needed new baseballs, they would signal someone, and the sack of baseballs would rise out of the ground, and the umpire could get what he needed.

Olde Comiskey Park used to have a barber's chair for haircuts during the game, and a shower. The New Comiskey has recently added showers for fans on hot days.

[Kroxquo]

Do they still sing "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" in lieu of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th Inning stretch?

[bluezebra]

The Cubs' Bleacher Bums only throw back visitors' home runs.

I understand this is still done: when a foul ball rolls up the backstop screen, the fans go "Wooop Wooo" on the way up then down.

Bob

[JAdams]

The Budweiser theme at stretch time at Busch. At least they used to, I'm not sure since the stadium renovation when everything became more baseball like (ie better)

[SouthsideTom]

Hey, aside from forfeiting the game (Sparky Anderson convinced the umpires to call the second game), I would love to see disco demolition.......rap demolition.....you name it.

One of the DJs (Steve Dahl?) who was "responsible" for Disco Demolition actuall yfelt bad about it because he was a big Sox fan, and when they tore down the olde place, he reocrded a song about the Park...I have been looking for that recording because it is actually a very touching song.

[FERIS]

For Yankee stadium there is also the 5th inn. YMCA by the grounds crew

And lets not forget about our drunks

Feris

[satchelp]

Hi MW -
Currently at Qualcomm Stadium in the far provinces of San Diego, they play a very solemn dirge sequence of Cathedral Bells whenever Trevor Hoffman strides from the Bullpen to the Mound to Save the game for the Padres. BONGGGGGG ........BONGGGGGGGGGG ......BONGGGGGGG. It is supposed to indicate the funeral which is about to happen for the opposing team, I guess.

I remember some old Ebbets Field traditions from the 40's and 50's in Brooklyn:
* Whooooop up and whooooop down for foul balls on the screen behind home plate.
* The Dodger "Sym-Phony" roaming throughout the stands playing songs in their inimitable style.
* Beulah and her Cow Bell; she seemed to be at EVERY game.
* Happy Felton's KnotHole Gang before the game along the right-field line.
* Abe Stark's "HIT SIGN - WIN SUIT" sign on the fence in right field.

[bly11]

I thought it was Hilda Chester who had the cowbell. (Have you ever heard the story Pete Reiser told about the time Hilda changed pitchers for the Dodgers?) And don't forget Fierce Jack Pierce, the Cookie Lavagetto fanatic!

[bly11]

>What I like is that you know all this stuff better
>than I do - and you probably weren't even born yet.

You're right, I was born in 1969 ... but I'm basically a book addict, so my lack of personal experience is balanced by a ton of head knowledge. A mixed blessing.

I don't remember much about Fierce Jack Pierce, except that he used to chant, "Cook-ee, Cook-ee", and that he always had a helium tank with him - whenever Lavagetto came to bat, Pierce would blow up a helium balloon and send it floating into the air. But here's the story on Hilda Chester changing pitchers, courtesy of Pete Reiser in Donald Honig's "Baseball: When the Grass was Real":

----------------------------------------------------------

I remember one time, it was in either '41 or '42, we were in the seventh inning of a game. I was going out to take my position in center field, and I hear that voice: "Hey, Reiser!" Hilda. There could be 30,000 people there yelling at once, but Hilda was the one you'd hear. I look up, and she's dropping something onto the grass. "Give this note to Leo," she yells. So I pick it up and put it in my pocket. At the end of the inning I start heading in.

Now (Larry) MacPhail used to sit in a box right next to the dugout, and for some reason he waved to me as I came in, and I said, "Hi, Larry," as I went into the dugout. I gave Hilda's note to Leo and sat down. Next thing I know he's getting somebody hot in the bullpen; I think it was (Hugh) Casey. Meanwhile, (Whitlow) Wyatt's pitching a hell of a ball game for us. In the next inning the first guy hits the ball pretty good and goes out. The next guy gets a base hit. Here comes Leo. He takes Wyatt out and brings in Casey. Casey got rocked a few times, and we just did win the ball game, just did win it.

Leo had this rule that after a game you didn't take off your uniform until he said so. Usually he didn't invoke it unless we'd lost a tough one. But this day he goes into his office and slams the door without a word. We're all sitting there waiting for him to come out. Finally the door opens and out he comes. He points at me.

"Don't you ever give me another note from MacPhail as long as you play for me!"

"I didn't give you any note from MacPhail," I said.

"Don't tell me!" he yells. "You handed me a note in the seventh inning."

"That was from Hilda," I said.

"From HILDA?" he screams. I thought he was going to turn purple. "You mean to say that wasn't from MacPhail?"

I'd never even looked at the note, just handed it to him. Leo had heard me say something to MacPhail when I came in and figured the note was from Larry. It seems what the note said was: "Get Casey hot, Wyatt's losing it." So what you had was somebody named Hilda Chester sitting in the center-field bleachers changing pitchers for you. You talk about oddball things happening in Ebbets Field, you're not exaggerating.

----------------------------------------------------------

Oh, I wish I could've been there at Ebbets in the good old days. "The glorious past is gone forever ..."

[BlessYouBoys84]

Back in the 1980's at Tiger Stadium, the bleachers were known for their rowdy, yet loyal fans. At one time, they organized a parody of the Miller Lite ad "Less Filling, Tastes Great!" I'm probably not allowed to say it here so I'll paraphrase: One half of the bleachers would shout "F--- You!" and then the other half would shout "Eat S---!" I suppose this is why Mr. Campbell ordered the bleachers closed for nearly an entire season! Also, us bleacher creatures had a habit of jingling our car keys collectively when the opposition was at bat. Imagine the sound of thousands of keys! And it was also the bleacher crowd who would invariably start the wave around the stadium. One unique feature that I miss about Tiger Stadium is the double-decked stands. I recall watching the wave go thru the crowd clockwise on one deck and counter-clockwise on the other! Such great memories of the bleachers...

[olddumbguy]

In Anaheim, we have the "Wave" and beachballs. Also, fans are notorious for showing up late and leaving early. Not me, of course, I like to open the place and close the place. Problem is, they dont open the park until an hour before the game. Are there any parks that open earlyer so you can watch the home team take BP?

[bly11]

>I always wondered if it was true that west coast fans
>are fair weather fans and do not have the passion
>of some other fans. But, I didn't want to
>stereo type anyone because I know how it is to
>have a certain reputation being a Philadelphia fan.

Sad to say, West Coast fans have earned that reputation (I'm a California native myself). At the Big A, back in the '80s, the big tradition was tortilla-tossing (flinging them like frisbees), which should give you a clue ... . We're just not as intense on average out here, I guess.

But the other extreme wouldn't be any better. I mean, I don't think we've ever boo'ed Santa Claus. ;-)

One new tradition: the teenage drum corps at the Oakland Coliseum. Gives some people migraines, but I think it's mad fun.

bly11 - Oakland A's (boom boom boom) conference moderator

[RattleHead]

> Are there any parks that open earlyer so you can watch the home team take BP?

At the BOB they open the gates two hours before game time so you cn watch some of the batting practice, anyway. They throw you out real quick after the game, though, especially a night game.

Rattlehead

[trosmok]

Wrigley does have some lesser known traditions. There is still a bleacher bum who will lay odds and bet on every single pitch if he can "git sum action", Waveland Avenue is filled elbow to elbow with kids in mitts during BP, and during the game, but opening day is something everyone should experience if they can brave the April winter in the Windy City. As it is always sold out, one year I brought my camera, tried to check in as a member of the press corps, and easily slid past the hundred or so year old fellow watching the press credential door. Next thing I know, I'm on the field, greeting the Governor and other mucky mucks near first base. Almost everyone left by the fourth inning, so I had my choice of seats. Ranks as one of my favorite games. Only one better that comes to mind was opening day at Crosley Field; they used to put two rows of seats on the field, around the outfield, and I was priveleged to sit there, one year. Incidently, balls hit into those seats were ruled as ground rule doubles; priceless

[BlessYouBoys84]

Just another thought about the subject. I was watching a Mariners game this past week and I noticed a sound in the background. Did my ears deceive me? No! I had forgotten about the train! Apparently, there is a rail line near Safeco Field and on occasion, you can hear it's whistle blowing. Personally, I think the engineer likes to make a little more noise than is necessary. But perhaps he wants his part in baseball tradition too. Can any Seattle fans give us a little more info on this?
And of course for my Detroit input: there is an opera-singing hot dog vendor that works the area between third base and home at Comerica Park. His name is Charley and he gets upset if you want a hot dog with more than just mustard. He's a young guy, 21 I think, and he has great pipes. If you ever watch a Tigers game (bear with us) on TV or attend a game, you're sure to hear him.

[mjrbaseball]

Does anyone remember the "Sign Man" at Shea Stadium in the late '60s and early '70s? He wore a white hat, and always had an assortment of professionally-printed large signs he would hold up for every occasion. (I used to know his name, but I've forgotten it.)

[AndyS]

Let's not forget that guy in liederhosen that used to slide down the slide into the giant mug when a Brewer homered!