For 51 years Francis Cookie Blake was a vendor at Yankee Stadium. He took great pride in working at the Cathedral. He loved telling people that he worked at Yankee Stadium. He loved talking about Mickey Mantle, Thurman, and Reggie. He truly was the ultimate Yankee fan. The fact that he got to be at some of the biggest games in Yankee history made him very happy. His loyalty to the Yankee brand was evident just in the way he went about his business day in and day out.
I got to know Cookie at C. S. 55 (an elementary school in the Bronx) a school that I have been visiting for many years. Cookie was a teacher there. Technically that was his real job but he would rather talk about his job as a vendor at Yankee Stadium. When Principal Louis Torres would tell Cookie that I was coming he would be more excited than the 500 kids that I would be visiting because he never knew who would be accompanying me.
Through the years I had anyone from George Steinbrenner to A. Rod to Robinson Cano to Gio and Gleyber visit with Principal Torres and the kids of 55. These were the times that Cookie would really be happy because he would have his one-on-one time with his heroes.
I love the fact that Principal Torres always understood the love and adulation that Cookie had for his Yankees. It was something that was very important to him and I honestly believe that it made Cookie a better teacher. I think that it made him a better person period.
Cookie died this week at the age of 67, I’m not sure of the cause, I only know that I’m devastated for the kids of the school and for Principal Torres. I was told that at his funeral It was a great turnout for a great man.
I hope that the People that handle the vendors program at Yankee Stadium never forget him and all of his long and meritorious contributions to a profession that he was really proud of.
I have been friends with many of the vendors at Yankee Stadium during all my years working there. Some vendors didn’t really like the job it was just a way of making extra cash. At the end of the games you could ask them what the score was and they would laugh because they wouldn’t even know who won. Cookie could tell you what the count was when Jeter hit the triple in the 4th inning and when A. Rod hit the homer in the 7th inning and still had a great night selling his goods to the hungry fans.
Cookie started at Yankee Stadium a year before I did (1972) and always made me feel like I was a star. However to me, he was the star.
Now he can go to baseball heaven and be with his heroes and do what he always wanted to do… play catch with Thurman Munson.
