I recently saw Arlene Howard the wife of the greatest African American Yankee, Elston Howard. She greeted me by saying hello Batboy.
Her daughter Cheryl said to her mom … You remember Ray… and Arlene responded by saying yes but to me, he will always be the batboy.
I took that as a wonderful compliment. It reminded me of a beautiful time in my life when I learned how much the Yankees loved children.
The first day I met Elston Howard he treated me like a family member. I saw how he was always all business when it came to doing his coaching duties but when kids were around he always stopped for them and joked around. He always felt that it was important to show them that you cared. I remember him saying that a small moment like that could make a difference in a kid’s life. The coach that locker next to Elston was Yogi Berra. He was a very sweet man. He actually looked like a cartoon character and the rumor was that they named the cartoon show Yogi Bear after Yogi. I don’t know if this is true however it would make all the sense in the world. How Yogi was with children was a thing of beauty. He was so natural with them and they in turn truly responded to him. It is not surprising that Yogi had a youth learning center in Montclair New Jersey. The work done there with kids has been phenomenal.
Billy Martin had a reputation for getting into fistfights and sometimes being a wild and crazy guy. He didn’t take any crap from no one. However, when it came to children he was a sucker. I say this in a very complimentary way. He loved the kids and there is nothing he would not do for any child. Billy was the first Yankee manager that allowed me to bring kids onto the field to watch batting practice. I once said to him that he was a hero to the kids in the Bronx and he said that he would rather think of himself as a mentor. I want them to know the goodness of my heart not what they sometimes see on the television set. I thought that was beautiful and something that I wanted to always remember about billy because he meant it. I remember him always going into his pocket to take out money for kids that he thought could use it.
Thurman Munson was another person that I learned so much about the importance of being there for children. On several occasions, we would go to a hospital or kids’ event and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it because he didn’t want the attention taken away from kids. A thing that was customary for us was going to the McDonald’s across the street from the Yankee Stadium and buying neighborhood kids hamburgers. Thurman was your quintessential…Don’t judge a book by its cover.. person!
Even Mr. October, and Reggie Jackson had a beautiful side to him when it came to kids. One time we were driving to Yankee Stadium for that evening’s game. En route, he stopped at a hospital because someone had called him at his apartment to let him know that a child had been in a fire and his body was 80 percent burned. When we got there he was taken by the little boy’s bed and even though the little boy couldn’t talk, his eyes told the story. The little boy shed tears of joy. Reggie said all the right things and promised to bring him to the Stadium when the little one got better, and he did. Before we left Reggie told him that he loved him. That was truly a wonderful moment because I knew that Reggie meant it.
Bobby Murcer, Catfish Hunter, Bucky Dent Mickey Rivers were all true mentors to me when it came to showing love to the kids. George Steinbrenner was incredible because he made it a part of his Yankee existence. He actually visited a couple of schools in the Bronx including P. S. 55 where to this day they hang a letter of encouragement from the Boss to the kids.
Today I visit as many schools and hospitals as possible because the one thing I learned from my heroes & mentors is that by showing the kids your heart and soul at an early age you will help make this a better world.
The other thing I learned is that you don’t have to be a baseball player or movie star to be an inspiration to children. You can also be a firefighter or in the case of my three kids, a Police officer, or just a good person that’s trying to help make this world a better place.
We as adults need to help our children become good responsible people so that when we leave this world it’s better than when we first got here.
Oh and by the way let’s not forget that our future baseball fans etc are the children of today.
Last week I got to visit a school in Long Island with Police Officer Jon-Erik Negron, my son.
The Love that they showed him was more than equal to the Love that he showed them.
The picture that we show is a true sea of Love.
