Tampa: This morning I met my good friend Charlie Santoro at the Village Inn Diner outside of Steinbrenner Field. Charlie is a member of the YES Network. He’s probably one of the most loved figures in that organization. He’s an extremely lovable character who I am proud to call my friend.
Charlie always makes everyone laugh and he always makes you feel good about yourself. Saturday morning he wasn’t as lovable as he usually is. I asked him what’s wrong and he told me with the kind of year I just gone through, (I lost my Mom and Dad and I also lost my very dear friend Adele Smithers). He was afraid to tell me what he had to tell me.
I told him, what happened Charlie, let me know? And he informed me that Beatrice O’Neill passed away. For many of you out there who don’t know who she was, Beatrice was the lady who greeted everyone in the suites section of Yankee Stadium.
She had worked for the Yankees for many-many years and was a true favorite to George Steinbrenner. She was a lady of true class and dignity, someone the Yankees could not afford to lose because she made all the guests truly feel welcome.
Every time that me or Charlie walked up to the fourth floor the first thing we would do was hug and kiss Beatrice. We always used to tell her that she was a fashion statement because she dressed so elegantly. I always used to ask Beatrice for a date and she used to say,” I am old enough to be your mother-stop it.”
Mr. Steinbrenner’s suite supervisor, Joe Scafidi used to drive Beatrice and I home sometimes and we would flirt with her all the way home and at the age of 80, she loved it.
And, oh, how she loved “The Boss.” To Beatrice “The Bosss” was Cary Grant. He always made her feel like a million bucks. Whenever you met Beatrice you would never forget her because she was the Mom everyone wished they had, a true, sweet and darling person.
I will miss her forever as will everyone who knew her. Beatrice had a son, daughter, and ten grandchildren. The one thing I can truly tell you about Beatrice, and that is, she was very proud to be a Yankee. True and true!
Weekends belong to Ray ESPN 1050 Radio 12-2pm Saturday and Sunday. Ray can also be read on Newsmax.
