By Ed Alstrom
Thanks to you Banterites who responded so nicely to my post! I read all of you every day, and have the utmost respect for all of you. Hell, even the jazz talk is right on point.
I wanted to give you one more Shep nugget to chew on. I mentioned in the post a handwritten poem he had showed me (on his own Yankee stationery), that he had penned after an infamous incident. He showed it to me on the sly, and his real fear about it getting around was that it would ‘get him fired’, so seeing as that’s not an issue now, I’ll take the liberty of issuing this as a ‘Banter Exclusive’.
I don’t think it will get him fired, or me in any trouble (I hope not, anyway), and you all deserve to hear it, Plus, it’s brilliant, concise, and pretty damn funny:
“O, Kevin Brown let his team down
When he fractured his hand on the wall.
Better instead he had fractured his head,
Then it wouldn’t have mattered at all!”
I, too, wish there could be a book of these published. He said he had ‘hundreds’ of them!
Editor’s Note: Bill Madden has a tribute to Sheppard today that includes another poem…Don’t miss it.
Ed Alstrom plays the organ on the weekends at Yankee Stadium.
[Drawing by Larry Roibal]
Priceless, thanks for sharing that Ed!
A Banter Exclusive. Fabulous.
Ed = you're the best, man!
Amazing!
I've been going 'round the internet on my lunch break reading various articles and tributes to Bob Sheppard and I found myself smiling broadly over some of his quotes and got such a chuckle over this one from the NY times:
“One day when my wife and I were down in St. Thomas, we went into a restaurant,” Sheppard told The Village Voice in 2002. “I told the waitress, ‘I’ll have the No. 1. Scrambled eggs, buttered toast and black coffee. No. 1.’ My wife looked at me and said. ‘You sound like Jon Miller’s imitation.’ I wasn’t conscious of the fact that I was ordering the same way I’d introduce Billy Martin.”
As sad as his passing is, I know that I can't stay sad for long because he had a fulfilling and long life. 99 years? Where do I sign up for that?
[4] Not sure I'd take it if offered. May not be able to see or hear the games. I certainly could not make it to the bathroom after a few frosties. Read yesterday's week in review. It may not be pretty to live that long.
As for Shepperd, I went to the Stadium in 1951. I was little. Who knew.
Look at the lineups for the first game he called. Several HoFers. The usual suspects-JoeD, The Mick, Scooter, Yogi, Coleman, Casey, Johnny Mize. Jackie Jensen hit a homer. Somehow he went to the Sox where he played with Ted and Piersall. He won the MVP there. Yankees won 5-0.
Boston had some good players, also. One of note was Lou Boudreau. He went on to manage and be Denny McClain's father-in-law.
This made my day, thank you for sharing it!