THE MAN THAT MADE ME A YANKEE FAN: PART 1

How did a 9 year old seal the fate of 3 future generations?

Now that the terrible 2013 season is over I find myself with a lot more time on my hands; time not spent watching playoff games, time not spent worrying about match-ups, time not spent wondering what the teams in front and behind us are doing (although I am following the playoffs but not with the same vigor and intensity). And now that I have all of this time back I find myself doing a lot of thinking; pondering if you will.

If you’re reading this I can safely assume we have something in common. You’re here because you love the New York Yankees. So do I!! I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself, why? Why do you come here every day and spend your time reading Bleeding Yankee Blue? Why do you go to the store or to the Stadium and spend your hard earned money on the Yankees? These are the things I think about.

Yankee fans come from all walks of life. We all come from different backgrounds and all have different lifestyles. Some of us became Yankee fans because we all like a winner (like my front-running friend, whom I wrote about here). But for some of us, like me, I didn’t have much of a choice. It was instilled in me on a cold January afternoon in 1979. What was it about that day in particular? It’s the day I was born. I was born a Yankee fan. My mom and dad are Yankee fans and so they decided to raise me as one too. But this story isn’t about me, and with all of my new found free time I decided to investigate further. My dad comes from a family of Mets fans but that’s a story for another time. My mom, on the other hand, comes from a family of Yankee fans so I went back another generation and this led me to my grandfather. I used some of my free time and sat down with him a few weeks ago to find out where it all began.

My grandfather was born in Italy in 1926. In 1929 his parents packed up my grandfather, his siblings and all their possessions, boarded a ship and headed to America to start a new life for themselves. Once here and my great-grandparents began assimilating into the American life, however they still held onto their Italian roots by living in an Italian community and listening to WVO-AM radio, (or that's what he told me... it's not easy to find info on that station), which served the ever-growing Italian immigrant population in New York. As a child my grandfather was a huge college football fan, knowing nothing about baseball. He followed Army football and, of course being the good Catholic boy, loved Notre Dame. That was all about to change.

One summer night in 1935, a 9-year-old boy sitting in front of the family radio, tired of the Italian station starts turning the dial, looking for something else. On this particular night he would stumble on something that affected 3 future generations. On this night he finds the descriptions of a game he’s never really heard or seen. It’s the New York Yankees! It was a road game and as was typical back in those days the facts of the game came back to New York via Teletype and the announcers would recreate the action. The particulars of this game 78 years ago are lost to history, but the love remains immense. He passed it to my mom, she passed it to me, and I’ve passed it on to my kids.

I wish I had a better story than this. My love of the Yankees began, that’s right, by accident. If this little boy doesn’t stumble on a radio broadcast in 1935 I might not be the insane fan I am today.

What’s your story?

Stay tuned for more with my grandfather...

--Lem Allen, BYB Contributor

Email me at: bybcurmudgeon@gmail.com

The Bleeding Yankee Blue store is opened! CLICK HERE TO START SHOPPING! Also, follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue (Official) on Facebook, just type it in.