What on earth is this post about? It was supposed to be about my brother and I attending our first baseball game together since the 1980s, and it happened to be Old Timers Day at the new Yankee Stadium, but it was quite a strange, but fun day.

The stadium is fabulous, by the way. On the field, the dimensions appear to be about the same, giving you the sense that you are sitting in the old stadium, aside from the massively high-tech scoreboard that has every stat imaginable and a high-def big screen. Let’s just say the low-tech version of the scoreboard in the old haunt left much to be desired. This one it’s hard to take your eyes off of.

Tim and I had a great time, courtesy of his father-in-law Walter, who managed to get us mind-blowing field level seats on the third base line. I recall getting seats like these back in the day, but nowadays these are almost all corporate-owed boxes, so I don’t know what he did to get these, but the view was amazing.

It was savagely hot out there today, and I felt sorry for all the Old Timers who had to stand out there roasting in the sun. Aside from the players that Tim and I watched regularly in the 70s and 80s who were there (Rich Gossage, Reggie Jackson, Chris Chambliss, Graig Nettles, Oscar Gamble, Bucky Dent, Ron Guidry, Brian Doyle, Mickey Rivers), there were a few guys from the 1950 championship team being honored, and that means they were very seasoned citizens, and some frail. I was afraid for their health out there in the blazing sun.

When it came for the Old Timers to play their two-inning game, the mighty Keith Olbermann and Hall of Famer Bob Wolff were behind the mic, and for god’s sake Keith had on a suit and tie and was in the sun on the field! I don’t know how he survived (you can read his poignant post on today here). The players who actually went out there to play were the younger “Old Timers” but given they all had those horrid, but wear-well polyester uniforms on, they had to be cooking inside. Even so, Mickey Rivers, who was a major base stealer back in the day, hustled out two doubles, looking quite nimble, but even he, once he managed to get to second base, bent over like he was drawing his last breath.

A slideshow…

Oh, and about that goofy hat I have on. There’s a story behind it that is truly bizarre. So I’m on the subway on my way to meet my brother, who came in from Penn Station and we were to meet at the 59th St. station and take the train to Yankee Stadium. I arrived early to the stop and decided to go above ground and to the CNN/Time Warner building, where I knew there were shops and possibly I could find a hat to wear so I didn’t burn to death at the game.

I go in and immediately figure out that I wasn’t going to find a cheap hat in there. All the stores are high-end places like Hugo Boss, and so I have only about 15 minutes to find something before Tim arrives at the subway stop so I go down a side hall, see a Godiva Chocolate store, some fine jewelers and, well, an exit, which is where I headed. As I go down the hall, I hear someone yelling “Pam, Pam, Pam Spaulding!”

I turn around and a man comes running out of a store over to me. I don’t know him — he introduces himself — he’s John Ozed, a Blend fan. He profusely thanks me for writing the blog and doing what I do (I seriously don’t know how I get recognized like this). I thank him, but then he says “I saw that you were going to be in NYC and I thought I might see you.” As in he probably read about my travels on the blog or on FB. In fact, he said he had seen another woman with locs go by his store earlier and mistakenly thought it was me.

OK – now what are the odds that 1) I would get off at that subway stop to look for a hat, 2) I would go in that building, and 3) that he would be looking out of his store at the exact time I walked by and recognized me!?

I thought I would die laughing. Anyway, I asked him if he had a camera and if he wanted a pic with me, and he did. We went into his store and he went into the back and came out with a camera and his cell phone and the other gentleman in the store took the pix and John said that he’d upload the mobile one to Facebook right away. He did indeed, as you see.

And so before I left I asked John where could I find a floppy hat, and he suggested drug store just a block away; I thanked him, went over there and did find that hat I have on in the photo for $5 at Duane Reade. I went back down into the subway at 59th and met my brother and we went off to the game.

UPDATE: I found this photo I took back in 1984, when fans would go and wait outside Yankee Stadium to get autographs or take photos of the players as they arrived. Back in the day it was quite easy to meet and speak with players if you just showed up early enough. Billy Martin was quite accommodating and I managed to snap this one of the skipper.