She’s on a winning streak
Suzyn Waldman: “I’m the Yankees only longtime full-time daily female announcer. I started in ’87. I know everything about sports. Had my own season ticket when I was 3.
“My famous call? Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit. Home run. As he ran around the bases everyone was crying. And ’89 I’m on the air in the upper deck of San Francisco’s Candlestick Park when the earthquake started. My mike worked. Phone, too. So I just kept talking.
“Everybody blows something sometime. 2007, middle of the game, sitting in George Steinbrenner’s box, Roger Clemens decides now’s when he’ll announce he’s unretiring. I’m alone. The ground started shaking. People screamed. The scoreboard showed him in Steinbrenner’s booth. Thinking the stadium was coming down, I got emotional and I got hammered for it. People thought I should be fired for that.”
These guys never ever have to pee?
“The bullpen has good bathrooms. And Yankee Stadium will do whatever their guys need. They’d bring a bathroom onto the field if they could. Whenever somebody’s running out late it’s usually because he’s making a pit stop.
“For me, problems were taking a job from a male reporter. Not everyone treated me well. I sat in the press box one solid year and nobody talked to me. Never lunched with anybody. Year One was tough.
“Later on I brought Yogi Berra and Steinbrenner — estranged 14 years — together again. I knew George wanted to. Taking a slice of humble pie, he hopped an airplane midwinter and flew to Yogi’s New Jersey museum. Then Yogi began showing up again in the ballpark.
“I have a lifetime of souvenirs. My World Series picture with Mariano Rivera hangs in the Hall of Fame. I’ve got Jeter’s last game. Me crying, us hugging. Listen, let it be known the Yankees are terrific. If someone’s paying hundreds of millions to a player, can only be they’re making more than those hundreds of millions.”
So can we ask about off-field action?
“I don’t know about that. They don’t discuss hanky panky with me. I never saw that. I was too afraid to ever do anything anywhere like that.”
Yule be paying?
Onward to Will Ferrell’s 2003 Christmas movie “Elf.” The thing grossed a couple of hundred mil. Everyone was happy. Now less happy. Last holiday season B’way got “Elf: The Musical.” But now it’s hitting a really bad note. A lawsuit.
New York County Supreme Court. Plaintiff is suing this musical for — give or take — the payment of $500,000. Says someone’s on the naughty list for kidnapping the musical from the UK. Alleges that used in this physical stage production was their set, scenery, designs, props, costumes, furniture, and they want all their stuff back.
Oy, is Santa not happy.
Listen, back in olden times stage musicals starred Ethel Merman. Born 1908, she was Broadway’s most famous musical star. Known for her brassy belting style. She once sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Yankee Stadium — and people stood up in seven places — including Libya.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.