Shea Believer: My Amazin' Journey

By Bill De Cicco

September 28, 2008

Entering the stadium that day, there was no way to prepare for what would come. There were too many scenarios. For instance, a Mets win and a Milwaukee win would create a tie, resulting in a one-game playoff the next day. A Mets win and a Milwaukee loss would clinch a playoff spot as the wild card. A Mets loss and a Milw

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jurnal Press
• Release date: Jul 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781955241434

Bill De Cicco

Bill De Cicco was batboy and ball boy for the New York Mets from 1965 through 1968. His memories of these experiences are unique, and baseball fans will find them very interesting. Bill grew up in Bayside, Queens, and now lives in Brookhaven Hamlet on Long Island with his wife of forty-three years, Jeaneane.

Book preview

ECVR_Shea_Believer_My_Amazin'_Journey_by_Bill_De_Cicco.jpg

SHEA BELIEVER

My Amazin’ Journey

Bill De Cicco

Shea Believer: My Amazin’ Journey by Bill De Cicco

This book is written to provide information and motivation to readers. Its purpose isn’t to render any type of psychological, legal, or professional advice of any kind. The content is the sole opinion and expression of the author, and not necessarily that of the publisher.

Copyright © 2021 by Bill De Cicco

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015917963

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form by any means, including, but not limited to, recording, photocopying, or taking screenshots of parts of the book, without prior written permission from the author or the publisher. Brief quotations for noncommercial purposes, such as book reviews, permitted by Fair Use of the U.S. Copyright Law, are allowed without written permissions, as long as such quotations do not cause damage to the book’s commercial value. For permissions, write to the publisher, whose address is stated below.

First Published, 2015

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN: 978-1-955241-44-1 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-955241-45-8 (Hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-955241-43-4 (E-book)

Published by Jurnal Press LLC

30 N Gould St. Ste R Sheridan, WY 82801

https://jurnalpress.com/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

In the Beginning

CHAPTER 2

How Did You Get That Job?

CHAPTER 3

First Game as Batboy

CHAPTER 4

Koufax Game

CHAPTER 5

Odd Couple Day

CHAPTER 6

Boxing

CHAPTER 7

Jets Football

CHAPTER 8

Opening Day 1969

CHAPTER 9

Games

Chapter 10

Shea’s Last Opening Day

Chapter 11

Games with My Dad

Chapter 12

1969 World Series

Chapter 13

Playboy Bunny Game

Chapter 14

Opening Day, April 5, 1983

Chapter 15

Opening Day 1985

Chapter 16

1986 Playoffs and World Series

Chapter 17

1988 NLCS

Chapter 18

Dad’s (Paw’s) Eightieth Birthday Game

Chapter 19

1999 NLDS

Chapter 20

9/11 Game

Chapter 21

September 18, 2006

Chapter 22

The Last Summer

Chapter 23

Odds and Ends

Chapter 24

Final Thoughts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

To My Dad

Who taught me to be a man through his actions and deeds, and as a

bonus gave me the gift of baseball.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To God for putting my wife, Jeaneane, in my life nearly fifty years ago. No one else would ever have put up with me taking almost a decade to finish this book;

To my sister-in-law, Mollyann Milius, for typing her fingers to the bone in pulling this project together;

To my lifelong friend Steve (Buzz) Brazauskus, who passed away in 2012 but was such a big influence on this book when the project began;

To my sister, Mary Linton, and niece, Carolyn Linton, for getting this project started;

To Linda Carpinone for naming the book; and

To Jim McIsaac for his masterful photography.

INTRODUCTION

This book became a labor of love and took almost ten years to complete. Shea Stadium was my work home for four years as I grew up alongside major league ballplayers who were a bit spoiled but young enough to treat a skinny young teenager from Bayside, Queens, properly.

My years as a ball boy were only a small part of the history I have with Shea Stadium. That history now spanned four generations of my family before it ended on a cold, rainy night in September 2008.

I’ll take you on my Shea Stadium journey from a young man in 1964 to a grandfather in 2008.

The stories are full of great memories that are both heartbreaking and some of my life’s happiest moments. Time can change the details of events in our minds and how we understand what we do remember. Detailed research was done to make the stories I will tell you as accurate as possible.

What I don’t do in this book is discuss certain things I saw in the clubhouse and dugout, such as racism, womanizing, chewing tobacco, smoking, cheating, and greenies (amphetamines), which were readily available to all players since it wasn’t a crime to use them without a prescription till 1970. I witnessed all of this, often at a young age. Maybe those subjects are for another time. For this book and this amazin’ journey, we’ll stick to sports and family.

CHAPTER 1

In the Beginning

I became a baseball fan long before Shea Stadium existed and before the Mets were even a thought in anyone’s mind. I attended my first Major League Baseball game on August 21, 1958—the Yankees versus the White Sox. I was seven years old. The Yankees won the game six to three behind Bob Turley. I remember nothing of the game, but Frankie Cammerata, the son of our family friend, was the Yankees’ batboy at that time, and before the game he took me into the Yankee clubhouse to meet the players and get autographs that I still have to this day. I couldn’t stop staring at Mickey Mantle, who was my childhood baseball idol. I was never a Yankees fan, but the Mick was the man to every young boy in New York. Mantle, in only his seventh major league season, was already a superstar. He had won the Triple Crown in 1956 with 52 home runs, 130 RBIs and a .353 batting average. The previous Triple Crown had been won in 1947 by Ted Williams, and it wasn’t until 1966 that Frank Robinson would win the next one.

Frankie Cammerata was the Yankee batboy for many years in the late fifties. He was my cousin by friendship; back then your parents’ best friends were called aunt and uncle out of respect, and their children were your cousins. Aunt Rose and Uncle Eddie’s son Frankie was my connection to becoming the Mets’ ball boy many years later.

My dad and I attended many Yankee games together, but as I remember we were never true fans. My dad was an old New York Giants fan, and they had broken his heart when they moved out of the Polo Grounds to San Francisco after the 1957 season. But baseball was the passion with my dad, so he began to watch the Yankees even though his heart wasn’t in it. We watched, talked, and played baseball at every opportunity, from my early childhood right up to his death in 1998.

Growing up, my dad’s favorite player was the Giants’ Mel Ott. He had a Hall of Fame career, hitting 511 home runs with a career batting average of .304. He played twenty-two years for the Giants, from 1926 to 1947, and was their player-manager from 1942 to 1948. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951, the year Mickey Mantle played his first major league game and the year I was born.

Joe De