Mattpat, you don't look like the kinda guy that should get mad as you do; I detect distant bloodlines with Giambino or Donnie Baseball. But all us Yankee fans look the same anyway >;)
Profoundly sad. RIP Freddy. That fry pan tone cut through the chatter and heard all over the stadium and on the radio and TV broadcasts. Freddy had grace, and charming as a codger. He pleasantly interacted unforgettably with my son at a young age. We'll always remember him.
RIP Mr. Schuman, and thank you for wearing your joy on your sleeve and inviting so many of us to express our own. My use of his name as a login here has always been intended as a tribute, though I doubt he ever saw it.
When I was freelancing for the Yankees magazine about a dozen years ago, he not only agreed to let me profile him but welcomed me into his apartment, made that day's sign while I watched and took pictures, and led me along his accustomed route from the UWS to the stadium. Talking all the while about his girlfriend, whom I never did meet. Suzie, if I remember right.
Riding the subway with Freddy was like tagging along with Santa Claus. The wave of greetings and smiles grew and grew the closer we got to 161st St. Cops, motormen, fans, everyone wanted to shake his hand and hit the pan. In my "serious" newspaper reporting I went to deadline more than once without a hoped-for comment from Rudy Giuliani or even his office; when I called City Hall and said I was writing a story about Freddy Sez, the mayor found his way to the phone.
It's been three seasons since I moved to North Carolina, and it's occurred to me each winter to wonder whether Freddy was OK. Certainly today's news was going to come eventually. But for three Aprils, I got a morse code reassurance over the back speakers in my TV room. As if he were banging out, "Don't-wor-ry, IM-STILL-HERE."
It would be easy to over-elegize. Eight million stories, etc. I'll just stick with helluva nice man, and thanks. Epitaph enough.
I left NY in 1973, and have only been to 2 Yankee games since. I didn't know and wasn't even aware of Freddy, except what I learned from this blog. But he seems like he was a special kind of institution, and that the positive energy he brought to the Yankee fans around him, is another example of what makes this game so great. RIP Mr. Sez.
1. Glad to hear Cooperstown is getting the pan. (Or the spoon. I heard both the HOF and the Yogi museum mentioned, and I don't know the particulars.) I hope they know what they've got there and treat it accordingly.
2. Please, Yankees, have the class to pay a little tribute tomorrow night. I would love to hear from any Banterites who are in the park.
damn sad news. I made sure my sons banged the pan at their first/last visit to the old Stadium. They had a blast, and were so impressed with his attendance record. RIP, Freddy.
Sad to see Freddy has passed, but I'm sure he'll be banging his pan in the big ballpark in the sky tonight. 2010 has been a tough year for deaths from across all facets of the Yankee world.
Another institution gone. Really sad. Somehow, no matter where I sat in the Stadium, Freddy eventually showed up. He was even at a Triple-A game I attended two summers ago in Wilkes-Barre! I -- and my now-15 year-old daughter, who had to bang the pan every game we attended -- will miss him greatly. Thanks for the memories, Freddy.
One funny thing about Freddy is I have been going to Yankee Stadium since the early 1980s and don't really have any memory of him before the mid-1990s. I went to fewer games back then, but I am surprised Freddy didn't stand out among the sparse crowds. Does anyone have a late-80s or early-90s Freddie memory?
[12] The NTTimes (?) article about him, linked above, mentions that he had been attending Yankees games for 22 years. I don't think he was a fixture in the 1980s.
When our oldest son was 14, he dressed as Freddy Sez for Halloween. It didn't matter that no one whose doorbell he rang that night had any idea who he was supposed to be. It certainly didn't matter to his little brother, who, the following year, used the same costume. I hope Freddy knew what an impression he made.
Very sad. I took a picture with him at ALDS Game Three. Glad I did now
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs395.ash2/67317_768816099264_5313641_42741131_7053259_n.jpg
Damn. Nice guy too.
Mattpat, you don't look like the kinda guy that should get mad as you do; I detect distant bloodlines with Giambino or Donnie Baseball. But all us Yankee fans look the same anyway >;)
One of my fondest old Stadium memories - getting to bang on the pan.
Lets win tomorrow night cuz Freddy Sez so.
Profoundly sad. RIP Freddy. That fry pan tone cut through the chatter and heard all over the stadium and on the radio and TV broadcasts. Freddy had grace, and charming as a codger. He pleasantly interacted unforgettably with my son at a young age. We'll always remember him.
RIP Mr. Schuman, and thank you for wearing your joy on your sleeve and inviting so many of us to express our own. My use of his name as a login here has always been intended as a tribute, though I doubt he ever saw it.
When I was freelancing for the Yankees magazine about a dozen years ago, he not only agreed to let me profile him but welcomed me into his apartment, made that day's sign while I watched and took pictures, and led me along his accustomed route from the UWS to the stadium. Talking all the while about his girlfriend, whom I never did meet. Suzie, if I remember right.
Riding the subway with Freddy was like tagging along with Santa Claus. The wave of greetings and smiles grew and grew the closer we got to 161st St. Cops, motormen, fans, everyone wanted to shake his hand and hit the pan. In my "serious" newspaper reporting I went to deadline more than once without a hoped-for comment from Rudy Giuliani or even his office; when I called City Hall and said I was writing a story about Freddy Sez, the mayor found his way to the phone.
It's been three seasons since I moved to North Carolina, and it's occurred to me each winter to wonder whether Freddy was OK. Certainly today's news was going to come eventually. But for three Aprils, I got a morse code reassurance over the back speakers in my TV room. As if he were banging out, "Don't-wor-ry, IM-STILL-HERE."
It would be easy to over-elegize. Eight million stories, etc. I'll just stick with helluva nice man, and thanks. Epitaph enough.
I left NY in 1973, and have only been to 2 Yankee games since. I didn't know and wasn't even aware of Freddy, except what I learned from this blog. But he seems like he was a special kind of institution, and that the positive energy he brought to the Yankee fans around him, is another example of what makes this game so great. RIP Mr. Sez.
[5] And very nice guy. Great sentiments.
A couple of thoughts in addition --
1. Glad to hear Cooperstown is getting the pan. (Or the spoon. I heard both the HOF and the Yogi museum mentioned, and I don't know the particulars.) I hope they know what they've got there and treat it accordingly.
2. Please, Yankees, have the class to pay a little tribute tomorrow night. I would love to hear from any Banterites who are in the park.
damn sad news. I made sure my sons banged the pan at their first/last visit to the old Stadium. They had a blast, and were so impressed with his attendance record. RIP, Freddy.
Sad to see Freddy has passed, but I'm sure he'll be banging his pan in the big ballpark in the sky tonight. 2010 has been a tough year for deaths from across all facets of the Yankee world.
Another institution gone. Really sad. Somehow, no matter where I sat in the Stadium, Freddy eventually showed up. He was even at a Triple-A game I attended two summers ago in Wilkes-Barre! I -- and my now-15 year-old daughter, who had to bang the pan every game we attended -- will miss him greatly. Thanks for the memories, Freddy.
One funny thing about Freddy is I have been going to Yankee Stadium since the early 1980s and don't really have any memory of him before the mid-1990s. I went to fewer games back then, but I am surprised Freddy didn't stand out among the sparse crowds. Does anyone have a late-80s or early-90s Freddie memory?
Wow. That's #4 for the year. George, Bob, Ralph & Freddy.
[12] The NTTimes (?) article about him, linked above, mentions that he had been attending Yankees games for 22 years. I don't think he was a fixture in the 1980s.
When our oldest son was 14, he dressed as Freddy Sez for Halloween. It didn't matter that no one whose doorbell he rang that night had any idea who he was supposed to be. It certainly didn't matter to his little brother, who, the following year, used the same costume. I hope Freddy knew what an impression he made.
h ave so me che ap thi ngs ...(Jew erly...)
ni k e sh o es , fa s h i on cl o th es ; br a nd ha n d b a gs , wa l l et ...
I f y o u th ink o ur web site is go od , y ou c an p ut th is web site t o bookmarks or ot her pl aces, ea sy t o fi nd ...
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