They say that bad things come in threes. I came out of the movies last night to multiple messages on my Blackberry about the death of Freddy Schuman, AKA Freddy "Sez". For those who don't know, Freddy has been a fixture of Yankee Stadium ever since I can remember, with his pan and spoon trying to rally the crowd. He had creative (and usually rhyming) signs and walked around the Stadium from section-to-section. You always liked when that
pang pang pang got louder because you knew that you were that closer to banging the pan.
Oddly, my first time banging the pan wasn't at Yankee Stadium. It was at the old All-Star Cafe for Game 4 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. I saw Freddy there and decided to go up to finally get the courage to go up to him and bang the pan (I have no clue why I was nervous...but I was). I asked him why he wasn't in Baltimore and he said he doesn't go on the road trips, and added "besides, why would I want to go to Baltimore?"
The Yankees won a slug-fest of a game and I'll always remember thinking that my pan-banging was a reason. Two years ago, as the Old Yankee Stadium was coming to a close, I saw Freddy walking around while I was talking with a friend. I realized that Freddy was a part of my Old Stadium experience as much as meeting at the bat, or walking through the tunnel to see that green grass, or hearing Bob Sheppard over the loudspeaker or chanting along with the Bleacher Creatures' roll call. I had my friend snap that picture to the right.
Last night, when I got home, I found it again and smiled at the one-eyed man with the pan, Freddy "Sez" who will join George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard as people watching over these 2010 Yankees. I don't think Yankee Stadium security will let 50,000 people bring in pans to the stadium tonight, but hopefully I hear that
pang pang pang from my spot in the bleachers and know that Freddy's memory is still with us.
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