25 July 2008

When women were persona non grata at Yankee Stadium

By Judy Walden Scarafile
REGIONAL -

The inaugural All-Star game between two rivals in summer baseball — the Atlantic Collegiate League and the Cape Cod League — was played at Yankee Stadium July 20, 1970.

It was the start of a tradition of the Cape League playing the ACBL in a major league park that continued through 1987.

As luck would have it this was also the first All-Star Game I attended for the Cape League and it proved to be more memorable than I ever expected. I did not anticipate an incident to take place that would be talked about, written about and told in speeches and "folklore" for the next 38 years.

It was my first year as an official scorer for the Cape League and I traveled from town to town, game to game each night. I was low "(wo)man" on the totem pole and usually assigned the long distance games ... many in Wareham. But I lived in Sandwich, so I really didn't mind the drive. I got to know players on the team and of course, Wareham Coach Eddie Lyons and Kay Lyons, who like myself were from New Jersey.

The All-Star Game between these two summer rivals was a year in the planning. The weather was perfect as we boarded the bus for the 5-plus-hour ride from the Cape. I rode the bus with the team, no big deal, as I had done that for four years at UConn. Was I the only woman on the bus? I guess so, I never really thought much about it.

We arrived early enough to have something to eat and then I headed up to the press box. It was exciting to watch our players walk around Yankee Stadium; they were in awe. I was in awe, too. And this press box would afford a fabulous vantage point from which to watch and score the game.

Who would have known at that time that I would be watching many superstars of summer baseball, some of whom would have a successful career in the Majors. The Cape League All-Stars included Jim Norris (Orleans, CCBL Hall of Fame), Paul Mitchell (Falmouth, CCBL Hall of Fame), Jim Prete (Wareham), Dan Radison (Harwich), Phil Krill (Cotuit), Jim Jachym (Falmouth).

I was settling in and getting organized in the press box — score sheet out and stats ready to refer to if someone had a question. The press box was quite large, sat about 55 people. But this day, being an All-Star Game between the two college leagues and an off-day for the Yankees, most seats would be empty.

It was about 45 minutes from game time when a reporter from the New York Times sitting next to me leaned over and said, "You know you are creating quite a stir."

I had no idea what he was talking about and I answered "really?"

He replied, “There has never been a woman in the Yankee Stadium Press Box before ... you are the first."

Well, part of me thought that was pretty neat and the other part of me thought that was pretty stupid — that women had not been allowed in this "hallowed" space. How ridiculous!
Ridiculous or not, it was true.

It was not long after that a security guard came to escort me out. I refused to move and called League Publicist Dick Bresciani, who was getting the lineup in the dugout. Bresh, who would later go on to a successful career with the Boston Red Sox, made some calls to the executives in the stadium front office and called back. " I’m sorry, they won’t let you sit there. You have to move."

How positively ludicrous I thought. At that point the guard grabbed me by the arm and escorted me to a seat two rows behind the press box. I sat there overlooking a virtually empty press box and watched the game.

The story hit the Cape Cod Times when I got home and there was a lot of buzz about it. But I moved on and let the story die out. After all, I just wanted to get back to covering the great game of baseball.
And oh, by the way, we won the game, 6-3

Judy Walden Scarafile has been president of the Cape Cod Baseball League for 17 years.