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Bleacher Creatures

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Bleachers Section 39 at Yankee Stadium.

The Bleacher Creatures are a group of fans of the New York Yankees, who occupy sections 39 and 37 of Yankee Stadium's right-field bleachers.

A prominent aspect of the Bleacher Creatures atmosphere is their use of a number of chants and songs, the most famous one being the Roll Call, which is done at the beginning of every game. Often, the opposing team's right fielder, who stands right in front of the Creatures, is a victim of jeers and insults.

History

File:Bleedingpinstripes.jpg
Filip Bondy's book on the Bleacher Creatures

Ali Ramirez is often credited as the original Bleacher Creature. Ali rang a cowbell to inspire the fans to cheer (much like Freddy Sez's efforts in the Stadium's main grandstand) during the team's limited success in the early 1980s and 1990's. In May of 1996, he died, and was given a tribute before the game on May 14th. That was the night Dwight "Doc" Gooden threw a no-hitter. There is a plaque on the bleacher where he sat, which reads "This seat is taken. In memory of Ali Ramirez, 'The Original Bleacher Creature'".

It was also during this period of drought that regular fans in the right field bleachers started chanting Dave Winfield's name. When Winfield left the team, they began cheering for Bernie Williams. One day, in the late 90's, the fans started cheering Tino Martinez, and he responded with a wave, shocking the cheering fans.[1] This evolved and became the roll call, which is now the trademark of the Bleacher Creatures.

In 1996, New York Daily News columnist Filip "Flip" Bondy was asked to write a story from the fan's perspective. Bondy approached what he called "a core group of the most rabid, passionate fans", and wrote from their perspective. To make sure it was known that he was not truly the one writing, he attributed authorship to "the Bleacher Creature", coining the nickname in relation to the Yankee Stadium inhabitants.

In 2002, pitcher David Cone spent the season's home opener with the Bleacher Creatures in Section 39, participating in their chants, including the roll call. The Creatures cheered derisively to the right field box seats "We got Cone! We got Cone!"

In 2004, Bondy spent the season among the Creatures, and wrote a book about his experience, entitling it Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium, which was published in 2005.[2] The foreword was written by David Cone.

The Bleacher Creatures are known for their rowdiness. While displaying a friendly (albeit perhaps slightly intimidating) attitude to fans of the Yankees, they are highly hostile to fans of opposing teams. This hostility differs depending on the team. Fans of the Red Sox and Mets, as well as fans of the opposing team or a team that has recently clashed with the Yankees are targeted the most, while teams such as the Rays and Cardinals that are either non-threatening or have little-to-no relation with the Yankees will generally go unnoticed. Fans from teams that have faced off against the Yankees in recent World Series, such as the Braves, Diamondbacks, and Marlins, also receive rude treatment. These fans are subject to chants and shouts about their team or jokes about them, although serious personal attacks are rarely if ever used.

Because of the rowdiness of the fans, and the fact that many families have begun sitting in the more affordable bleachers, alcoholic beverages were banned from the bleachers in 2000.[3] In reference to this ban, the fans in the box seats often retaliate to the Creatures' mocking with chants of "We've got beer!" This chant is in turn often replied to with "Al-co-ho-lics!" In one instance, Milton the current cowbell man shouted "We got water!" then put some water in his mouth and spit it everywhere.

By 2007, some Creatures expressed dissatisfaction with anti-obscenity rules imposed upon them by the Yankees and the NYPD personnel on hand, and wore T-shirts with the sarcastic phrase "Section 39 Fun Police" on them. They also sometimes refer to the Stadium Security as the SS.

In March of 2007, a new weblog was launched entitled The Bleacher Creatures with the url: www.thebleachercreatures.com. While the blog is not exclusively dedicated to the New York Yankees, it's wide range of sports coverage and satirical nature have earned it cult status amongst blog viewers.

Chants and songs

A prominent aspect of the Bleacher Creatures atmosphere is their use of a variety of chants and songs used during the game that are unique to their section. As these can be heard throughout the Stadium, this aspect gets the most attention from the average fan.

Roll Call

Bald Vinny, calling out the center fielder's name to begin the Roll Call.

The chant for which the Creatures are most known is the Roll Call. In the top of the first inning, when the Yankees are on the field and their starting pitcher is getting ready to throw the first pitch, everyone stands and begins clapping. After the pitch is thrown, "Bald" Vinny Milano gestures for the crowd to calm down, then cups his hands around his mouth and shouts out the name of the center fielder (ie: "Yo, Melky!"). The whole group proceeds to chant his name (ie: "MEL-KY! MEL-KY! MEL-KY!") until there is a response, usually in the form of a wave or a point. The Creatures move through the lineup, going from the center fielder to the left fielder, right fielder, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, and third baseman in that order. Except for a few exceptions, the pitcher and the catcher are not a part of the roll call. After completing this, the Creatures turn to the left and chant "Box seats suck!" at the right field box seats until the chanting finally dissipates. If the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, the intensity of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry takes hold and the Creatures will cut the box seats chant short and instead chant "Boston sucks!" until that dissipates.

If a non-pitcher is replaced in a defensive position, the replacement is given the same chant. Sometimes, after a long rain delay, the Creatures will start another Roll Call just for fun.

In 1999, when David Wells made his first appearance at Yankee Stadium after having been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, his name was chanted. In his tenure with the Yankees, he was the only Yankee pitcher to be included in the Roll Call every time he pitched. Alfonso Soriano's name was chanted when he made his first appearance after being traded to the Texas Rangers

In the 2006 home opener against the Kansas City Royals, the Bleacher Creatures chanted the name of long-time Yankee outfielder Bernie Williams, who was the designated hitter that day, right after the rest of the defensive lineup. Williams, whose future in baseball was uncertain in the offseason, was in the clubhouse at the time and did not hear the Creatures. Pitcher Shawn Chacon ran to the clubhouse to retrieve Williams, but by the time they returned the chant had ended.[4] At the beginning of the 2007 season opener, the Creatures started a chant of "We want Bernie!", a reference to the fact that Williams was no longer with the team.[5]

After a too-exhuberant "Box Seats Suck!" followed by an obscene gesture, Bald Vinny is about to be ejected from the Stadium by a female NYPD officer.

The Creatures also call out in memoriam, such as calling out former Yankee shortstop and longtime broadcaster Phil Rizzuto's name during the roll call on August 14, 2007, the day Rizzuto died. They did the same for Bobby Murcer at the 2008 MLB All Star Game, which was the first game held at Yankee Stadium after Murcer's passing.

At the 2002 Yankees home opener, former Yankee David Cone sat among the Bleacher Creatures and participated in Roll Call. At the end, they chanted "We've got Cone! We've got Cone!" Cone is the only former Yankee to do this, although Jim Leyritz expressed interest in doing it on an episode of the YES Network show Ultimate Road Trip.

Former Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius was notorious for not responding immediately, as other players on the diamond would. He got such a kick out of it, that he would wait until they chanted for sometimes up to a minute. In Hideki Matsui's first game at the Stadium in 2003, the chants of "Matsui" went on for approximately two minutes, because he did not know what was going on or how to react.

The Cowbell Man

Ali Ramirez, the original Bleacher Creature, attempted to rouse the crowd by playing a cowbell. After his death, there was a dispute over who would take his place. One of Ramirez' relatives wanted to take over, but he didn't show up to enough games, so the bell was eventually given to Milton Ousland. He became the official Cowbell Man, and no one else is authorized to use it.

The cowbell is used to initiate a chant. After rapidly banging on the cowbell, getting the attention of the Bleacher Creatures, he plays a few notes on the cowbell. Everyone copies these notes with claps. After repeating this several times, Milton begins banging another few notes more rapidly, and the Creatures begin shouting in unison and throwing their arms up. At the end, Milton hits the cowbell three times, and the Creatures say in unison "Yankee baseball. Mets suck. (opposing team)s suck. (opposing team's right fielder) sucks. Box Seats Suck. Everybody sucks."[6]

YMCA

About halfway through every game, the grounds crew at Yankee Stadium takes the field, and performs to the music of YMCA. As the song begins, fans who have found a fan of the opposing team begin pointing at the fan (generally male) to get the attention of the rest of the Creatures. When the words begin, the Creatures begin serenading the fan with with a harassing, homophobic rendition of the song about him being gay, entitled "Why Are You Gay?" to the tune of the music. Then it usually breaks out into a "Your team sucks" chant (e.g. Red Sox Suck). In 2006, the NYPD began escorting out fans out of the right field bleachers when they were seen singing the song.

Johnny Damon 2004-2005

The Creatures in Section 39 would sing a song about rival centerfielder for the Boston Red Sox, Johnny Damon. In home games against the Red Sox when Damon patrolled the outfield, the Creatures would break into song about Johnny Damon being a horse's ass. As a Boston Red Sox, with long hair, beard and mustache (which were against Yankee policy), was a clutch performer, vital in their quest to a World Series championship. Conversely, Damon signed as a free agent with the Yankees in December 2005, for a term of 4 years and $52 million. This chant was also directed toward Manny Ramirez when he was a member of the Cleveland Indians in 1997. The "Horse's Ass" song/chant goes like this: Manny Ramirez (or Johnny Damon), Manny Ramirez,/ Manny Ramierz is a horse's ass./ He's the meanest, He sucks the biggest penis./Manny Ramirez is a horse's ass.

Gangbang Song

A more rare occurrence is the singing of a song generally known only as "Gangbang". The song is in the format of a knock knock joke, and mostly uses vulgar puns to speak about the eponymous gangbang. The leader initiates the knock knock joke ("Knock knock"), and the crowd responds ("Who's there?"). The leader then calls out a word (i.e. "Eisenhower"), which elicits the usual response ("Eisenhower who?"). The crowd then begins singing the punchline together ("Eisenhower [I's an hour] late for the gangbang."), which then goes into the chorus. Aside from the puns, they also use attacks at the Box Seats or opposing teams or fans (saying they never go or aren't invited to the gangbang), or praises of Yankee players (saying they always go to the gangbang). The song was taken from the comedian/singer John Valby.

Ric Flair Impersonator

A man in section 37, right next door to the famous section 39 is notorious for his impressions of wrestler Ric Flair. He speaks in the Nature Boy's tone (with the exaggerated woooooooooooo) while complaining about stadium policies or making fun of the opposing team.

All Star Roll Call

On July 15 2008, the MLB All Star Game was celebrated at Yankee Stadium. After the first pitch of the game, Bald Vinny Milano (dressed in a tux) started the chant; calling first Derek Jeter, then A-Rod, ending with Bobby Murcer. After that the creatures went to the "BOX SEATS SUCK" chant, then transitioned into a "BOSTON SUCKS" chant.

The Final Game

On September 21st 2008, the Bleacher Creatures called out the starting line up for the last time at Yankee Stadium. Starting with Xavier Nady, and finishing with A-rod, almost all in attendance were involved in the 'Roll Call'.

References

  1. ^ USATODAY.com - Bleacher creatures add life to Bronx
  2. ^ Filip Bondy, Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium , foreword by David Cone (NY: Sports Publishing, 2005)
  3. ^ Bondy, ibid., p. 20-22.
  4. ^ Notes: Bernie makes 'roll call' [1]
  5. ^ "Opening Day Roll Call 2007". Youtube. Retrieved 2007-05-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ www.myspace.com/section39
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