SECTION: Sports Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1418 words

HEADLINE: House fire  
Yankees fans are ruthless

BYLINE: TOM HAUDRICOURT

SOURCE: Journal Sentinel staff

DATELINE: New York

BODY:
Tony Gwynn had been warned about the wild denizens o f Section 39 at Yankee Stadium, the infamous "Bleacher Creatures" in right-center who spend every waking hour planning ways to torment the enemy.

Yet, in the middle innings of Game 1 of the World Series, the "Creatures" were strangely qu iet Saturday night. The San Diego Padres were leading, 5-2, and there wasn't much to whoop about.

Then it happened. Chuck Knoblauch socked a three-run homer to tie the score in the seventh inning and Tino Martinez smacked a grand slam min utes later, touching off an eruption. Like lava spewing forth from a volcano, the roar reached a deafening crescendo. Yankee Stadium was rocking.

"That group in right field, when it was 5-2, it was kind of quiet, and that guy wa sn't banging on his cow bell," said Gwynn, the Padres' veteran rightfielder.

"But when Knoblauch hit his homer, they got into it. And on Tino Martinez's ball, I could barely hear myself breathing. I knew they were going to get into it, an d they did.

"I had guys telling me before the game I was going to need a helmet out there."

Or perhaps body armor. Over the years, opposing players, particularly those in the outfield, have been pelted with all manner of objects by zanies who step over the line of personal endangerment.

Because they are easy to conceal and carry so well when thrown, batteries traditionally have been the projectiles of choice. Visiting outfielders often have joked that they didn' t need to buy batteries for their personal CD players for months after a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.

Sometimes, it gets a bit more dangerous. San Diego first baseman Wally Joyner never will forget one of his first experiences at t he stadium, back in 1986 when he was a rookie with the California Angels.

Joyner was walking off the field with winning pitcher Mike Witt after a 2-0 victory over the Yankees when he felt something brush his shoulder. At first, he though t Witt had tapped him, then Joyner looked behind him on the ground.

"There was this buck knife with a 4- to 6-inch blade," he said. "A foot either way and it would have caused some damage."

With that background of horror, Joyner was asked if he imparted any words of wisdom to unsuspecting teammates before the Padres took the field for Game 1.

"I don't think you can," Joyner said, "because it might not be anything close to how I describe it."

Joyner's brush with danger falls at the extreme end of the spectrum of rowdy fan behavior at Yankee Stadium but there is no question it can be an intimidating place for visiting players. And the pressure begins as soon as they step off the bus.

T here, waiting on either side of the player entrance behind police barricades, are the true fanatics. Early arrivals with something on their minds, perhaps egged on by a sensational headline in a local tabloid.

Once targeted, a player can' t help taking his medicine.

We're not talking about mundane stuff such as, "You're a bum!" or, "Your mother wears army boots!" That stuff's for the amateurs. Armed with specific information about a player's past, these folks get much more personal.

"They get you right away. They've always got something to say," said Padres outfielder Greg Vaughn, who took his share of abuse during seven seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.

"They can be rough. They know everything about you, your life story. They try to use it against you. You can't let them know they're getting to you. Then, you're in trouble."

If nothing else, Yankees fans are ingenious. During the American League Championship Series, Cleveland' s David Justice remarked that the only way they could get rougher was "if they brought Uzis."

The next night, one spectator was seen toting around a plastic toy Uzi. In the upper deck, one group of fans denoted each strikeout by New York 's David Wells by hanging silhouettes of Uzis on the facade.

In other words, nothing slips past the followers of the men in pin stripes. If you've been in a slump, you're going to hear everything about it. Had trouble with the law recently ? Prepare for your sentence.

The FBI should keep such files.

After reports surfaced in the late 1980s that Oakland's Jose Canseco used steroids to construct his body-builder physique, Yankees fans had their cue. When Canseco to ok his position in right field, mocking chants of "Ster-oids! Ster-oids!" echoed throughout the stadium.

"If you allow them to get under your skin, you're going to have a tough time," said Padres pitching coach Dave Stewart, a former Oa kland teammate of Canseco's.

"Jose would have fun with them. When they yelled steroids,' he'd pose for them and flex his muscles. He won them over in a friendly way. If you try saying stuff back to them, it's not productive.

"T hey know your whole history. They used to rag me about specific home runs I gave up. It was none of that you've got a rubber arm' stuff. They knew everything about you."

Dale Sveum, another former Brewer, began the year as a utility infi elder with the Yankees. He was released in August but remained on hand as bullpen catcher and batting practice pitcher.

Having experienced the wrath of New York fans from the other side, Sveum has come to appreciate the edge it gives the Ya nkees.

"They're very knowledgeable fans," Sveum said. "All 50,000 of them read the sports pages every day. They know what's up.

"They don't come here for the popcorn and the hot dogs. They come to rag the other team and pull fo r their guys.

"If there's one team with a huge home-field advantage, it's the New York Yankees, especially at playoff time. There's no place like here.

"When you've got the history this place does, the fans have a little arrogan ce that we're the greatest sports franchise that's ever put on a uniform. Their attitude is, You don't come into our house and beat us.' "

Much of that attitude emanates from Section 39. Led by Milton Ousland, the longtime cow bell clank er of the "Bleacher Creatures," the rhythmic chants resonate throughout the stadium when the Yankees are rolling.

This season, that group began a new tradition to further display its loyal support of the home team. After the Yankees take the field in the first inning, the "creatures" chant each player's name, one by one, over and over, until that player acknowledges them with a wave or tip of a cap.

"Those are true fans," said rightfielder Paul O'Neill, an otherwise dour individual who has developed a kinship with the regulars in Section 39.

"Day in and day out, those guys are out there. You look up there and see the same faces a lot of times. Those are the guys that bring a lot of excitement to Yankee St adium.

"Some people in the park are actually watching the game and watching the right-field stands just to see what's going on out there."

And what happens if you don't acknowledge them when they chant your name?

"You don't want to do that," O'Neill said with a laugh. "You want them on your side."

When they're not on your side, it can get ugly. After failing to retrieve a loose ball in the now-infamous bunt play in Game 2 of the ALCS vs. Cleveland, Kno blauch was booed unmercifully by the home fans, many of whom hung around in the bottom of the 12th inning merely to get it off their chests.

Knoblauch, who won the fans back with a sincere apology the next day, cemented that reconciliatio n with his Game 1 homer against the Padres.

"You can hear all the stories you want, but when you actually come in and experience it, it's a little different, especially with the magnitude of games like this," said Knoblauch, who played se ven years with Minnesota before being traded to the Yankees.

"They're smart and clever. It's fun to see what they're going to do next. It's a lot of fun to watch it, and in turn they have a lot of fun doing it."

Michael Colandr ea, 24, a die-hard fan from Brooklyn, was trying to explain to a reporter the fervor of a Yankee Stadium crowd when Knoblauch hit his dramatic homer, touching off pandemonium in the stands.

"See what I mean?" Colandrea shouted. "Look at t his place! It can't get any better.

"There's no team in any sport with better fans than the Yankees. Just do something good and you've got them for life. They're inspired just by the history of this place.

"I mean, c'mon, it's the House that Ruth built, for Pete's sake."

And, 75 years later, there's still no place like it.

GRAPHIC: Photo 
ASSOCIATED PRESS


Yankees fans celebrate Tino Martinez's grand slam in the seventh
inning against the Padres in
Game 1 of the World Series.

LOAD-DATE: October 20, 1998