1963 Clete Boyer, NY Yankees

In 1963, we lived in Short Hills, NJ, and my baseball hero was Clete Boyer, who played 3rd base for the Yankees; his brother Ken was the All Star 3rd baseman for the Cardinals and his brother Cloyd was a major league pitcher.  I loved Clete the best of all the Yankees.  My aunt Audrey would say he was 'tall, dark, and schmutzy‘.  My mother had a crush on Bobby Richardson (he had beautiful blue eyes) who played 2nd, and my sister had a crush on Joe Pepitone (the young Italian stud) who played 1st - we loved our Yankee infield, although no one seemed to have a crush on the shortstop, Tony Kubek.  

One night in 1962 when I was 14 I had gotten undressed and was doing my homework when my mother suddenly came and told me I had to get dressed quick!  She had just found out that Clete Boyer was at a local restaurant in Millburn called the Chantecleer giving a presentation for some local Little League teams.  I never got dressed so fast in my life!  While I was getting dressed, she called the Chantecleer to make sure they would let us in.  I guess when she told them she had a 14-year-old daughter who was a total baseball fan, Yankee fan, and Clete Boyer freak on her hands, they told her to bring me down right away

We got to the Chantecleer and someone in a fancy tuxedo let us in , then led us into a big ballroom where there were probably 100 Little League players, their parents, coaches, etc.; and on the stage, there he was!  He was standing with a couple of other men almost as though he was waiting for us,  He had his pinstriped uniform on, #6!  I was speechless.  He was so handsome I didn’t know what to think.  He came towards me with a big smile and said  “Hi I'm Clete, what's your name?”  And I swear all I could say was “f-f-f-f-f…” Finally my mother took pity on me and said “Her name is Fay“.  I was in shock, all I could do was stare at him!

When I got home that night I was appalled that I remembered almost nothing of the encounter.  Fortunately, my mother realized I had been in shock and paid close attention to everything so she could tell me about it later.  I guess he talked to me quite a bit, asking how long I had been a Yankee fan, etc.

Also, she had told Clete about Cleeter who watched the games with me, and Clete apparently asked me to send him a picture of Cleeter.

I only have a vague memory of that night; although I still remember the dress I was wearing, light blue with pictures of sailing ships on it. (I hated that dress).  I was so shy at that age, with no social graces at all and very few friends.  That episode with Clete Boyer was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life and my family never let me forget it!  “What's your name?"  "f-f-f-f-f".  My whole family started calling me "fff".  I will never live it down.  But at the same time, it was one of the best moments of my life too.