N.Y. Yankees, The Beach Boys & Fireworks

Written by Backstage Bruce

    Fourth of July 1989, planned this one out for a while. Got a copy of the schedule and ordered the ticket months in advance because this was going to be a sell out. 

The House that Ruth Built

       Our seats were unbelievable! First row, first section behind field level. The game did sell out. It was a perfect, summer day and we got so lucky as our seats were in the shade, just like we hoped. The Bronx sun can get brutal if you're sitting in it directly for a few hours. The Yankees won, they defeated the Detroit Tigers. The '80's Yankees, Don Mattingly, Deion Sanders, Steve Sax, Dave Righetti, Rickey Henderson, Rich Gossage, Jesse Barfield, Al Leiter, et al... It was a very defensive game, 1-0. The victory started the festivities off right.

 

     The players left the field and the show began. The DJ, from the radio station K-ROCK, took the field and he brought about 40-girl dancers. They came out and lined the base lines, with 20 on each side, they all wore blue, K-ROCK T-shirts and danced while the DJ spun the tunes. All this was going on as the stage was being wheeled into place, in the outfield, behind second base. The stage hands had assembled the stage earlier so it just had to be rolled into place. K-ROCK T-shirts were being fired into the crowd from the launcher on the field, I got one. The warm up act was done, The DJ took all the dancers and they left the field.

      The Beach Boys took the stage and the thousands of people went wild. They played over 40 songs, including: 'California Girls', 'Sloop John B.', 'Be True To Your School', 'Dance, Dance, Dance', 'God Only Knows', 'Don't Worry Baby', 'Surfing U.S.A.', 'Help Me Rhonda', 'I Get Around', 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', just etc... It was great. Almost everyone was dancing throughout the stadium. They started a conga line! It was the largest conga line I have ever witnessed in my life, there were thousands of people in it.

     The line was so big that it could only travel so far, like maybe about 100 feet and then everyone would have to turn around and go back in the opposite direction. People had such a good time, everyone was smiling. The band played their current number one hit 'Kokomo' from the 'Cocktail' soundtrack. The Beach Boys had number one hits in the '60's, the '70's and now the '80's.

    During this performance, the actor, John Stamos sat in on drums. He was fantastic! And the Yankees second baseman, Steve Sax -National League Rookie Player Of The Year, 1982, L.A. Dodgers- would join in on guitar for a few songs, the dude's got chops, riffing a few licks, who knew? The fireworks couldn't start until after sunset so we got a really, nice, long concert, two hours plus. Everyone was in complete bliss.

     We ate hot dogs and drank beer all day long and watched baseball and a Beach Boys concert what a great way to spend Fourth Of July, the show came to an end. The band took their bow to an appreciative audience. They departed, the stage was wheeled away, the sun set.

     It was now time for the fireworks and they were spectacular. Presented by the Grucci Brothers who always do a amazing job with the latest designs with the greatest patterns. There were fireworks in every color imaginable. The kids really loved them, you could hear them ooohhing and aaahhing with each one they saw light up the sky. The show lasted about an hour and when it was done, so were we! 

    Anyone who hadn't already left was wiped out. Nine hours inside Yankee Stadium, eating, drinking beer and dancing. Exhaustion was starting to set in. Everybody was walking real slow as they made their way toward the exits. 

Each and every one of them had so much 'Fun, Fun, Fun'.
I got another 'Wouldn't it be nice' if this were an annual event?
Wait, wait, one more- The entire day was filled with 'Good Vibrations'.