Let’s begin by catching up on Pop Quiz questions:
1. From Dan Cavanagh of Tucson, Ariz.: Name the Yankees Hall of Famer who gets knocked out by pretzels in a 1997 episode of “The Simpsons.”
2. Also from Dan Cavanagh: Name the former radio voice of the Yankees who played himself in the 1980 film “Raging Bull.”
Six weeks ago, I entered Gate 4 of Yankee Stadium to start my work shift. It’s pretty standard operating procedure: Say hello to the Stadium security folks, put my briefcase through the X-ray scanner and head to the press box.
On this day, however, there was a gentleman in front of me whom I didn’t recognize. Except he didn’t look like the usual Gate 4 entrant. He looked far more athletic than your average media member. And he appeared terribly confused. At Gate 4, you have to look really confused to stand out.
“Do you have ID?” a security guard calmly asked the young man.
“ID?!” the guy responded. “I’m a player!”
He said this not with arrogance, but rather more with confusion. Players typically get into the ballpark without having to show ID. For road games, teams provide buses for their traveling parties, thereby sparing them many hassles … like having to show ID.
The poor guy looked more dazed than Austin Powers when he was trying to figure out the space-time continuum issues in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”
So I tried to take the bull by the horns. I admittedly didn’t know who this guy was, except that he was on the Royals. At that juncture, there were very few Royals players I could ID without a uniform number. I could have handled Billy Butler, Raul Ibanez, Jayson Nix, James Shields … and that was probably it.
“I’m Ken Davidoff with The New York Post,” I said. “Do you need help getting to the Royals clubhouse?”
“I’m Danny Duffy,” he said. “And that would be great, thanks.”
We chatted for a couple of minutes as I guided him to the elevator, then downstairs and towards the third-base side where the visitors’ clubhouse stands. This was Danny’s first time at Yankee Stadium — his first time in New York, period — and he took a taxi there by himself, which was probably a little ambitious. It is a monstrous building, and a taxi driver (as was the case here) wouldn’t necessarily know where to drop off a player.
But Duffy was ambitious. He had spent his free time touring the city, seeing the Empire State Building and all that. He just needed a little help getting to his final destination.
As it turned out, the next day, Duffy started for the Royals and had to leave after one pitch due to left shoulder soreness. He made two starts later in the regular season and has pitched just one inning during the Royals’ magical postseason run, though he has been on the active roster all the way through.
He’s fine with that, he told Andy McCullough of The Kansas City Star, and he’s healthy. All I can say, based on anecdotal evidence, is he seems happy.
Yes, Duffy and I have established a running rapport thanks to our accidental encounter. I’ve wound up seeing him frequently since we met, far more than I anticipated given this October’s turns of events, and he always gives me a smile and a callback to how we met.
After the Royals clinched the American League pennant Wednesday, I found Duffy celebrating with his family on the field at Kauffman Stadium and congratulated him. “You’ve come a long way in a month,” I joked.
“From learning my way around Yankee Stadium to the World Series,” Duffy responded, smiling. “We’ve got some work to do.”
For sure, Duffy and his teammates have looked anything but lost in baseball’s biggest arena.
Your Pop Quiz answers:
1. Whitey Ford
2. Don Dunphy
If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball to popular culture, please send it to me at [email protected].