Wrights survive haymakers in infamous Yankee Stadium bleachers

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2008

July 24, 2008

When the young woman in front of him began brawling with the young woman behind him, Randy Wright knew he wasn’t in Vicksburg anymore.,br>

When he peeled his father, Randy Sr., from the bottom of a pile of rabid baseball fans, he knew this was no ordinary day at the ballpark.

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When he himself had to throw elbows to keep from getting mauled, he smiled and absorbed every harrowing, ridiculous, unfathomable second of an experience he, or any of the rest of us, will have again.

Wright, the successful football and baseball coach at Porters Chapel Academy, snagged two of the most coveted tickets in baseball when he landed two in the right field bleachers of Yankee Stadium. Affectionately known as “The Bronx Zoo” for its outcast of characters, the bleachers were the target for Josh Hamilton’s home run assault at the annual home run derby 10 days ago.

And the Wrights lived to tell about it.

“It was crazy,” Wright said.

It started with a brawl. Wright said a girl sitting behind him had a knee in his back, while his knees were squarely in the back of a girl in front. Without warning, those two began what Wright called the nastiest fight he had ever seen. He ducked and dodged and played de facto referee.

He routinely caught elbows and shoulders as fans scraped, clawed and punched their way to souvenir baseballs. At one point, Randy Sr. got knocked to the ground and Junior had to dive in himself to pull enough humanity off his dad.

He was shown several times on television next to a pair of fans in lime green outfits. He never snagged one of the 28 homers Hamilton belted into the night sky. All he had to show for it were some bruises, a bill for $33.75 (two hot dogs, two soft drinks and a bag of peanuts) and memories that will last a lifetime.

It’s been years since I sat in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. The last time a pigeon found my head in its crosshairs, sullying me on bleacher sitting for eternity. But there is no place like it. It is a zoo; Darwin’s survival of the fittest in real life. The Wrights conquered the bleachers.

They sat in left field seats for the All-Star game the following night, seats with actual backs to them. They paid dearly for the tickets and watched every out of the 15-inning marathon even after many had left the building.

They returned last Wednesday from the final All-Star game ever to be played at the hallowed baseball grounds. On Thursday, they were back to work at Goldie’s Trail Bar-B-Que, where things can get pretty hairy during the lunchtime rush.

Compared to ducking haymakers from two peeved women, though, and catching a faceful of concrete after getting mauled, the lunch scene at Goldie’s is a piece of cake.

Sean P. Murphy is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post.E-mail him at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com