Bad Moon Rising Over The Bronx And Other Unusual Events At Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium prepares to host its first Papal visit in 1965. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library).

 

The history of Yankee Stadium would be incomplete without mentioning some of the unusual events held there. Yes, baseball is King in the House that Ruth Built, but many other events besides baseball were held there, including football games, boxing and wrestling matches, political speeches, papal masses, and soccer games. One of the more unusual events that took place in the Stadium was a visit by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon at the time of the United States Bicentennial.

Born in what is now North Korea, Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954.1 After moving to the United States in 1971, Moon gained notoriety by supporting President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, and for performing “mass weddings,” often involving couples who were meeting for the first time.2 Followers of Moon were referred to as Moonies, often thought to be a cult, alienating children from their parents.

Moon had held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City in September 1974, drawing thousands more than could be seated in the 20,000-seat arena.3 Hopes were high that Yankee Stadium would be filled to overflowing with Moon’s devotees for a rally called the “God Bless America Festival” to be held on June 1, 1976. However, on the day of the event, many seats remained empty, with attendance estimates ranging from 25,000 to 40,000. A downpour about two hours before the start time of the rally was thought to have held down attendance.

Those in the Stadium were witness to a brass band, an orchestra, two groups of singers, and a Korean folk ballet.4 They also witnessed youths in attendance throwing programs and decorations from the upper deck, running through the corridors, and lighting firecrackers and at least one smoke bomb.5 To get into the Stadium, attendees also had to make it past many protesters who denounced Moon as “among other things, a fascist dictator, a false Christian and a deluder of American youth.”6 “It’s a religious smorgasbord,” exclaimed a bystander.7 Yellow-robed Hare Krishnas chanted, peddled their books and sought contributions. Hundreds of Christians passed out tracts and preached and warned that Moon was a “false prophet” and the “devil himself.”8 Police reported seven arrests in and around the Stadium, including a robbery, an assault, and two charges of possession of a gun.9

Moon’s experience at Yankee Stadium did not spoil him on New York. In 1982 he held a “mass wedding” at Madison Square Garden with over 2,000 couples participating. That same year, he was convicted of filing false income-tax returns and conspiracy and spent 13 months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. Moon died in 2012.

Moon’s event at Yankee Stadium may have been among the strangest, but it was certainly not the only unusual thing that happened at the ballpark in the Bronx. Here are a few other events that may be surprising:

JULY 24, 1923 – BENNY LEONARD DEFEATED LEW TENDLER IN FRONT OF 58,522

Yankee Stadium still had that new-stadium smell when lightweights Benny Leonard and Lew Tendler clashed on the afternoon of July 24, 1923, in the first championship boxing match held there. Leonard retained his lightweight title easily, though the fight went the full 15 rounds. The gate receipts of $452,648 for the match were reported as the second largest in history.10

AUGUST 2, 1950 – 72,674 ATTEND THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

The international convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses was held in New York City in late July and early August of 1950. The attendees were so numerous that a trailer city had to be set up in New Jersey to help accommodate the throng.11 The Yankee Stadium portion of the convention was an all-day affair, with foreign-language sessions held in the morning and general sessions in the afternoon and evening, with reports offered from representatives of various countries.12

The leader of the organization, Brother Nathan H. Knorr gave a fiery speech, in which he warned that Armageddon might come before the next conventions of the Witnesses could be held.13 In addition, after three years of research, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization released a new translation of the New Testament at the convention. The group expected to sell one million copies of the new translation during the first year – 100,000 copies were sold at the Stadium that day.14

APRIL 29, 1956 – “AMERICA SALUTES ISRAEL” RALLY AT YANKEE STADIUM

A crowd of 42,455 gathered at Yankee Stadium at this celebration as Israel marked its eighth anniversary as a nation. The speakers, including Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, argued that since Arab nations were receiving weapons from Communist countries, it was necessary to restore the balance of arms by supplying Israel.15

JULY 20, 1957 – REV. BILLY GRAHAM’S APPEARANCE DRAWS 100,000

An additional 10,000 were turned away from the event, at which the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham called upon sinners to repent. Among the throng was Vice President Richard M. Nixon. When introducing Graham, Nixon joked that even the Yankees couldn’t draw the crowd that the Rev. Graham did.16 The 100,000 (estimated by Stadium manager James K. Thompson) eclipsed the earlier record attendance at Yankee Stadium of 88,150 for the Joe Louis-Max Baer heavyweight championship fight in 1935. Graham’s appearance at Yankee Stadium was part of a 60-evening crusade throughout New York City, primarily at Madison Square Garden, that drew 1,102,600.17

SEPTEMBER 7, 1957 – CARDINAL FRANCIS SPELLMAN CELEBRATES HIS 25TH YEAR AS BISHOP OF NEW YORK

The event was thought to be the largest gathering of Roman Catholic hierarchy ever to attend a liturgical function in New York. It included five cardinals (including Spellman), 18 archbishops, 83 bishops, and two abbots. The Stadium was converted into an outdoor cathedral with a specially constructed sanctuary 48 feet high and 180 feet long, running from foul line to foul line. Some 50,000 gathered for the service.18

OCTOBER 4, 1965 – POPE PAUL VI VISITS THE UNITED NATIONS AND YANKEE STADIUM

In what would be the first of three papal visits to Yankee Stadium, Pope Paul VI had three things to tell American Catholics during his sermon at Yankee Stadium: “First of all, you must love peace. Second thought: You must serve the cause of peace. Third thought: Peace must be based on moral and religious principles.”19 The Pope also addressed the United Nations, asking for the elimination of offensive weapons.

OCTOBER 2, 1979 – POPE JOHN PAUL II HOLDS MASS AT YANKEE STADIUM FOR 80,000

The end of the first day of a two-day visit to New York City found Pope John at Yankee Stadium, where he reminded the parishioners that the poor were “your brothers and sisters. You must never be content to leave them just the crumbs from the feast.”20 The assembled crown listened so intently that subway trains could be heard in the background as the pontiff spoke.

JUNE 21 AND 22, 1990 – NELSON MANDELA & BILLY JOEL APPEAR ON CONSECUTIVE DAYS

On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison in South Africa. Just over four months later, Mandela visited New York City to campaign against the South African policy of apartheid. The trip included church services, a visit to Harlem, and a rally at Yankee Stadium. During the rally, New York Mayor David Dinkins placed a Yankees jacket on Mandela’s shoulders, and a Yankees cap on his head. Mandela smiled and declared, “You now know who I am. I am a Yankee.”21 Preparations for the event had been full of uncertainty, but a crowd of 80,000 (estimates ranged from 55,000 to an impossible 200,000) came to support Mandela and the African National Congress. “The man is a holy man,” said Larry Minor of the Bronx.22

The next evening, 60,000 came to see Billy Joel perform at the Stadium. “You hate to say Yankee Stadium had a better week when its team was out of town,” David Hinckley of the New York Daily News reported, “but not much the Yankees have tried so far this year has come close to the triumph Billy Joel registered Friday night before some 60,000 happy rock-n-roll fans.”23

SEPTEMBER 23, 2001 – A MULTI-FAITH PRAYER FOR AMERICA

A service in honor of the missing and dead from the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States was held at Yankee Stadium. Organizers had hoped for a larger attendance, but 20,000 attended the five-hour ceremony that featured celebrities and religious leaders from nearly every faith. Actor James Earl Jones opened the ceremony by stating, “Our nation is united as never before. We are united not only in our grief, but in our resolve to build a better world. At this service, we seek to summon what Abraham Lincoln called ‘the better angels of our nature.’” Later in the service, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani inspired the crowd, stating, “Our skyline will rise again. In the words of President Bush, ‘We will rebuild New York City.’ To those who say our city will never be the same, I say you are right. It will be better.”24

MARCH 10, 2006 – WEDDING BELLS

Ed Lucas was a huge baseball fan who lost his sight after being hit in the face with a line drive in 1951, playing ball after celebrating Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Round the World.”25 This accident did not diminish Lucas’s love of the game. His mother took him to a clothing store to meet Phil Rizzuto, and the two struck up a friendship that lasted until Rizzuto’s death. Lucas eventually became a reporter, doing most of his work at Yankee Stadium.26

Many things had happened over the years at home plate at Yankee Stadium, but a wedding was not one of them. This changed on March 10, 2006, when Lucas asked to hold his wedding there. Weddings had been held at the Stadium previously, but never at home plate. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner not only approved the request but paid for a dinner reception for 350 guests.27 Rizzuto had introduced Lucas to his wife, Allison Pfeifle, a lifelong baseball fan who had also lost her sight and was Rizzuto’s florist.28

APRIL 20, 2008 – “THANKS A MILLION, HOLY FATHER”

The final papal visit occurred during the final days of Yankee Stadium. Pope Benedict had become the first pope to visit an American synagogue and had also visited Ground Zero and met with 9/11 survivors before the Mass. Speaking before the pope addressed the crowd, Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop of New York, exclaimed “Thanks a million, Holy Father” for his visit.29 “I’ve never seen Yankee Stadium look more beautiful, and I have season tickets,” exclaimed Philip Giordano of Greenwich, Connecticut.30

MAY 14, 2008 – GRADUATION

New York University usually held its annual graduation ceremonies at Washington Square Park in New York. That site was undergoing renovations, so NYU turned to another location – Yankee Stadium. Honorary-degree recipients included constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe and actor Michael J. Fox. Michael Strahan, a former defensive end for the New York Giants and television personality, received NYU’s Lewis Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City.31

The ceremony was highlighted not by speeches, but by the efforts of graduate Will Lopez. Wearing only his graduation gown, boxer shorts, socks and shoes, Lopez hopped the fence behind first base, ran across the infield to tag third, and was headed for home when tackled by security guards.

“He’s going to always be remembered as the guy who ran around the bases and got tackled, which is pretty cool,” said Alex Gavlin, a NYU medical student. When asked if he regretted the incident, Lopez replied, “Are you kidding me? It was the best moment of my life.”32

A lifelong White Sox fan surrounded by Cubs fans in the northern suburbs of Chicago, KEN CARRANO works as a chief financial officer for a large landscaping firm and as a soccer referee. He has been a SABR member since 1992 and has contributed to several SABR publications and the SABR Games Project. Ken and his Brewers’ fan wife, Ann, share two children, two golden retrievers, and a mutual disdain for the blue side of Chicago.

 

SOURCES

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author accessed mlb.com, Retrosheet.org, and Baseball-Reference.com, and Scott Pitoniak, Memories of Yankee Stadium (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008). All weblinks accessed November 23, 2022.

 

NOTES

1 Emma Brown, “Sun Myung Moon Dies at 92,” Washington Post, September 2, 2012. The entity Moon founded is commonly known as the Unification Church.

2 https://www.insider.com/who-are-the-moonies-and-what-is-the-unification-church-2022-7.

3 Eleanor Blue, “Moon Sect Invites Parents to Rally,” New York Times, May 31, 1976: 5.

4 Eleanor Blue, “Moon Rally Draws 25,000, Half of Stadium Capacity,” New York Times, June 2, 1976: 28.

5 “Moon Rally.”

6 “Moon Rally.”

7 Marjorie Hyer, “Rev. Moon Festival Eclipsed,” Washington Post, June 2, 1976: A7.

8 “Rev. Moon Festival Eclipsed.”

9 Lindsay Miller, “Moon’s Night – A Deluge of Rain, Rowdies and Rhetoric,” New York Post, June 2, 1976.

10 “Rickard Seeking to Match Leonard,” New York Times, July 25, 1923: 20; Harry Newman, “Leonard Wins From Tendler,” New York Daily News, July 25, 1923.

11 See “International Assemblies (1946-1950),” Watchtower Online Library, https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1956123.

12 “International Assemblies (1946-1950).”

13 “Witnesses Pack Yankee Stadium, Largest Crowd,” New York Amsterdam News, August 12, 1950: 13.

14 “A New Translation of the New Testament,” New York Times, August 3, 1950: 19.

15 “Arms Urged for Israel,” New York Times, April 30, 1956: 2.

16 Danny Lewis, “The Time Billy Graham Packed Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium to the Brim,” WNYC.org, February 21, 2018. https://www.wnyc.org/story/time-billy-graham-packed-madison-square-garden-and-yankee-stadium-brim/.

17 George Dugan, “100,000 Fill Yankee Stadium to Hear Graham,” New York Times, July 21, 1957: 1.

18 Russell Porter, “50,000 at Yankee Stadium Honor Spellman on His 25th Year as Bishop,” New York Times, September 8, 1957: 1.

19 “90,000 at Stadium Attend Papal Mass and Hear a Homily,” New York Times, October 5, 1965: 2

20 Francis X. Clines, “Closes First of 2 Days at a Mass for 80,000 in Yankee Stadium,” New York Times, October 3, 1979: 2.

21 John Kifner, “The Mandela Visit; Mandela Takes His Message to Rally in Yankee Stadium,” New York Times, June 22, 1990: 1.

22 Mitchel Powell, “Yankee Stadium Erupts in Ecstasy,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), June 22, 1990: 3.

23 David Hinckley, “Billy I: The Kid Scores Big,” New York Daily News, June 25, 1990: 27.

24 Robert D. McFadden, “A Nation Challenged: The Service,” New York Times, September 24, 2001: B7.

25 Richard Sandomir, “Ed Lucas, Blind Baseball Chronicler, Is Dead at 82,” New York Times, November 16, 2021.

26 Sandomir.

27 Sandomir.

28 Osborn, “Today Marks Ten Years Since Ed Lucas Was Married at Home Plate in Yankee Stadium,” pinstripealley.com, March 10, 2016. https://www.pinstripealley.com/2016/3/10/11185848/yankees-marriage-ed-lucas-yankee-stadium-mantle-rizzuto.

29 Larry McShane, Melissa Grace, Stephanie Gaskell and Corky Siemaszko, “Thanks a Million, Holy Father,” New York Daily News, April 21, 2008: 1.

30 McShane.

31 NYU news release, “NYU to Hold 2008 Commencement in Yankee Stadium,” NYU.edu, May 6, 2008. https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2008/may/nyu_to_hold_2008_commencement.html.

32 Rick Shapiro, “NYU Grad: No MSG,” New York Daily News, May 16, 2008: 12.