Column: A Yankee for a week

It’s something special when a kid gets totally involved in a sport — or anything else worthwhile, for that matter.

Which leads me to Bobby Marcello of Marcello Masonry here on Shelter Island. Young Bobby loved baseball and has been a Yankee fan his entire life. He followed his passion from Little League on to the professional levels of Double-A and Triple-A baseball.

If he couldn’t be a Yankee, the next best thing would be to be around Yankees. This past Christmas, Bob’s wife Kristy gave him his greatest Christmas present ever — a week in a Yankee “fantasy camp” at George Steinbrenner Stadium in Tampa, Florida, where the Yankees hold spring training every year.

Bobby heard about it from a friend, Anthony Montella, who attended last year. The price tag for the week is $5,000 and at first it sounded like a lot of money, but Anthony assured him it was a bargain if you are truly a fan. After experiencing the week, Bob agreed. After hearing about the week, I agree.

On January 16, Bob and Kristy flew to Tampa to start a one week experience of baseball, baseball and baseball. They had arrived three days early for “pre-camp,” or working with a trainer who gets you in decent shape for the five days to come.

On Tuesday morning, the first day, all hell broke loose as over 100 players checked into the hotel. That was the time to get settled in and read over the format for the next five days. The campers found that the 100 players, would make up eight teams. Bob’s team was the “The Clippers.”

Two legendary coaches also stay at the hotel and with their teams all week. One of Bobby’s coaches was Charlie Hayes. If you know your Yankee trivia, Hayes was the third baseman who caught the last fly ball for the Yankees to clinch the 1996 World Series. Fritz Peterson, a pitcher back in the 1970s, was his other coach.

At 8:30 a.m. the day after check in, Bobby reported to the locker room for his daily briefing. He found his way to the locker with his name on it and opened it to find a clean, fresh uniform in his size hanging on a rack.

On that uniform he didn’t find a name, but the number he chose for the week. Bobby was numbers 00.

Even though he was a life-long fan, he’d never noticed that the Yankees are one of the few teams team without names on their jerseys.

Bobby remembers that the locker room was where he had the most fun, just hanging around people and legends that love the same things that he loves. One of his idols was Yankee great Mickey Rivers. Mickey would come in the locker room wearing a judge’s robe and hold a type of “Kangaroo Court.” Judge Mickey would charge minor cash fines for players who did something wrong.

You could be fined if, for example, you said the wrong thing or if your hat was on crooked. Rivers would say, “Marcello, your shirt was not tucked in today, you are fined $25.”

You had to pay just as the Yankee players are warned and fined.

Every morning the campers had a clean uniform hanging in their lockers. At the end of the day, they threw it in a laundry basket, just like the players do in the big leagues. Somehow it got cleaned and jumped back in the locker.

Two games were played each day with lunch between the games. When you were at the plate, Bobby said, you couldn’t miss the large screen towering over the field, lit up displaying your name and picture. Players were announced by Paul Olden, the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium, who replaced Bob Sheppard after his 51-year run.

Bobby was the center fielder for the Clippers. Among the eight teams competing, his team finished third.

The winning team was the Bambinos. They have now won this event for the last six years. In their case, the same guys come back every year and have the same team. The last day, each team played two innings against the “Legends,” or former Yankees. The games are screened at breakfast and lunch and campers can get videos to take home.

At the first night’s banquet, 18 new legends arrived at the dinner. They are there for meeting and greeting, photos and autographs.

Friday evening was a night out to a restaurant with teams and coaches. Legends are always around making you feel like one of the guys, Bobby said. Saturday night was the final get-together for all. The coaches talked about their players, and some campers were inducted into the Yankee Fantasy Hall of Fame. You have to have attended at least five years to be considered.

The Bambinos won again; the team and coaches received World Series Fantasy Camp rings. All week someone was videotaping bloopers on the field and a fun video appeared on the screen. Bobby figured that in free gifts he received at this event, it would equal at least $1,000.

Bobby’s favorite player, Greg Nettles, was not present, but he did enjoy the picture of him and pitcher Jeff Nelson. Needless to say, Bobby enjoyed his Christmas present.

He’s already signed up for next year.