Rich Marazzi has experienced Yankee history and its culture first-hand as a fan, a writer for Yankees Magazine, a radio talk show host, umpire in the Old Timer’s Day game for 16 years, a writer for Mel Allen, the long-time voice of the Yankees, and currently as a baseball rules consultant who was hired by general manager Brian Cashman in 2004. He was also trained by Bob Sheppard as a back-up to the legendary Yankee Stadium public address announcer.
In this book Marazzi takes the reader inside Yankee baseball by covering life in the press box, the dugout, the clubhouse, the umpire’s room and more. He compiles untold Yankee stories culled from interviews of many of the Yankee greats over the last seven decades including Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and more.

Rich Marazzi has served 24 of the 30 major league teams as a baseball rules consultant, including ESPN, the YES Network, Bally Sports, and NBS Sports Chicago. He lives in Ansonia, Connecticut.

Rich Marazzi
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: 40 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9380-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5128-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: From the Upper Deck to the Press Box 1
1. Power of the Media Credential 7
2. Bob Sheppard: “The Voice from Center Field” 28
3. The Babe and “Little Ray” 38
4. The Babe’s Last Hurrah 48
5. Babe, Helen, and Claire 54
6. Lou Gehrig: A Reluctant Hero 61
7. Gehrig’s $312,000 Cap 69
8. Joe DiMaggio: A Lonesome Hero 74
9. The Streak, the Stolen Bat and Final Years, 1941–1951 82
10. Dorothy, Marilyn, and Memorabilia 88
11. “The Mick” 97
12. The Two Mickeys 107
13. Yogi: From Dago Hill to ­D-Day 115
14. The Real “Mr. October” 123
15. “Scooter” 132
16. The Broadcaster, the Hall of Famer, the Humanitarian 138
17. Roger Maris: Chasing a Ghost 145
18. Don Larsen: The Imperfect Yankee 161
19. Mel Allen: The “Voice of the Yankees” 172
20. The Pine Tar Game 183
21. Joe Torre: “The Godfather” 192
22. Derek Jeter: The Captain 199
23. Suzyn Waldman: A Pioneer in Her Field 206
Epilogue: My Field of Dreams 215
Bibliography 219
Index 221