Hit the Bullseye, Win A.......BEER??????

Happy Monday to all! (is there such a thing as a happy Monday?) I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was spectacular.

Spring training for Major League Baseball got underway last week. Before we know it, spring will be here and baseball will be in full swing. Whether you are a baseball fan or not, I am sure you'll LOVE this very hilarious story that took place back in 1991 when C-Mac (yours truly) was a 19 year old punk.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's the NY Yankees were horrible. You could get tickets for any game on any given night because nobody wanted to watch their pathetic play. My friends and I would buy the cheapo upper deck seats for a few bucks and wind up down on field level by the 3rd inning because all the seats down there were empty. One night we made SURE we got top notch seats down the left field line as we were ready to pull a stunt that would be reported on ESPN and many local news sportscasts.

Back in 1991, there was an up and coming player who played for the Cleveland Indians named Albert Belle. Belle would wind up being an all-star later in his career and he was known for his loud mouth, fights, problems with reporters, and many suspensions. 1991 was his first full year in MLB and early in May of that year he had an altercation with a fan in Cleveland. The prior year it was reported that Belle was in rehab for alcohol abuse and this was made public through the news. A fan in Cleveland was heckling Belle all night and was chanting "ALKIE" and asked Belle if he wanted to come to a "keg party" after the game. Belle got so fed up, that he picked up a foul ball and threw it as hard as he could hitting that fan in the chest from about 15 feet away. This was all over the news and Belle was suspended for a week. When he returned from his suspension, he was sent to the minor leagues for not running out a fly ball. About a month later, Belle was called back up to the Cleveland Indians and I noticed the Indians were coming to Yankee Stadium a week later.


Hit ME, I Need The Money! 

I was working for a large sporting goods chain store at the time and I told all my friends the idea I had. We bought 50 seats down the left field line (Albert Belle played left field) and we went to the game. We purchased over 300 paper bullseye targets from our sporting goods store, the ones you use at a shooting range or for BB gun practice, and taped them to our chests and handed them out to an additional 250 fans and they taped them to their chests. We bought a megaphone and an air horn. We also brought with us a HUGE white bed sheet that we painted the words "HIT THE BULLSEYE, WIN A BEER!!!!!!" on.

From the first inning on, we chanted "AAAAAALBERT, AAAAAAAALBERT" he would look over and just laugh and smile. By the 3rd inning he realized what the bed sheet said and we got a laugh out of him. After all, this was NY, and many opposing players expect heckling like this when they come to NY. He also got a kick out of the "chest bullseyes" as he knew we represented the fan he hit in the chest earlier that year. By the 5th inning, which was two hours of heckling later, Mr. Belle was no longer amused. He was pointing in our direction and our insults got louder. We led a chants of "This Bud's For You", "Betty Ford", "Just Say No", and many other insulting chants. At this point, many of the maybe 20,000 fans in attendance got in on the fun and the chants. By the 7th inning, Belle snapped. On his way out to the field for the bottom of the 7th, he came up to the stands, cursing us out and demanding that we take down the bed sheet. We refused. He put a leg into the stands and threatened to come in and "kick our asses" but we just kept taunting and we told him "Hit me, I need the money." By then, the umpires and Yankee stadium security got involved. Yankee Stadium security confiscated the bed sheet to a loud roar of 20,000 Ny'ers booing and cursing. That only got the crowd going even more as chants of "Alco-holic, Alco-holic" filled the stadium for the last two innings when Belle was on the field.

When we got home that evening, we saw that our taunts made "Sportscenter" on ESPN and we had taped the Yankees game before we left and fast forwarded it to the 7th inning melee. Although the TV cameras would not show us or the banner, the announcers described a "disturbance going on down the left field line involving Albert Belle." It was a hilarious and memorable night. Don't feel bad for Belle, he turned out to be one of the meanest, most selfish players in baseball history. I am glad we gave him a NY welcome that night.

Have a great start to the week!