MLBWeird But True

If You Are In Any Way Affiliated With The Yankees, Do Not Joke With A Red Sox Player

Sure, Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski spent all year making light of it, but rest assured: the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is no joke. It’s so not a joke, in fact, that it apparently can’t even tolerate a joke being made. That’s the contention of Yankee Stadium beer vendor Steve Lazarus, who said he simply joked around with Red Sox pitcher Alfredo Aceves – a former Yankee, no less – before a recent game…and got himself a two-game playoff suspension for it. Here’s how the New York Post, with help from Lazarus, described it:

The vendor was standing with co-workers near a freight elevator on the terrace level when he heard the sound of cleats.

[...]

So the Bronx native and lifelong Yankee fan decided to have a little fun with Aceves, a former Bronx Bomber.

He walked over and playfully called out, “Hey, you got ID?”

Without missing a beat, Aceves grabbed his crotch and shot back, “I got your ID right here.”
Everyone roared with laughter … except for the team suits.

Lazarus described his meeting with those team suits thusly:

“He said, ‘You were harassing the opposing team’s player.’

“I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ ”

If things truly went down as Lazarus said they did, we don’t blame him. Certainly, harmlessly joking around with a guy doesn’t constitute harassment in any way we know of. How is a beer vendor sharing a quick joke with an opposing player (and we even hesitate a bit to say “opposing” since, well, Lazarus isn’t actually on the Yankees) worse for a team than punishing that same beer vendor for…having fun? Making jokes, it’s literally who Lazarus is – he does standup comedy when he’s not quenching fans’ thirst.

RELATED: The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry knows no bounds – not even court battles.

You’d think that of anyone, Lazarus would get a break. He’s been working Yankees games for 35 years now. He’s written a book about his experiences at Yankees games and in the comedy world. He’s from the Bronx. He’s been profiled in The New York Times. It’s hard to imagine anyone’s credentials being less in question.

Oh, and that standup comedy act? Big League Stew, which wrote about Lazrus’ predicament here, linked to a clip of his act. Check out what he’s wearing. Yes, it’s such a relief this menace to the Yankees’ well-being has been properly dealt with…well, assuming this isn’t all part of a giant joke Lazarus and the team are playing on all of us. In which case: nice going, Yankees, we didn’t know you had it in you. More likely, though, this is just the kind of power play we know the Yankees have in them all too well.

Photo by Uli Seit (New York Times)