 Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here. I'm Jack Curry and I'm joined by a very special guest today. It's Gabe Vitalone, a 97-year-old Yankee fan. I want to go through his resume here real quickly. First of all, he's been a Yankee fan for over 90 years. He's a military vet. Thank you for your service, Gabe. He was a coach and a professor for over 30 years at William Patterson. He's a Fordham grad, so I'm giving him a virtual fist bump right here because I'm a Fordham grad, too. He's won close to a hundred medals in state and national senior Olympics, but Gabe, after I finished reading off all those lines, and I know you have other parts of your resume, there was one line missing from your resume. You wanted to sing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium, and that was scheduled for April 19th. It's obviously been delayed right now, but the Yankees had you out to the stadium in February for an audition. Can you explain to me what that day was like for you? Well, it was unbelievable. First of all, the reason for all this, of course, is the loss of my friend Joe during World War II. It's had been a lifelong dream to sing at the Yankee Stadium. But after Joe was killed, every time I heard the star-spangled banner, I thought of Joe automatically. Whether the ball game was going on wherever it was played at any time, as soon as it started, I thought of Joe. That Thursday that we were asked to go to the stadium, I didn't know that I was going to be asked to sing. They said that they had a VIP tour of the stadium, and I walked onto the field and, of course, there's always just a special feeling about a baseball field. The stadium was just gorgeous. It never looked better. Even though it was empty, it was kind of a weird feeling, and I looked up at the scoreboard and there was my name on the scoreboard. That was overwhelming. Then the microphone came out because he said, well, we'd like to hear your sound over the PA system. I was a little apprehensive, but as they brought in front of me and I started to sing, I felt really a calm that came over me. That's the way it's been every time I hear the national anthem. History for now, at least it's on hold. I can understand that. I don't consider it a loss in view of what's going on. This is an unbelievable time in our lifetimes, all of us. We've got to take care of what's on hand now first, and then we'll worry about the other incidentals. Gabe, I wanted to ask you about your friendship with Joe, because I think it says so much about you that a person that you met when you were both altar boys and yonkers is 12 years old, that all these years later, and it's so unfortunate that Joe was lost more than 70 years ago, but yet that bond was so strong that you still think about him, you'll still talk about him, and he still brings you such calm in your life. When we were in high school, he lived in a different part of town than I lived from. It was about at least a mile that he walked every morning up to my house to call for me, and when he was up before me, Joe had a very difficult home life, and so he used to get up early so he could get out of the house before his father got up, because he and his father didn't get along too well, and he would come up to the house and he would sit. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I love my room here, looking out at a huge rock that was outside my home on Vancouver Park Avenue, and he would sit on the rock until the shade went up in my bedroom, and when the shade went up, he would come up to the house and we would have breakfast, and we went to three years in high school together, 10, 11, 12, and he was there every morning for breakfast. After school, we went and we played sports together. The story was baseball. The main theme was baseball. We played all variations of it by throwing a rubber ball up against the stairs. In fact, even to this day, I had a large piece of a 2x12, which I put out here in a rubber ball, and I throw the rubber ball at this inclined plane, and I still am still pretty good. I can still handle my right hand and my left hand. So the idea of playing ball was just unbelievable. The other thing was that newspapers played up baseball teams in New York. New York was baseball heaven. It was the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Giants. Other cities will never know that experience. They will never know what it was like to be either a Yankee fan, a Giant fan, or a Dodger fan. But we know what it was like and it was all-encompassing. You're the second person I've ever interviewed that saw Babe Ruth play in person. You were just a little guy, five years old, and your father brings you to a game in 1927. What do you remember about that day? That day was, it was kind of dreamy. The thing that I do remember, walking in, and it was during batting practice, or fielding practice, and I saw Babe for the first time standing at the right field. It looked as though his fielders club was very, very small. And it was unusual, at least to me, because it was light-covered. And these are the things that still stand out about that. Gabe, as I listen to you talk and tell your stories, and you're just bursting with so much enthusiasm and passion, I know that you've had a more than 90-year love affair with baseball and with the Yankees. And if I asked you to describe why you've had this love affair, what would be the things that stand out for you? Why baseball and the Yankees have been so important to you? Well, the Yankees, since it was right from the very beginning, and I have to say, you know, the tradition that they had. And, you know, I loved, I was happy when the magic came, but I loved Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig was my favorite. His demeanor, the way he played the game, he was tough, he was out there every single day. He played in Roots Shadow, and so he was my number one. And I remember when he passed away, I was in high school at the time, and Joe and I went to his wake in Bronx. It was a very profound feeling. I want to ask you this, you've talked about Gehrig and Ruth and DiMaggio. If you had to pick a player of recent vintage, let's say in the last quarter century, a Yankee that you have watched, or more than one Yankee that you have watched, who caused you to say to either Evelyn, your wife, or one of your sons, that guy could have played with the old Yankees that I used to watch when I was a kid. Who was somebody that stood out for you in that regard? When you're crossing generational lines and you try to compare, it's, you know, it's a different kind of ballgame. I'll tell you one thing that really impressed me, Lamehu on the Yankees last year. I mean, when he came into the band, I just felt so great. I just have a nice feeling. Gabe, when you had your impromptu audition at Yankee Stadium, and you get all the nerves and the tension out and you thought of your buddy Joe, and you finished singing, and then the Yankee said to you, by the way, we have a spot for you, and we'd like you to sing the National Anthem on April 19th. What kind of emotions did that bring forward for you? Well, shock first, but it was the thing I liked about it was that I was able to fall into that mood that I mentioned to you, that whether Joe is involved in this, God only knows. But I have a feeling that I'm somehow I'm different when I'm singing the National Anthem. And now we know that baseball is delayed and there's uncertainty about 2020. But how eager are you to eventually be able to go back out there again at Yankee Stadium, hopefully before a large crowd and get that opportunity to do it one more time? It's going to be probably one of the best days of my life. I have no doubt about that. I'm trying not to get snowed by it, so to speak, and I'm hoping Joe stays with me, because if that calm comes over me like it did, I'm going to be all right. With the life that you've lived across 97 years, soon to be 98, do you realize how powerful a statement that is that this is going to be one of the best days of your life? One of the things about longevity, it gives us a long time to develop. Really, when I think of retiring that I retired over 20 years ago, and I think I'm a better person now than I was then. I think I'm a smarter person. I'm not as sharp mentally. My short-term memory is poor. Thank God my long-term memory is I can go back in time and I can live another life years ago at my age for this kind of thing to happen. It's inconceivable, really. Gabe, I would like to ask you a favor. On behalf of the S Network, even though we know that you are going to sing the National Anthem at a Yankee game in the future, I was wondering if you could treat our viewers to it right now so that people could get a taste of what is forthcoming. Do you think you have a National Anthem menu for us right now? Yeah, I think so. Bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night That our flag was still there O say does that star-spangled banner yet You should be very proud of that. You nailed it. You are ready to go. You are ready to go when the moment comes and they put the microphone in front of you. I have no doubt that you're going to hit a home run. I was never a long ball hitter. Listen, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity. I've always enjoyed it. One of my secret ambitions was to be on Yes. When I read about you, Mike Focaro did a terrific article about you in the New York Post and he's a really good friend of mine and he gave me your contact information and I'm glad that he helped make this connection because it was an absolute treat to not only interview you, get to know you, but also hear you sing the National Anthem.