Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium [Hardcover]

Filip Bondy (Author), David Cone (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2005

Bleeding Pinstripes is a unique, anthropological view of this most dedicated tribe of rooters—their rituals, their personal tribulations, their uncanny commitment to the Bronx ball club and to each other. You will meet an assortment of Bleacher Creatures, characters of a very different sort: Tina Lewis, the self-proclaimed Queen of the Bleachers, a spirited cancer survivor, and the chief lobbyist for Section 39; Donald Simpson, a 9/11 victim and the bleachers’ only known millionaire; Milton Ousland, the only bleacher fan authorized to bang the cowbell during Yankee games; Bald Vinny, the ultimate T-shirt entrepreneur and a good-natured hustler who has made a living off his passion; and Luis Castillo, the Yankee clubhouse attendant and the insider who started out as just another Creature in the bleachers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Filip Bondy is an award-winning sports columnist for the New York Daily News. He has traveled from Doha, Qatar, to Harare, Zimbabwe, while covering some very famous and some extremely obscure sports events. Bondy’s reports and humorous diaries have chronicled Wimbledon, the Olympics, the World Cup and camel racing. Closer to home, Bondy created the Bleacher Creature feature that gave a public voice to the boisterous fans in Section 39 at Yankee Stadium. Bondy first worked at The News in 1983, after a decade in news, features and sports with the defunct Paterson News and Bergen Record (he panned "Evita" as a theater critic, predicting it wouldn't last a week). He returned to The News as a columnist in 1993, following a stint at the New York Times. During his eclectic career, he was a beat reporter covering the Yankees, Nets, Knicks, Rangers, Tonya Harding and the national marbles championships. In 2003, his stories were ranked in the top 10 nationally in two different writing categories by the Associated Press Sports Editors. Bondy graduated from the University of Wisconsin and earned a master's at the University of Pennsylvania. This is his fourth sports book, his first on baseball. The "F" in Filip is Czech—his father grew up in Prague. You can call him "Flip," the way they do in the bleachers, and he won’t mind. Bondy is married to LynNell Hancock, aka Mrs. Creature, a professor of journalism at Columbia. He has two children and a grandson. Mostly, Bondy wants to play right midfield for Boca Juniors.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC (February 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582617694
• ISBN-13: 978-1582617695
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable fare, March 8, 2005

By 

T. J. Brown (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium (Hardcover)

A funny book. With a cast of characters you will long remember after you close the finished book for the first time. These are fans who like to have fun, have a special bond with one another, and as the title says, simply "bleed pinstripes."

From pregame barbecues to inter-sectional squabbles in the bleacher seats themselves, you can hear the chants in your head and taste the beer in your gullet as you read through which is an amusing walk through the 2004 season as seen through the sometimes clouded eyes of "The Bleacher Creatures" and their faitful scribe, Filip Bondy.

Highly recommended.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MOVE OVER HARRY POTTER!, March 3, 2005

By 

M. Chalpin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium (Hardcover)

This has to be one of the most heartwarming baseball stories I have ever read. The New York Yankees are the elite of baseball teams, and the Bleacher Creatures are the elite of baseball fans.

These are REAL people, of all races, creeds and religions and political views. Only in NY, at Yankee Stadium, could so many diverse people be found together, united for one cause--the New York Yankees. The dynamics of this social setting are a fascinating read for baseball and nonbaseball fans alike. Red Sox fans could take a lesson or two on how to behave from these people.

I really enjoyed the humorous anecdotes that these people engaged in. I really felt as if I were a part of the action--like I was there.

Filip Bondy injects a sense of realism. I feel like I know these people. It was as if I sat in Section 39 myself.

All I can say is that this book is a MUST read for any fan.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good-natured, and eye-level look at true-hearted fans, May 13, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium (Hardcover)

Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season With The Bleacher Creatures At Yankee Stadium by Filip Bondy (an award-winning sports columnist for the New York Daily News) is a virtually anthropological look at the men and women who come to Yankee Stadium to watch baseball games in New York. Their dedication to the Bronx ball club and each other fills the pages of Bleeding Pinstripes, which are marked with such vignettes as the 9/11 survivor who is the bleachers' only known millionaire; the high-spirited cancer survivor who proclaims herself "queen of the bleachers"; and the fan whose passion for the game runs so deep she claims "they'll never get rid of me. I bleed pinstripes". An entertaining, good-natured, and eye-level look at true-hearted fans.