Frasier!

May 31, 2010 – Even before my son’s presence at Yankee
Stadium made this the most memorable Memorial Day of my life, I was already
having a great day.

Prior to today’s game, I escorted Kelsey Grammer to Monument
Park, the Yankee Stadium museum and a few other places in the Stadium, before
interviewing him in a suite. Grammer, who is best known for playing Frasier in Cheers and then in the spinoff show Frasier, is a knowledgeable Yankees fan.

He’s also my favorite TV actor, and I can say I played catch
with him for a brief moment in the Yankees bullpen today.

While I didn’t get hooked on the Cheers craze during the
’80s, I’ve more than made up for it in the last decade – thanks to late-night
syndication.

And in that same way, Frasier
has become the show I watch more than any other.

I gave Kelsey a copy of my first book, Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective, and I wrote the
following inscription in it:

“Kelsey, My very best to an iconic actor, who I watched when
I was a kid, and who I watch with my kid.”

The interview with Grammer, who I consider one of the kindest and classiest people I’ve ever interviewed, will appear in the August issue
of Yankees Magazine, but I will
provide a preview of the “5 Questions” feature for those who can’t wait.

Early in the interview, I asked Grammer if he was ever outspoken
about his allegience to the Yankees, while he was part of a prime-time show (Cheers), which took place in the heart
of Boston.

“When you’re in Boston, everyone is a Red Sox fan, so it’s
wiser to keep your mouth shut,” Grammer said. “Boston is the birthplace of ‘Don’t
ask, don’t tell.’ I always loved the Yankees, and there’s never been another baseball
team for me.

–Alfred Santasiere III