Jack, I also worked those stadiums (Harry M. Stevens Corp. at Shea, and I think Canteen Corp. at Yankee Stadium — I only worked at the latter the year it reopened; the Yanks played at Shea in ‘74 and ‘75).

I was the world’s worst vendor … too much watching the game. But the first thing I saw (at age 14) was Namath’s Jets get drubbed at Shea, and the last thing I saw was Chambliss’s homerun to win the A.L. pennant in 1976. Pretty neat.

If I’m remembering right, everyone worked on a 16 percent commission basis. If you got to sell beer (I was too young) at a Yanks-Red Sox doubleheader on a hot summer Sunday, you could just about retire. The Yankee crowd was much rowdier in the 70′s. I think the Shea crowd got older, and rowdier, in the 80′s … when the Mets got younger and rowdier.