Opening Day 1966
My buddy Terry and I had a great plan to see all the
Indians’ games free in 1966. We would sell hot dogs or cokes at Municipal
Stadium and watch the game between sales.
We skipped school that day and took a 7 AM bus to East
Cleveland. Then from the Windermere Station, we grabbed the Rapid Transit to
the Terminal Tower.
From Public Square we walked the mile down to Municipal
Stadium, the middle-aged but beautiful giant on the Lake.
We found the line for concessionaires—about 200 folks, and
we were the youngest and the whitest.
There was no rigamarole with paper work, and we were hired
just like that, trained in five minutes. All we had to do was holler, “Get your
Red Hots here! Red Hots here!” That was it.
Before you knew it, we were carrying hot dogs, buns, and beloved
Stadium Mustard up and down aisles, jammed with 80,000 customers—the largest
crowd I’d ever seen.
I didn’t see a minute of that game. I sold 200 hot dogs and
made 8 bucks. Of that I spent 2 bucks on buses, clearing 6 bucks for a 12-hour
day, getting back to Euclid at 7 PM.
Terry and I got into trouble for skipping school, but we
hardly gave a damn. It was senior year, and this was Opening Day!
That was my first and last day as a concessionaire, an
experience I’d always value, and never forget.#
Bob Coughlin / April 11, 2017—Opening Day
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