Tag Archives: Italian american

Worker Chosen by Babe Ruth

Nationality: American

Occupation: Corporate Event Planner

Residence: New York, NY

Language: English

Text:

When Babe Ruth showed up for work, he didn’t look or act like a professional athlete. He ate way too much, drank way too much, and would often wake up with a different woman in his bed. When he was playing he was often hung over, which made it harder for him to deal with all of the attention he was getting as a superstar baseball player. Back in that day in the late 1920s, a bunch of kids would line up outside the stadium in hopes of being the bat boy, and the players would pick one and they’d get paid a nickel for the game. [My aunt’s] great-uncle lived in the Bronx, and after a few weeks of showing up at the stadium he finally got chosen to be the bat boy. He was always very quiet, which Babe Ruth loved; all the other bat boys would constantly try to talk to him which he found annoying. With him as bat boy, the Yankees went on a winning streak and went on to win the World Series. Because of his quiet nature, Babe Ruth gave [my aunt’s] grand-uncle the nickname “Silent Pete”, which stuck for the rest of his life. Eventually Pete became the full time equipment manager for the Yankees, and was with the team for 20 World Series titles.

Context:

The truth of this story is very difficult to measure. The nickname of Pete was given to him by the Yankees (although it is unclear if it was Babe Ruth himself), and he went by Pete his entire life instead of his real name of Michael. There is some proof that he was paid five cents per game to be the bat boy, and the reports of Babe Ruth showing up hungover were likely true. However, the part of the story where kids lined up outside the ballpark and the players personally would pick a bat boy is probably false; he held the bat boy job for almost a decade, which would not make sense if they were picked fresh each day, and it is unlikely that the incredibly famous players would choose the bat boy themselves. My aunt claims to have told me this story exactly as she heard it from her father, who claims he tells it exactly as he heard it from Pete Sheehy, but it is likely that they both enhanced elements of the story.

Analysis:

There are two main elements to this story in my opinion. The first is a simple, classic American rags-to-riches story, where Pete Sheehy was a poor young boy living in the Bronx during the great depression, and through hard work and a positive spirit he worked his way up the ranks of the Yankees organization and ended up as their equipment manager. This is very similar to the common stories of someone starting in the mailroom and working their way up to being the CEO of the company. The other main element to this story relates directly to my family. My family were at the time recent immigrants to America, and faced many of the hardships that recent immigrants face. This story was used to tie my family to Babe Ruth, an American legend, which was a way within my family of solidifying status as being “real Americans” when many other people would have discriminated against them as recent immigrants.

Yankees Eating Contest

Nationality: American

Occupation: Corporate Event Planner

Residence: New York, NY

Language: English

Text:

In 1919, during Yankees spring training in Florida, a Yankees player boasted that he could eat more spaghetti than anyone else on the team. His teammates did not argue with him, because they had seen how much spaghetti he could eat. Eventually, his teammates got tired of him talking about how much he could eat, so they arranged for a spectacle of a competition they were sure he would lose; they would have him compete in an eating contest against an ostrich. Somehow they set up this eating contest between a ballplayer and an ostrich, and in the end the ballplayer won. He passed out after eating eleven plates of spaghetti, and the ostrich ran away after eating seven, making him the winner.

Context:

My aunt told me this story, and she first heard it from her great-uncle Pete Sheehy, who is famous for being the equipment manager and clubhouse attendant of the New York Yankees for 50 years. Sheehy had not yet joined the Yankees in 1919, so he would have heard this story from other players or employees that he worked with. When I asked her if she had any folk stories to share, she said that there were tons of stories involving the Yankees that were famous and well known, and she listed some like Babe Ruth calling his shot and Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, but then she remembered and shared this story as a more niche Yankee moment.

Analysis:

There are tons of stories about the New York Yankees in the early 20th century that have become legends, but almost all of those stories are about how dominant the team was and how great all of the players were. This story is not about a great player, nor is it even about baseball. It is just a bizarre story. However, the detail that the food being eaten in the contest was spaghetti jumped out at me. The Yankees fan base has always had a large Italian American population, and at the time of this story Italian Americans were a marginalized group. The fact that a member of the “Murderer’s Row” Yankees, which is often still regarded as the best baseball team ever, was Italian and ate a lot of spaghetti would be incredibly significant to the Italian American fans who were underrepresented at that point in time. Given how my aunt repeated numerous times that the food was spaghetti, it was clearly an important part of the story.

La Befana

fields:
AGE:23
Date_of_performance: 13 century – present
Language: Italian + English
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: USC Masters Student
Primary Language: English, Italien
Residence: Los Angeles

Quote: ““Okay, so in Italy, we have this super cool tradition on January 6th called La Befana. Basically, she’s like Santa, but make it a broomstick-riding grandma witch. She sneaks into houses at night and leaves candy for good kids and ‘coal’ (which is usually just black sugar candy) for the naughty ones. Legend has it, she was invited by the Three Wise Men to see baby Jesus, said ‘nah, I’m good,’ and then regretted it forever—so now she flies around looking for him and dropping off presents. It’s chaotic but iconic.”

Historical context: this has been around in italy since the 13 centuary, in some tuscan villages they burn large statues of la befana; it is both a pagan and christian tradition; thus very italian folkloric. it is a custum entrenched in the national identity of italians local and abroad like my friend who grew up in the bronx in new york city. But his grandmother who immagrated to the US. Italian-American families keep La Befana alive by adapting the tradition to city life. Instead of chimneys, stockings are hung by windows or doors, and in the morning, kids find a mix of Italian treats like panettone and torrone alongside American candies. Some families tell the legend of La Befana the night before, while others celebrate with a big meal on Epiphany. Though it’s not as widely recognized as Christmas, it remains a special way for the community to stay connected to their Italian roots while blending in with New York’s diverse culture.

Italian American Christmas tradition

Text:Every christmas eve the informant goes to this italian restaurant called Maggianos and then goes to look at christmas lights. Every christmas morning before they would open presents they would eat breakfast, caramel pull apart rolls, biscuits and gravy, fruit salad, and orange juice. Then they all go to Olympia (He lives in Seattle) and sees his step dad’s family.

Context: The informant is religiously Jewish but his mom is Christian so they celebrate Christmas as a family with his moms side of the family, since his parents are divorced. It holds no religious significance to him though he said he loosely knows the story of Jesus. He enjoys gift giving and it’s very important to his mom who is religious. His mom is 100% Italian American but she briefly converted to Judaism while his parents were married and has since returned to Catholicism. This tradition started a couple years after the divorce happened when he was around 10. 

Analysis: These practices highlight the adaptability of holiday customs to accommodate personal beliefs and family histories. Although Christmas holds no religious significance for the informant, the holiday is embraced as a valuable time for family bonding and gift-giving, which are significant to his mother’s Christian beliefs. This blend of traditions: Italian American, Jewish, and Christian illustrates the complex ways in which individuals and families negotiate their identities and cultural legacies through shared celebrations. The food made by the mother, which isn’t Italian cuisine, shows the cultural assimilation that has happened in the family, adopting things they like form the environment around them. He still feels very strongly about celebrating it even though there is no religious meaning to him. It shows how holidays do a lot more for cultures than honoring a religion, they help meet vital psychological effects for those that participate in these cultural practices by providing a sense of belonging and community.

What comes at the end of a rainbow?

Background: The informant is a 22 year old college student. They have a silly personality and love to tell jokes, and this is one that they have been telling their entire life. 

Informant: Let me tell you a joke. What comes at the end of a rainbow? What you ask? A “W”. Ahahahaha. 

Me: Where did you hear this joke first? Who told you it?

Informant: It is from, um, the internet. I looked up: “great jokes” and I found this one and nobody laughed at this joke so it’s been my life mission to make someone chuckle. 

Me: Who do you usually tell this joke to?

Informant: I tell this joke to all audiences because it’s very friendly. You can tell it to 5-year-olds, you can tell it to 85-year-olds. So I tell it to my grandpa, I tell it to my best friend, my grandma who has passed, unfortunately. So, I tell everyone these jokes because no one laughs and it puts a smile on their face because it makes them feel awkward. 

Reflection: Beyond hearing the joke itself, I think this interaction with the informant shows how jokes are used by people to determine who is in their ingroup. The informant said that when they tell this joke they are trying to make others laugh, and that most don’t find it funny. However, if someone does find this joke funny then the informant feels they can be close to that person.