Why the DeAngelo's are Yankee Fans
The research I've been doing on our Family History actually started out as one of my periodic reading binges, which evolved into much more. When I changed jobs in 1998 and my commute reverted from the drive to New Jersey to a Staten Island Ferry ride into Manhattan, I had the opportunity to catch up on my reading. The classes I was required to take in Brooklyn led me to discover the new Barnes & Noble store in Park Slope. They had a great section on Brooklyn history, which served to make me more aware of my dual roots: Brooklyn and Italy.
I was spending a lot of time in the area where my father's family grew up, a stone's throw from Ebbets Field. Now you need to understand that I grew up in Flatbush in the late 1960's and early 1970's, a difficult place and time for one of only two Yankee fans in an entire grammar school class, particularly one who couldn't keep his mouth shut about Yankee history. I always accepted that your dad passed down his allegiance, and lived with the abuse I got at school. The day the
Mets won the Series in '69, their fans at my school -- the progeny of a lot of frustrated Brooklyn Dodger fans with the sting of the move west still fresh in their minds -- thought it was really funny to poke me in the ass with the pins from these buttons that the Daily News gave away.Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to see World Championship teams in 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999 and the 2000 Subway Series, attending World Series games in 1978 (Games 3, 4 & 5), 1981 (2 & 6), 2000 (1) and 2003 (6). However, in adulthood, it puzzled me that a Depression-era family living near Prospect Park would be Yankee fans. It made sense to me that I would be one, like my dad, but I was confused about why he was. So I asked him about it, and he replied that it was "to annoy the Dodger fans".
In the 1940's, Brooklyn had a population of around 2 million; this seemed like a lot of people to try and annoy. Puzzled, I asked his older brother Mario, who gave me essentially the same answer, which struck me as a great deal of effort just to be antisocial.Finally, I decided to see what light my Uncle Vito could shed on this, since he was the oldest brother. I asked him "what kind of misfits were the DeAngelo brothers being Yankee fans in Brooklyn?" He started laughing, and assured me that there was a good explanation.
It seems that he began to follow baseball in 1936 at the age of 12. When they would "choose-up" sides for stickball in the schoolyard, the captain would pick the name of a big league team, and the participants would pretend they were the players on that team. The kid who was the best player was always one of the captains, and he was a
Dodger fan.This was Joe DiMaggio's rookie season with the Yankees. Uncle Vito admired him because of his ability, but he identified with him because he was Italian. So when he wanted to be captain, he chose the Yankees. Because of his admiration for the Yankee Clipper, he became a Yankee fan. Growing up in a fatherless household, he brought his younger brothers -- who looked up to him -- to their first games, and thus, they became fans of the Bronx Bombers as well.
Except for Mikey, of course, who always had to be different: he was a
Giant fan. Vito DeAngelo (2
Joe DiMaggio, 1967 Old Timers Day, taken by Ron DeAngelo