About me
The story of
Tony Morante
Inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame in November 2022
The Bronx, NY has been my home for nearly my entire life. Growing up in the Arthur Ave. tenement sector entitled me to the best food in this renowned Italian-American enclave. We enjoyed the strains of the popular music at the time by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra Nat King Cole, and Jerry Vale…just to name a few. Soon after that, it was Rock n’ Roll that captured the music scene in what was known as the Doo-Wop genre. Harmony abounded on the street corners with acapella whenever there were a few guys that got together until late night…much to the displeasure of the folks who lived in the area. On another note, we had the luxury of two great institutions, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden nearby to enjoy.
We were mostly Yankees fans during this period. And, in 1958, I became an usher at Yankee Stadium, with a four-year stint in the United States Navy, lasting 15 years until 1973 when an opening in the Group and Season Sales Department at the Stadium beckoned. Prior to joining the Yankees my full-time employment included financial institutions. At night I pursued an education at Fordham University achieving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
In 1979, with the help of the Bronx County Historical Society, I began walking tours of the Stadium in conjunction with my sales position. By 1998, The Yankees’ General Partner, Mr. George M. Steinbrenner helped me open a Tours Department. Revenue accrued through the tours benefitted the Yankee Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 program that brought education and recreation programs to the inner-city youth.
Until 2008, the grandeur of this mecca for outdoor events, Yankee Stadium, bore out playing host to 27 World Series championships, 30 championship fights, college football, Negro baseball, New York Giants football, motorcycle racing, circuses, rodeos, women’s exhibition baseball, Jehovah Witnesses, the Billy Graham Crusade, soccer, National Hockey League games, three papal masses, (including the first papal mass in the Western Hemisphere), and other interdenominational faith healings. I enjoyed a front-row seat to many of these events…what a lucky guy.
With the Stadium now in dire need of repair, the curtain came down on September 21 to prepare for a new ballpark. The opening of the new Stadium In 2009 came with a World Series victory as did the original Yankee Stadium. Around this time, we began education programs to help students learn about American history through the eyes of baseball as an adjunct to the Stadium tours. Given the opportunity upon retiring in 2018, I took this program into book form in addition to becoming an adjunct professor at Fordham University. With the completion of the book, “BASEBALL The New York Game – How The National Pastime Paralleled US History”, we plan on translating it into other languages.
Joe Piscopo, Tony Morante, Maria Bartiromo
The Tuskegee Airmen and Tony Morante
Reggie Jackson, Tony Morante, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill and Yogi Berra
Tony with Max Frazee, Jaccob Ruppert IV, Glen Stout
Tony Morante receives the Philip J. Abinanti Community Service Award