Photo: Yankees Beer Vendor Suspended After Joking With Red Sox Alfredo Aceves
Aceves answered by grabbing his crotch and saying, “I got your ID right here.”
Lazarus said he and his co-workers all erupted in laughter and Aceves continued to walk away.
Apparently, nearby managers did not find the encounter funny, and Lazarus was called to his supervisor’s office later in the game.
“They take my badge—this is only my 35th year, by the way—and they escort me out like a common criminal,” he told the New York Post. “To suspend me, when I did nothing?”
Thursday, Lazarus was initially suspended from the first two games of the American League Division Series which will likely cost him between $200 to $300, for “harassing he opposing team’s player.” The sold-out playoff games will give the vendors a major boost in sales as their incomes have been cut in half this season by the introduction of waiter service in choice sections and by bad weather, Lazarus said.
“The vendor is always wrong,” he told the Post. “I’m so fed up.”
Sunday, after Lazarus’ story appeared in the media, he was suspended for at least one additional game.
“I don’t know why they’re making such a big deal out of this,” he told the Post “They come up, and they tell me: ‘You’re still suspended. You’re in violation of company policy,’ because I’m in the newspaper and they got a [policy] saying you’re not supposed to be in the media, but I’ve been in the newspapers and on TV plenty of times. Now it’s a problem?”
Lazarus, 53, is also the author of the book, “The Pope and Me at Yankee Stadium,” and says he regularly donates the proceeds to and performs his stand-up routine for charity.
No word on Aceves’ thoughts on the situation.
Though he is currently playing for Boston, Aceves once previously played for the Yankees.
