...take 5: Small World...

When I was very young, we moved from our apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, up to the Bronx. My Dad for years had been working a bar-restaurant on 14th Street and with a young family, he just became tired of the late hours.   

Pooch is Mondego, brought over from Portugal by a friend of Dad

He took a job with a blacktop construction company located in the Bronx. (He was an apprentice carpenter as a young boy in Ourense, Spain... coming to this country when he was 17 years old.)
The Bronx apartment was on 169th Street on Jerome Avenue (across the street from the old Cascades Pool).. not very far up from Yankee Stadium on 161st.

I was six when Whitey Ford started pitching for the New York Yankees... and many years later... I was one year out of college at the time he retired (from the Yankees)... that's longevity!!
I attended many Yankee games through the years, and watched him pitch numerous times.
New York loved him for lots of reasons, none the least of which he was truly one of them. He was a kid that signed on with the Yankees coming from Astoria, Queens.... and he proved himself to be something very special.

'The Chairman of the Board'
18-years with the New York Yankees.
10-all star appearances
  6-World Championship Titles (played in 11 World Series).
236-106  Won-Loss Record
Most career wins in the history of the club.
Started a record 22 games in the World Series
Cy Young Award - World Series MVP - Babe Ruth Award
NY Yankees #16 Retired

*****************

Whitey now spends winters in Fort Lauderdale, in the same building as one of our longtime best friends, Ilene... she's also a New York kid...

Ilene & Whitey...

.... small world.