Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Freddy Schuman, in a 2002 photo near Yankee Stadium, was a familiar presence at games with his signs and his banging on a pan with a wooden spoon. He bought the spoons at a nearby secondhand store. Thriftland U.S.A., a large second-hand store in the South Bronx, seems an unlikely place to claim a piece of New York Yankees history.
“I hate the Yankees â€" every time there’s a home game, it totally messes up the parking in this neighborhood,†said Mark Kassof, an owner of Thriftland, at River Road and 153rd Street, just south of Yankee Stadium.
And the fans were already streaming by on Monday morning, preparing for the Opening Day game at the stadium.
The store has gained fame among die-hard Yankees fans for an unusual reason: It is where Freddy Schuman bought his spoons. “He probably bought them here because we’re near the stadium, and we’re cheap,†Mr. Kassof said.
Mr. Schuman became something of a team mascot by roaming the stadium with an old frying pan and a spoon. He would let fans bang them to lead cheers, a tradition that he began in 1988 and that lasted until his death in October 2010 at age 85.
Freddy the Fan, as he was known, would come to Thriftland at the beginning of each season to buy his supply of secondhand spoons, perhaps a dozen, for 25 cents apiece.
Although not a fan, Mr. Kassof said he would attend a Yankees game once a year and was always impressed with Mr. Schuman’s welcoming spirit to fans, especially children. He also enjoyed the distinctive signs Mr. Schuman would make for each home game he went to, never using the same one twice.
A year or two before Mr. Schuman died, Mr. Kassof paid him “a modest amount â€" I forget how much†â€" to make two signs for the store’s front windows. The signs, made in the classic “Freddy Sez†bubble letter style, remain hanging today as a tribute to Mr. Schuman.
“Freddy Sez: No. 1 Yankee Fans Shop at Thriftland for Great Bargains,†reads one.
“Freddy Sez: Shop at Thriftland for Grand Slam Bargains,†reads the other. That sign now hangs upside-down, because Mr. Kassof inverted it after Mr. Schuman’s death as a symbol of grieving.
Mr. Schuman, a retired truck driver who often went by the nickname Freddy Sez, had only one working eye and one tooth. He led cheers at more than 1,500 games.
“Those spoons are very important to Yankees history. Freddy was the biggest Yankees fan ever,†said Charley Janczuk, 56, of the Bronx, who was shopping in Thriftland on Monday morning for athletic jerseys.
“I recognized those signs as Freddy’s as soon as they went up,†he said of the signs in the front window. “But I never knew he bought his spoons here. That’s huge.â€
Thirftland fills its 15,000 square feet of space mostly with secondhand clothing, though it also has a toy department and an aisle of discounted new items such as dish detergent.
The area becomes busy with Yankees fans, who park in local lots and walk to the game. Most of Thriftland’s customers are nearby residents, and they generally have no idea who Mr. Schuman was.
Yankees fans typically stop in to grab an inexpensive jacket or raincoat in poor weather, said Mr. Kassof, who sells $2 rain ponchos. He drapes one on a cardboard cutout of Derek Jeter and puts it outside, as advertising.
On Monday, Mr. Kassof led a reporter to the kitchenware, walking past used picture frames and clock-radios, past VHS and CD players. He stopped at a plastic bin holding only plastic utensils.
“We happen to be out of spoons right now,†he said.
Years after his death, Mr. Schuman’s legacy lives on. One of his pans was inducted into the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center at Montclair State University in Little Falls, N.J. Another pan and a spoon were donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
