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A tribute to legends
By Noel Neff
© St. Petersburg Times,
Walsh was in a quandary. What to do with Mickey Mantle's coveted 1956 Triple Crown award? Where to spotlight the baseball -- said to be one of only five existing -- signed by both Babe Ruth and his Yankees teammate/adversary, Lou Gehrig? How to adequately show off more than 500 autographed photos, hundreds of personalized bats, balls, jerseys, pucks? And the two Heisman trophies. His solution was to build a sports-themed restaurant. Not a high-profile one like the chain of Official All Star Cafes, which bows to today's glitzy mega-athletes and their megasalaries in a big-city setting. Instead, Walsh and his family opened The Stadium, combining nostalgia with an intimate dining experience, off the beaten path in the Hudson Valley. Nestled against a hillside along a rural stretch of Route 9, about an hour's drive north of Manhattan, the 6,500-square-foot restaurant/museum calls to mind Cooperstown's reverence for memorabilia and tradition. Sure, there is an impressive bar and two dining rooms that seat 130, and the aromas of meatloaf and chicken pot pie. But this is a sports shrine where they happened to have served food to about 100,000 customers last year.
Both sides of the foyer are floor-to-ceiling glass cases displaying such items as Rogers Hornsby's silver bat for winning the 1924 National League batting title and a baseball signed by former presidents Nixon, Ford, Bush and Clinton. Straight ahead is an oversized poster honoring the National Basketball Association's 50 greatest players from the league's 50th anniversary in 1997. Only one autograph is missing, that of "Pistol" Pete Maravich, who died in 1988. Just inside the main room, above the large stone fireplace, is Walsh's pride and joy: the 1936 Heisman Trophy of Yale's Larry Kelley. Walsh created a buzz among collectors in 1999 when he purchased the award at auction for $328,110. Kelley celebrated the occasion with Walsh, divvied up the money among his many nieces and nephews, then, several months later, committed suicide at 85. This Heisman is significant because it was the first one so named by New York's Downtown Athletic Club. Jay Berwanger was the award's first recipient in 1935 when it was known simply as the Outstanding Player Award, prior to John Heisman's death that year. Last December, Walsh doubled his Heisman collection by purchasing Paul Hornung's 1956 trophy. The former Notre Dame star (and pro football Hall of Famer) had sought a buyer so that he could establish an academic scholarship at his alma mater for Kentucky high school students. Hornung, though, also wanted a setting where his Heisman could be displayed with class after it had sat in a box for 25 years. "He said, "Joe, give me a fair offer, I'll double it and it will go to Notre Dame scholarships'," recounts Walsh, 57, who is of Irish descent. "He also told me he didn't want a private collector to put it next to some stuffed moosehead." This Heisman trophy, the only one awarded to a player from a losing team, sits in a case filled with other Hornung and Notre Dame memorabilia.
Walsh does not run the restaurant, modestly noting, "All I know about food is how to pick up a fork and knife." Instead, he is CEO for New Jersey-based Curtis Circulation, one of the nation's largest magazine distributors. He leaves the restaurant operations in the hands of his wife, Theresa, son James and cousin Ray Bermingham. Visitors are warmly received. It is likely they have driven many miles, perhaps from New Jersey, Connecticut or upstate New York, to gaze at the extensive collection of sports relics and feast on the New York strip or honey-glazed salmon. It is not unusual for celebrities such as Whitey Ford or a group of New York Rangers hockey players to drop in unannounced. Joseph Walsh grew up in the Bronx in the 1950s, when for many New York City seemed the center of the sports universe. Rather than jump on the bandwagon of the Yankees, who played 20 blocks away, he cheered for the Giants at the nearby Polo Grounds. As a child, Walsh didn't have the means to collect anything except newspaper clippings. He mostly saved sports articles of historic significance, such as individual milestones and team championships. Today those clippings fill about 5,000 laminated, 18-by-36-inch pages that Walsh keeps at his home. Despite his wealth, he refuses to put the scissors down. "Sure, I still do the clipping, and each article is properly underlined and carefully trimmed with a steady hand -- no jagged lines," he said emphatically. "After all, I'm a perfectionist." When his family gathered at the restaurant last year for a private Thanksgiving dinner, Walsh spent four hours that morning dusting the display cases. It is a source of pride for him and son James, who is in charge of the cleaning chores the other 364 days of the year. James, 23, is more or less the curator of his father's collection. "I'm like a little kid collecting baseball cards," he says. "It's for the pure love of it." You won't find many baseball cards here, but you will find Babe Ruth's signed $35,000 contract from 1934 (his final year with the Yankees). It includes a clause requiring a $30 uniform deposit. In the same case at the bar is a 1953 death threat addressed to Mantle from a frustrated Red Sox fan. Mantle's scribbled note on the typewritten letter explains what happened in the following game: "This a--- scared me into hitting a home-run. I did round the bases in record time." Baseball and football items dominate the 36 display cases, but basketball and hockey are well-represented. There are a few golf items and even a display devoted to hurling. It was cousin Bermingham's sport of choice growing up in County Cork, Ireland. One of the hurling sticks on display belonged to Walsh's mother, who is now 93. "We built the place to be more like a home, where people can come and relax," Joseph Walsh said. "I really love it when kids come in with their parents and grandparents." The display includes an assortment of Gold Gloves, Cy Young awards, Most Valuable Player awards and World Series and Super Bowl trophies. Hockey legend Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, credited with inventing the slap shot, recently added his 1961 MVP (Hart Trophy) award and a 1958 Stanley Cup replica to The Stadium's treasures. The oldest and perhaps most obscure item is Abner Doubleday's West Point Cadet Register from 1840. Doubleday is credited by some as the inventor of baseball. Some items hold more sentimental value for Walsh, such as a 1954 subway sign that reads "Polo Grounds" and a 1954 New York Giants baseball jersey signed by his boyhood hero, Willie Mays. Meanwhile, Walsh stays in touch with major auction houses for additions to his collection. He refuses to part with any of his own. "I've been asked to sell some things, but I've told myself I don't want to become a retailer," he says. "It's on display for people to enjoy. Putting a smile on their faces is what motivates me." Noel Neff is a freelance writer based in Norwalk, Conn. * * * If you goGETTING THERE: Several major carriers fly direct from the Tampa Bay area to New York's three major airports, and several airlines have connecting service into Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., which serves the lower Hudson Valley. Driving from New York City, take Taconic Parkway north to Yorktown Heights. Turn left on Route 202 and go west 2.7 miles to Bear Mountain Parkway. Turn right and go 3 miles to Highland Avenue. Go 1.1 miles to Route 9 North. The restaurant is 2 miles on the right. STAYING THERE: The Bird & Bottle Inn offers the only accommodations in Garrison, a quaint hamlet on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. The inn was known as Warren's Tavern when it opened in 1761. The inn has four guest rooms, each with a four-poster canopy bed and working fireplace. Prices begin at $210 per night, including a $75 dinner credit. Call toll-free 1-800-782-6837, or go to the Web site at http://www.birdbottle.com. Other accommodations are available in nearby Cold Spring and Peekskill. FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Stadium restaurant and sports museum is at 1308 Route 9, in Garrison. Call (845) 734-4000.
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