When Dolly Parton Came To The Bronx

Then Dolly Parton walked into the middle of them.

Only at Yankee Stadium. And Dolly wasn’t content just shaking hands and posing for pictures. She picked up a bat. Standing near the first-base line, Dolly took a few swings and apparently wasn’t too bad at it. At one point she wondered what would happen if she actually made contact and whether somebody might get hurt.

Pagliarulo eventually presented her with an official Yankees bomber jacket, which Dolly immediately put on. Then she wanted the cap. There was, however, a slight engineering problem.

Dolly Parton’s hair. If you remember Dolly in 1987, you understand. That Yankees cap wasn’t going over that hair. It was going to have to sit on top of it. And that’s exactly what happened.

There she was — one of the biggest stars in America, standing at Yankee Stadium in a Yankees jacket with a cap perched on that famous blonde hair.

It was a terrific image. But looking back on it almost 40 years later, there’s something else that strikes me about the moment. Dolly looked like she belonged there. That’s probably because Dolly Parton seemed to belong everywhere.

She could stand on a stage in Nashville, appear in a Hollywood movie, walk through Dollywood or wander onto the field at Yankee Stadium and immediately make people smile. There was no pretense about her.

She was Dolly. The Yankees she met that day have long since retired. The old Yankee Stadium itself is gone. Baseball has changed enormously since 1987. But that’s the beauty of Yankee history. Sometimes history isn’t Babe Ruth hitting a home run. It isn’t Lou Gehrig’s speech. It isn’t Reggie hitting three home runs in a World Series game or Don Larsen throwing a perfect game.

Sometimes it’s something small and sweet. Something you almost forget happened. Like the afternoon Dolly Parton came to Yankee Stadium and took a few swings with the Yankees.

Today, that memory means a little more. Dolly Parton died yesterday at the age of 80, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy as a singer, songwriter, actress, entertainer, businesswoman and philanthropist.

Millions will remember the songs. Others will remember the movies. Still others will remember the enormous amount of good she quietly did for people throughout her life.

Here at Bleeding Yankee Blue, we’ll also remember that day in 1987 when a little bit of Nashville came to the Bronx. Dolly Parton was one of us.