For New Yorkers of a certain vintage, shots of a manical Penny Crone cackling away in front of celebrating Yankee fans were a big a part of the local TV news tapestry, right up there with regular Freddy “Sez” sightings. The exploits of the former WNYW reporter — now selling real estate for a tony NYC agency — are remembered fondly by the New York Times’ James Barron.
Early in Derek Jeter™s career, she took a look at him in street clothes, and wondered about the fit of his slacks.
œI walked right up to Derek Jeter and I said, ˜Derek, why don™t you wear tighter pants?™ she recalled. œAnd what did Derek say? Not too much. He looked at me like I was nuts.
“Gatorade man? She yelled that at someone who walked into the stadium with a large barrel of ” well, you know. He was blocking her shot, which ruins everything in television news. The man turned out to be Willie Randolph, a Yankees coach at the time and later the manager of the Mets.
There was the day she went to a bagel factory and the anchor introduced her as œan industrial accident waiting to happen.
And there was the time she interviewed Yogi Berra and called him œYogi Bear.
œMy husband told me that Yogi Berra was named after Yogi Bear, she said, œso I thought his name was Yogi Bear. So we™re sitting in his living room, me on one side, Yogi Berra on the other, the fireplace, and I said, ˜Good evening, Mr. Bear.™