When Paul Friedman was 10 years old, he snuck into Yankee Stadium by sidling his way up to an older man wearing an unbuttoned long coat swaying in the breeze, and ducked between the coat and the man's leg just as they entered the gate. It being 1938, security was lax, and he made it through without being seen and watched his beloved New York Yankees for the first time in person.

It was also likely the first time the brash, Bronx-born son of Jewish immigrants portrayed his personality theme of "walking into a place like you own it." It was to become his way of dealing with whatever curves and fast balls life threw at him.