Michael Kay says tipsy Red Sox fan thought Yankees announcer was Curt Schilling

It sounds like Yankees bases weren't the only things left loaded at Fenway Park during Monday night's punchless 4-3 loss to the Red Sox.

Longtime New York Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay says he encountered a tipsy Boston fan who insisted the YES Network announcer was former Red Sox pitcher and censored ESPN analyst Curt Schilling.

Kay tweeted about the boozy encounter: "Somewhat inebriated Red Sox fan came up to me demanding I autograph his ticket. 'come on Curt. You're my favorite.' Thought I was Schilling."

Somewhat inebriated Red Sox fan came up to me demanding I autograph his ticket. "come on Curt. You're my favorite." Thought I was Schilling.

— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) September 1, 2015

But the similarities between the two men are noticeable — especially through beer goggles.

And some of Kay's Twitter followers pointed that out:

@RealMichaelKay @ihateprospects you both have enormous (enawmous) heads

— Judge BROsner (@JudgeBrosner) September 1, 2015

Is that a Sharpie stain on your sock?

Yankees announcer, John Sterling, among hundreds displaced by apartment complex blaze: Report

Hundreds of people were left homeless after a massive fire tore through a luxury apartment complex in New Jersey Wednesday — leaving many families out in the cold.

The "surreal" blaze, which broke out in the late afternoon and was still raging 12 hours later, engulfed The Avalon at Edgewater, located along the shores of the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan.

One of the residents who wondered what would be left of their homes was long-time New York Yankees radio announcer John Sterling.

While authorities announced that, thankfully, no one was seriously injured in the inferno, Sterling, like many others watched video of the fire on the 10 o'clock news. He saw that the fire struck the side of a section where his apartment was located.

"There are two sides to the building, and unfortunately for me the fire is on my side," said Sterling, who until 10 had not been able to see video of the inferno because the hotel where he has taken shelter does not carry local cable news channels.

"I would expect there would be nothing left," he said.

Sterling, who was relieved that "they got everyone out," said he was not as concerned over the loss of his memorabilia as he was with more mundane needs such as his clothes.

"I'm not a memorabilia person, so that doesn't bother me," he said. "Even my kids' pictures; I'll get other pictures. You can say, well there's that picture of you and [Bill] Clinton and you and [George] Bush and [Rudy] Giuliani, but that's not a big thing to me. I would like to have my clothes and my passport and my bags. But what are you going to do?"

And Sterling's broadcast family kept fans up to date on Twitter:

“@drossnyy: @RealMichaelKay thanks for update. Hope He is okay.”thank goodness he is fine. He can replace things. He realizes that.
— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) January 22, 2015

John Sterling, radio voice of the @Yankees, OK after devastating Edgewater blaze. We're thinking about you, John. http://t.co/mdaieL1tON
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) January 22, 2015

Sterling, who has not missed a Yankees game since 1989, called the support he received in the hours after the fire "a wonderful thing."

"I get teary when people are nice to me, so it's been a great outpouring for me," he said. "I just feel sorry for all the families with little kids, dogs. They all have to go somewhere."

Suzyn Waldman gives Jeter a kiss after his final game (VIDEO)

Suzyn Waldman finally got to do what a lot of women — and a fair share of male Yankees fans — have wanted to for the past 20 years — plant a big smooch on the side of Derek Jeter's face.

The longtime Yankees broadcaster said her on-field goodbye to The Captain after the Yankees shortstop's final game against the Red Sox on Sunday with a special farewell kiss.

@cc660 I thought this would cheer you up after a horrible Jets loss pic.twitter.com/ES2p5cJ4js
— Ronnie (@ronniebaseball) September 28, 2014

After he did an interview on YES, cameras caught a melancholy Jeter getting a hug and a peck-on-the-cheek from Waldman.

You can see it starting around the 1:30 mark:

Don't know if that constitutes getting one of Jeter's infamous swag bags, but I'm sure Waldman is just happy with a more personal goodbye.

Mike Francesa's show to air on Fox Sports 1: Report

It didn't take long for the Sports Pope and his ever present Diet Coke to find themselves back on TV.

Only one week after his contract with the YES Network expired, Mike Francesa struck a deal to simulcast his WFAN radio show on Fox Sports 1, according to a source. 

Francesa's 12-year simulcast run on the YES Network ended on Super Bowl Sunday.

No information was available on the terms of the contract, but Francesa said on his show last week that an announcement would be official early this week, and that New York's Numbah One was looking to be back on TV in time for March Madness.

The deal comes after a week where Francesa’s replacement on YES, Michael Kay, opened his ESPN radio show by tossing a Diet Coke in the trash, prompting Francesa to call the move “classless” and sparking a bit of a feud between the two hosts.

Since FS1 and YES are both owned by Fox, it now puts Francesa and Kay in the same TV family and should make the head-to-head competition very interesting. And those are a couple of huge noggins we're talking about.

Whether or not that means their "feud" is over remains to be seen. 

MSG had widely been considered the most logical candidate for Francesa's show after making a bid for it five years ago that YES matched. But FS1 entered the bidding, presumably in an effort to increase the new cable sports network's visibility.

Mongos rejoice.

Fan's Mike Francesa tattoo is pretty scary (PHOTO)

Mike Francesa's radio show won't be simulcast on the YES television network very much longer, but one mongo found a way to keep the Sports Pope's image around forever — with a tattoo.

This fan had Numbah 1's face inked onto his body. The only missing detail is the ever present Diet Coke bottle.

Dis is scary folks, mongo got a tattoo of NYs numbah 1!! RT @druggedape Mongo fa life, ok? tattoo by Chris Koutsis pic.twitter.com/1TRhy2KsT3
— Mike Franceser (@MikeFrancesaNY) January 25, 2014

Al Leiter listed as an 'outside the box wildcard' replacement for N.J. senator

Al Leiter has never kept his political aspirations to himself but the YES announcer and former major league pitcher was more than surprised to find his name mentioned in a report as an "outside the box wildcard" candidate to replace the late New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

The former Yankees, Mets, and Blue Jays pitcher — and the pride of Toms River, N.J. — is a longtime friend of fellow Republican Gov. Chris Christie — a huge Mets fan.  Christie can appoint Lautenberg's replacement but is leaning towards holding a special election.

Leiter was listed by Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Katz as a candidate earlier this week. When the former hurler was asked by ESPNNewYork's Andrew Marchand yesterday about it, he responded, "Who wouldn’t be interested if the governor of your state for whatever reason of their due process thought [you were] worthy, in their opinion? So, yeah, I would be interested."

After a career that included a sterling performance in the Mets' 1999 one-game playoff win against the Reds and superb bullpen work for the Yankees in the 2005 postseason, the 47-year-old Leiter became involved in politics.  He helped campaign for various candidates including George W. Bush and Michael Bloomberg.

While working as an announcer for the YES and MLB networks, he's also worked closely with Christie — he was a member of the governor's transition team and, as his bio said, he was appointed by Christie to the New Jersey Hall of Fame Advisory Commission and placed on the board of the New Jersey Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund last year.

Whether or not the Guv goes to the bullpen phone and gives Leiter a call is anyone's guess but Leiter says he would take the call.

"I would be interested, sure, but no, I have not been contacted," he said.

Former Yankee Paul O'Neill Shows Off His Mythical 'Rabbit Ears'

Former New York Yankees right-fielder and "Seinfeld" actor, Paul O'Neill, finally proved to the world the existence of a piece of Little League equipment called "rabbit ears" used during his youth.  After a friend sent over one of the beat-up head protectors, O'Neill sported the unusual leather ear flaps on air.

A couple of weeks ago, while doing his broadcasting gig on the YES Network during a Yankees game, the talk turned to batting helmets and how they have evolved over the years.  O'Neill casually mentioned wearing the rabbit ears during his Little League years in Columbus, Ohio.  O'Neill's co-caster, Michael Kay, did a double take and, like a million other listeners, and said he never heard of the such a piece of equipment when he played baseball while growing up in New York.

Was it myth or reality?  Some people thought O'Neill was living in some fantasy land and was, himself, probably beaned in the head too many times.

O'Neill insisted it was regulation gear for protecting a kid rounding the bases and thought he might have one lying around somewhere.  O'Neill was occasionally ribbed after he could not find or produce the legendary head gear.

In a time long before video and phone cameras,  O'Neill was unable to document or produce evidence to back his fabulous tale; so rabbit ears were as real as Nessie and Bigfoot.

Finally, during today's game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium, a weathered pair of blue rabbit ears made it to the broadcast booth, verifying the existence of the funny-looking head protectors.

The odd looking gadget fits over your head and looks like a hybrid of a wrestler's ear protector and the bottom-half of a football helmet worn during the Bronco Nagurski era.  There is no protection on top and has no visor.  It looks the players cap is worn under the top straps.

I still don't understand why you needed one to run the bases.

So, Paul O'Neill, you are vindicated for what was once thought to be a too vivid imagination.  Now find the Fountain of Youth that has revived Bartolo Colon's career.