A group of performers from the UCB Theatre got together to see the Yankees/Tigers game on Wednesday, August 30th. A few weeks before the game, Agent Lathan approached me about doing a favorite prank of his at the stadium. He stumbled onto the prank by accident at Fenway Park back in 2001. After leaving his seat at Fenway to hit the concession stand, he had a difficult time finding his way back. His friends started shouting at him, trying to get his attention, and pretty quickly several strangers in the section began shouting his name as well. Agent Lathan decided to keep it going by pretending he couldn’t hear them and pretty soon the entire section was frantically yelling his name. He did the prank again at Shea Stadium in 2002 (this time on purpose) on a slightly larger scale. For the Yankee Stadium version, the goal would be to spread the prank over many sections, trying to get as many people as possible involved in bringing “Rob” back to his seat.

Unfortunately, Yankee Stadium does not allow any video cameras or backpacks; so smuggling in filming equipment would be nearly impossible. Agent Lathan decided to pull the prank anyway, even if we couldn’t film it. Fortunately several members of our group brought cameras to the game and were able to snap photos and take some footage using their camera’s “movie mode”.

Rob waited until the 6th Inning to begin his journey. After a beautiful sunset, he left our section in the right field upper deck to grab some food. He returned moments later with a large cardboard tray filled with beer and popcorn. Although he was walking in the aisle right by our group, Rob couldn’t seem to locate us. The few of us who were in on the prank from the beginning hopped up and started yelling, “Rob!!!” and waving our hands. Rob just stared past us with a vacant look on his face, neither hearing nor seeing us. The rest of our group started yelling his name as well, but no one could seem to get his attention. As he started walking back down the aisle, strangers started yelling his name as well, but he kept walking down and eventually disappeared through the tunnel.

About five minutes later Rob appeared again, this time two sections to our left.

Someone from our group spotted him and we all started yelling his name again. There were now two sections in between our group and Rob, so everyone in between got involved and started yelling “Rob!” trying to help out. Although the photos are a little blurry, it was actually very easy to spot Rob. He’s a tall guy, and he was wearing a very recognizable red, white, and blue shirt (much like everyone’s favorite person to spot in a crowd, “Waldo”.) Rob just kept walking up and down the stairs, looking quite pitiful with his huge platter of concessions. He disappeared again into the tunnel, and everyone sat back down. People around us were laughing and trying to figure out what was wrong with him. One guy asked me how much he Rob had had to drink. “One too many, I think,” I told him.

After another five minutes passed, Rob very quickly appeared in the section just to the left of us, the one in the middle of the two sections he had already searched. His head emerged from the tunnel and he looked around for about ten seconds before disappearing again. All three sections in our corner lept to their feet and screamed his name, but he was gone in a flash.

At this point the game got pretty interesting. The Yankees had a few people on base and looked like they were about to tie the game. Yankee fans forgot about Rob and got back into the game. Pretty soon, the Tigers decided to change pitchers and this provided a nice lull for Rob to strike again. This time he appeared seven sections away. Agent Kula and I spotted him and started pointing and screaming his name as loud as we could. Very quickly the entire right field section was on their feet trying to get his attention. Rob cocked his head our way as if he could hear something, but once again disappeared into the tunnel.

At this point enthusiasm for helping Rob had grown so large that other groups of people were even more excited about it than we were. A group of guys sitting directly behind us began leading a series of chants as they waited for Rob to appear again. Several rounds of “WHERE IS ROB? WHERE IS ROB? WHERE IS ROB?” were followed by the somewhat cruel, “ROB’S RETARDED (CLAP CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP).” Several sections joined in on the chat as everyone speculated what was going on with Rob.

The Yankees ended up scoring three runs in the bottom of the 6th to go ahead 2 - 3. Shortly after the inning ended, Agent Kula spotted Rob on the complete opposite side of the stadium. Rob was so confused that he somehow found himself in the far most section in left field.

Word traveled quickly through the upper deck. Sections full of strangers started waving their hands at Rob, barely making out his white shirt from across the way.

Rob of course couldn’t hear our yelling from the other side of the stadium. He gave up and ducked back through the tunnel after searching up and down the aisle. The 7th inning stretch provided another break from Rob spotting, but as soon it was over Rob appeared again. This time he was somehow in the lower level, right by the Yankees dugout!

This appearance marked Rob’s 6th attempt at finding his seats. You can track his journey on this map, with his sightings numbered. His original seat was in section 33 in the right-hand corner.

At the halfway point of the 8th inning, Rob appeared again, this time right in front of us. The upper deck erupted with cheers as everyone chanted “Rob! Rob! Rob!” and pointed towards his seat.

Many fans wanted a photo of Rob, and some even wanted to meet him and get their photos taken with him personally. Rob was so lost that he somehow reached celebrity status, and folks wanted to remember their encounter with him.

The photos do a good job of showing how happy everyone was to see Rob finally find his seat, but the video truly captures the roar of the crowd upon his return. This was shot by Agent Corrigan with a digital still camera on “movie mode”, the best equipment we were able to get inside the stadium.

Rob took his seat and watched the last two innings. Every few minutes people would walk up to him to say hello and snap a photo. The guys behind us started up another “Rob’s retarded” chant. Rob just smiled and waved.

The Tigers scored three runs in the 9th inning and went on to win the game. As we were leaving the stadium, Yankee fans’ spirits were lifted when they spotted Rob. As he walked down the exit ramp a huge chant broke out in his honor as fans shook his hand and gave him high fives.