New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday. How were their softball skills back in 1987?
The following story appeared in the pages of the St. Petersburg Timeson Feb. 18, 1987. What follows is the text of the original story, interspersed with photos of the event taken by Times staff photographer Cherie Diez.
THE BATTER IS A HUNK, FANS SAY
By Anne V. Hull, Times staff writer
TAMPA - Her cherry lip gloss shining under a bright moon, 14-year-old Alexis Hernandez is struggling to catch her breath and put her thoughts in order. The wad of pink gum in her mouth, gliding across her silver retainer, is not helping her get the words out any faster. What she wants to says is that rock star Jon Bon Jovi is the man, the stud, the king, that makes her heart beat.
Finally, Hernandez diplomatically quiets her screaming pals (“shut up, you guys”) and becomes the eloquent, bright young woman that her parents and her school, the Academy of Holy Names, have raised her to be: “These are the immortal words of Alexis, Alexa, Gina, Christy and Adrienne,” says Hernandez, the spokeswoman for the group. “I love the man. He is hot. He is my choice of the new generation.”
Monday night, the superstar rock band Bon Jovi, led by Jon Bon Jovi, played a benefit softball game against the 95-WYNF (FM) radio station crew at Al Lopez Field in Tampa to a crowd of more than 7,000 fans, most of whom were exhilarated teen-age females. Sports was the last thing on their minds.
“My mom even knows how important Jon Bon Jovi is,” says Hernandez. “My mom knows he’s hot.”
“It’s his awesome face structure,” another girl offers.
The girls jump to their feet, thinking they see Bon Jovi arrive.
False alarm. “Tell us one thing,” one of the girls says seriously, a look of concern crossing her small face. “He’s not bisexual, is he?”
After giving a concert to a sold-out crowd at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg on Sunday night, the Bon Jovi band hung around town for an extra day to play ball. In a surprisingly charitable gesture for a busy rock band, Bon Jovi agreed several months ago to play the 95-YNF team in a game to raise money for the J. Clifford MacDonald Center in Tampa, which helps rehabilitate the mentally and physically disabled.
Before the game, a giant cardboard check endorsed by the good-looking centerfielder, Jon Bon Jovi, was presented to Harry Faulk, executive vice president of the MacDonald Center, for $10,000.
When the band arrives, the girls storm toward their dugout.
Security does its best to hold back the moussed masses. The game begins. Every little move the 25-year-old Jon Bon Jovi makes is wildly applauded. Girls scream his name trying to get him to look their way.
In any way he can, he hams it up for his admirers.
The baseball diamond is obviously not Bon Jovi’s second home. If the band recorded albums like they shag grounders, they would have never made it out of Jersey. Maybe it was an off night for Bon Jovi, or maybe it was the lack of Spandex in their uniforms, but one thing is for certain - their future is in rock ‘n’ roll, not sports.
“If they were ever going to hold a training bra recall, this would be it,” says 95-YNF morning disc jockey Jeff Jensen, looking out at the frenzied teen-age girls in the stands. Jensen and Nick Van Cleve, who both host the morning show on 95-YNF, are doing the play-by-play.
“We played these guys two years ago when no one knew who Bon Jovi was,” says Jensen. “We beat them bad. But this year, we think they brought in some ringers, like roadies and management.”
Over the tinny speakers, Bon Jovi’s hit single, “Living on a Prayer,” is piped out into the small baseball stadium. Half the crowd sings along, word for word. After the Bon Jovi song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” begins to play. A group of girls express their disappointment. “He’s a homeboy,” says Suzanne Beville, 15. “He’s not hot at all.”
After the fifth inning, a girl comes charging across center field.
She has hopped the high back fence and is running straight for Jon Bon Jovi. She is an instant hero to the others in the stands who look on in envy, screaming, “Go! Go!” A security guard is hot on her trail.
Miraculously, the girl outruns the guard and jumps into Bon Jovi’s arms. He throws down his mitt, gives her a bear hug and swirls her around. For a magical split second, the two dance alone.
The crowd goes berserk. Security rescues the rock star and escorts the girl off the field. The crowd still looks on incredulously. The scene is not forgotten.
In the next inning, at least 25 women leap over the fences. A few make it close to Bon Jovi, but none come as close as the initial renegade. For the band’s protection, they are suddenly pulled off the field in the bottom of the sixth inning and loaded into their waiting bus.
“I just wanted to touch him,” says Lisa Toledo, 17, after the game. Toledo had leaped over the top of the Bon Jovi dugout and made it inside the field. “I’d been thinking about it all night and then all of a sudden, I just went for it,” she says. “I was just about to touch him when a big fat man grabbed me right before I got to him.”
“I was so close.”
With only the band’s crew left to finish the game, the stadium begins to empty. Out in the parking lot, a group of girls with the signature long, teased Bon Jovi hairstyles excitedly piles into a white convertible. “Okay, you guys, hurry,” says the driver. “We know where they’re staying and we’re gonna find ’em.”
The score, for the record, was Bon Jovi 26, 95-YNF 18.
Jeremy King
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