Got a call this morning from my son Casey who said he heard Howard Stern agreeing with me and reading parts of my Billy Crystal (Joke’s On Yankees) column this morning. If The King of All Media agrees, I must be doing something right.

Thanks Howard. I appreciate it. Okay, that’s enough groveling.

Wanted to post earlier but I was busy running down some

future columns today at Legends. This is the first day I haven’t had to write a column in more than a month so it was a good time to get that done.

Now, as for more on the topic at hand, Billy Ball.

I was amazed at how many people agreed with me. I thought I would be slammed for taking baseball and spring training too seriously, and those emails are waiting for me I’m sure but everyone I saw at Legends Field agreed that Billy Crystal does not belong on the field, except for Yankee king-pins who made the decision.

This is not That’s Entertainment. No one gets a free pass to the real deal. And as one agent told me, think of the guys he has busting their tails for a shot at the majors, a shot in a spring training game, and then the Yankees pull off this stunt.

I understand the Yankees are repaying a debt here because Crystal has been good to them and will be good to them in the future. But show up at Fantasy Camp, Billy, show up at Old Timer’s Day, not a spring training game. It’s just dissing the game. Billy gets a locker too.

Yankees should send the locker straight to Cooperstown.

And as I wrote in the column today, where does it end?

Is everything a joke now? This isn’t Paper Lion. And George Plimpton took his lumps. Perhaps I’m getting old and grumpy but enough is enough.

BTW, If Billy wants to write my Friday for Saturday column – he’s welcome to it.

Better yet, maybe Howard Stern wants to take a shot at it.