Billy Crystal game. Although a lifelong Yankee fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees. In "City Slickers", Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap. In the 1986 film "Running Scared", his character is an avid Chicago Cubs fan, wearing a Cubs' jersey in several scenes. In the 2012 film "Parental Guidance", his character is the announcer for the Fresno Grizzlies, a Minor League Baseball team, and aspires to announce for their Major League affiliate, the San Francisco Giants. Crystal appeared in Ken Burns's 1994
Billy Crystal boyhood idol was Yankee Hall of Fame legend Mickey Mantle who had signed a program for him when Crystal attended a game where Mantle had hit a home run. Years later on "The Dinah Shore Show", in one of his first television appearances, Crystal met Mantle in person and had Mantle re-sign the same program. Crystal would be good friends with Mickey Mantle until Mantle's death in 1995. He and Bob Costas together wrote the eulogy Costas read at Mantle's funeral, and George Steinbrenner then invited Crystal to emcee the unveiling of Mantle's monument at Yankee Stadium. In his 2013