Power Alleys.(Ball Park Lanes bowling alley near Yankee Stadium in New York, NY)(Brief Article)

As it turns out, baseball and bowling get along famously. The International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis is located right across from Busch Stadium. The basement of Fenway Park houses an alley for candlepin bowling. Duckpin bowling was invented in Baltimore at an alley owned by two Orioles. And in the Bronx, on River Avenue by the bleacher entrance to Yankee Stadium, the two sports meet up yet again at BALL PARK LANES (810 River Ave.; 718-665-5800).

One Friday night, twenty minutes before the first game of a subway series (earlier in the season, the Yankees had visited Shea Stadium), the bowling takes a back seat to noisy drinking. The crowd from the street, waiting to enter the stadium, spills into the alley bar, and then spills into a large, wood-panelled front room, where beer is sold from wheeled carts. At the food counter, a young girl wearing a belly shirt and a rhinestone stud in her navel sells hot dogs and onion rings, rolls her eyes at the pregame rigmarole, and discounts candy bars and soda for the few genuine bowlers.

Around the fourth inning, the last of the ticket holders cross the street, and the remaining crowd settles in. In fact, there are two distinct crowds. Men sit on their stools talking back to the television as nearly life-size sepia pictures of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio stare out from behind the bar. At the lanes, groups of kids and families bowl in well-worn shoes. Behind the bowling counter hangs a signed portrait of George Branham III, the first African-American to win a Professional Bowlers Association national title. A printed sign warns belligerent Yankee fans, "If you / came in here / to bitch / you've ...