From Brooklyn, with love: Tacoma's favorite usher 

TACOMA, Wash. -- Like the beloved baseball team of his childhood, Chester Rito started out in Brooklyn before heading westward across the country. His eventual destination was not Los Angeles but Tacoma, Wash., home of the Seattle Mariners' Triple-A affiliate.

Over the past 14 seasons, Rito has been a fixture at the Rainiers' home of Cheney Stadium, working as an usher and using that position as a vehicle for sharing his copious love for, and knowledge of, baseball. Rito's passion for the sport is over 70 years strong, dating back to when he was a Dodgers-obsessed kid listening to Vin Scully on the radio, or even better, sitting in the stands at Ebbets Field.

"Brooklyn was special in the '50s," Rito said prior to the Rainiers' game on May 9. He was speaking from his usual section, the Dugout Club, where the seats are closer to home plate than the pitcher is from the mound. "You had the Yankees, you had the Giants, you had Brooklyn. Each borough not only had its own team, it also had its own beer. Ballantine was with the Yankees, Rheingold or Knickerbocker was with the Giants and then Brooklyn, Schaefer Beer. I'm 79 years old. I still remember little things like that. Tidbits! It's a composite of a life experience."

Rito moved to Washington state in the late 1970s, going on to work as a JCPenney furniture salesman for 30 years. Upon retiring, he asked himself a question common to those in that kind of newfound position: "What do I do now?"

"I started to think, 'Maybe they can use me at the ballpark.' And I got really lucky because, on the phone [with the Rainiers], I talked to a young lady who was [stadium namesake] Ben Cheney's niece," he said. "And when she asked me if I had any experience with baseball, I told her about Ebbets Field on Flatbush Avenue. Two hours later, I had the job. And it's just, I'm the lucky one. You get to work around the events that take place on the field and in the background, and you see the game change."

During his Tacoma tenure, Rito has missed just three games. He revels in his interactions with the fans seated around him, enhancing their experience via unique and unexpected gestures. For instance, he brings a vintage newspaper with him to the ballpark at the start of each homestand, using it to spark memories and conversation. At the time of this interview, he was carrying a copy of The Sporting News from 1957, which focused on that year's All-Star Game in St. Louis.

"I buy them at garage sales, anywhere I can get a hold of them, eBay," he said. "This one, I'm going to give to a die-hard Cardinals fan who sits in the front row. ...You create a memory. Our heroes don't get old. They never do. I can still see Sandy Koufax coming up in Brooklyn, and he couldn't find the strike zone until he got to Los Angeles. You remember those things. It's just fun to create different memories for different people."

Doing so on a consistent basis with all types of ballpark patrons takes some creativity. Rito serves as a self-described "conveyor" of baseball cards, accepting them from older fans who want to get rid of them and then distributing them to young fans sitting in his section. And then there's his version of the hidden-ball trick.

"During the game, I'll walk through [the Dugout Club], and somebody will be eating some peanuts. I'll say, 'You know, those aren't really any good. I'll get you some real peanuts.' They know something's up but they can't figure it out. I get a cup, and in that cup I put a baseball and then I put the peanuts over the top of it. 'Here's some better peanuts for you.' And you should see the expressions, because this is the jewel that people clamor for all their life."

Over the years Rito has established himself as one of Cheney Stadium's most revered gameday employees. The esteem in which he held is perhaps best exemplified by the team's Heroes of R City comic book, produced in 2019. The first hero featured is "The Usher," which details Rito's background and ballpark influence. "Beloved by fans, young and old," it concludes. "A South Sound treasure whose sincerity, kindness, and uncanny love of baseball warms the heart of all who know him."

But for as much as Rito has given, he has received much more in return.

"Doing this, it saved my life," he said. "You've got to have something. It keeps me young. It keeps me busy. And five hours out here, it's priceless. You can't buy this anywhere. You can't package it. You have to live it to experience it, and if you can give memories to the fans and the people you work with, that's it in a nutshell. Simple."