Hank Bauer's been on this planet for 82 years. He's circled the block a few times, seen some things.

And his raspy voice tells it like it is.

"Bud Selig is a horse-- commissioner," said the former Yankee, seated with a captive brunch audience at Waterloo's downtown Ramada Sunday.

If ever a former player has earned the right to toss a few barbs, it's Bauer, who was in Waterloo for an autograph session put together by the Iowa Chapter of the New York Yankee Pinstripe Faithful Club. The former longtime New York right-fielder and major league manager's list of achievements over his 22 years in Major League Baseball reads as long as the fly balls he made a living shagging in Yankee Stadium's outfield.

He won eight World Series - seven as a player in Gotham and one more as manager of a Baltimore squad that swept Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers in 1966.

Over the course of the 1956-58 Fall Classics, Bauer set a record that still stands with a 17-game hitting streak.

He played with Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.

So his opinions on all things baseball are worth something.

"It's a different game today. Everything today is about this," Bauer said, rubbing his thumb and index finger together over an imaginary stack of greenbacks.

"The bat boys are making more than I ever made," he joked to a roundtable of Pinstrip Faithful Club members - that included teachers, a former superintendent of schools and a former legislator - from locales like Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Oelwein and Winthrop.

The over-abundance of zeroes on players' paychecks these days is just one of a few elements in today's game that irks Bauer.

Possessing a burning passion for Pinstripe Pride, the former three-time All-Star also was none too thrilled with the happenings of this October. Just how hard was it to watch the Bronx Bombers' bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox, end their curse and claim a World Series title?

"I'll just answer that one way: It's 26 and 2," Bauer said, the diamonds within the "5" of his 1953 World Series ring he still wears glistening from the dining room lights overhead. "We've won 26 times, and they've won two (in the last 86 years)."

And, added Bauer, who won five straight World Series with New York from 1949-53, he hasn't had to remind too many Red Sox supporters of that stat.

"I haven't run across many (Boston fans), and I don't think I'm going to run across many here either," he adds.

"Here" meant Sunday's appearance at the baseball card and autograph show.

The paid appearance was just one more chance for Bauer to hear the applause of Yankees supporters.

And, after all these years, the former Yankee is as revered as ever. He waltzed into the Cattle Congress' Pavilion Building to the sounds of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York."

Donning a surprisingly hip waist-length leather coat, the octogenarian gave a wave of his right hand and bolted to the microphone at the front of the room. With a quick Yogi Berra anecdote, the ex-Marine ordered the autograph-seekers to line up. A group predominantly made up of middle-aged men eagerly obliged, quickly shuffling into single-file formation.

Bauer has grown accustomed to the adoration of baseball fans over the years.

The Overland Park, Kan., resident is one of several former New York players who annually runs the Yankees' fantasy camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Marv Deimer, a member of the YPFC, took part in the camp in 1992 and 1994.

"We played everyday - they had Yankees pitchers throwing," said the Cedar Falls native, who has worked hard recently to get the U.S. Postal Service to adopt a commemorative stamp bearing the likeness of Mantle. Diemer hung around with Mantle in Fort Lauderdale. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Those interested in learning more about the Iowa Chapter of the Yankee Pinstripe Faithful Club are encouraged to contact Charlie Aldrich at (319) 277-5445.

Kelly Beaton can be contacted at (319) 291-1456 or kelly.beaton@ wcfcourier.com.