The Personal Memories of a Yankee Fan

As the holiday season commences we should take the time to reflect on what we are thankful for. The fact that I can write about my favorite baseball team the New York Yankees is one of the things I didn’t ever think would be possible but here I am. This experience goes way beyond the analysis and the writing for me though. I am thankful because baseball and the Yankees are things that are rooted so deep inside of me and tied to numerous memories.

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I became a Yankees fan because of my family. My older brother Zack is a die hard fan and like every younger brother I aspired to be him. We would watch their games, play as them in video games, and even pretended to be them when we played in Little League. As we got older we began attending as many games as possible. Two of the memories that stand out most to me are when I pretended to be sick to leave high school early so we could go to a game and going to the Home Run Derby. We were in the right field bleachers and shared the personal experience of watching Josh Hamilton go on a historic tear belting home run after home run over our heads.

My parents were always there for me too. My dad, John, watches almost every game of the season. I have countless memories of coming home from school and he would be sitting on the couch watching the day games. I would sit down with him to watch and we would talk baseball. One of the fondest memories I have with him is going down to the field before a game I was pitching. We had a catch for a good half hour in which he taught me how to throw a curveball. My mother Marianne doesn’t know much about baseball but she was never shy from encouraging my endeavors. I would get down if I had a bad game in baseball or if the Yankees lost and she would always be right there to offer words of encouragement. Heck, even this year I asked for a Yankee winter hat for Christmas and she has been asking to make sure she gets me the right one. My sister Casey has been a great person to turn to in life as well. She supports my writing and anything that I pursue.

There are two other times the Yankees have been a major part of my fondest memories. One of them was when I took my girlfriend Katie to one of her first baseball games. She had never been to a MLB game so you could only imagine my joy in helping her experience the greatness of baseball and the excitement of being a Yankee fan. We went to a game and I went on-and-on about how fun the Yankees are to watch because of their explosive offense. Unfortunately the Yanks were held to two hits that game so I don’t think she got the message. However, I am a pretty lucky guy to have her because she stills tries to be interested in them. She watches their games with me and has bought me countless Yankee things over the past two years.

The last memory that I am thankful for is the game I attended wit my friends Vin, Mike, and Mario on July 9th, 2011. We arrived to the stadium a little late that day and had missed the first few innings. We had seats in left field but didn’t get to them yet when we heard the stadium erupt and start standing on their feet…Derek Jeter was up. We ran quickly to the standing crowd behind home plate and watched his at-bat against David Price. It went to a full count and we watched as he fouled pitches off. Then Price gave him a low, sweeping slider and Jeter put solid wood on it. We all held our breath as we quickly turned our eyes to left field. Matt Joyce had his back to us so we could clearly read the name on his jersey. I expected him to stop retreating at any point to grab a routine fly ball but he kept running. Then the most amazing thing happened; the ball cleared the fence and landed in the crowd. We all turned to each other and started screaming with the surreal excitement of witnessing history first hand. I held on to the book from that game in hopes of one day getting it signed by Jeter but unfortunately Hurricane Sandy destroyed it in the flood. Some how I wasn’t too upset with the loss of something physical because I am able to hold on to being there with my friends and the Yankees.

The Yankees have always been there for me and are a major part of who I am. They helped shape my life and I couldn’t be any more proud to call myself a fan. My memories of the Yankees and baseball are something I treasure because it reminds me of how lucky I am to have great friends and family. I want to express my gratitude to those who have supported me along the way and have been there for me. The little things that you guys do to help me do not go unrecognized. Thanks to the Angelo’s for sharing my writing and supporting it and thanks to my friends for doing the same (even if you guys aren’t Yankee fans).