Young Yankees star Ben Rice once lived every fan's dream by defacing Fenway Park

The best hitter in baseball and the New York Yankees' most impressive prize of the young season was also, once upon a time, the sneakiest child in Massachusetts.

We've heard tell of Ben Rice's childhood Yankees fandom before, going against the grain in his oppressive home state. Rice's past as a Cohasset, MA punk was especially relevant last summer when he slammed three home runs off Boston at Yankee Stadium, derailing some Red Sox momentum after a brutal Clay Holmes blown save the night before. The photo of a baby-fied Rice in a Yankees jacket and hat amid his Sox-clad siblings will live in infamy forever, as long as he continues to build on his recent heater.

And so will this story.

Rice spoke with MLB's Anthony Castrovince this week and revealed that, as a child, he snuck away from a Fenway Park tour and scrawled, "Yankees Rule!" on the famed Pesky Pole. Odds the graffiti is still there/hasn't been painted over are +1,000,000, but it's certainly the thought — and the retelling of the tale — that counts.

Ben Rice wrote graffiti on Fenway Park's Pesky Pole, reading "Yankees Rule!" Hero. King him.

Rice recovered from a HBP injury scare over the weekend to drill a home run in his first at-bat back against the Guardians on Tuesday, adding a scorched RBI single in Wednesday's series-ending victory. After the Yankees entered the season with much consternation about who would be their unconventional leadoff hitter most often between Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt, it's actually been Rice fairly often lately as the team settles into a groove.

If young Rice was anything like young me, he probably wrote his graffiti message in exceedingly tiny letters so no one would ever notice, defeating the point entirely. It's good to hear that he's finding his voice these days, though, and is confident enough in his power surge to live his truth.

Now, it's actually partially up to Rice to determine whether or not the Yankees do, indeed, rule, and it seems likely they'll be trying to fend the Red Sox off all summer long. It's nice to have a lifelong fan (with a rebel streak) on your side in that particular fight.