A Yankee Life

My Yankees fandom was sealed at birth.

I was born in the Bronx.

And my family — originally from Cuba — loved baseball and the Yankees, a favorite sport and team of many in their native homeland. My big brother played baseball, quite well, all throughout his youth, so it was part of our home life, as well.

I never played sports (there weren’t many options for girls when I was growing up), so my interest was more of that of a spectator.

I remember listening to the Yankees games on the radio (my brother turned it on), while a soothing breeze blew in through the window. This would become a throwback soundtrack to my childhood later, whenever I’d hear the game on a car radio. It automatically takes me back to those days, which seemed far simpler than I know they were in reality (our area of the Bronx had started seeing an increase in crime).

The Yankees have been a constant in my life.

I remember having a poster on my bedroom wall of Bucky Dent when I was a teen, and even writing a letter to the editor of Cosmopolitan, which had run a profile of him, about my crush (it was published!). I was thrilled to read that he lived in Wyckoff for a while.

My son became an avid Yankees fan — some might say he had no choice! He loved baseball from the beginning, and wrote elementary school essays about his passion for the sport. He now works for Major League Baseball, doing social media for the teams and teaching the players how to connect with their fans. In his dream job, he gets sent to Spring Training, the playoffs and even World Series games! He does not work with the Yankees, because evidently everyone wants to and that gig comes to those with the most seniority.

Life takes all kinds of odd twists and turns.

One day, at work, I was assigned to contact the Yankees organization for something I was asked to work on. A special friendship formed with the wife of the Yankees president, and the team now is in my life in a more personal way than I ever imagined. My son and I have watched games (including Yankees vs. Red Sox) from the Steinbrenners suite, and I wonder what my parents, now deceased, would have thought of that nice new chapter in the history of our family fondness for the Yankees.