Earlier this week I watched two incredible movies that have inspired me beyond belief. The first one I screened was THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY. It was about a passionate young man who became an amazing chef one hundred feet from one of the best restaurants in France. The second film I saw was UNBROKEN. A story about another passionate young man who evolved into an Olympic athlete and a war hero. Each movie opened my eyes to a different part of myself but both enabled me to realize how important passions, dreams and resilience are to a person. And when it comes to the Yankees, I see all of these ingredients in not only our players but our fans.
One fan in particular, a reader of BYB and a die hard Yankee fan, exemplifies passion when it comes to his Bronx Bombers. He is known as Hammer by his friends and family and he is the ultimate Yankee fan. Over the holidays I took the hundred foot journey up to his Yankee room in the upstairs of his colonial in New York. Each game artifact had a colorful story attached to it. Each picture, a comment about that awesome game when or how exciting that moment was in Yankee lore.
I sat next to Hammer at Derek Jeter's last game in Fenway park back in late September. He scooped up some memorabilia there for sure adding to an already impressive Yankee locker in his home.
From his authentic seat from the "old" Yankee stadium to his autographed perfect games of David Wells and David Cone to his Mariano Rivera framed ticket and patch from his final season, the room is a sweet haven for Yankee lovers. The walls reek history of Don Mattingly, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. They glow with World Series games and street signs and Sports Illustrated covers. The pennants, the Yankee border and personalized autographs complete this shrine to the Yankees.
At a time when fans are losing faith in Yankee management and are seeing prospects go to other teams in competing markets, I relished my one hundred foot journey to a real fan's world, filled with passion and excitement of seasons of years far and near. It is an important reminder that we are fans of our team no matter how many wins they have or who plays third base. I want to remember his tribute to our team when things are rough next season and when we are on a winning high. Real fans carry their team no matter what their record is and we are lucky enough to be one of those teams who is on the winning side of Major League Baseball. We are resilient, we are passionate, we are dreamers and above all, we are Yankee fans.
--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof
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