Sunday, June 12, 2016

Remembering a Muggy Night in 2012


As many of you know, or you may not know, I moved to metro Atlanta, Georgia from the Bronx, New York back in 1999 and get to see the Yankees live very few times these days. The Yankees came down to Atlanta in 2009 and of course I attended as many games as I could so I was excited to see them come back down in 2012. I am a very superstitious person in my nature so my line of thinking was “the last time the Yankees came to Atlanta they won the World Series” in 2009 so that made me all the more excited for 2012 trip to Turner Field. We all know the history of that season, Derek Jeter's ankle, the offense going to sleep in October and the eventual loss in the American League Championship Series in 2012 but that's not what this story is about.


I remember a warm and muggy night on this day in 2012 when the Yankees were playing in the second game of a three game set at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Yankees had the bases loaded and Alex Rodriguez was at the plate while I sat in my usual box seats, fourth row Yankee side of the field. The Braves were winning 4-0 and my phone was blowing up with texts and Facebook posts about the Braves whooping the Yankees, the Yankees suck, omg Braves, Braves, Braves while I was there at the stadium and how the streak was ready to come to an end. That streak involves the Yankees win/loss record with me in attendance. I am 29 years old and I have seen tons of Yankees games live in the Bronx, in Tampa and now in Atlanta and the team has never lost a game while I was in attendance. While I have to admit my hopes were low at that point and my phone was one more #RISPFAIL away from being thrown onto the field before a funny thing happened, the Yankees rallied.


The Yankees loaded the bases with Rodriguez coming to the plate while I was wearing my A Rod jersey, something I was reluctant to do after the steroid admission but I was saving my Cano jersey for the next night, which seemed like fate to me. The Braves had shutdown reliever Jonny Venters on the mound which made me far from confident, Venters was awesome, which was only compounded when the count went full. Then something amazing happened, A Rod connected.... pandemonium.





Alex had hit his 23rd career grand slam tying a 74 year old major league record held by the Yankees Lou Gehrig. A Rod tied the game in the 8th inning and the Yankees ended up winning the game 6-4. The Facebook posts stopped, the texts went silent and I witnessed history. While I was at the next game the next night I ended up talking to the camera man at the stadium and he gave me the press release for the game the night before. Truth be told the only reason I think he gave us the release was because my wife was in a low cut dress and he thought she was hot, but hey I'll take it and took it as a compliment. I saw history and now have history in my hands and it all happened on a muggy night in Atlanta on this day in 2012. It was Craig Kimbrel bobblehead night as well which was awesome because my two sons now have a bobblehead of the Braves all-time saves leader.

3 comments:

  1. Great story Daniel, I remember those game like they were yesterday! The Yankees were the underdogs until that HR by A-Rod.
    Nice to see you haven't given up on the next two years of the Yankees rebuilding.

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    Replies
    1. I share the story every year but it was a great story. I don't get to see as many games as I'd like so when I do I like to share.

      We were getting our asses kicked until that home run. Let's be frank lol.

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    2. Yes we were but then we lost the ALCS next year and comeback to beat the Padres 4-0, then the Braves 4-0 and the Muts 4-1, not a bad run.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)