'This is gonna be my team forever': How Yankees fans have longstanding passion for Bombers
NEW YORK -- For Carlos Garcia, being in the Bronx this weekend meant everything.
The 31-year-old has been a Yankees fan since he was a 5-year-old kid playing baseball in his native Venezuela. Surrounded by cousins who were fans of the Boston Red Sox, Garcia was the sole New York fan in his baseball-loving family. So, it comes as no surprise that the self-proclaimed “super fan” convinced his two friends to make the more than five-hour drive from upstate to New York City for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday.
“For me, it's a dream,” said Garcia, of Watertown. “I never thought I was going to be in a Yankee Stadium postseason game. I never thought that. And now I’m here, so it’s amazing for me.”
Garcia was one of 47,569 fans who made the trek to the sold-out Yankee Stadium to watch the Bronx Bombers square off with the Houston Astros. The series continues Sunday night in New York, with the Astros leading 3-0. On Saturday night, Houston inched closer to a four-game sweep after a 5-0 victory over the Yankees.
Some fans, like Garcia, drove several hours to attend the game. Most paid hundreds of dollars for a ticket, if not thousands. Though some may be attending a postseason game for the first time, there are also many fans who are postseason vets. No matter the case, all were hoping for a Yankees turnaround in this series.
All in the family
Three generations of the Nardozzi family drove five hours from Rochester, New York, to make it to their first postseason game as a family. Paul, 37, was a former minor league player for the Detroit Tigers. He was there with his 9-year-old son, Ryan, who skipped his own game to be there, and his father, John. They described the game as “very, very special" for their Yankees-loving family.
Yankees games are “all we watch,” Paul said. He described his mother – who missed the game because she was in Florida – as a person who hasn’t “missed an inning all year long.”
“We're from New York,” John Nardozzi said. “And what other fan would you be, but a Yankee fan?”
Like father, like son
For Tom Mooney, 63, this weekend marked his first time back at a big playoff series since 1980. The Rutherford native was there in 1976 for Chris Chambliss’ walk-off homer that won the ALCS, and again in 1978 when Thurman Munson’s two-run homer put the Yankees ahead in the bottom of the eighth against Kansas City.
Mooney's love for the Yankees was passed down from his Irish father. Standing outside Yankee Stadium as doors opened to fans for Game 3, he pointed where the old stadium once stood. He recounted how his father took him to a game that he'll never forget.
“There was a big roar when this guy came out of the dugout and kneeled into the on-deck circle,” Mooney said. “There was a No. 7 on his back. It was Mickey Mantle -- and in his Irish brogue, my dad says: ‘You see that guy there? That's who you're rooting for. That's your guy. That's your guy.’”
He has been a fan ever since.
Mooney goes to at least one regular-season game each year with three of his college friends. This year, the Fordham alum decided to spend a little more on tickets in the postseason. “We’re getting to the age where we can afford these $250 tickets up in the mezzanine,” he joked.
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Keeping the faith
The Yankees suffered a devastating 5-0 loss on Saturday night. The Astros are a tough opponent that the Yankees have a difficult time overcoming. The two teams have met in the postseason in four of the last seven seasons, with Houston topping the Yankees in the 2015 Wild Card game in New York, and winning the ALCS in 2017 and 2019. But some fans are still hopeful for a late turnaround in the series.
“I was hoping this was their year,” said Joan Osieski, of Port Reading in Woodbridge Township. “I'm still hoping that maybe it is.”
Osieski and her friend, Christine Shea – who had matching varsity World Series jackets this weekend – are frequent visitors to the Bronx. As a child, Osieski remembered packing her family car and driving to the old Yankee Stadium after the last game of the season. Her family would camp out overnight just to buy postseason tickets.
In all her years as a fan, Osieski said there is something special about this year’s team. When asked what was so different about this team, the two friends said without hesitation: “Aaron Judge.”
“You figure the last couple of weeks of the season – if it wasn't for him, this stadium wouldn’t have been packed,’ Osieski said. “They all wanted to see [homerun] No. 60 – 61, 62. He brings the people in and he’s just a good-hearted guy that I think is good for the kids growing up to get attached to baseball.”
Garcia, the Yankee super fan from Watertown, was at Rogers Centre when Judge hit his 61st home run of the season last month against the Toronto Blue Jays, tying Roger Maris' American League record. He described how even Blue Jays fans were happy to witness the historic feat.
When Garcia reflects on his Yankee fandom origin story, he admits there is no logic to it. “I have no idea. It was just inside me,” he said. “I said, ‘I like this team and this is gonna be my team forever.’”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New York Yankees fans show passion for Bronx Bombers in postseaon
