Harrison Bader after hitting one of his home runs in the playoffs, photo from NY Yankees
“Everyday I wake up, it feels good to be a Yankee.”
By Dan Murphy
When NY Yankee Harrison Bader homered for the 3rd time in 4 games in the playoff series against the Cleveland Guardians (formerly the Indians), he became the third Yankee centerfielder to do it, joining Mickey Mantle and Bernie Williams.
Center field is hallowed ground for the Yankees, (add Joe DiMaggio to Mantle and Bernie) and Harrison Bader knows it better than anyone. He grew up a Yankee fan in Bronxville here in Westchester.
When he was traded from the Cardinals to the Yanks this summer, it was a dream come true. The Bader family still lives in Bronxville, and his dad, Louis, and his grandfather were Yankee fans.
For the playoffs, Harrison has returned to live in the home he grew up in Bronxville, and the place where his father was his first baseball coach, throwing pitches and hitting balls to his son in any baseball field they could find.
Now Harrison Bader is lifting up his Yankee teammates and helping them, hopefully, to another rematch with the Astros and then the World Series?
“He’s electric, really, an electric player. Impact player. Got moxie, got baseball awareness, gets after the ball on defense. A lot of good things to say about that guy,” said Yankee ace Gerrit Cole.
When he was traded to the Yanks, Bader was injuried, and had to wait for his injury to heal before playing, and showing the fans that the trade was worth it. The Yanks gave up relief pitcher Jordan Montgomery in the trade.
Manager Aaron Boone said that Bader, “Iworked so hard to get back, worked his tail off rehabbing, showing up in a walking boot. And right away trying to just endear himself in the clubhouse, and absolutely has. He loves to play the game. The power showing up here in the postseason for us has been big. It was huge for us.”
Bader is not known as a home run hitter before the playoffs, so how is he doing it? Cole told him to “just remaining present, and just play each out, you play each at-bat, as just a singular event. And you just go from there and keep repeating it until the game is over.”
“You definitely visualize it. You have a dream about it. Yes, I was obviously a Yankees fan growing up. My dream has always been to play major league baseball.”
Bader has had more than 100 of his family and friends at the home playoff games. He attended Horace Mann in the Bronx.