Dream come true: Local kid Anthony Volpe got a shoutout from Yankees icon after big Game 4
Growing up in New Jersey as a diehard fan of the New York Yankees, Anthony Volpe probably dreamed of a moment like the one that arrived in Game 4 of the World Series. Bases loaded. Two outs. Down by a run, your team's back against the wall trying to keep its season alive. A jam-packed Yankee Stadium hanging on your next swing. While most of us only get to live out that fantasy in our heads, Volpe delivered in reality, swatting a go-ahead grand slam that touched off a party in the Bronx and helped key an 11-4 win for New York.
“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,” Volpe told MLB.com after the game.
That was just the beginning of a monster night for the young shortstop, who created another run in bottom of the eighth on a hustle double, a steal of third and then a mad dash to home plate on a ground ball to second. It was a full-circle moment for both Volpe and fans who've followed his journey, the hometown kid turned first-round pick turned top prospect turned heir apparent to Derek Jeter. And speaking of Jeter: As if the night could get any more magical, Volpe's heroics earned him a shoutout Mr. November himself.
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Derek Jeter shouts out Anthony Volpe after huge Game 4
As the player of the game, Volpe was brought to the FOX set for a postgame interview. After fielding questions from David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez and the gang, Jeter asked him for a quick photo-op. The picture wound up on Instagram, complete with a quick caption: "Big night for the Yankees and Anthony Volpe!"
Volpe is a little young to remember much of Jeter's prime; born in 2001, he missed the first four of the Captain's five World Series championships with New York. But he was eight years old in 2009, old enough to watch Jeter lead the Yankees to the fifth of those titles, and Jeter's shadow continues to loom large in the Bronx. He's the ur-Captain, the one to whom all other would-be stars aspire, the standard to which every player who puts on the pinstripes is compared.
To get Jeter's blessing, especially as a shortstop, means the world. And it must mean a little extra to Volpe given his background, and how rocky his time in New York has been so far. Yankees fans have been waiting for Volpe to step into Jeter's massive shoes from the moment he made his debut last season, and they might look back at Game 4 as the night he finally turned the corner.