BRONX, NY - AUGUST 18: A young fan is surprised by the Yankees performance during the MLB professional baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees on August 18, 2023 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY. (Photo by Bob Kupbens/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The New York Yankees have been my favorite baseball team for as long as I can remember.
But my first memory of this beautiful sport is of his 1998 season, when I was 9 years old.
Everyone was talking about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, and my home country of Venezuela, a baseball trading nation, was no exception.
The record home run chase was enough to attract young fans, but my horse that year was my first idol: Ken Griffey Jr.
right handed.
David Wells had a perfect game this year.
The Yankees were officially on my radar after my dad explained what it meant to me.
The 1998 home run chase was one of the most exciting events in baseball, but I also found it fascinating that the Yankees set a winning record and won the World Series.
I followed his 1999 campaign, but I don’t remember much from that year.
In 2000, I enjoyed the Subway series.
What I remember most is the duel between Piazza and Clemens.
Those were obviously great years, but for me they happened to be before the peak of fandom.
I really became a Yankees fan in 2001.
The team had just acquired Mike Mussina, who is one of my favorite pitchers in this game.
And as fate would have it, the Yankees played for a championship again that year.
It felt like the World Series with the D-backs was my whole world.
I was 12 years old, so maybe so.
I knew it would be difficult to beat Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, but I felt like the Yankees were the better ballclub.
I was the happiest kid when Derek Jeter hit the game-winning home run in Game 4 and when the game was tied and he took a 3-2 lead in Game 5.
It was also around this time that I became obsessed with his one of the most legendary home run calls in Latin American history, .
Ernesto Jerez still works for ESPN, where he serves as a broadcaster for Spanish-speaking audiences.
But then Games 6 and 7 happened, and the rest is history.
I was miserable, sad and completely depressed.
It was hard to swallow such a heartbreaking loss, and I cried myself to sleep that night.
My father hated (and still does!
) Americans, and that didn’t help matters.
After experiencing real heartbreak in baseball, I took a close look at the Yankees’ offseason for the first time.
I started a tradition that continued throughout my teenage years.
Similar to the depth chart exercise, I wrote down the names of players available at each position.
We also made predictions and predictions about next season’s big star players.
This winter, the Yankees took another leap forward by acquiring Jason Giambi before the 2002 season.
2002 had a great regular season, but we were eliminated from the playoffs early, but 2003 gave me and many other young fans the happiest days of our lives.
When Aaron Boone hit Tim Wakefield with a spectacular drive to win the ALCS, it was the greatest joy ever for me as a young fan.
It’s safe to say that nothing baseball-related, not even the 2009 World Series, can match that feeling.
For me, seeing Boone’s home run as a teenager may not have been the best thing that ever happened.
Of course losing in the 2003 Fall Classic was terrible.
I insulted Miguel Cabrera.
He has since become a symbol for all Venezuelans who love baseball.
That’s what happens when you hit a home run in the World Series against Roger Clemens!
If his ALCS was at an all-time high in 2003, 2004 will be at its lowest point.
How can you lose a series against your nemesis when your team is leading his 0-3?
My best friend was (and still is) a Red Sox fan, so he said he didn’t want to lose.
You can imagine the immense pressure this 15-year-old was under because of his desperate desire.
Just like a baseball player’s career, I think his relationship with his team and fan base is at its peak.
For many of us, this happens during our formative years.
Losses are more painful, but highs are even more gratifying.
For me, that peak was from his 2001 to his 2004, with no World Series titles during that time.
These exciting and heartbreaking years of youth laid the foundation for me to become a lifelong Yankees fan.
And although it’s very frustrating at times, I don’t regret it for a second.
you too?
How did baseball build your fan base as a kid?
And when do you think your love for baseball and your favorite team peaked?
Discuss in the comments below .
