Why I’m a fan of the New York Yankees

Welcome to the refreshed Pinstripe Alley! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you’d like to do the same, head over to the FanPosts [www.pinstripealley.com/fanposts] to begin. We’re collecting all of the stories here [https://www.sbnation.com/why-we-are-fans] Come Fan With Us!

I didn’t grow up in New York or the surrounding area like many of you likely did, so my path to Yankees fandom probably wasn’t as natural. Since the state I’m from doesn’t have a big league team, most people end up Braves fans. When I was growing up in the mid 90s that seemed like a pretty good decision! It was never going to be my decision, though.

My dad started taking me to minor league baseball games close by when I was only a few years old. Fortunately, the closest affiliate to us at the time happened to be a farm team of, you guessed it, the Yankees. That was around about the time the guys who would later become the Core Four were rolling through Greensboro, so it was a pretty good time to get hooked.

Luckily for my dad, he didn’t have to do much convincing to get his oldest child to follow his lead in being a Yankee fan. My earliest real Yankee memory was David Cone’s perfect game. I was hooked from that point, even though my love for it remained pretty casual until my later teenage years. Before the days of knowing what MLB.tv even was, I was limited to box scores on the internet when the Yankees weren’t on ESPN.

Joining Pinstripe Alley really kicked my fandom into another gear. I became so much less of a casual fan by interacting with the people here, and it was then that an obsession with the minor league teams really began. Greg Bird came along (he hit three home runs for me, you know) and a new personal favorite Yankee was born. I recently got my first actual Yankees jersey. Guess whose. It’s honestly surprising that I don’t sleep in it or something.

The Yankees and I have had our ups and downs in recent years. Like with anything, it’s easier to notice some flaws when you spend so much of your time looking at it. This year’s team has really renewed my love for the team, and it’s been such a fun ride so far. The youth movement paying off has been completely gratifying, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Taking a trip to the city for a game is still one of my favorite things. I’m not a New Yorker so it’s still a big deal to me. I count some of the people I’ve met here at Pinstripe Alley among some of my very best friends, and I like to think I’m a better baseball fan because of them. Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, and Dellin Betances in pinstripes are all reasons to not miss a game these days. The future is so incredibly bright.

If you keep up with college basketball at all you know that my beloved Tar Heels won the national championship this year. What you may not know is that the last time my alma mater won it all, the Yankees won the World Series the same year. Here’s hoping history repeats itself!

So now it’s your turn. Share your story of how you became a Yankee fan and why you’re still one now with us in the Fanpost section. I look forward to reading all your stories!

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