Lifelong Yankee Anthony Volpe has grand night
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Staff Reports, Staff reports
- October 30, 2024
Anthony Volpe hits grand slam to propel Yankees
Anthony Volpe enjoyed the chorus from the grateful crowd at Yankee Stadium in the ninth inning Tuesday night. Then the lifelong Yankees fan visited with his childhood hero Derek Jeter, the Hall of Famer who once created the types of memories Volpe delivered in Game 4 of the World Series.
There is plenty of work ahead for Volpe and the Yankees if they hope to win the franchise’s 28th World Series title. But the key on Tuesday was to avoid a four-game sweep.
Volpe hit a grand slam in the third inning to help the Yankees pound the Dodgers 11-4 in Game 4, prompting fans at Yankee Stadium to serenade the young shortstop. When asked afterward, Volpe said hearing Yankees fans chant his name late Tuesday night was definitely the coolest moment of his life.
Granting a postgame interview on the national telecast to Jeter was right up there as well for the kid who was born in Manhattan and raised in New Jersey.
‘My dream’
“Yeah, it is pretty crazy to think about,” he said. “It’s my dream, but it was all my friends’ dreams, all my cousins’ dreams, probably my sister’s dream too. But winning the World Series was first and foremost by far. Nothing else compares. So still got a lot of work to do.”
Volpe, 23, is a major reason the Yankees are still alive in the World Series. Freddie Freeman, who is the early favorite to win the World Series MVP Award, hit a two-run home run in the first inning to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
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The Yankees cut the deficit in half in the second inning. Then Volpe cleared the bags with his grand slam off Daniel Hudson in the third inning to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead.
“When Anthony hits that ball, it was like fun to see Yankee Stadium erupt,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s like they’ve been waiting for 48 hours to do that.
“Then just the way the game went on and on, it was just the energy, the noise, the excitement. It was a Yankee Stadium World Series game.”
Gleyber Torres adds blast
The Dodgers cut the deficit to 6-4 in the fifth, but Austin Wells countered with a home run in the sixth. Then the Yankees mounted a five-run outburst in the eighth inning, highlighted by Gleyber Torres’ three-run home run.
No team has ever won a World Series after losing the first three games. The Boston Red Sox, who beat the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS after falling behind 3-0, are the only team in MLB history to win a postseason series after losing the first three games.
The Yankees will try to keep their season alive tonight in Game 5 with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound at Yankee Stadium. Anthony Volpe’s mom handled the tickets, so he wasn’t sure how many relatives were in attendance to watch his heroics. But he knows what the Yankees mean to his family.
Family affair for Anthony Volpe
“My grandfather, the Yankees are more than just a team or an organization for him because his father fought in World War II when he was little,” Volpe said. “And by the time he got back, his mom basically told him like, ‘This is your dad.’
“He didn’t know him, didn’t recognize him, didn’t anything. The way he says it, the way he got to know and get to know his father was he sat on his lap every single night and they listened to the Yankees together. So for him, it’s more than sports.”
The Yankees are more than just about sports for many of their fans. With the ninth World Series home run and 15th postseason grand slam in Yankees history, Volpe now has a special place in the Bronx Bombers’ history.
“He loves being a Yankee, loves it,” Boone said of Volpe. “Just as importantly, though, loves the guys he gets to go do it with every day. The bond in that room is real.”
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