By the end of the night, the sellout crowd in the Bronx was chanting Anthony Volpe’s name as he stood at his shortstop position, his pinstriped whites drenched in dirt after a heroic effort to help keep the Yankees’ season alive.
Volpe had just made a nifty play from one knee to record the first out of the ninth inning, but it was far from his biggest contributions of the night. The chants from the crowd were simply an acknowledgement of the latest hand Volpe had in avoiding an embarrassing World Series sweep.
With the Yankees trailing in the bottom of the third in game four, Volpe stepped in with the bases loaded and two outs, the Yanks in danger of once again spoiling a golden opportunity to hang a crooked number on the Dodgers pitching staff.
But Volpe, who had possibly cost the Yanks a run earlier in the game after making the latest New York baserunning blunder, didn’t waste this opportunity, smacking a first-pitch slider from Daniel Hudson into the left field seats for the first World Series grand slam by a Yankee since Tino Martinez in 1998. The chants for Volpe rained down as he jogged onto the field in the following inning, and resumed again in the ninth, saluting the homegrown shortstop living a childhood dream.
“Number one. Definitely number one,” Volpe said with a smile when asked where hearing his name chanted by thousands ranked among the coolest moments in his life. Yes, even above the grand slam he hit just hours earlier.
The home run electrified the Bronx crowd that had been waiting since the start of game three to cheer about something, and sent the Yanks on their way to a breezy 11-4 win to set up another must-win in game five at the Stadium on Wednesday night.
“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,” Volpe said.
Volpe’s grand slam was just the ninth in the history of the Fall Classic, and he only continued his contributions from there. An inning later, he made a diving stop to get the force at second and nearly turned an inning-ending double play, though it was overturned after replay review. In the eighth, Volpe legged out a double with one out and stole third to kickstart a five-run rally that blew the game open, allowing Aaron Boone to avoid using more of Luke Weaver or turning to Tommy Kahnle. Volpe became the first player in World Series history to record at least four RBI and four stolen bases in a game.
For a youngster already living the dream as a childhood Yankee fan and New York native, Wednesday night was an all-time experience for a youngster who famously attended the last World Series parade in New York, and helped give these Yankees a sliver of hope to celebrate another this year.
It was an unforgettable night for Volpe, who played the hero, heard his name chanted by tens of thousands of fans of the team he grew up rooting for, and was interviewed by Derek Jeter after the game, his childhood hero.
But Volpe still envisions an even better night, and it includes the Yankees celebrating a title. Thanks to his efforts, that dream is still alive.