by NEW YORK — Anthony Volpe never saw Derek Jeter hit a World Series home run.
Or, at the very least, he has no real memory of such things.
Jeter, the legendary Yankee nicknamed Mr. October, walked three pitches in the Fall Classic. Two arrived in 2000, before Volpe existed on this earth plane. And the other, Jeter’s iconic strikeout in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, occurred when the current Yankees shortstop was 176 days old.
But for Volpe, a longtime Yankees fan born in New York and raised in New Jersey, those moments feel like memories.
And with his childhood idol – the idol of so many baseball fans of a certain age – in the building for Game 4 of this World Series, Volpe delivered an unforgettable postseason moment in Victory 11 -4 from his team. With just one move, the kid who filled his childhood bedroom with everything Yankee made his wildest dream come true while keeping his team’s season alive.
With the bases loaded late in the third inning and the hosts down a run, Volpe hit a first-pitch slider from Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson into the left field bleachers for a change of play, energy and potentially standard. grand slam. The crowd, which had no reason to cheer in the first 11.5 rounds of the Fall Classic it witnessed, exploded.
“It felt like the fans were ready to explode last night,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “And we just fell behind and we couldn’t step up. It’s like you can finally see the top explode at Yankee Stadium in a World Series game.”
Volpe also blew his top.
As the ball cleared the wall, the baby-faced 23-year-old let out a cathartic roar. When he arrived at home plate, a trio of teammates were waiting for him, smiles on their faces. Once again, Volpe couldn’t stop screaming, understandably. He had given the Yankees, trailing 3-0 in the series, a 5-2 lead – their first series lead since Freddie Freeman left Game 1 with his own grand slam.
“I think I almost passed out as soon as I saw him go over the fence,” Volpe, who attended the 2009 World Series parade as a pipsqueak with his family, revealed during his post-match press.
Most importantly, Volpe provided the team, the crowd, and this entire series a much-needed boost.
This championship showdown, billed as a classic between the sport’s two biggest juggernauts, seemed in serious danger of burning out before it could even catch fire. Game 1 was a record-breaker, but the Dodgers’ comfortable victories in Games 2 and 3 presented the Yankees with a historic and never-before-accomplished task: coming back from a 3-0 World Series deficit. It was as imposing as it was improbable. As a result, the energy around Yankee Stadium before Game 4 on Tuesday was noticeably more subdued. Fewer people clogged the concourse outside the court before the first pitch. Ticket prices had fallen. Hope was elsewhere, already enjoying her vacation.
But Volpe gave his fellow Yankees fans a reason to believe.
“Getting an early lead was important tonight,” said catcher Austin Wells, who homered in the sixth inning. “And [Volpe] gave us that with that one shot, and it was huge.
It was, by far, the Yankees’ biggest swing of this World Series – and the greatest moment of the young shortstop’s career.
After making the big league team in spring training last year at age 21, Volpe started 308 games in 2023 and 2024, the third most games ever started by a player in his first two seasons in MLB. The two players ahead of him on this list are Hideki Matsui, who debuted in the United States at the age of 29 with immense professional ball experience in Japan, and Albert Pujols. It shows how much this franchise has relied on this player and what the Yankees think of his chances of becoming a foundational piece. Because even though Volpe provided defensive stability at the most important position in the infield, his offensive game was more simulation than reality.
One move in late October alone won’t make Volpe a dynamic offensive player. A combination of work, patience, good coaching, experience and physical maturation could eventually help Volpe reach his ceiling. He is still only 23 years old; there is plenty of time. And Jeter’s shadow is unfair but inevitable. But Volpe’s massive, energetic smash Tuesday was a perfect reminder that this kid might still have magic in his bones.
“We saw it all the time, even last year as a rookie — he’s a Yankee through and through,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge told Yahoo Sports.
“It’s in his blood,” added outfielder Alex Verdugo.
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The Volpe family’s Yankees fandom dates back generations, when Anthony’s great-grandfather returned from World War II and connected with his son by listening to Yankees games on the radio together. This love was then passed on to Anthony’s father, Michael, and to Anthony himself.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about,” the Game 4 hero admitted when asked what it’s like to live his dream. “It’s my dream, but it was the dream of all my friends, all my cousins, and probably my sister’s dream too.”
Ultimately, Volpe’s swing could end up as a minor incident in a Dodgers landslide, a footnote overshadowed by royal blue confetti. The chances for the Yankees remain formidable. But even if the Yankees don’t pull off the impossible and beat the Dodgers, Volpe’s swing should stand the test of time.
It’s too good a story not to do.
