A Farewell to Gary

Take a minute to remember the great times Gary gave us (Sports Illustrated)

I’ll let you know before we get started: I’m in my feelings about this trade and this post will very much reflect that.

Gary Sanchez made his debut with one pinch-hit PA in a 9-2 loss against Baltimore at the end of the 2015 season. I wasn’t watching. I was in Chicago with some friends, visiting the city and watching Notre Dame play Clemson in a hurricane from a restaurant downtown. I doubt I knew the game was going on. I mean, sure, I knew it was baseball season. Could I have told you who the Yankees were playing? Doubt it. Now, let’s be frank, the Yankees hardly ran out a competitive lineup that day. They’d already clinched a Wild Card Game appearance and were giving the starters some rest. With that said, I wasn’t paying attention.

I watched some of the Wild Card game, I think. I don’t remember it much. I have some vague images of the Yankees not being able to touch Dallas Keuchel, but I can hardly remember the specifics of the game (not that I want to).

I started to pay some more attention again in 2016. My summer jobs took up less time than college. I was back at home. It was something to do. I went to the first game of the series against the Giants, one of the best teams in baseball at the time, in July. I saw Tanaka pitch a gem, and No Runs DMC shut San Francisco down. I sat in the bleachers, so I had a great view of this throw by Carlos Beltran.

It was fun. It was the first baseball game I’d been to with my girlfriend, and we had a great time. We got to see Chapman throw some gas to close it out, and we got to see MadBum pitch in a year in which he finished in the top-5 of the Cy Young voting.

The next game I remember happened on August 10. It was about a week into Gary being back up with the big league club. At that point, the deadline fire sale was over, and all eyes were on the future. While he hadn’t exactly “arrived” by that point (his OPS on the season was still under .600), everyone knew the 23-year old backstop was a large part of the team’s plans for the future.

The Yankees were in Boston, and I was back in it. I was ready to see this team build for the future, and I was very excited about this new catcher.

Sidenote: I’ve always had a thing for catching prospects. I have a bat signed by Jesus Montero. I get sold on these guys VERY easily.

Gary delivered. He had a 4-hit night highlighted by this homer.

At that point, I was sold. A few days later, the exciting young catcher was hitting .389. A little while after that, his OPS reached 1.367. At that point I was back at school, and loving my free subscription to MLB.tv for college students. I would swing by my friend’s apartment most nights, and we’d watch the Yankees and Phillies. We had a nice friendly rivalry going on between Gary Sanchez and the Phils’ new, young stud Tommy Joseph. Ultimately, Joseph had a pretty good year, but we both knew Gary was operating on a different plane of reality.

I remember that so well because that’s when baseball became a part of my routine again. I was building my days and nights around it. On September 8, I watched the Phillies beat the Nats before the Yankees walked the Rays off thanks to a Tyler Austin home run. A day later, the Yankees’ playoff chances got as good as they ever would, as they were 3 games out of first place. A rough stretch after that saw their chances fizzle, but I didn’t have any less fun watching the rest of the season. Gary finished the year hitting 20 homers in 53 games and hitting almost .300. He was robbed of the Rookie of the Year award, and Michael Fulmer should thank him for the fact that he has any good reputation.

I had a favorite player again for the first time since… How long had it been? Had I felt this way about anyone since Hideki left? Did I ever feel this way about Cano? Honestly, this is going to sound ridiculous, but the closest thing to how I felt about Gary by the end of 2016 was how I remember feeling about Derek Jeter in the early 2000s when my dad introduced me to the game, the team, and the Captain.

I just looked back at some text messages. On September 1, 2016, Whipple texted me “Now Gary Sanchez is your boy” in response to me saying “Jesus Montero was my boy.”

On September 29, 2016, I texted my dad about how Gary was on pace to hit more home runs than Barry Bonds, given enough plate appearances. Hey, it was true.

It’s nice to reflect on how good this felt. I fell in love with baseball when I was five years old. I built my life around it. The Yankees were everything. Sometime in high school, while the Yankees were in the wilderness, we lost touch. Forgive me for not being able to get behind the Kevin Youkilis/Ben Francisco/Brian Roberts/Stephen Drew teams. Suddenly, though, a young catcher for the Dominican Republic pulled me back in. Do you remember how that felt? When he was hitting a home run every night? When you were disappointed he couldn’t occupy every spot in the lineup? The first time you saw him go yard at Fenway? When you found out he owned David Price? The first time you realized what a cannon he had? When he nearly hit a homer on a pitch out? Do you remember how excited you were about his future? How excited you were about him being the anchor of the team moving forward? How great it was to go into each game knowing you’d get to see him play? Maybe you don’t. Maybe it’s just me. But I’m never going to forget how Gary Sanchez pulled me back into baseball.

I was lucky to see some great moments from Gary in the past few years.

He hit this home run off a Cy Young winner in a win over Tampa when we took my grandparents to the new Yankee Stadium for the first time.

I went to this legendary game against the Astros in 2018, when Gary made this game-saving play after a wild pitch by Aroldis Chapman. Gleyber would walk things off in the bottom of the inning.

I remember driving up Route 9 in Connecticut when Gary did this.

I turned off the radio, called my friend Matt, and absolutely lost my mind. I was so happy that my favorite player, who was having the most difficult season of his career, had just made such a huge play.

Just a few months ago, when one of my bosses at work was hating on Gary, he did this.

Also, Ben if you are reading this, remember when we were at the Piedra and Gary did this to Fernando Rodney?

I could go on with these all day. I am so happy to have had the chance to watch him play for my favorite team for six seasons. I am so happy that he got my excited about watching my favorite team for the last six seasons. I’ll never forget any of the moments I included here. There are tons more that rattle around in my brain that I absolutely love.

Now that I think about it, I can’t think of a time when the Yankees have traded away my favorite player. There were guys I loved who they let walk, or who retired, sure. But the Yankees didn’t trade Hideki Matsui. They didn’t trade Derek Jeter. Is Gary either of those guys? No. But I am so thankful that he got me back into baseball and I’m going to miss him a lot.

The point of this article isn’t to tell you about how Gary is a better player than you think. It’s not to talk about how he was one of the fastest players ever to 100 career home runs, or how much success he’s had relative to other catchers. It’s not to remind you of his impressive pop time or elite arm. The only thing I want to do is pay my respects to my favorite player, to his tenure in New York that ended too soon, and to the memories I was able to make watching him.

There was a lot about Gary’s tenure that was unfortunate. He set people’s expectations higher than they can reasonably be for any catcher, and then struggled to live up to them. He often struggled while playing through injury. He clearly had a very difficult bout with COVID. These things happen. They’re part of being a professional athlete.

I don’t care about that stuff. I care that my favorite player is gone.

Thank you, Gary. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for helping me rediscover baseball. Thank you for the friends I’ve made in the last six years as a result. Thank you for Yankees Files. Thank you.

We’ll miss you. Can’t wait for #HotGarySummer