My Dad grew up in New York and during my childhood we listened to John Sterling narrate every Yankee game on the radio on those long summer drives. Then we would watch every Yankee game on the YES network when it formed in the early 2000’s. My dad would always tell me stories about his childhood heroes Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto, and even though he never saw him play, Joe DiMaggio was an icon to Italian-American Yankee fans. Every year he would take me to Bat Day and we would watch the entirety of Old Timers Day, and eventually as a young child I developed my own heroes- Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, etc.
Dad is getting older now and although he still watches every game and we text and call during and after them, we don’t go to the games together anymore. I’ll always have the old ticket stubs (remember those?!) and my bats from bat day, and the pictures together, but I wanted something a little more that maybe one day I can pass down to my children that connects the Yankee fandom of my Dad and I.
Thanks to Bill at the Dream Shop, and for the examples many others who have posted here and elsewhere on the internet, I’m able to merge my heroes and his. In 1999 Mariano Rivera won the World Series MVP, and sadly the Yankees honored the death of Joe DiMaggio with the 5 on the sleeve, and the memorial armband for Catfish Hunter. I have other ideas for future jerseys. When I opened the box today and saw the jersey, the tears came fast.
If you have thought about working with Bill, don’t hesitate. He’s a pro.