NEW YORK – Anthony Volpe has never seen Derek Jeter hit a World Series home run.
Or at least he has no real memory of such things.
Jeter, the legendary Yankee known as Mr. October, went to the Garden three times in the Fall Classic. Two came in 2000, before Volpe existed on this earthly plane. And the other, Jeter’s iconic walk-off in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, occurred when the Yankees’ current shortstop was 176 days old.
But for Volpe, a lifelong Yankees fan born in New York and raised in New Jersey, those were moments feeling 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 himself delivered an unforgettable postseason highlight with his team’s 11-4 victory. With a single wave, the little boy who filled his childhood room with all things Yankee made his wildest dream come true, all while keeping his team’s season alive.
With the bases tied in the bottom of the third inning and the hosts down one run, Volpe hit a slider on Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson’s first pitch into the left field stands for a game-changing, energy-altering and potentially series-altering game. big slam. The crowd, which had nothing to cheer about during the first 11.5 Fall Classic innings they witnessed, exploded.
“It felt like the fans were so ready to erupt last night,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “And we just fell behind and couldn’t put anything in. It’s like you finally saw the top of Yankee Stadium in a World Series game.”
Volpe also blew his top.
As the ball crept over the wall, the baby-faced 23-year-old let out a cathartic roar. When he reached 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 lead in the series since Freddie Freeman left Game 1 with a grand slam of his own.
“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw him go over the fence,” Volpe, who attended the 2009 World Series parade with his family, revealed at his post-game media conference.
Most importantly, Volpe gave the team, the audience, and this entire series a much-needed jolt.
This championship match, billed as a classic between the sport’s two biggest giants, appeared to be in serious danger of sputtering out before it could even catch fire. Game 1 was an all-timer, but the Dodgers’ comfortable victories in Games 2 and 3 presented the Yankees with a historic, never-completed task: coming back from a 3-0 World Series deficit. It felt as impressive as it was improbable. Accordingly, the energy around Yankee Stadium before Game 4 on Tuesday was noticeably more subdued. Fewer people clogged the hall outside the garden before the first ball. Ticket prices had dropped. Hope was somewhere else and 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 hit a home run in the sixth inning. “And [Volpe] gave us that with that one swing, and that was huge.”
It was by far the biggest Yankees swing of this World Series – and the biggest moment of the young shortstop’s career.
After making the big league team out of spring training last year at the age of 21, Volpe started 308 games in 2023 and 2024, the third-most games ever started by a player in his first two MLB seasons. The two players ahead of him on that list are Hideki Matsui, who made his debut in the United States as a 29-year-old with vast professional ball experience in Japan, and Albert Pujols. That shows how heavily this franchise has relied on this player and what the Yankees think about his chances of developing into a foundational piece. Because while Volpe has provided defensive stability at the most important infield position, his offensive play has been more what-if than what-is.
A single swing in late October won’t, on its own, turn Volpe into a dynamic offensive player. A combination of work, patience, good coaching, experience and physical maturation could ultimately help Volpe reach his ceiling. He’s only 23; there is plenty of time. And Jeter’s shadow is unfair but unavoidable. But Volpe’s huge, energy-shifting slam on Tuesday was a perfect reminder that this kid might still have magic in his bones.
“We’ve seen 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,” outfielder Alex Verdugo added.
The Volpe family’s Yankees fandom goes 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. That 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 how it felt to make his dream come true. “It’s my dream, but it was the dreams of all my friends, all my cousins, and probably my sister’s dream too.”
Ultimately, Volpe’s swing could end up as a minor blip 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.
