Chapman smile shot a result of sly Fox director

The enduring image of the Yankees’ 2019 season — maybe of their entire decade — will be Aroldis Chapman’s stunned grin after surrendering a two-run walkoff homer to Jose Altuve.

Fox coordinating baseball director Matt Gangl is the man ultimately responsible for the shot of Chapman ending up in millions of homes and Yankees’ fans replies. Gangl has been directing playoff baseball for the last six years, and will be directing his third straight World Series starting on Tuesday. He spoke to the Daily News on Monday afternoon in a phone interview from the Minute Maid Park right-field stands.

Daily News: Can you walk me through that final shot of the homer?

Matt Gangl: If there’s a walk-off home run, here’s some of the shots I’m gonna be looking for. You’re starting to set up the next narrative, right? And in that was a shot of Chapman. But in my mind at that point, if something was going to happen, that shot of Chapman was probably about the time he’d be walking off the mound.

So Altuve hits the ball, we all know it’s absolutely crushed and gonna leave the yard. Cut to Altuve coming around first base.

I’m looking more at a potential dugout coming out, then I see the shot of Chapman, and just that wry smile. And it’s just priceless. OK, that has to come next. And it was one of those shots that I even wanted to stay on longer than I probably normally would because it was just so good. But the other team has just won the game and advanced to the World Series, so that’s definitely a bigger part of the storyline.

But that shot of Chapman and his smile. “Hey, you got me.” That’s how it felt to me. I gave you a good slider and you just crushed it out of the ballpark and won the game. Good for you. It’s almost like a tip of the cap moment, that smile felt like to me.

DN: What’s that decision-making process like on the fly?

MG: Our handhelds aren’t allowed on the field right away, it’s like a 10-second hold.

Once they’re out on the field, I want to try to keep it as close to the field as possible to give people at home the chance to be right there. You’re there as Carlos Correa’s picking up Jose Altuve., you’re standing right next to them. I don’t think you can give people a better seat.

It’s all happening very fast. I think it happened a little slower in my brain because I’ve seen a lot of things. You’ve done enough games that you can kind of anticipate where certain shots are gonna be. So in my world, it seems like it’s happening a little slower, while it’s happening at a pretty frenetic pace.

DN: Is there anything unique about the setup at Minute Maid that led to that final shot looking that way?

MG: It just depends. At Yankee Stadium for example, all the high cameras are in baskets that hang off of that second deck. So the fans aren’t really in front of them because there’s nothing in front of them. It’s the lower decks below them and then that’s where those fans are. So where I cut that shot here on our high third camera is behind that second level, behind those fans so you get those fans in the foreground more.

I work with people who understand the game. There’s a lot of moments where I’ll be thinking “I really want a shot of this,” and I’ll be about to say “camera whatever, give me this,” and as I’m thinking about it, I can watch that camera move to it.

That’s a nice moment when you’re that in sync. That’s when you know you’re really in a good relationship with your crew, where we can be in that same moment, thinking along the same lines, and provide what we think is the best way to cover that big moment.