Hometown hero
Friends, family cheer on Judge in return to where it all started
OAKLAND, Calif. — “You’ve got to come to Oakland,” John Precissi said Saturday afternoon, as he surveyed Section 104 of the Coliseum, “to see people from Linden.”
Precissi, a teacher, umpire and taxidermist, joined the bus trip put together by the Linden Athlete Boosters Club to cheer on the tiny town’s very first major league player, Aaron Judge, in his first trip to Northern California. The group of 64 wore Linden Lions caps and Yankees T-shirts with Judge’s name and number on the back and went wild each of the four times Judge came to the plate. Dozens of other Linden folks joined them in the section located in foul territory in right field, shouting distance from their hometown hero.
Alas, the visit proved less than optimal. Judge struck out three times and walked as the Yankees fell to the hometown Athletics, 5-2, their third straight loss to the American League’s worst team and fifth consecutive defeat overall.
Judge’s people nevertheless understood.
“The pitcher is trying to make a living, too,” said Bob Amerman, who coached Judge in his sophomore season at Linden High School.
Amerman received the thrill of a lifetime when he, with the assistance of Judge and his parents, went on the field before the game and chatted oneon-one with Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
“I got to sit down there and talk to him,” Amerman said. “About baseball. About Aaron. He said the good things that I said [about Judge]. Then I told him that the parents feel real good about the Yankee program and the whole Yankees organization.”
Judge, greeting the group of lifelong friends, joked to Vic Solari, “Don’t heckle me.” Solari, a retired fire chief who does the publicaddress announcements for the high school’s sporting events and organized this expedition, assuredly did not. Instead, this group gave it good to the opponents.
In the top of the second inning, when Mason Williams singled to right field and advanced Ronald Torreyes to third base, a Lindenite yelled at A’s right fielder Matt Joyce: “Judge would’ve made that throw!”
As Judge took his position for each bottom of the inning, he warmed up with a ball boy and, right before play resumed, either tossed a ball into Section 104 or handed it right to someone. The first recipient, Taylor Rowe, played in a game for Patterson High School against Judge’s Linden team back in the day.
“I’m pretty sure he went 3-for-3 with an RBI,” Rowe said of Judge. The Yankees’ superstar rookie enjoyed less success Saturday. He surely will try to make it a more enjoyable reunion next year.