Yanks his ‘medicine’
I have watched the Yankees work hard when they are behind to come back.
RYAN CASTRATARO is one tough Yank.
Diagnosed with a serious medical condition in his brain two years ago, the Pinstripes-loving teen fought his way through radiation and other treatments by clinging to his two greatest loves: family and Yankees baseball.
Luckily for him, they are intertwined.
The boy from Mahopac in Putnam County, who turned 14 in June, learned about the Yankees from his great-grandfather, Jimmy Castrataro, who was a buddy of Phil (The Scooter) Rizzuto.
For the next generation, the Yankee great was Yogi Berra.
“My grandpa and my dad would talk about Yogi Berra and how he great he was. That’s why I wear No. 8,” Ryan said.
“I don’t play catcher,” he noted, referring to Berra’s position. “I pitch and I play first base. But I wear No. 8 in his honor.”
Ryan plans to try out for his high school baseball team when he enters ninth grade in the fall.
He credits baseball with helping him get through his illness two years ago, saying in an interview it was “kind of like medicine” for him.
Ryan is one of nine Daily News’ Field of Dreams contest winners who will take the field with a Yankees starter before the team’s Aug. 26 game against Houston at The Stadium. The contest entrants, ages 8 to 14, were judged on essays about what Yankee tradition means to them.
In his winning essay, Ryan wrote that “Yankee tradition creates hope.”
“I have watched the Yankees work hard when they are behind to come back in a game or series and to pull ahead to win championships. I live with hope in my life every day,” he wrote.
Ryan misses Yankees great Derek Jeter but enjoys rooting for the current group of Bombers. “I like Brett Gardner a lot. He’s young and he’s awesome,” Ryan said.
His passion for the game is shared by his family, which loves to get together for a game, whether at home or at Yankee Stadium.
“I just love that it’s exciting. I love that I’m good at it. It’s a great sport to watch and play,” Ryan said.
For the game later this month, he’s confident the Yankees will prevail against the Astros, but if he could pick the opposing team, it would be the Boston Red Sox, he said.
“Of course, the Yankees would win,” Ryan stressed.