Fans lament loss of true Yank spring
TAMPA — Friday morning, after the rain had cleared, Brian Cochrane was standing in the grass parking lot next to the Yankees’ minor-league complex, waiting. He had a baseball glove on his right hand and a bag of balls he’d shagged sitting nearby. For six years, Cochrane, who is originally from Patchogue, N.Y., had been coming here in late winter. For the first few weeks, before formal workouts started, he’d stand with a regular group of fans near the entrance where players would stop and sign autographs.
“That’s one of the things that’s gone now,” Cochrane said. “We can’t do that anymore.”
In 2021, after a year without fans in the ballpark because of the pandemic, MLB was excited to announce it would “welcome” them back in limited fashion this season. In New York, Gov. Cuomo said the Yankees and Mets could allow fans back at 10% capacity with socially-distanced, pod seating and a negative COVID-19 test in the previous 72 hours.
Spring training has always been a little loos- er, but this year is nothing like it used to be. It’s been an experience that teams, and the league, has always sold as giving fans the chance to get a little closer to their favorite players. This year, with the coronavirus still raging through the country and MLB trying to keep its players and staff on the field for a full 162-game season with strict health and safety protocols, the league has put a stop to that close contact.
For fans who have spent years coming here in early January and February, it’s a big disappointment.
Last Tuesday morning, Adam Gillespie walked by the entrance on Himes Avenue. It was just a quick pass, an old habit from previous springs. It was a place he’d met players over the years. The week before, the lifelong Yankee fan from Cape Cod, Mass., had a very brief interaction with Aaron Judge.
“He came out and yelled over to us that the players are not allowed to stop and give autographs anymore,” Gillespie said. “I know they are trying to keep the players healthy and safety comes first.
“But it is disappointing.”
At least Gillespie heard the bad news directly from one of his favorites. He watched
Judge grow up from the Cape Cod League to a star in the big leagues.
His love of the Yankees was handed down from his father, a Bronx native, who took him to Fenway to get his first autograph: Reggie Jackson. He was hooked. He has been coming to the complex for 11 years, having relocated to Tampa, and has collected autographs from Hall of Famers like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. He also nabbed signatures from up-and-comers like a young Judge and Gleyber Torres before they made it to the big leagues.
All of those signatures on gloves, pictures, cards, balls, cleats and bats are stored at his home. He’s been offered money for his collection, but those will be handed down to his children.
It’s not about the value of the memorabilia for the fans like Cochrane and Gillespie, it’s about the experience and the stories.
“It’s about being able to look at something that Aaron Judge or Derek Jeter signed and remember the moment and how I got it,” Gillespie said. “That’s what the fans want and that’s really what we’ll miss.”
Cochrane met Torres when the Yankees shortstop came into the wine store he works in and he is very proud of how he got Mike Ford’s autograph. It was over in Clearwater, standing outside of Spectrum Field, where the Phillies train.
“He walked out and was waiting for an Uber. None of the other fans recognized him, so I was the only one that got him to sign,” Cochrane said before he ran off to catch another fly ball that had cleared the fence. “That was a good one.”
Gillespie hoped MLB would come up with a way to keep the spring training experience special. He suggested pre-signed baseballs or cards the players could have passed out in a controlled setting. He knows, however, that’s not the priority to getting the season back on track.
Instead this year, Gillespie and Cochrane will settle for what they can get. Cochrane will be shagging balls outside the complex and, since he can’t see through the screens, trying to guess who hit the ball. Gillespie said he’ll still stop by the complex and see what’s going on. He’ll still go to the spring-training games so he can and shout to his favorite players.
“In the end, we’re fans and we want the players to know we are here,” Gillespie said, “and we still support them.”