Hometown Heroes

*This article first appeared in the IBWAA Here’s the Pitch Newsletter.

In the lead-up to the 2024 World Series, much was made about the sign Gerrit Cole made and brought with him to the 2001 fall classic. Although he was born and raised in Southern California (but considerably closer to Angel Stadium than Dodger Stadium), and he went to college at UCLA, Cole is a lifelong Yankee fan.

In fact, Cole brought the sign with him when he signed his $324 million contract with the Yankees in 2019. This past October, Cole got the chance to play for his beloved team on the largest stage. This is truly what dreams are made of.

The same is true for Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. The second-year player grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, his family had a share of Yankees season tickets, and he attended the last World Series New York won—in 2009. With his team on the brink of elimination in Game Four of this year’s edition, Volpe hit a game-changing grand slam home run to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead, one that they would not relinquish in their only victory against the Dodgers.

The homer might have changed the whole complexion of the Series had the Yankees not booted away the fifth inning of Game Five, allowing the Dodgers to come back from a 5-0 deficit, and ultimately win the game and the title.

Marcus Stroman grew up on Long Island and was on the Yankees roster for the World Series. Unfortunately, he did not make any appearances. He was, however, afforded a front-row seat to cheer on—and to be ready if needed—his hometown team. Stroman played for the other New York team (which is about seven miles closer to his hometown) in 2019 and 2021 (he opted out of the 2020 Covid year), but neither of those Mets teams made the playoffs.

For the Dodgers, the story is slightly more complicated. World Series hero and MVP Freddie Freeman grew up in Southern California, but, like Cole, much closer to Angel Stadium. In fact, he was an Angels fan and attended the 2002 World Series match-up against Barry Bonds and the Giants. But, when Freeman signed with the Dodgers in 2022, he felt as if he was “coming home,” getting to be closer to the father who raised him after his mother passed away when Freddie was ten years old. There is no doubt that Freeman is a Dodger legend (and fan) now.

Austin Barnes was born in Orange County, California, which makes him like Cole and Freeman, and he grew up in Riverside, which is roughly 55 miles east of Los Angeles. He played three innings in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, but never came to bat. That said, he was on the World Series roster and got to celebrate the Dodgers victory. We should note that Barnes played in five of the Dodgers’ six games in the 2020 World Series against the Rays. Unfortunately, all of those games were played in Texas, so there wasn’t any sort of hometown crowd to cheer him on.

Joe Kelly, who was not on the Dodgers’ World Series roster, also hails from Orange County. But his performance on the field, and his pouty face against the Astros in the 2020 season, has made him a low key Dodger legend. Like Barnes, after nearly starting a mid-season brawl in Houston, he played for the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series in Dallas.

The true hometown hero is pitcher Jack Flaherty. Acquired by Los Angeles at the trade deadline, Flaherty was given the opportunity to pitch on the same mound from which he threw a 1-0 shutout to give the Harvard-Westlake School the Southern Division CIF State Championship in 2013.

After Game One of the National League Championship Series, I had the opportunity to ask Flaherty how it felt to pitch in front of his Little League buddies at the stadium he frequented as a kid. He said it was great to know they were there and to have their support. Flaherty then had the good fortune to pitch Game One of the World Series in front of those same fans. He threw 5-1/3 innings, scattering five hits, surrendering only two runs, while striking out six. After a rough start to Game Five (four ERs over 1-1/3 innings), Flaherty cheered on and celebrated with the Dodgers as they won their second World Series in five years.

Every day across this great land a kid goes into their backyard and envisions hitting the game-winning home run or striking out the final batter. This year, Gerrit Cole, Freddie Freeman, Anthony Volpe, and Jack Flaherty got to move those stories from their backyards to the most hallowed ballfields in the game. Maybe next season Kyle Hendricks will pitch his hometown team, the Angels, to the World Series.

PLAY BALL!!