The 42 Around My Neck

When people ask me who my favorite Yankee player is, they are in shock when I don’t respond with the popular “Heart Throb” Derek Jeter.  When they hear that a 17 year old girl from the suburbs of New Jersey idolizes the 43 year old Panamanian closer, they wonder “why?”. For my 16th birthday, my Aunt bought me a very special gift. She handed me a little gray box. I open the box and in it was a silver “42” necklace with my name engraved on it.  I’m 18 years old, and I have been wearing that necklace every day ever since.

 

A typical question that is asked daily is, “What’s the 42 for?”

I respond, “My favorite baseball player” and the follow up question is always, “Oh which one?”

Ok, now even if you don’t follow sports, if you don’t know who #42 is, you must be living under a rock.  I mean, you should at least recognize it for Jackie Robinson but whatever. That’s what I have to deal with on a daily bases. 

Where did the obsession start? Why did I idolize him since I was 11 years old?

I’ve played softball my entire life.  It was the one thing I was good at and it defined who I was. I played every position from centerfield to catcher, but I really wanted to pitch.  When I played in the 3/4 grade league, the fourth graders pitched.  One game, we had no fourth grade pitchers so 3 third graders had to pitch.  Nope, they still wouldn’t let me. back to catching for Alexis.  Ever since that game it was my dream to pitch. That’s all I ever talked about.  I would throw with my dad a couple times after he came home from work.  For a girl who never took any lessons, I threw pretty well. I pitched a few innings when I was in fourth and fifth grade. I started taking pitching lessons when I turned 11.  Then when I was in sixth grade, a quarter of the way through my recreation season, they made me the official starter. Meanwhile on my club team that year I was the official starting pitcher.  

The next year was when things got difficult.  In seventh grade, I still pitched for my recreation team but we only had one game a week. The club team was more important to me because of the competitiveness.  When I went out for my third year of club softball, I had no idea what was going to happen.  Long story short, well long story shorter, I had a coach who was one of the softball dads that put his daughter and her friends first. Unfortunately for me, 2 of them were pitchers.  I was also the youngest on the team.  When I didn’t pitch I sat the bench or played outfield.  And by played outfield, I mean 2 innings out in right field then the rest of the game on the bench. I pitched a total of 2 and a half games for the team. That was during the spring.  The summer is a different story.  I left that team at the beginning of the summer season and joined the 12U club team of that league. I was still age eligible cause my birthday missed the cut off. Now because that wasn’t my actual team and they already had a starting pitcher (yes apparently where I live one pitcher is enough), they saved me for the last inning of every game.  I was the official “closer” I guess.  I had a successful season as the closer. But I still wanted to pitch more than one inning.  I thought I was done.  I remember that moment like it was 10 minutes ago. After a great win against a team that was always hard to beat, I cleaned up my equipment and hopped in my dad’s mini van.  My dad looked at me and said “Mariano Rivera.” That’s all he said. That’s when it all clicked. That moment doesn’t seem like much, but to an 12 year old softball player who was about to hang up her cleats, it meant the world. 

If it wasn’t for that moment, I would not have played the next year, I would not have went out in high school, I would not have been brought up to pitch for the JV team as a freshman, I would not have pitched a perfect game my sophomore year, I would not have had the time of my life doing what I love the most. 

 

(8th grade Season)

 

(Pitching in my Freshman Tournament)

 

(It was a perfect game I swear. My coach wrote no-hitter but really. No walks)

I ended up having a high school career record of 41-12. I was the only pitcher from freshman year, to my junior year. And all though we weren’t allowed to wear jewelry during the game, I always found a way to keep my #42 on. I couldn’t play without it.

(Me jogging off the field of my last softball game ever. Junior year. Oh and obviously Mo.)

Unfortunately, I did not play my senior year because of a hurt shoulder and unfair politics at the varsity level. I was close to playing in college but the process of making my shoulder better of the course of the year had not helped at all.  It kills me that I can’t play because without softball, I don’t know who I am or where I would be.  It defined who I was.

Whether I’m on or off the field, Mo inspires me every day. He came from a small village in Panama with nothing but a cardboard glove and is now the most respected athlete in all of sports history.  If he could overcome that, I could overcome anything. And that’s what this number means to me.  

Its a very emotional thing to see a Yankee who was been playing since the year I was born retire.  Especially a man as respect, humble, and talented as Mariano Rivera.  Aside from being a legendary athlete, he is a great human being. I’d know, I met him!

He leaves a legacy not only with the Yankees and in baseball, but in sports.  

So in his last season, these are the last few times we will ever see a #42 not only on a diamond, but on any field in general. It may be retired, but it will never stop being worn.  I’m the one to keep it alive.