2 weeks Ago By Andrew Mearns
Good morning, all. I don’t usually like to begin mornings on a somber note, but I was reminded as I was running through some items that today is the third anniversary of the passing of former Yankees outfielder Gerald Williams . It doesn’t matter that Gerald is now only somewhat tied to the dynasty, as despite being in the up-and-coming group of young Yankees in the early-to-mid-’90s, he was dealt to Milwaukee in August 1996 in what ended up being a pivotal deal for southpaw Graeme Lloyd.
It took until 2001 for Gerald to return to the Yankees, so he missed out on most of the fun. Yet I can’t think of that era of Yankees baseball without Gerald, as he was right there in the outfield with Bernie Williams as New York began to turn it around under Buck Showalter, and he notably became Derek Jeter’s best friend, too. He also made a sensational play in center to save Doc Gooden’s no-hitter, which I’ll always remember when I think of that night in ‘96.
Cancer took Gerald from us at the far-too-young age of 55. Awful. We’ll end this little remembrance on a positive note at least, as Gerald’s old teammate Wade Boggs just stuck a thumb in the eye of cancer by announcing that he’d beaten it.
An extremely emotional day I can’t thank my doctor’s Dr. Engleman and Dr. Heidenberg enough also to everyone for your thoughts and prayers Debbie and I are pleased to announce I am cancer free Go Wade! And love ya, Gerald.
Today on the site, Peter will present the results of the latest SB Nation Reacts poll, and Matt will put a capper on our “Could-Have-Beens” series by remembering our youngest missed prospect to date: Deivi García. I’m sighing already about 2020 ALDS Game 2 (and more importantly for Deivi, the following years). Thank you for following along in our long offseason series of, in essence, Remembering Some Guys! The stories weren’t always happy ones, but we also know the wildly successful Yankees very well at this point.
So the stroll down memory lane in this particular case has been fascinating. Questions/Prompts: 1. Aside from Alex Bregman, who is the most surprising unsigned free agent? 2.
Just for fun, who are the two most unlikely teams to play in next year’s Super Bowl?.
