2 generations in pinstripes: Cody nears full-circle moment

TAMPA, Fla. – Cody Bellinger instantly recognized the moment, flashing a knowing grin -- even brighter than the one in the photograph from more than a decade ago. It was taken on the Yankee Stadium diamond in 2011, and the teenager was posing alongside his father, Clay Bellinger -- a former Yankee next to a future one.

“I think that was my dad’s first time coming back for Old-Timers’ Day,” Cody Bellinger said. “I remember being on the field, which was really cool. Everybody shows up. There’s a lot of legends around this place.”

Then a junior at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., Bellinger wore a team-issued workout shirt and a cardboard credential around his neck. The lanky lefty with the Stadium-friendly swing harbored big league dreams, but he had no way of knowing he would be part of the fourth father-son duo in Yankees history (joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Ron and Ike Davis and Mark Leiter & Mark Leiter Jr.).

No, Clay Bellinger and his promising son didn’t merit the headlines on that sunny afternoon: Those belonged to Joe Torre, who returned to the Bronx after a few years mending a fractured relationship. After Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford swapped stories in the dugout, Tino Martinez homered off David Cone in a game that is no longer played.

Cody Bellinger, 29, recalls bits and pieces. What stands out more is the prospect showcase he played in at Yankee Stadium that summer -- his first time digging into the batter’s box he’ll soon call his office.

“I hit a homer. That was really cool; hell yeah,” Bellinger said. “I didn’t know anybody because it was all East Coast kids, but it was still fun. We were hitting BP, and I was a skinny kid. I had some juice, but I just had really good bat-to-ball skills.”

Even then, Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch seemed a good match for Bellinger. The 314-foot invitation was also appealing last year as a member of the Cubs, when his first three games in the Bronx included a second-deck home run off Carlos Rodón.

Bellinger hopes to add many more this season, coming off a scorching spring in which he has collected 20 hits in 43 at-bats (.465), with five doubles and three homers.

“He hits two off the barrel, it seems like, every day he plays,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s only spring, but he’s as advertised.”

Bellinger doesn’t have a wealth of first-person memories of his dad’s career; he was 5 years old when Clay Bellinger was playing in the 2000 Subway Series against the Mets, though he remembers tossing toilet paper from a parade float in lower Manhattan.

It was a career highlight for the elder Bellinger, a utilityman who played every position but catcher and pitcher in four years of service, retiring with 12 career homers and two World Series rings (1999, 2000) which remain stashed in a drawer.

Cody Bellinger can revisit those games via camcorder video. His most vivid memory of the old Yankee Stadium occurred in the family room underneath the first-base grandstand, where he would frequently play with Andy Pettitte’s kids.

“I ran over a ball or something and went face-first into the wall; busted my front two teeth out,” Bellinger said. “I had no front teeth for a long time.”

Clay Bellinger retired at 35 following stints in the Angels, Giants and Orioles organizations, launching a second career as a firefighter in Gilbert, Ariz. The new job provided an opportunity to help guide his son’s path into pro ball, imparting lessons Cody Bellinger said trail him to this day.

“When Cody was 3, 4, 5 years old, that’s all he did,’” Clay Bellinger once told Sweeny Murti. “If you look at old videos and stuff, he’s always playing catch, he’s always hitting off the tee, always doing something. It was just nonstop, literally, from that age on.

“Obviously he had success in Little League and we went to Williamsport [Pa.], and he was always one of the better players as a youngster playing with older kids throughout his life. He finally started to grow his junior year, grew 6 or 7 inches, and you could just see he was going to be a good ballplayer.”

Cody Bellinger said he served as the batboy for some of his dad’s Minor League teams. He believes growing up around a locker room helped greatly.

“For me, it was just playing the game hard,” Bellinger said. “You can always control your effort; you can’t control results. When I would dog a ground ball, I would get what we called ‘The Stare.’ You never wanted to get ‘The Stare,’ because he was always about playing the game hard, not being flashy.”

Asked when he last received a “Stare,” Bellinger laughed and replied: “I don’t get a stare. Now I get a phone call. It’s a little different.”

Bellinger said his father plans to be at Yankee Stadium for the March 27 opener against the Brewers, a full-circle moment for the family.

“It’s going to be special, man,” Bellinger said. “I think any Opening Day, no matter what, you’re full of all these nerves and excitement and different emotions. So doing it in the Bronx and this uniform is going to be pretty special.”