TAMPA, Fla. ¨C 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 Rod¨®n.
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.¡±