Ive always admired the Yankees: Remembering the first time the Yankees almost had Gerrit Co

SAN DIEGO — It was still early on the evening of Nov. 3, 2001, when the camera found Gerrit Cole. He stood in the front row at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, his head covered by a Yankees cap, his body leaning forward, his hands clutching a pinstriped white sign with five words: YANKEE FAN TODAY TOMORROW FOREVER.

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Cole, then 11, hailed from Orange County, not far from Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Yet his parents had familia roots in upstate New York, and his father Mark had shared his affection for the Yankees. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Cole came of age during the dynastic period in the late 1990s, or that he revered closer Mariano Rivera. With the team back in the World Series and facing the Diamondbacks in 2001, the Coles traveled to Phoenix for Games 6 and 7.

The Yankees lost both games, coming apart in heartbreaking fashion in Game 7, but the image of a devoted young fan with an artistic sign was enough to intrigue William Perlman, a photographer at the Newark Star-Ledger. He snapped the photo in the moments before Game 6. It appeared soon after. Seven years later, it surfaced once more when the Yankees selected the same kid in the first round of the 2008 draft.

“I’ve always admired the Yankees,” Cole said then. “Obviously they’re my favorite team.”

Cole, of course, opted to pitch at UCLA, forgoing millions and a career with his boyhood club. But another 11 years later, the Yankees — and the photo — are back, an intriguing subplot as the sport holds its annual Winter Meetings here in San Diego. Cole is the top free agent pitcher on the market — a true ace with a strong argument as the best pitcher in the world — and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman appears  poised to spend the winter testing a simple question: Did he really mean forever?

The cold, calculated world of the free-agent market is often where nostalgia and sentimentalism go to die. Last winter, the top free agent starter was Patrick Corbin, who grew up rooting for the Yankees in upstate New York and did little to hide his past allegiance. Yet that hardly mattered when the Washington Nationals emerged with a six-year, $140 million offer. Cole, likewise, has had an opportunity to join the Yankees before.

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As a high school starter at Orange Lutheran in Newport Beach, he grew into one of the most heralded prep pitchers in the class of 2008, his fastball topping out in the upper 90s and his sturdy frame suggesting more potential within. His father had nurtured his career, taking him to a private coach and meticulously charting his throwing routines and workouts. The precision extended to rest periods and proper perspective. Cole studied pitcher Jake Peavy because they had a similar physical presence on the mound. His father accounted for every pitch. When the Yankees selected Cole with the 28th overall pick in June 2008, the family sought to view the draft process from an analytical perspective.

At first, Cole was set on attending UCLA. His family valued education. (Mark Cole has a Ph.D.) He yearned to have the true college experience. He was also younger than most high school seniors, not turning 18 years old until the September after the draft. But then the Yankees emerged as an option, and the calculus changed.

In a podcast interview with former Astros teammate Collin McHugh, released earlier this year, Cole outlined the detailed decision-making process, stating that his family “definitely re-evaluated” after the Yankees selected him.

“There’s a number of factors that we were looking at,” Cole said. “First thing would be like: how do you put a value on a UCLA education? How do you put a value on a UCLA education that you wouldn’t be able to obtain without being talented at something else?”

Cole said his father attempted to make something abstract — like the college experience and the growth that accompanies it — into something quantifiable. They studied the careers of pitchers drafted in the first round, including their average career earnings. They weighed that against the value of going to UCLA. They considered the difficulty of finishing four years of college — as opposed to one — after Cole’s baseball career was over.

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“What are the chances, just because you’re a first rounder, that you make it?” Cole said, remembering the process. “What does your life look like after baseball if you don’t make it to the big leagues?”

The Yankees, meanwhile, saw Cole as a worthwhile gamble. They viewed his talent as too good to pass up at 28th overall. They believed him amenable to signing, understanding that he grew up a fan. They were prepared to pay over-slot money under the old draft system, yet the opportunity never came. Cole opted for school, taking out an insurance policy to mitigate the risk, an idea that reportedly came from Chase Utley, one of dozens of people consulted in the process. The negotiations never really began.

“We put a value on it,” Cole said, “and we just knew the offer wasn’t going to be anywhere close. Because it just wasn’t realistic.”

When the deadline to sign passed in 2008, Cashman told reporters that Cole “didn’t even receive an offer.” His family, Cashman said then, “changed their mind.” He was disappointed but he respected the decision.

At UCLA, teammates expressed shock that Cole arrived on campus. More than a decade later, the path he forged is set to pay off in historic fashion. Cole was selected first overall by the Pirates in 2011, signing for $8 million. He made his first All-Star Game in 2015. He was traded to Houston before the 2018 season, finding an ideal home in which to flourish. Pitching for an organization on the cutting age of player development — and one that aligned with his own cerebral sensibilities — Cole, 29, grew into perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the game.

He finished the 2019 season with a 20-5 record and 2.50 ERA, striking out a major-league-leading 326 hitters. In two seasons in Houston, he logged a 2.68 ERA across 65 starts while striking out more than 13 hitters per nine innings. Represented by agent Scott Boras, he is likely to become the highest-paid pitcher ever — both in guaranteed money and average annual value — when he chooses his next home.

The Yankees met with Cole last week near his home in Southern California, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The club appears inclined to sell Cole on both the idea of pitching for a historic franchise and one that has embraced information in all aspects of the organization. Yet Cole already has plenty of familiarity with the franchise. He faced the club in this year’s American League Championship Series, tossing seven scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium in Game 3. And then there’s his childhood. Before he became a postseason rival, he viewed himself as a Yankees fan for the long haul. When he pitched at UCLA, according to a 2011 New York Times story, his teammates still recognized his attachment to the team.

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“He’s a big CC Sabathia guy,” Steve Rodriguez, the Bruins’ catcher, told The Times’ Tyler Kepner. “He still is a huge Yankee fan. He gets intense when he watches their games.”

It was a fandom that began in the 1990s, when Rivera and Derek Jeter emerged as stars and collected titles. It was burnished during two nights in Phoenix in 2001, when Mark Cole and his son found themselves at the Yankees’ team hotel. Yet the first time the Yankees wanted to offer him employment, it ultimately didn’t matter. On a conference call with reporters after the 2008 draft, Cole conceded that he had grown up a fan. For him, however, it was just one data point to analyze.

“I guess it could weigh in somewhat,” he said. “I’ll make a decision that’s right for me.”

— Additional reporting from Ken Rosenthal and Jake Kaplan

(Top photo of Cole in 2008: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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