Winner takes all?

WHEN HARRISON BADER discovered his childhood dream was coming true, his first reaction was unexpected: disappointment.

St. Louis, where he had spent the past five and a half seasons as a member of the Cardinals, had become his home. The team drafted Bader out of Florida in 2015, and when he was called up in 2017, he became a fan favorite. When the Cardinals owners and front office told him he was part of the core of their roster and the team’s future, Bader put down roots in the community. He was named King of St. Louis Mardi Gras. He befriended local politicians like Missouri State Senator Brian Williams and was working with him to bring a PGA golf event to St. Louis.

But on Aug. 2 of this season, when his phone rang four minutes before the trade deadline with a call from Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, Bader knew his time in St. Louis was over.

“Say it ain’t so, Mo,” Bader told Mozeliak.

The trade was to New York, 11 miles from where Bader grew up in Bronxville, New York. Bader had idolized Derek Jeter and the Core Four, attending the Yankees’ playoff run in 2009, and when the team hoisted the World Series trophy that year, he figured he would someday do the same. When news of his new home leaked on Twitter, Bader’s phone was flooded with text messages from friends with whom he graduated from Horace Mann, a private school in the Bronx. To most of his high school friends, Bader expressed excitement about returning to play for his hometown team.

But to his best friend, Nick Wiener, whom he met in second grade, he expressed frustration.

“I understand why they did it,” Bader maintained to Wiener. “But I’m going to make them see it was a bad decision.”

There were other complicating factors. Before playing a game with the Yankees, Bader faced skepticism from the same fans he once cheered with, who wondered why the front office would trade left-handed starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery for Bader, then on the injured list with plantar fasciitis and wearing a foot. boot.

It didn’t help that the Yankees struggled after the deal, posting a 10-18 record in August, batting .221/.297/.354 in that span and seeing their division lead shrink from 15.5 games to four. Montgomery flourished early for St. Louis, allowing just one run in his first 25⅔ innings, good for a 0.35 ERA in four starts.

Meanwhile, all Bader could do was wait to heal and show up to play when it counted most, down the stretch and into October.

He’s arrived. Since making his debut on Sept. 20, Bader has won over skeptical Yankees fans, displaying Gold Glove defense in center field. In a tight ALDS heading into a decisive Game 5 on Monday night in the Bronx, Bader has hit solo home runs in Game 1 and Game 3 against the Cleveland Guardians before connecting for a two-run homer in Game 4, joining Bernie Williams and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees center fielders with three home runs in a single postseason. They were also his first three home runs as a Yankee.

“Coming to New York,” Bader revealed, “I felt like I hit the reset button.”

HARRISON BADER REALLY loved his long hair. He initially grew out his mane in 2018, inspired by the players he watched in the NHL, whose flow is visible under their helmets. He loved that his hair made him recognizable.

But playing for the Yankees meant adhering to the franchise’s infamous grooming policy, which prohibits all male players, coaches and executives from displaying facial hair other than a mustache and growing their hair below their necks.

For Bader, it was symbolic. Hitting the reset button meant cutting his hair.

“There wasn’t even a thought about it,” Bader said. “It was great, happy to do it. I had a great time on and off the field in St. Louis, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but in many ways, this was emblematic of the turning of the page.”

But even after the haircut, it took Bader weeks to really process how his life had changed. He sold his house in St. Louis; his mom came and helped him pack up his life to move back north. He walked into the Yankees’ dressing room for the first time, but Bader didn’t fully feel the weight of it all until he finally healed from his injury and returned to the field on Sept. 20, the day Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of the season. and the Yankees rallied from four runs down in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I don’t think he really processed it until he started going to batting practice and putting on a Yankees uniform,” Wiener said. “He didn’t fully process it until he was out there and debuted.”

The postseason success has felt like validation for Bader, proof of why he deserves to wear the pinstripe uniform, why the Yankees thought it prudent to trade for him despite his injury. While Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Bader he expected the outfielder to be an impact player for New York, Bader knew fans had questions and they weren’t the only ones. Montgomery was popular in the Yankees clubhouse, and Bader knew it would take time for him to win over his new teammates, especially given his inability to join them on the field right away.

But Bader knew that focusing on things outside of his control would only hinder his ability to succeed on the field.

“You focus on the next thing, the next opportunity,” Bader said. “Then, you get rid of all the other anxiety.”

IT’S HARD to miss Bader in the clubhouse. He often dresses like he’s just another twenty-something New Yorker walking the streets of SoHo, wearing bright graphic T-shirts and sneakers touted as Nike Ben & Jerry’s collaboration Chunky Dunkys, which resell on the secondary market for as much as $5,000. Bader’s new teammates describe him as outgoing, someone who always says hello to the people around him.

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole noticed Bader’s presence immediately once he joined the team.

“He’s electric, really,” Cole said. “An electric player, an impact player. There’s a lot of good things to say about that guy.”

When he joined the Yankees, he also made a point of getting to know outfielder Aaron Judge. While the two needed to get to know each other to communicate as they sought elevators, Bader also admired the way Judge carried himself on and off the field.

“Bro, not in a weird way, but I want to get close to him and do what he does,” Bader told Wiener. “I’m spending every minute I can next to that man.”

While Bader had a fierce approach to the game in St. Louis, he saw Judge’s mature, calm demeanor and wanted to adopt it for himself.

“I wanted to surround myself with him and his energy,” Bader said last week. “We move as a unit and he’s part of that. It was a conscious decision to be like, let’s work side by side, so let’s talk. Let’s see where we are and just be the best version of ourselves for this team.”

He’s also returned to New York life, returning to his high school routine of eating a blueberry muffin with bacon, egg and cheese in the morning, grabbing a slice from his favorite pizza joint (Best Pizza, on First) and attending a high school friend’s wedding. He returned to local favorites like Caridad Express, a Dominican restaurant in the Bronx that he goes to with his off-season training partner, Andy Camilo.

Usually on the field, however, Bader tries to show as little emotion as possible, hoping that suppressing his feelings will spur him to play better. But when his first home run as a Yankee sailed over the left field fence in Game 1 of the ALDS, Bader couldn’t help but savor the moment, something he spent time visualizing in preparation.

“You don’t want to detract from anything that might come later in the game, but it was really hard when everyone was cheering,” Bader said. “It was a great moment. I enjoyed it, and again, as soon as it was over, it was safe again.”

Even as the Yankees face possible elimination in Game 5, Bader is controlling those emotions again. He doesn’t want to dwell on fulfilling his childhood fantasy for too long.

“It’s a conscious decision every day not to get too high or too low,” Bader said. “It’s all just the next opportunity. You have to be completely still and just relax and have no emotions for when the next opportunity comes up,” he concluded.

For Bader and the Yankees, that opportunity is now.