After Brett and Jessica Gardner introduced the dying of their 14-year-old son Miller final weekend, Aaron Decide started getting calls and texts from gamers who got here up by the Yankees group with him.
All of them needed to know what to do, whether or not to succeed in out to Gardner given the unimaginable circumstances, and the way they might present assist for the previous outfielder who meant a lot to them.
“Just because of the way Brett impacted all our lives,” Decide mentioned Thursday after an Opening Day win over the Brewers at Yankee Stadium.
On a largely glad and thrilling day in The Bronx, there additionally was a tinge of disappointment.
The Yankees held a second of silence earlier than the sport for Miller, who grew up within the group along with his dad taking part in in pinstripes by 2021, making for an emotional scene on the sector because the Yankees stood on the primary final analysis.
“He’s been on my mind,” Decide mentioned of Gardner.
Gardner, who was the membership’s de facto captain earlier than Decide took on the official title, served as a mentor for a lot of within the group.
“He may not have been the big superstar with all the All-Stars and MVPs and this and that,” Decide mentioned. “However this man was a frontrunner of all of us. A second dad to some guys. He poured all the pieces into each single man. If we have been having a tricky time, he was at all times there so that you can be somebody to lean on, somebody to joke on.
“So his family, they’ve all been on my mind.”
Aaron Boone echoed Decide’s sentiment earlier than the sport, getting choked up speaking in regards to the loss, significantly after seeing the way it impacted his personal daughter, Bella.
“It’s been devastating,” Boone mentioned. “As much as the excitement of today, there’s no question we’ll be playing with heavy hearts today and throughout the year and playing with Miller in mind. Especially with us coming back home to New York, getting to see Bella, who had a relationship with their boys, to see how it impacts your kids, I think we can all imagine how difficult that is right now for the Gardner family.”
