Yankees honor 2009 World Series champs on 2024 Old-Timers’ Day

NEW YORK — The two most recent Yankees captains have quietly maintained a relationship behind the scenes, one that sparked during Derek Jeter’s return to the Bronx two years ago and continued with sage advice leading into Aaron Judge’s free agency.

Jeter has watched with awe as his successor obliterates the world’s best pitching, saying that for all his success in a Hall of Fame career, he “can’t relate” to the power that Judge displays nightly. Yet Judge would trade accolades for rings, which is what makes Jeter an ideal resource to tap.

“You can always learn something from those guys,” Judge said before the Yankees’ 9-2 loss to the Rockies. “They won a championship here. A lot of the guys in this room have not won a championship. You can always pick up something from them; if it’s mindset, thought, approach, anything.”

There was no better time to renew those acquaintances than on Saturday, which marked the 76th Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium. The roster of invitees commemorated the 15th anniversary of the 2009 Yankees, who opened this current building with the franchise’s 27th World Series championship.

It remains the club’s most recent appearance in the Fall Classic. To identify a similar gap, you would pinpoint the 1993 Old-Timers’ Day festivities across the street, which acknowledged the 1978 title.

“There’s nothing like being a champion,” said Joe Girardi, the manager of the 2009 Yanks. “There’s a bond that’s created for life. You could not see guys for years, and you come back and you feel like you just saw them the day before.”

Though he was speaking specifically about the 2009 team, Jeter aptly summarized the viewpoint he carried throughout his career: “It doesn’t matter what you do during a 162-game schedule. It all boils down to the World Series. Win a championship or it’s a failure.”

The 2009 Yanks succeeded in achieving the former, besting the Phillies in a heavyweight six-game title bout.

They had star power in droves and the performance to back it up, supplementing the existing core of Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez with a trio of big-money signings: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira.

“We just bonded really, really quick,” Posada said. “Since Spring Training, since Day 1, it was a good group of guys that really cared about winning. We hung out a lot, we did a lot of activities together. It was just a fun group. Everybody put their piece in a championship that looked easy, but it’s not easy.”

A trade for outfielder Nick Swisher added energy to the clubhouse, which multiplied once the Yanks showed a knack for late comebacks and Burnett declared himself the “pie man,” smashing teammates in the face with shaving cream towels after each of the club’s walk-off wins.

“What stands out to me is, you had the players that were there already, then the new players came in like CC, A.J., Swish, Teixeira,” slugger Hideki Matsui, that year’s World Series MVP, said through interpreter Roger Kahlon. “They blended in so well with the team that they enhanced the team even more. Everybody was really there for the team. Everybody just wanted to win.”

Sabathia’s presence is credited for mending a fractured clubhouse, one that general manager Brian Cashman has admitted was “broken” following the dynasty run of four championships in five years from 1996-2000. Not only was the lefty a bonafide ace, but he brought the team together by organizing nights out, the last vestige of the era before cell phone cameras were ubiquitous.

“They were just ready for some fresh faces, I guess,” Sabathia said. “It made for a different vibe and chemistry. We were locked in right away. The first couple of days of Spring Training, we were all going to dinner; we had starters’ dinners, we were going to basketball games. To this day, we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and we’re telling stories five minutes into dinner. It’s a bond that I feel like will never be broken.”

With 103 wins, then victories over the Twins, Angels and Phillies in the playoffs, it would represent the final World Series ring for the “Core Four” of Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Rivera. For others, like Sabathia and Teixeira, it would be their only time at the apex.

“I was telling A.J. as we walked off the field [on Saturday], ‘It felt like we were just here in ’09,’” Rodriguez said. “Now I’m a year away from 50. You understand the magnitude and gravity of winning, how difficult it is. To do it with such great guys with such high character, with a great manager and an unbelievable, underrated coaching staff, it takes a village to win a championship.”

The Yankees secured their place in history on the evening of Nov. 4, 2009, as Rivera induced Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino to hit a grounder to second baseman Robinson Canó. Teixeira, playing first base, received a toss and stuffed the ball into his pocket — guarding it through the wet and wild champagne celebration. The keepsake would eventually be presented to managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner.

Could there be a similar moment this autumn for the 2024 Yankees? Despite a hot-and-cold summer, the Bombers still own the AL’s best record and first place in their division. That’s nice, but as Jeter noted, championships are what get counted around here. It might be exactly what they need to hear.

Asked what he’d like to see the 2024 Yanks emulate from the Old-Timers, Posada replied: “Just a little attitude. It takes a lot of guts and it takes a lot of wanting. I think they can do that just a little bit more, let’s want to be successful. I watch a lot of games, and I feel like this team is a little bit more tight than before in the dugout. It seems like they’re bonding.”