Dellin Betances was born to be a Yankee. The reason I say that is that if you ever take the time to check out most great Yankees, the one thing that they have in common is how they are always giving back.
It all started with the Yankees’ greatest player… George Herman Babe Ruth.
The Babe was just as famous for his giving back to the poor as he was for his prolific home runs.
There was not a hospital or a school that Ruth would not visit. He didn’t care about Black or White during a very difficult period in our country.
When I got to the Yankees in the early ’70s I would learn about Thurman Munson and his very quiet yet giving ways. I remember going with him to a hospital and pulling out a camera and Thurman jumping my ass because he said that we must never take the attention away from the kids.
Bobby Murcer was also wonderful as was Jim Catfish Hunter. To his credit, Reggie Jackson did some wonderful things for kids very much under the radar. I also remember taking Billy Martin to an all-black school and at the end of the visit all the kids attacked Billy with loving hugs!
This is something that stays in my blood because I consider this the Yankee way.
This is very much a Steinbrenner thing… George Steinbrenner was probably the greatest philanthropic person I have ever known.
Don Mattingly was wonderful and again he was very quiet in how he gave back.
Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry probably did more great things during their time with the Yankees than at any time in their careers!
Jeter and A. Rod were naturals. Alex Rodriguez will never ever get the true thanks for what he did in the South Bronx. He actually took over 300 kids off the streets and enrolled them into a new league that was formed and called The International Baseball League. For eleven years he did this also very much under the radar.
I first met Betances during his last year in high school. At six foot seven he looked like a gentle giant. He had a great relationship with our then-area scout Cesar Presbott. I was getting ready to do a charity event at a school in Brooklyn and I told Ceasar to bring him so that he could see a different part of the Yankee way.
To this day I have pictures of that initial charity event. Betances’s really had a great time and the children fell in love with him.
By the time Betances got to the big leagues I didn’t have to ask him any more to attend these charity gatherings. He was already doing it himself.
Yesterday was no different. This week I got a phone call from Steve and Melvin Martinez, Betances teachers and coaches from Grant Street Campus. They wanted to see if I could attend a Turkey and food giveaway for families in Betances’s childhood neighborhood.
Magnet School 257 is where the event was taking place. Naturally, I said that I would be there. I even had Nick Singh who is best known for his work at The Make a Wish Foundation and now runs The Nick Singh Foundation… come with me because I knew he could lend a helping hand.
Betances was Betances. He walked into the building and went right to work. There were hundreds of turkeys and Betances couldn’t wait to see the families get their Thanksgiving gifts. Many of these people I would find out would not of had a Thanksgiving dinner if it wasn’t for Betances and the Martinez brothers.
The thing that brought tears to my eyes was when Betances was handing out the turkeys he would give it to his little son so that he could give to the family. To Betances, this was a way of teaching his son about giving back.
For me that was truly the highlight of the event because that tells me that future generations will be doing things the Dellin Betances Yankees way!
It’s wonderful to think that all this started with Babe Ruth!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
