Feinsand Mark - Mission 27

Praise for Mission 27

For all of us on that team, 2009 was the year to remember. Mark and Bryan have done that season justice with this book. It took me right back into that clubhouse with my brothers.

Alex Rodriguez, ESPN and FOX commentator/former Yankees third baseman

The 2009 Yankees were an unforgettable group of guys who made my first year in New York the most memorable season ever. Mission 27 gives you a firsthand look at what went into putting together a championship team and what it took for that team to win it all.

CC Sabathia, Yankees pitcher

2009 was the year of CC, A-Rod, Swisher, Tex, and more. Mark Feinsand and Bryan Hoch bring you every momenton and off the fieldof that wonderful championship season. I smiled through this whole book, reliving this magical year. Yankees fans, I promise you wont be able to put Mission 27 down.

Suzyn Waldman, Yankees radio color commentator

Mission 27 truly gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the 2009 Yankees straight from the players and coaches who experienced it together. Reading this book takes me back on the field and in the clubhouse to relive that special season.

Mark Teixeira, ESPN analyst/former Yankees first baseman

Often the best stories about a team surface only after diligent reporting years later. Mission 27 , through the hard work of two beat writers who covered the 2009 Yankees, features a level of detail and inside access rarely seen in daily coverage. Readers will be astounded to learn about players with whom they are familiar but actually are getting to know for the first time.

Ken Rosenthal, MLB on FOX reporter/MLB Network insider

Feinsand and Hoch take you on an insiders journey of the Yankees magical 2009 season. We all watched what happened on the field, but the stories behind the scenes make the organizations 27 th title even more compelling. Although its been 10 years, Mission 27 makes it seem like it happened yesterday.

Michael Kay, YES Network play-by-play broadcaster

The 2009 Yankees had it all: pinstriped legends yearning for one last ring, pricy imports under pressure to deliver, a glitzy new palace for the fans in the Bronxand the games biggest star, Alex Rodriguez, embroiled in an outrageous saga of shame and redemption. If you love the Yankees, you remember it well, but you dont really know the story until you read this book. I covered this team with Mark Feinsand and Bryan Hoch, and nobody had better connectionsthen or nowthan they did. With fresh and fascinating insights never revealed before, this isnt just a walk down memory lane. Its a riveting, rollicking ride down the Canyon of Heroes.

Tyler Kepner, The New York Times national baseball writer

Mission 27 paints the inside corner for all baseball fans who want a true look at the magic of the summer of 2009. Every page brings back incredible memories and stories that can only be told by two trusted writers who were with us for every pitch. Get your ski goggles ready and chill the champagne.

Phil Hughes, former Yankees pitcher

Mission 27 is packed with stories and anecdotes you either forgot or never knew. For Yankees fans, its like another go-round on a great amusement park ride: the thrills all come back.

Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated writer/FOX and MLB Network studio analyst

A decade after the Yankees last championship comes the story of how it happened. Mark Feinsand and Bryan Hoch offer fresh details from inside the clubhouse, the front office, and the dugout. Finally, a book worthy of the incredible 2009 Yankees.

Jeff Passan, ESPN MLB insider

To Dena, Ryan, and Zack: my own championship team.

Mark Feinsand

To Connie, who made 2009 my most magical season. And to Penny and Maddie, with whom every day feels like winning Game 6.

Bryan Hoch

Contents

Foreword by Nick Swisher

When the 2008 season ended, I was in a bad place. It had been such a tough year for me professionally with the Chicago White Sox, and I had no idea what my baseball future would look like. Then I got the call that changed my life.

The New York Yankees had traded for me. What? Me?

Given how 2008 had gone, I couldnt imagine someone of Brian Cashmans status would believe in me enough to give me an opportunity to play for the New York Yankees. Somebody pinch me because this has to be a dream.

Yet I did end up with the Yankees. And, bro, let me tell you: it was every bit as amazing and badass as I had hoped it would be.

In short, 2009 changed my life forever. I got to play for the greatest organization on the planet. I met and fell in love with JoAnna, the greatest woman I will ever know. I won the World Series. Far too many players never have a chance to experience that. Other than the birth of my two little girls, Emerson and Sailor, 2009 was by far the greatest period of my life.

Getting to spring training and seeing the slogan Mission 27 slapped on T-shirts and binders was super exciting for me. It was like those were our marching orders. We knew exactly what we were supposed to go out and do.

That was the first time I got a true sense of what being a New York Yankee was all about. Either you win the World Series or you dont. Thats it. There are no other objectives. Thats the thought process of the Yankees universe and their fandom.

When you get to be part of that, you immediately buy into it. Im a pride guy. Im a passion guy. Im a tradition guy. The pinstripes have all of that. For me, it was a dream come true, a match made in heaven. I was so stoked just to have the opportunity to be part of it.

So many amazing things happened to me that year, and in my mind, its all because of New York and the Yankees. Ill always love that city. Im not a boy from the Bronx, but I feel a connection with that place and its people. Theres something special thats almost hard to explain.

When you win a World Series with the New York Yankees, youre remembered forever. Youre kind of immortalized. Once a Yankee, always a Yankee. Its a family, and once youre part of that, your life will never be the same.

Im so amped that Mark and Bryan are telling this story. They were in the trenches with us every step of the wayfrom the first day of spring training all the way to that unbelievable parade down the Canyon of Heroes.

Every time I hear Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, it takes me back to a year I will never forget. I still jam to that song all the time. That was our anthem, New Yorks anthem, and I am damn proud to have been part of it. It was my year; it was our year.

Nick Swisher

Yankees right fielder 2009 World Series champion 2010 All-Star

1. The Final Act: An Oral History

November 4, 2009, 11:50 pm Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Mariano Rivera rolled the seams of a baseball over his fingertips as his spikes dug into the reddish brown clay of the Yankee Stadium mound. Electricity reverberated from all five decks of the teams spectacular new home. The most successful franchise in sports history was one strike away from adding title No. 27 to its trophy case, though you would never have been able to tell by examining the hurlers placid expression.

It was all for show. The greatest closer in history had a secret: he was in agony.

Rivera had strained his rib cage while making a 34-pitch appearance in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, an injury the Yankees somehow managed to keep out of the newspapers at the time. More importantly, as the Bombers battled the Philadelphia Phillies in a taut Fall Classic, the defending champions never had a clue that the all-time saves leader was ailing. My side, oh my God, that was the worst thing that I ever felt. No one knew about itonly the trainers and my teammates. It was the intercostal, the muscle between the rib. Every time that you throw a pitch, it felt like a knife. That was pain . That wasnt soreness. Thats pain. My wife [Clara] was like, Dont pitch! I was like, Are you crazy?