Kevin Kernan - Girardi: Passion in Pinstripes

1. Time in a Bottle

when joe girardi talks about his dad, it is with reverence and pride. The lessons he learned from his father, Jerry, will be with him for the rest of his life, and he continues to pass those lessons on to his own children.

The greatest lessons can come along in the most ordinary of circumstances. That is what truly makes them so special, so powerful, and so memorable. If you really want to know about Jerry Girardi, all you have to do is listen to Joe tell the following story about his dad. It is a small story, but it says so much. It tells you where the son gets his inner strength and how Joe was able to play 15 years in the majors at the most difficult position, catcher. It tells you about Joes determination as a player and as a manager.

If you dont make the postseason your first year as Yankees manager in 2008, you find a way to make it to the playoffs the following year and win the Yankees 27th world championship. You may not make it to the World Series, but you always finish what you start, no matter how difficult the circumstances, no matter what obstacles may come your way.

I saw my father do something I will never forget when he was adding the addition to our house, Joe began. He was working on the faucet in the bathtub, and he had one of those big plumbers wrenches, and he smashed his thumb. His thumb was bleeding all over the placehe actually broke itand he just put tape around his thumb and finished the job first. Thats who my dad was.

Thats Jerry Girardi. Thats also Joe and all his siblingsJohn, George, Jerry, and Maria. Finish the job. Do the best you can do with the equipment you have. If you smash your thumb, you tape it up and move on. Dont make excuses. If something goes wrong, work to the best of your ability to correct the situation. Finish what you started.

Everyday life really is about smashing your thumb.

Perseverance may be the greatest lesson any father can teach a son or daughter. No matter what obstacles get in the way, finish the job. Jerry Girardi has long suffered from Alzheimers, and Girardi longs for the days when he could sit and have a conversation with his dad. He wishes his children would know their grandfather as he knew the man. He wishes he could do the simplest things with his dad, who has struggled through this dark time for many years.

I really miss fishing with my dad, Girardi said of the wonderful simple acts their relationship was built upon. Thats one thing as a father and a son that you can always do. The days of playing basketball or playing baseball, those days are over, but you could always fish together.

Just throw a couple of lines in the water and talk and enjoy the time together. Despite the cruelty of Alzheimers, Joe makes the best of those times when he is able to visit his dad, who is in a full-care facility, not far from where Joe grew up in East Peoria, Illinois. Whenever the Yankees are in Chicago during the season, Joe makes the trip to see his dad. After the season is complete, he makes sure to visit as often as he can, and through it all, he knows his father is getting the best care available.

They do a really great job with my dad, Joe said with emotion in his voice. My concern would be that he is skinny and frail, but every time I go hes been fed and he seems strong.

As he makes the two-and-a-half-hour drive to see his dad, Joe thinks of the good times as a family. He thinks of his mom and dad and growing up and all the people who were there to help him in his life. He thinks of how his mother battled ovarian cancer for six years. When Joe was 13, Angela Girardi was diagnosed with cancer and given three to six months to live. She lived another six years. Her spirit lives on in Joe every day in the final words she told him: Dont forget me. He never will.

He thinks of those long summer days when he played with his good friend, Todd Mervosh, the games they played and all the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Todds mom, Phyllis, used to make for them every day at Todds house. The two friends lived five houses from each other on Oakwood Road, and Todds house offered the perfect side yard in which to play all day long.

Todd, now a scientist working for the state of Connecticut, remembers those days fondly as well. We played everything from Wiffle ball to badminton to croquet to touch football there, Todd said. For a period of time, Joe was my closest friend.

Joe was a Cubs fan. Todd was a Cardinals fan. Wed trade baseball cards, Todd said. Hed have a Lou Brock; Id have a Billy Williams. Wed trade so I could get the Cardinals players and he could get the Cubs. Todd also remembers the toughness of Joe. The yard was ringed by a honeysuckle hedge. One day Todds dad trimmed the hedge, leaving some sharp edges. Joe went back to make a catch during a Wiffle ball game and ran smack into the hedges. Joe had his mouth open, and he crashed into the hedge and cut the inside of his mouth really badly with the cut end of the hedge, Todd recalled. Joe made the catch, his mouth was bleeding all over the place; my mom came rushing out to take care of him. He didnt even cry. He was just a tough kid. If that had been me, I probably would have been bawling my head off.

On a recent trip back home, Joe stopped to see Mrs. Mervosh, and, yes, she offered him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just like when he was a youngster.

She was working on her Christmas tree, so I didnt want to bother her, Joe said with a smile. I think about the way she took care of me as a little boy, Id play with Todd all day. It was like being in a camp. He then added,I really missed the times we grew up. I used to ride my bike to baseball practice, which was five miles away, and Mr. Mervosh would bring me home in his mail truck. Our practices were from about 3:00 to 5:00, and when he got off work, he would take us right home.

Just put the bike into the truck and climb aboard. Todd, who played with Joe later on the Sea Merchants travel baseball team, said years later that his dad, Ted, who passed away in 2008, would say that he did not cart Joe home in the mail truck, noting that his dad would comment, Oh, no, I was always careful never to use the mail truck.

Personal truck or mail truck, everyone looked out for each other in that community, and in many ways people are still looking out for Joe and his family.

Sometimes its just me when I visit my dad and sometimes the family goes, Girardi said of his trips to see Jerry. My father doesnt really speak anymore, but it seems that the times that I bring my kids, hell say something. Now it doesnt necessarily make sense, but hell say something. Whatever it is in the kids voices, it will always trigger something in him. Its great.

His friends visit him, which is great. Judy, to me, is our little angel.

Judy Shea is there to help Jerry Girardi nearly every day. Many years after my mom passed away, my dad started dating Judy, Joe explained. They were basically together for 10 years before he went into the home. She took care of my dad. She traveled with him. She took him to Italy, where he got to see where he grew up. Shes amazing. And she goes and sees him probably five days a week.

With Joe and his wife, Kim, being so far away, that is a blessing.

As I see my dad, and as I get older, I realize that Im really a lot like my dad, Joe said. I realize how much I look like my father now that I never really saw in the past. I realize that the time that I spent with my kids is really what I saw my father do.

Joe is his fathers son. Jerry Girardi was the perfect role model for Joe, and that is why Joe loves to spend time with his children. During a weekend visit to New York City in November to take care of some business, Joe said he had to hurry back to his home in Westchester to help coach his son Dantes football team. It is always about family. My father took me to work, and thats why Im a big believer in allowing players to take their kids to workbecause I saw what my dad did and I enjoyed it, Joe said.