2024 World Series: Anthony Volpe Delivers Unforgettable October Moment, Energizing Yankees, Home Crowd and Series

NEW YORK – Anthony Volpe never saw Derek Jeter hit a World Series home run.

Or at least he has no real memory of such things.

Jeter, the legendary Yankee known as Mr. October, went three times in the autumn classic. Two came in 2000, before Volpe existed on this earthly plane. And the other, Jeter’s iconic walk-off in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, happened when the current Yankees shortstop was 176 days old.

But for Volpe, a lifelong Yankees fan born in New York and raised in New Jersey, those moments feel which reminds.

And with his childhood idol — the idol of so many baseball lovers of a certain age — in the building for Game 4 of this World Series, Volpe delivered his own unforgettable postseason highlight in his team’s 11-4 victory. With one swing, the kid who stuffed his childhood bedroom with all things Yankee lived out his wildest dream while keeping his team’s season alive.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning and the hosts down a run, Volpe pounded a first-pitch slider from Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson into the left-field stands for a game-changing, energy-altering and potentially series-changing grand slam. The crowd, which had nothing to cheer about in the first 11.5 Fall Classic innings they witnessed, exploded.

“It felt like the fans were so ready to erupt last night,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “And we just fell behind and couldn’t hit things. It’s like you finally got to see the top of Yankee Stadium in a World Series game.”

Volpe also blew his top.

As the ball crept over the wall, the baby-faced 23-year-old let out a roaring roar. When he reached home plate, a trio of teammates were waiting for him, smiles plastered on their faces. Again, Volpe couldn’t stop screaming, understandably so. He had given the Yankees, down 3-0 in the series, a 5-2 lead – their first lead in the series since Freddie Freeman left Game 1 with his own grand slam.

“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,” Volpe, who attended the 2009 World Series parade as a pipsqueak with his family, revealed in his postgame media conference.

Most importantly, Volpe gave the team, the crowd, and this entire series a much-needed jolt.

Billed as a classic between the sport’s two biggest giants, this championship showdown looked to be in serious danger of fizzling out before it could even catch fire. Game 1 was an all-timer, but the Dodgers’ comfortable wins in Games 2 and 3 gave the Yankees a historic, never-completed task: Come back from a 3-0 World Series deficit. It felt as impressive as it was improbable. That’s why the energy around Yankee Stadium before Game 4 on Tuesday was noticeably more subdued. Fewer people clogged the outfield concourse before the first pitch. Ticket prices had plummeted. Hope was somewhere else, already enjoying her vacation.

But Volpe gave his fellow Yankees fans a reason to believe.

“Getting the lead early was important tonight,” said catcher Austin Wells, who launched his own homer in the sixth inning. “And (Volpe) gave it to us with that one swing and it was huge.”

It was, far and away, the biggest Yankees swing of this World Series — and the biggest moment of the young shortstop’s career.

After making the big league team out of spring training last year as a 21-year-old, Volpe went on to start 308 games in 2023 and 2024, the third most games ever started by a player in his first two MLB seasons. The two players ahead of him on the list are Hideki Matsui, who made his stateside debut as a 29-year-old with vast professional ball experience in Japan, and Albert Pujols. It shows how much this franchise has depended on this player and what the Yankees think of his chances to develop into a foundational piece. Because while Volpe has provided defensive stability in the most important position in the infield, his offensive game has been more what-if than what-is.

A single swing at the end of October will not, by itself, turn Volpe into a dynamic offensive player. A combination of work, patience, good coaching, experience and physical maturation could ultimately help Volpe reach his ceiling. He is still only 23; there is good time. And Jeter’s shadow is unfair, yet inevitable. But Volpe’s massive, energy-shifting smash on Tuesday was a perfect reminder that this kid might still have magic in his bones.

“We’ve seen it all the time, even last year as a rookie — he’s a Yankee through and through,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge told Yahoo Sports.

“It’s in his blood,” outfielder Alex Verdugo added.

The Volpe family’s Yankees fandom goes back generations, to when Anthony’s great-grandfather returned from World War II and connected with his son by listening to Yankees games together on the radio. That love was then passed on to Anthony’s father, Michael, and to Anthony himself.

“It’s pretty crazy to think about,” the Game 4 hero admitted when asked how it felt to live out his dream. “It’s my dream, but it was all my friends’ dreams, all my cousins’ dreams, probably my sister’s dream too.”

Ultimately, Volpe’s swing may end up as a small blip in a Dodgers slide, a footnote overshadowed by royal blue confetti. The odds for the Yankees are still formidable. But even if the Yankees don’t pull off the impossible and defeat the Dodgers, Volpe’s swing should stand the test of time.

It’s too good a story to pass up.