Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers [Hardcover]

If it was not all so true, youd think it was a fairy tale. A seventeen-year-old from Queens spray paints graffiti on Yankee Stadium and gets nabbed by George Steinbrenner himself. Contrary to his gruff public image, the Bossdriven by a compassionate inner voicereclaims the teen at a time when the Bronx is literally burning. Thus begins the unlikeliest of baseball stories, one in which Ray Negron is transformed from street kid to batboy and beyond. Befriending many of major league baseballs greatest starsBilly Martin, Reggie Jackson, Munson, Mantle, Catfish, A-Rod, Jeter, even Mrs. Lou GehrigNegron ultimately emerges as a dynamic community leader, dedicating his own life to helping the sick and rescuing generations of city kids from unfulfilled lives.Much of sports can leave us skeptical if not cynical. But I defy anyone to read Ray Negron's remarkable story and not come away believing that there still can be genuine heart, soul, and even redemption in the games we watch and play.Full of fondness and good memories, Negrons affectionate memoir reveals that his love for the Yankees and his affection for Steinbrenner havent diminished over these many years.Hard as it is to recommend yet another book about the Yankeesespecially this bouquet by a longtime employeeits just as hard not to be touched by Negrons story &Even avowed Yankee haters will be warmed by stories of Alex Rodriguezs outreach to a local youth baseball team, Derek Jeters private chat with a young cancer patient in a corner of the Yankees clubhouse, and the gruff but heartfelt kindness Munson would extend to teammates, opposing players, and the young Negron.With the assistance of Cook (co-author:[Ray Negrons] affectionate ode to the team and its former owner is a welcome salve to the Yankees often self-inflicted bruises.Longtime Yankees advisor Negron's inside story of life with the team begins with what reads like an episode of Seinfeld.An exciting new book by a New York Yankel³.