You've made it to the ESPN Deportes edition.Stay on current site or go to preferred edition.THE YANKEES DUGOUT TOUR is off to a fantastic start.The Rodriguez family -- dad Cesar, mom Carla, and kids Cesar Jr. and Derek -- were milling to the side as the Yankees held batting practice in Toronto in May.Derek, 9, kept elbowing his dad in the ribs and saying, "I can't believe how close we are."They had been invited by the Yankees following a notable viral moment the night before in Toronto when a Blue Jays fan caught a ball off a home run hit by Aaron Judge and then handed it to Derek, who was wearing a Judge jersey.Derek's emotional reaction, coupled with a hug from the generous Blue Jays fan, created one of those videos where thousands of people tweet a message like this: "If you're having a bad day, check this out."Blue Jays fan Mike Lanzillotta was in the dugout with the Rodriguezes the next day and was able to bring his wife, Kayla.Everyone pointed and whispered as several Yankees came and went from the other end of the dugout.Derek's eyes kept drifting to the field, where his hero, Judge, was hanging out in the cage before batting practice began.Everyone was under the impression that they would stay for a while and then sit back in their seats.The Blue Jays gave the Rodriguez family prime seats behind the Yankees dugout, and Mike and Kayla got great tickets right in the back of the Blue Jays dugout.But the Yankees had a 6-foot-7 surprise for everyone.As Judge walked down the steps to the clubhouse, about 25 feet away, he turned to the group and started walking toward them.A Yankees staffer said, "Let me introduce Aaron Judge," and suddenly Judge smiled as he closed the distance.Derek's mom is a little over 5 feet tall, and she let out a little squeal and quickly backed away from her as Judge approached.The media guide says that Judge is 6-foot-7, but everyone involved that day will always remember him much, much taller.There was already something blurry and dreamlike about what happened the night before, followed by seeing him lumber past them to batting practice, and then... there he was: Aaron Judge, IRL (in person) .Derek's eyeballs filled, and Lanzillotta, who was wearing a Blue Jays jersey and a surgical mask over his face, couldn't even control his disbelief.As Judge walked over to Derek and began to pull him into a hug, Lanzillotta put his hands on his head.His knees buckled a little and his upper body lurched back.Even under the mask, he looked like his jaw dropped.This is a fairy tale, Lanzillotta thought.Lanzillotta looked at Cesar, and he, too, seemed to be in fairy tale land.They were both thinking the same thing: How the hell did they end up here?IN THE MID-2010s, César Rodríguez's older brother left Venezuela for the Toronto area."I wanted to find a better life for him and his family," Cesar says.And that's exactly what he found in Canada, and pretty soon, he was telling Cesar that he should come.In 2017, César did it: he picked up his wife and his two young children and moved in with his brother.He also wanted a better life for them.He had to work hard to get it.Cesar took jobs in landscaping, painting houses, and in banquet halls doing whatever was asked of him.He had to fend for himself to find a foothold in Canada, but he did.Eventually, he found the job that he has, and loves, today at a local toy company.All along, baseball was a lifeboat.Even as a child, Cesar stuck to playing baseball as much as possible.He fell in love with the team he watched the most on television, the Yankees dynasty of the mid-90s, and Cesar began collecting jerseys of Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, as well as some greats of the past, such as Phil Rizzuto, Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson.When his first child was born, he and his wife had no problems with names for long.The little boy would be Derek, just like El Capitan.From the day he was born in August 2012, little Derek Rodriguez loved baseball as much as his father.He would sit on his lap and watch the games in Venezuela, and then became a superfan of Aaron Judge when he got a little older.He loved Judge's cool name, long home runs and greatness.He has a jersey, Judge's No. 99 jersey, and he put it on that day in May when the Yankees came to Toronto.The Rodriguez family sets aside $2,000 each year for tickets and concessions to attend all nine Yankees games in Toronto, then pays for MLB Network to watch the rest.They will be there again this weekend for all three games between the two teams.They were in fight mode on May 3 to get from their home, about 30 minutes from the stadium, to their seats on the 200 level of the left field bleachers.This was a big one: The Yankees were on a 10-game winning streak, part of a 17-6 start to the year.The Blue Jays were 15-9 and wanted to water down their opponents.Half an hour beyond Toronto, a stranger named Mike Lanzillotta was leaving his job as a theft control specialist for a department store chain.He called his friend Nigel Singh to make sure they were at the meeting point outside the stadium.Singh was already downtown, finishing his shift that day as a city ordinance officer in charge of investigating noise complaints in Toronto."We're the fun police," he says with a smile."Everybody says, 'Oh, God, here they come...'At about the same time the Rodriguezes slumped into their seats, Lanzillota and Singh were outside the stadium, hurrying to grab a beer before entering.They eventually made it to the stadium and had planned on catching some loonie dogs (crazy dogs, as the Jays call their hot dogs).On select nights like this, the loonie dogs are $1 each, and Lanzillotta and Singh laughed at how many they thought they could eat.But the loonie dog queue was out of control for a long time, so they bought beers and went to their seats.Maybe they would buy food later.Only one problem: their seats were taken.They had numbers 3 and 4, but people had already sat there.Singh suggested just sitting in the empty aisle seats, 1 and 2, and if someone came, they'd figure it out.No one ever showed up and claimed aisle seats, so that's where they landed for the night.Almost immediately, they noticed two Yankees fans who didn't hesitate to cheer on their team, even in enemy territory.Lanzillotta nudged Singh and they briefly thought of screeching at the boy and his father.They both use that word (screech) a lot, instead of booing, and it's clearly a way to annoy opposing players but in a more modest way, PG-rated Canadian style.Finally, they decided not to squeak at all.Instead, they greeted the Rodriguezes and began to talk.Singh really related to his story of settling in Toronto;Singh's family came from Guyana and his grandparents had chosen baseball as a hobby to cope with the lack of cricket in his native country.As with the Rodriguez family, MLB games have also helped the Singhs find their place in Canada.Lanzillotta couldn't help but love Derek's sheer exuberance for baseball, even if it was for the dreaded Yankees.Within five minutes, Lanzillotta blurted out: "Tonight we're going to get you a ball."Cesar smiled and nodded.What were the chances of a ball ending up on their seats?Fangraphs once estimated it at 1 in 1,200.And on the 200 level of the left field bleachers?Yes, good luck.However, Lanzillotta wastes no time when it comes to getting balls in games.He got the first one when he was 12 years old, sitting on the third base line next to his grandfather.Lanzillotta leaned over the railing to catch a foul grounder coming his way, and he overreached.Suddenly, he felt his legs begin to rise above his head, and he was about to fall face first into the field.Then two strong hands clung to his lower body: it was his grandfather's, clinging for his life.Lanzillotta managed to catch the ball, then his grandfather pushed him back."Like a big fish," Lanzillotta says now.When they got home that day, Lanzillotta tried to give the ball to his grandfather.At first, he refused to accept it."It's your ball, Mike," he said.But Lanzillotta wouldn't take no for an answer, so his grandfather accepted the gift.When he died a few years ago, Lanzillotta discovered that his grandfather had inherited it.So MLB balls are precious to him.As the game progressed, Lanzillotta made his favorite move.Every half inning, when the left fielder was warming up, he would spend the full five minutes pestering - correcting, screeching - either team's starter to turn around and throw the ball into the stands.He's gotten about 10 balls over the years doing that for three hours, so sometimes it works.At one point, he began ushering Derek into his seat and teaching him how to sing effectively himself."Mike was doing it intensely, to the point where I think some people around us were upset," says Singh."But Mike was determined to give that kid a ball."Finally, Blue Jays left fielder Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. threw a ball into the stands, but it landed 25 feet away and someone else caught it.By this time, Derek was losing heart."It was kind of embarrassing because no one paid any attention to me, even when I was dancing," says Derek, standing up behind his laptop and replicating the dance on a recent Zoom.Lanzillotta was insistent throughout the game.He kept saying, "Trust me, we're going to get you a ball."The game moved quickly, with the Blue Jays leading 1-0 in the sixth inning.Singh told Lanzillotta that he was going to the bathroom.On the way back, he noticed that the line of loonie dogs had almost disappeared, so he made a quick stop to get some food.Singh kept telling himself that he was going to order two hot dogs when he got to the front of the line.Then his stomach told her to order more.But then he decided that he didn't want to overdo it, so he would only order two..."I can help?"the cashier asked."Six mad dogs, please," Singh said, his stomach taking hold of his voice.Since he ordered six hotdogs instead of two, the cashier put the food in a large container.The two hungry men devoured their first dogs, one each, when the Yankees came to bat in the sixth.Pitcher Alek Manoah had been dominant, tying up the Yankees' lineup to get the first 15 outs.He also passed out the first two Yankees of the sixth inning, when Judge walked to the plate as likely 18th out. Manoah had already struck out twice, and Manoah has owned Judge more than perhaps any other pitcher in baseball. (Judge had gone 1-for-16 against the young Blue Jays starter.)It was a strange and long battle.Judge passed up a 95 mph sinker for the first strike, then fouled out three straight fastballs.Manoah then threw pretty much the same pitch three times in a row: sliders in the low 80s, all knee-high, all out, for three bad balls.With a full count, Manoah prepared to throw another fastball in the high 90s as Judge ducked in.A football field away, Derek Rodriguez covered his mouth with his hands and yelled for his favorite player, just as Mike Lanzillotta took the last bite of his first mad dog.He was thinking of looking for a second dog just when a crack of the bat stole his attention.His life would never be the same again.THE BALL CAME SCREAMING FROM THE START AT 114.9 MPH.Lanzillotta, a very good slow-pitch softball outfielder, almost instantly felt the ball scream right at him, so he started yelling, "Got it! Got it!"It was a scene that gave until laughter.Foul hits and home runs in MLB games are round robin, where survival of the fittest is usually played out.But this time, Lanzillotta's call made everyone…just back off.Well, almost everyone.Early in the game, right after Lanzillotta told Derek he was going to give him a ball, he made an important warning."We'll get you one, unless it's a home run ball. Home run balls are special."So, because it was an Aaron Judge home run, landing within striking distance of his youngest son in an Aaron Judge jersey, Cesar felt compelled by paternal law to try to dive in and beat Lanzillotta. .But there were too many people in the middle, so Cesar's push toward the ball never gave him a legitimate chance to snatch it away.The ball flew straight to Lanzillotta.The ball whistled to land, chest-high, on a string toward him.But when the ball flew right into his hands, he found himself a bit distracted by the lack of hands and arms fighting for the ball.He had to lean a few inches to the left of him, into the space between him and Singh.It was almost too easy.Singh backed away behind Lanzillotta's hands and let his friend pull him over.Lanzillotta had thrown him out many times in his softball league (Singh plays third base) and says Lanzillota never failed to hit the fly ball.Except this time, Lanzillotta snorted.The ball slipped through his hands and, in yet another fluke, hit Singh's cheek and then disappeared.Lanzillotta says he didn't feel any pain from the impact of the rocket on his hands, but Singh did feel the ball on his cheek.An inch or two taller… Singh doesn't even want to think about whether he had punched him in the eye."I'm going to trust my own hands next time," he says.They both hurried to find out where the ball had bounced.They had seen countless times someone hit a ball, move it and it plummeted 10 rows to the south, or bounced down to the floor below and someone else caught it.However, when they looked around, they didn't see anyone rushing to corner her.In fact, everyone seemed to still be looking at them.At his feet, to be more specific.Lanzillotta's eyes finally drifted to the ground, where he saw four crazy dogs, laden with ketchup and mustard, all huddled comfortably in the corner of their carrier facing a new friend: Aaron Judge's home run ball.The dance had spilled its beers on the hotdogs, ruining the rest of the dinner, but nothing seemed to have touched the ball."Straight to the goddamn food tray," Lanzillotta says with a smile."Mad dogs are the real hero."A host of cell phone cameras captured what happened next.Lanzillotta looked at the ball that hit his hands and then bounced off his friend's cheek, at the crazy dogs that shouldn't have been in a carrier, under the seats that weren't theirs, and felt like that ball had been sent from the heaven for the little guy in the Aaron Judge jersey."The way the stars aligned that day was crazy," says Singh.Lanzillotta reached down, grabbed the ball and, for a split second, raised his hands exuberantly.But then he realized how much that specific home run ball could mean to his new little friend.Then, in an act of kindness seen by millions, Lanzillotta lowered her arms and reached for Derek.In the video, Lanzillotta can be seen rudely but amusingly extending the ball past Singh's sore face.In a span of five seconds, Singh was hit in the cheek by the ball, looked down to see her dinner ruined by spilled beer... and then her friend gave it away literally right under his nose. her.Derek took the ball and hurried over to Lanzillotta.He nudged his own father's, who went from an initial look of bewilderment to pure joy that his son ended up on the other side of an incredible act of kindness."I was hoping we could get a ball," Cesar says."But he got the ball."The crowd roared loud enough to drown out Lanzillotta and yell at Derek, "I told you we'd get one, I told you!"But Derek heard him.And when he arrived in Lanzillotta, his joy manifested itself in a torrent of tears.Lanzillotta patted Derek on the back, then patted the back of his neck like he was a mini basketball."One day, you'll be in my place and you'll be able to make a child happy," Lanzillotta said."Promise me you'll return it to me.""I promise," Derek said, and he cried some more when Lanzillotta put his hands to his cheeks.Then Derek hugged his dad.And they cried together.THE ENTIRE SECTION APPLAUDED Lanzillotta and Derek for about 30 seconds.Then everyone sat down and the game started again.Lanzillotta and Singh were upset about their hot dogs, but mostly just wanted to replace their beers before the stadium stopped serving alcohol for the next inning.Lanzillotta volunteered to go.So, within 60 seconds of Judge's ball drop, Lanzillotta got up from Judge's seat and headed for the beer stand.Along the way, some fans smiled and waved at him, and Lanzillotta thought, "That's weird. I don't think I know those people."But they knew him.What Lanzillotta didn't realize was that as he was preparing to order his replacement beers, video of the moment had gone viral twice, once on social media and once inside the stadium, which had shown everything on the scoreboard multiple times. times.He was now famous both on the Internet and at the Rogers Center.Five minutes later, Lanzillotta got back in his seat surprised to see Judge's home run start a six-run explosion (the Yankees won 9-1).He was even more stunned by all the traffic that stayed close to his seat.Everyone was there to see him and Derek.Reporters wanted to interview them both, and Blue Jays media representatives had bobbleheads and other gifts for Lanzillotta and the Rodriguez family.The Blue Jays' season-ticket holder sent his adult son up to the second deck from their seats behind home plate to determine the day they could allow Lanzillotta to use his tickets."Was it really that special?"Lanzilllotta asked, a beer in each hand.The answer was yes, that special.For the next 12 hours, people from all over the world reveled in the kindness.In a Zoom call, Derek says that he has to watch the video to remember exactly what happened.His mind went black from that moment on in a wave of emotion that his 9 year old brain couldn't quite process.When he talks about it, he says, "All I remember is..." and then starts rubbing his hands under his eyes and moaning, mocking his own tears."I know that crying is natural," says Derek."But I feel like all the crying...it was too much crying."The next day, some kids teased him for getting so emotional.But they quickly fell silent when he took the ball off of Judge's drive.He brought it to school so everyone could see it, but he was the only one who could touch it.By the end of the school day, he was exhausted with the outpouring of his elementary school classmates and even faculty."I cry every time I watch the video," a teacher told him.He left school tired but excited.After all, his dad had two game tickets tonight to see the finale of a three-game series between the Yankees and Blue Jays.However, when he got home, his parents melted his brain: the Blue Jays and Yankees had conspired to get him seats right behind the Yankees' dugout.As Derek celebrated in the living room, his dad said, "And yeah, we're going down to the dugout, too."THAT AFTERNOON, just after Derek Rodriguez's mother screamed as her son's giant hero approached, Aaron Judge spoke up."Who is your favorite player?"she asked Derek.Derek didn't say a word, just turned around and tugged at the back of his #99 Yankees jersey, the same one he'd worn the night before and then all day at school on his way back from college. victory."That still gives me goosebumps to this day, seeing little kids wearing my number," Judge told reporters later."That's something I dreamed about. I used to be in his position. It was a great time."On the bench, Judge knelt down, yet he was still a few inches taller than Derek."Don't cry, because I'm going to start crying too," Judge told Derek."Enjoy it. Did you bring the ball?"Derek handed him the ball, then Judge asked for a pen, signed it, and pulled a pair of batting gloves from his back pocket.As Cesar and Derek tell this part of the story, Derek disappears from the screen and returns with a plastic box.Inside were Judge's batting mitts."I hope he wears them one day," Judge told her.Derek hugged him and then Judge stood up to take some photos with the whole gang.But before he started posing, he turned to Lanzillotta, who seemed to be enjoying Derek's moment so much that he forgot he was a part of it, too.Judge held out a hand, then pulled out a pair of batting mitts.He had given Derek a new pair and wanted Lanzillotta to have the actual batting mitts from the night before.For the next few minutes, the phone flashes went off and the entire group exchanged small talk.Judge greeted little Cesar Jr. and chatted with both of Rodriguez's parents.Towards the end of the meeting in the dugout, Judge turned his attention from himself to Lanzillotta.At last night's post-game press conference, Judge seemed genuinely excited about the idea of ​​a Blue Jays fan being so nice to a young Yankees fan, and his exuberance showed when he met Lanzillotta.Not that he was as excited to meet Lanzillotta as Lanzillotta was to meet him…but he was a lot closer than you might have thought."It's something really special that you did," Judge told him."You shocked people all over the world with your kind gesture. It doesn't matter what uniform you wear. It's about bringing people together. Thank you."When Lanzillotta finishes that story, he hesitates."When that guy thanks me..." he says, and his voice trails off.Long pause."To Ami".But then he starts the story all over again because there's one more part.He wanted to tell Judge something that he might not like, so he started flattering him."You've been good to my fantasy team," Lanzillotta told him, and Judge smiled and nodded.Now was the time to come out and say it."Do you know that they offered us tickets to go to New York and sit in the Judge's Chambers (special seats in Yankee Stadium in honor of Judge)?"Lanzillotta said."Yeah, I know," Judge said."Aaron, just FYI, if we go to New York... I'll be screeching from the stands, a lot," Lanzillotta said.Judge had a good laugh at that."Oh man, don't worry, I can handle it."They shook hands and said goodbye, and then the Rodriguezes went to their seats and the Lanzillottas went to theirs.Just before the game, a Blue Jays representative came up to Lanzillotta's seat and handed him a jersey signed by George Springer.He had never received a signed jersey before, so Springer instantly became his new favorite Blue Jay.For the next three hours, the Rodriguez family cheered on the Yankees and the Lanzillottas cheered on the Blue Jays.From time to time during the game, the two groups made eye contact and waved.At the end of nine innings, the Blue Jays cruised to a 2-1 win, ending the Yankees' 11-game winning streak.Outside the stadium that night, everyone gathered briefly to say goodnight.The last thing Cesar said to him that night was, "Mike, thanks. You don't know what this means to us."They then went their separate ways.They both realized that it was not the end of something.Just the end of Chapter 1.IN AUGUST, the Lanzillottas traveled to the Bronx to be guests of the Yankees and sit in the Judge's Room.The Rodriguezes also hoped to go, but had some problems with the paperwork for the trip that were not resolved in time.Lanzillotta took his wife, two sons, Nigel and six other friends, courtesy of the Yankees.They arrived at the stadium early for a tour, and Lanzillotta even got to hold one of Babe Ruth's bats.But he was also a bit nervous as game time approached.He had gone back and forth about wearing his Blue Jays team and finally decided that he had to be true to his fans.He was worried about the notoriously tough crowd in the Bronx, especially his family.His seats were in the right field section of the Judge's Room, which he wasn't sure would be better or worse.Just before the game, Lanzillotta and his team were given courtesy Umpire smocks to put on, and he held his nose and slipped it over his Blue Jays jersey.It seemed like a perfect solution: he could wear his Blue Jays stuff and he'd be covered in a robe.In the end, though, he felt like he was cooking in the August heat, so he took off his robe.No one said anything for a while ... and then the Yankees put a message on the scoreboard, welcoming Lanzillotta to the courtroom.He looked around to gauge the reception, and it was nothing but warmth."It seemed like we had the idol of immunity," says Lanzillotta.As the game began, Lanzillotta asked his daughter if she would like to try and get a ball.He explained how hard it is to get one, but what a fun chase you could do together.She was inside.So they started going down to the railing along right field and yelling at the players as they finished warm-ups between innings.At some point in the middle of the game, they were loud enough that Blue Jays right fielder Whit Merrifield turned on them and threw a ball into the stands.As soon as he left Merrifield's hand, Lanzillotta groaned.His daughter's eyes lit up when he threw it, but her father recognized that the ball was going to fly over their heads into a sea of ​​Yankees fans behind him.He raised his hands as he whistled into the stands, then their heads looked over his head as he passed.A young man in his 20s wearing Yankees gear caught him."Okay, we'll try again next inning," Lanzillotta told him, and they began to retreat upstairs to return to their seats.As they walked, however, Lanzillotta noticed the young man in the Yankees jersey heading down his row toward the stairs.When they got to their row, he was standing in the aisle."Nothing compares to what you did," the Yankees fan said."But please, I hope your daughter enjoys this ball."He handed it to the girl and both Lanzillottas thanked him as they returned to their seats.It was a life-affirming moment that he will never forget, a good deed brought the effect back.In the Hollywood version of this story, Lanzillotta would hug her daughter as she would play a broken record and they would return to her seats.In real life, however, Lanzillotta could barely hear her emotional words as they made their way through a sea of ​​fans, half cheering on the struggling Yankees, half booing the Blue Jays during what was a fun afternoon.