Tarmac Online

by Timothy Stoeber ’26

 Spoiler alert: I’m a Yankees fan.

But I wasn’t on August 11, 2025. Not because they aren’t my favorite team, but because they are. 

Because on that day, I had a job to do: Interview Yankees centerfielder Trent Grisham before the Yankees’ game that night against the Minnesota Twins, which they would go on to win 6-2. 

While patiently waiting on the dugout bench for Grisham to emerge from the clubhouse, I re-examined my Media Guest Pass and took in the sights. 

Even though it was not yet 3:00 p.m, the field was filled with workers prepping it for the 7:00 p.m. game. The stands were completely empty, as the gates would not open for a couple more hours. To my left I spotted the Yankees’ helmet cubby, the same one that fans see when the camera cuts to a shot of the dugout. It’s near the spot where Yankees manager Aaron Boone stands, chews gum, and chirps the home plate umpire for missing a call. It’s also where a Yankee will enter the dugout after his home-run trot and begin the celebratory high-fives that continue to the other end of the dugout.

A few players strolled by. But I couldn’t ask for a quick selfie or an autograph. Fans can do that. Baseball writers can’t. They aren’t allowed to. It’s in their “code”—quite literally, it was even printed on my one-day media pass. And that pass, despite being a mere 3×5 inches, somehow transformed me from a fan into a baseball writer.

Grisham and Jason Zillo, the Vice President of Communications & Media Relations, popped out of the clubhouse. Grisham and I sat on the dugout bench and we began the interview. He immediately put me at ease with his relaxed attitude, and the same effortless grace that makes it appear like he’s hardly exerting any effort while running down long fly balls.

Grisham is a fan of noted sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. It is one of Rotella’s contentions that exceptional people are optimists. Grisham considers himself to be an optimist now, but he said that this was not always the case. He had to learn how to filter out the negative noise, and he credited Rotella for helping him do so. Grisham also credited several teammates, including Aaron Judge, for demonstrating the professionalism that is needed to succeed at the highest level. 

Grisham’s advice to anyone who wants to get better at something—whether it be practicing their faith, doing their schoolwork, succeeding at their job, etc.—is to find a mentor. But even before that, you have to commit to working harder than others. 

“That is your starting ground,” Grisham remarked. “I didn’t know if I was going to have the talent to play in the big leagues, but I knew that I was going to work harder than anyone else.”

When asked about his faith in Christ, which includes Bible studies with teammates while on the road, he said that it has helped him in every aspect of his life—even though he “may not have known it at the time.”

After the interview, Zillo escorted me into Boone’s pre-game press conference. I was seated next to Mike Vaccaro ’85, the New York Post’s lead sportswriter and the recipient of the 2025 Chaminade High School Distinguished Alumnus Award. It was obvious that Vaccaro is a very well-respected member of the press corps, as so many other sportswriters made it a point to come over and say hello to him.

After the press conference, during which Boone provided an injury update along with his thoughts on the previous game, Vaccaro and I headed up to the press box. After a few more hellos, it was time for him to get to work. He needed to write two articles for the next day’s paper. One would be written before the game, so he had plenty of time. The other, however, had to be written during the game so he would be on a tight deadline. He chose Giancarlo Stanton for the pre-game article. It was a good choice as Stanton was one of four Yankees to hit a home run, along with Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Jazz Chisholm Jr.On the drive home from the stadium, the fan in me recalled, for a moment, the day’s incredible events. But I pushed those thoughts aside. I still had a job to do. I had an article to write for Tarmac.