GUESS WHO BELIEVED IN VERNON WELLS THE MOST?

Jack Curry has a blog on YESnetwork.com.  Many of you might have seen it, several of you never knew.  I promote it on Bleeding Yankee Blue because I have tremendous respect for Curry. I always have.  This runs deep since his days with the New York Times.

Curry had a blog about Vernon Wells the other day.  He opened with a great personal story and it went like this: "Vernon Wells Jr. is an accomplished sports artist who visits baseball clubhouses to promote his dazzling paintings so he has met Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager. When Wells, who is the father of the outfielder with the same name, encountered Cashman at Tampa's International Plaza Mall a few years ago, they had a conversation.... 'I don't know how it's going to happen, but I hope you get my son over there someday," Wells told Cashman. "That's how much respect I have for the Yankee organization.'"

(In Photo: Vernon Wells Jr.)

Fast forward to now, the present day and Vernon Wells, the son of Vernon Wells Jr. is a New York Yankee.  It's funny how things happen and when you think about all that we discussed on this blog, or in Yankeeland in general about the idea of Vernon Wells coming to the Yankees this off-season, you have to sit back and laugh. We banished Wells before he even put on the pinstripes. We slammed him. Some called him old. Some asked why we'd want the Angels "damaged goods", yet Vernon Wells has been a pleasant surprise.

(In Photo: Tony Clark)
Wells reminds me alot of Tony Clark.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe the fact that he's a gentleman. Maybe the fact that he's a gentle giant, yet, he's still damn good and while he's there in the clubhouse, he's a leader and doesn't think all about himself, but instead what he can do to help this Yankees club. 

I don't know, maybe I'm just a big sap, looking for that nugget, that thread that makes the world go 'round...like Vernon Wells dad chatting it up with Cashman years ago.  Clearly Wells dad saw potential in his son.  Clearly he saw what a team like the Yankees could do for his kid and what the combination of the 2 could do for each other...scratching each others back. 

The best part came later in the piece, (you can read the full piece HERE.)  Wells dad said this of his son:  "I told him he still had a plenty left in the tank... His approach was getting in the way. I knew it was still in there."

That is a dad who believed in his son. That is a dad who saw what his son still had. That's a dad that believed.  Much like I see my kids who sometimes perform less than their capable of, sometimes just alittle encouragement goes along way.  In other words... Vernon Wells III has made a name for himself in the Bronx... and his father knew it all along.  And it's a great story, both on Curry's blog and for the Wells family.

I hope you enjoy this nugget. Great piece Jack! Best of luck to Vernon Wells this season.  It doesn't get much better than a father believing in his son.  Trust me... I get it.

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