Opening Day for the New York Yankees began differently this year, as upon entering the clubhouse of the New York team, each player had a blue leather box with gold buckles and a card in his locker; when opened it contained two bottles of excellent wine courtesy of first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
A Sor Bruno was from Il Cellese, from the Italian winery Poggibonsi was one of the bottles contained in Rizzo’s gift box, which is valued at $130; the second bottle was of even better quality, an Il Solatio from the Castello di Albola winery in Chianti, Italy, which costs about $470.
But the exclusive bottles of Italian wine were not all that was contained in the box that Rizzo gave as a gift, as the baseball player also left a small message on a card handwritten in blue ink.
The card read: “He is excited to embark on this journey with us and is honored to be our teammate,” Ron Marinaccio told the portal. The Athletic.
He was inspired by other veterans
“It’s just a small detail for such an exciting day. New opportunities, lots of hopes and dreams,” Rizzo said.
The 33-year-old veteran player was inspired by this practice from his time with the Chicago Cubs, where he says that veterans like Jon Lester did it on every Opening Day. “It’s just a gesture I learned when I was with the Cubs. I saw Jon Lester do it all the time, year after year. And Jason Heyward too.” Now in his role as a veteran in the Yankees, the player of Italian descent wanted to return the gesture and inspire the team.
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