Yea, the Yankees won, but the real story was the evolving star that is Joba Chamberlin:
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 7 — Joba Chamberlain could not know for sure when the moment would come. But whenever he made his first appearance as a Yankee with his father, Harlan Chamberlain, in attendance this weekend, he thought he had a good idea how his father would react.
“He might have a nervous breakdown,” Chamberlain said before the game.
Not even close. When Chamberlain entered Friday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals in the seventh inning to protect a one-run lead, tears streamed down the elder Chamberlain’s face as he watched from the Kauffman Stadium stands.
A 55-year-old polio victim who gets around on a motorized scooter, Harlan Chamberlain and more than a dozen relatives and friends from Lincoln, Neb., drove in for Harlan’s first look at his son in a Yankee uniform. They were rewarded when Joba Chamberlain got through an eventful scoreless seventh inning, and the Yankees went on to beat the Royals, 3-2.
“I’m just as proud as I can be for him to be a part of such a storied organization,” Harlan Chamberlain said before the game. “The thing that touches me the most, when he’s in the dugout, to think he can be with Jeter and Canó and all these people. This is where Babe Ruth played, and Joe DiMaggio. I grew up on Mantle and Maris. My son is a part of that.”
Peter Abraham has more:
To see Harlan Chamberlain crying as he watched his son pitch, then to see Joba hitting 101 mph on the mound … well, as a writer it doesn’t get much better.
Joba told us he had no idea where his family was in the crowd but he could hear the voice of his sister Tasha when he was on the mound. He wasn’t surprised to hear about his father crying.
“Not one bit,” he said. “He’s as proud as father as anybody can be.”
After the game was over, little Karter Chamberlain (Joba’s son) was crying his eyes out in the lobby outside the clubhouse. Tasha was organizing a postgame party in Joba’s room and Harlan was sitting on the scooter talking to reporters.
His dad is a piece of work. He said he was prepared for Billy Butler’s ball to go over the wall because he knows Joba is going to give up a run eventually. “Matter of time,” he said.
After we got done speaking to him, Joe Torre came out of the clubhouse. Seeing Joba’s dad, he walked over.
“How did my boy do for you, Joe?” the proud father asked as he shook the manager’s hand.
“Pretty damn good,” Torre said. “We’re going to keep him.”
I bet you are Joe, I bet you are.
