As part of my “all-access pass” yesterday, I was able to speak with Matt Franco — though informally and briefly. He was constantly smiling and genuinely happy to be in Citi Field and connecting with the fans. Just about every fan mentioned “the hit” against Mariano Rivera that beat the Yankees in that Subway Series game on July 10, 1999 — and Matt seemed to get more of a kick out of rekindling the memory with each person mentioning it.

While Matt was discussing it with a fan, I mentioned to Kerel Cooper that