NEW YORK — The Yankees won the home opener. They made the highlights. They moved to 6-1. But on Friday afternoon in the Bronx, two fans nearly outshone the ballclub they came to cheer for.
Bronx crowd sets the stage for a memorable afternoon
Yankee Stadium buzzed from the moment the gates opened for the 2026 home opener against the Miami Marlins. A sellout crowd of 48,788 packed the Bronx, winter jackets in tow, ready to ring in the season at home after the Yankees went 5-1 on the road in San Francisco and Seattle.
Aaron Judge homered in his first at-bat at the Stadium. Ben Rice hit a solo shot and added a two-run double late. Will Warren was sharp on the mound for 5.2 innings. The Yankees rolled to an 8-2 victory, their sixth win in seven games.
Those were the big storylines. But by the end of the night, social media had other talking points entirely.
Yankees write fan an official excuse note to skip work
Before a single pitch was thrown, the Yankees organization had already scored points on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
A popular New York sports account that covers the Yankees, Rangers, Giants and Knicks posted a lighthearted request. Could the Yankees write a note to excuse a fan from work so she could watch Opening Day in the Bronx?
The Yankees answered in eight minutes flat.
The team’s official X account replied with a photo of a handwritten-style note addressed directly to the fan. It read, in part: “Dear Yadira’s Boss, please excuse Yadira from any work obligations she may have on April 3, 2026. It’s Opening Day in the Bronx. Enough said.”
The response blew up quickly. Fans flooded the Yankees’ account begging for their own notes. The team, recognizing the impossible math of writing individual letters for thousands of people, took a different approach. It began sharing photos from Opening Day instead, giving fans on the clock something worth sneaking a peek at.
The moment landed well across the internet, drawing praise for the organization’s social media team and serving as early proof that the Yankees brand off the field can match what they do on it.
Fan spits on Marlins homer ball before hurling it back
That was the wholesome story. Then came the other one.
In the fifth inning, Miami’s Owen Caissie launched a solo home run into the front-row seats beyond the right-center field wall. A fan near the landing spot came down with the ball and for a moment seemed content to hold on to his souvenir.
That did not last long.
The crowd around the fan started in on him fast, doing what Yankee Stadium bleacher creatures have done for decades: demanding the opposition’s homer get thrown back onto the field.
The fan caved to the pressure. But he did not go quietly.
Before launching the ball back toward home plate, the man climbed up on the drink rail, steadied himself, and appeared to spit directly on the ball. Then he wound up and sent it flying back onto the diamond.
The whole sequence was caught on the YES Network broadcast and circulated widely on social media within hours. Reaction was predictably split: half the internet was disgusted, the other half was entertained.
Either way, nobody was ignoring it.
Throwing back enemy homers: a baseball tradition with deep roots
Throwing back a visiting team’s home run ball is a ritual at certain ballparks across MLB. Wrigley Field in Chicago is widely cited as the place where the tradition became mainstream among Cubs fans, who began doing it regularly in the 1960s. The practice spread over the decades and took root in passionate fanbases around the league.
At Yankee Stadium, the bleacher sections have long carried a reputation for intensity. The Bleacher Creatures in Section 203 are among the most well-known fan groups in all of baseball, famous for their roll call ritual at the start of every home game. Throwing back an opponent’s homer fits naturally into that culture.
The spit added something new to the tradition. Whether that qualifies as creativity or just pure grossness depends entirely on who you ask.
Yankees ride 6-1 start as fans keep the noise going
While the fans generated online buzz, the Yankees gave the home crowd plenty of reasons to stay loud throughout the afternoon.
Judge went 2-for-3 with three RBI, two walks and a stolen base. He homered off a hanging Eury Perez sweeper in the first inning, quieting any concerns about a slow start after going 3-for-24 on the road trip opener.
Rice bounced back from three early strikeouts to smack a solo homer in the seventh and a two-run double in the eighth. Cam Schlittler had already made waves earlier in the week, tossing 6.1 innings of two-hit, shutout ball against Seattle on April 1 while recording seven strikeouts and zero walks, a line that had never been matched in MLB history.
Yankees pitchers have now allowed just eight total runs in their first seven games, an average of 1.1 per game. Starters have gone two runs or fewer in all seven outings, a mark last achieved in 1911.
“Clean baseball and great starting pitching,” Judge said after Friday’s win. “It’s a pretty easy recipe right there when you’ve got those two things working for you.”
The Yankees return Saturday night with left-hander Ryan Weathers scheduled to take the ball against Miami’s Max Meyer. The winning streak, the team culture and the fan moments all point to the same thing: the Bronx is loud and locked in early in 2026.
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