How Fil-Am Anthony Volpe kept the Yankees’ World Series hopes alive

The World Series looked like it was over after the last inning of Game 3 but the East Coast was kept alive by a bonkers 11-4 victory.

Aaron Judge continued his slump while Luis Gil was doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the New York Yankees’ bullpen to no avail. So, who rose up to the occasion first to create momentum and save Aaron Boone from getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic? It wasn’t Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Verdugo, or even Juan Soto. Instead, the Filipino blood coursed through Anthony Volpe which made for a historic night in the Bronx.

Grand Slam courtesy of Anthony Volpe. pic.twitter.com/tHOmVu9DLJ

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 30, 2024

Just how insane was the Fil-Am’s performance in Game 4 of the World Series?

For starters, his first home run since September 21, 2024, was a grand slam in Game 4 of the World Series. This shot into the stands that sent the ball up to 390 feet from a down-and-in slider also gave the Yankees their first lead of the series since Game 1. Moreover, the shortstop also became the first player in World Series history to rack up a stat line of 4+ RBI and 2+ stolen bases.

Whether it was the New Jersey-style adobo that his mom, Isabelle, would feed him growing up or just the absolute pressure of living up to the reputation of the Big Apple, there was a switch that clicked inside Volpe’s head. He could not fathom the magnitude of what just happened while running through the loaded bases. 

“I pretty much blacked out when I saw it go over the fence… pretty crazy to think about,” Volpe said, via SNY.  “It’s my dream, my friends’ dream, my sister’s dream… a World Series win was the biggest one of all.”

Volpe has always been proud of his Filipino roots that come from his mother’s side. The thing that he was grateful for the most? Well, it is none other than the sacrifices that his Filipino great-grandfather made in the Bataan Death March to get them closer to the American Dream.

“It just showed the sacrifices the whole family was willing to make,” the Yankees shortstop said in an interview with Gary Phillips of the  New York Daily News.  “Our mom would kind of hold it over us when we were little about how if we weren’t grateful… Kind of jokingly and everything like that, but when you think about it, it’s crazy the stuff that the whole family went through to sacrifice.”

Volpe eventually scored another run in the eighth inning to put a dagger into the Dodgers faithful’s hearts and force a Game 5 in the 2024 World Series. A Fil-Am’s name will forever be etched in MLB history. While the Philippines has always been a basketball country, these huge wins are always worth celebrating.