Franklin’s First Trip To Yankee Stadium Will Be In Uniform

Tony Franklin has had a long, distinguished career in baseball.

39 years of service, to be exact, according to the man himself.

That’s a bunch of different uniforms, thousands of games and two Trenton Thunder championship rings.

But that’s all on the field.

Off the field, Tony Franklin is a first ballot Hall of Famer.  If they ever have a Good Guy Hall of Fame, he should be in the inaugural class.

Covering a team on a daily basis can be significantly more difficult if a manager or coaching staff doesn’t particularly enjoy dealing with the media.

I can say in all honesty that my two years of interacting with Tony have been an absolute pleasure, and our conversations before games tend to be the best part of my day.  The stories he has and the kindness he’s shown to both myself and fellow reporters are both priceless.

Something that had come up in a conversation during the season was that he’d never been to Yankee Stadium, which was hard to believe considering the amount of experience he has in the game and the proximity of Waterfront Park to New York.

Last night, Franklin revealed that he will in fact be heading to Yankee Stadium in a few days.

And he’ll be in uniform and on the field.

For anyone lucky enough to get to know him, you know he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“It’s fantastic,” said Franklin, with a smile from ear to ear.

“39 years in the game, and I’ve never seen Yankee Stadium.  And I’m so happy to be going.  I’m going to go out to Monument Park and I’m just going to sit there and take it all in and watch the guys play.  I really want to thank the Yankees for inviting me out there.  This is special for me.”

After that, Franklin will return home to Los Angeles to spend time with his wife, who he has not seen since February.

“I miss her tremendously,” he said.

And I think it’s safe to say the media will miss Franklin tremendously as well until the Thunder — and presumably Franklin — return to Trenton next April.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com