Breaking News: Luke Weaver will not be pitching for the New York Yankees during the World Series.
First of all, he’s blind. Second, he’s a lifelong Dodgers fan who remembers going to sleep to the sound of the games on the radio.
Weaver is not to be confused with Yankees closer Luke Weaver, whose star has risen this year as he mows down batters and screams on the mound. This Luke Weaver is just a guy.
Dodgers fans like Weaver with namesakes on the Bronx Bombers are in a bit of a pickle this fall, caught between the team they support and the American League stalwart whose name they share. Fandom seems to win out.
“I hope he gets destroyed in the World Series,” Weaver told The Times. “I wish him well. I wish him a good career. But you know, I hope he has four blown saves in the World Series.”
Weaver, who lives in Palmdale but used to live half a mile from Dodger Stadium, is a retired messenger who delivered gifts and checks to celebrities before going blind 12 years ago. He still listens to Dodgers games on the radio and supports his favorite team, even if he can’t watch them play anymore. About seven years ago, he heard about a player in the league with his name and bought a bunch of Luke Weaver cards.
“I think he pitched for the Diamondbacks back then, and I got all his baseball cards in case he became famous,” Weaver said.
Clay Holmes, a lifelong Venice resident, hasn’t played much baseball since his time as a catcher for Palisades High School last century. Unlike the relief pitcher for the Yankees, this Clay Holmes is pulling for the Dodgers to bring the Commissioner’s Trophy back to Los Angeles.
Angeleno Clay Holmes sort of understands what it is like to be a professional athlete — he supplements his income playing competitive poker — though he says he doesn’t really break a sweat doing it.
If the Dodgers are down 6-5 in the ninth inning, would Holmes mind if his namesake comes in and gets knocked around a bit?
“I would have no problem with that if it meant a Dodger victory,” he said.
In fact, on the diamond, Clay Holmes wishes Clay Holmes nothing but the worst.
“Shohei, Mookie, Freddie. I hope they bring in a couple runs and have a walk-off [game-winning hit] off him,” he said.
The situation is a bit different for Aaron Judge — not the record-setting Yankees slugger, but the Dodgers fan who served in the U.S. Air Force.
“Intramural Air Force softball really prepared me for the big leagues,” he said.
Judge is from Montana, a free agent when it comes to choosing a major league team to root for. His father traveled to Los Angeles when Judge was a child, so Judge decided to be a Dodger fan.
“It was Steve Garvey when I was a kid,” he said. “I would have been playing T-ball or Little League then.”
About once a month Judge will receive a comment from a waiter or a cashier who looks at his credit card and notes that he has the same name as the big leaguer.
“It’s never annoying. I just kind of laugh it off,” he said.
Tougher are the texts and phone calls he gets from kids who think they’ve reached the 2022 American League MVP, only to realize they’re connecting with a different Aaron Judge.
“I get calls from kids in New York and Jersey asking if I am No. 99. I have to let them down easy,” he said.
Though he’s rooted for the Mariners and the Phillies in intervening years, this year he’s backing the Dodgers in the World Series. But he’s still wishing his younger namesake well.
“I am wishing him a great Series. I know he’ll play his best. He’s a great player and leader. I do hope the Dodgers prevail, but I won’t say, ‘Oh my gosh, I hope the Yankees lose.’ I think they’re both great teams.”
Anthony Volpe — not the Yankees’ young shortstop — is also rooting for the Dodgers, even though he lives in the Bay Area.
“Yes, I’m aware there is a player on the Yankees that has my name,” he said. “But I’m a Californian, so I’m rooting for the Dodgers.”
“I can root for Volpe individually but the Dodgers as a team,” he said.
Volpe noted that the name is not terribly uncommon among Italian Americans. It means “fox” in Italian, said Volpe, who has dual citizenship in America and Italy.
Volpe’s friends like to send him photos of the TV at a bar with his name under an image of the baseball player. Or they’ll send him a photo of a Jumbotron at the game if Volpe is playing.
Judge hears the teasing from family.
“My kids will call me and say, ‘Hey, I see you hit a home run today. Nice job.’”