The bus carrying the Fairfield National Little League team wasn’t 20 minutes out of Williamsport after finishing third in the Little League World Series when manager Brian Palazzolo’s phone lit up with a call.
“I was putting on the championship game (video) and it pops up on my phone, ‘The New York Yankees are calling,’” Palazzolo said Sunday. “I was like, ‘Uhh, I’ve got to take this.’ They congratulated me and said, ‘Would you guys like to come to a game? What day works for you?’ I’m like, ‘I’m a huge Yankees fan. Thank you so much. But I’m still in Pennsylvania, I gotta call you back.’”
The team, which went on an unforgettable Little League World Series run that ended with a third-place finish after beating Aruba in the consolation game, will be guests of the Yankees Tuesday night against the Detroit Tigers and the team will be honored on the field before the game.
Palazzolo said the Mets and the Yard Goats have also been in touch with him and they are working out times when the team can go to games.
It’s becoming a little harder to get everybody back together now that real life has resumed for the 12 boys and their coaches. Palazzolo, who owns a swimming pool company, is back to work. His son, also named Brian, and his teammates went back to school the Tuesday after they returned from Williamsport, the day after the town held a celebration Aug. 25. Brian and a group of his teammates will start playing fall ball Monday. Four of the Fairfield players will be playing football.
“You get home Sunday night (after the World Series) and you realize ‘Guess what didn’t stop? The world,’” Palazzolo said, laughing. “You’ve got to get back to reality real quick.
“We’ve really had no time to sit down and enjoy it, but it’s OK. Monday night was the parade in Fairfield, which was beyond my wildest dreams. So many people and the town and neighboring towns came out to cheer. People were following us pitch to pitch. The amount of times I heard people say, ‘We were on the edge of our seat, every single pitch,’ I was like, ‘Jeez, that’s what I do for the Yankees in the playoffs.’ That’s been pretty cool.”
The younger Brian, the team’s third baseman, told ESPN that he wanted to be an actuary and when he was at bat during the world series, that fact would pop up. It was also discussed on the broadcast during the U.S. championship game against Aruba, when Brian pitched.
Since then, his father said, Brian has had offers of actuarial internships when he gets older and he will be featured in an upcoming actuary magazine article.
Palazzolo hasn’t had a chance to watch any of the games yet; he’s been too busy. He had to take Brian and his twin sister school shopping the Monday they returned from Williamsport because his wife, who works at a local school as a social worker, had to go back to work. Pools needed servicing, pools needed to be closed. His customers, he said, have all been understanding that he was not around for three-plus weeks in August.
“It was kind of hard to fathom because everybody has their own sports team they root for, but the way we were playing all summer, we really captivated everyone,” he said. “Everybody was rooting for us. It was different.”
Palazzolo is still not used to his celebrity status. Friday night, he went out to dinner at a local hibachi restaurant with his son and his parents.
“I had no Little League clothes on, and three different people from different tables came over,” he said. “That’s the weird thing, people recognize you and they’re like, ‘I’ve got to tell you, it was so fun watching you guys.’”
