Diamonds

I found a baseball cap with the intertwined N-Y logo in rhinestones.

Now, that logo identifies the New York Yankees, but it was originally designed by Tiffany’s for a medal the city’s police department gave to its first officer shot in the line of duty. It’s a cool story, a cool logo, and a very cool hat. I’m not a Yankees fan, so I keep trying to tell myself it’s a generic NYC logo.

But it’s not.

The old man who stopped me on the subway platform didn’t have a Yankees logo on his baseball cap, but he was wearing a nice team jacket.

“My logo looks good with so many diamonds,” he said. “This is how I wear it.”

As directed, I look at his hands, and he’s wearing a Yankees ring. His sparklers aren’t rhinestones, and the NY logo is almost as big as the one on my cap.

“It’s a World Series ring,” he confirms.

“Did you play in it?” I ask.

“I’m the senior vice president,” he replies.

The train came, and we got separated in the crowd before I could ask his name. When I got home, I spent a lot of time on official and unofficial Yankees websites, but I never found anyone who looked like him.