World's Luckiest Batboy

There are all kinds of superstitions in sports. Some guys wear the same pair of socks while they're playing, and some guys won't shave until they've won a game. There's the pitcher who jumps over the foul line "because it's bad luck to step on it." But as good luck charms go, the New York Yankees have one that no one else can claim: 14-year-old Jimmy D'Angelo.

Yankees boss George Steinbrenner picked him as the honorary bat boy for last Saturday's game against the Cleveland Indians. Wouldn't you know it - the Yankees won. So, Jimmy was asked back for Sunday's game. They won again. And who was in the dugout for Tuesday night's win? - Jimmy D'Angelo.

The Yankees reached the World Series for a record 35th time on Tuesday night by beating the Cleveland Indians 9-5 to win the AL championship series in six games.

Jimmy says being in the midst of the Yankees right after they won the American League pennant was "pretty crazy."

"It was the first time I ever had been for a celebration like that," he says. "All the players were pouring champagne on me and the other batboys. I couldn't believe it. A week ago, I couldn't think about it. I would have been in the stands."

Jimmy says it all started in Cleveland, where he and his Dad were staying. So were the Yankees. He noticed George Steinbrenner in the lobby.

"I went over and introduced myself and told him how I was the boy that got hit two years ago at Yankee Stadium," Jimmy recalls.

In fact, Jimmy was hit with a foul ball two years ago, so badly that his injuries required 60 stitches. He says Steinbrenner responded. "A few minutes later he goes, 'maybe for tonight's game we can get something together for you to be the honorary batboy.' I was like: 'sure, okay, fine with me.'"

Now, Jimmy knows and likes: "mostly everybody on the team." He was able to get a baseball signed by most of them, too: "Before the game I had some time to go around and get some signatures on it. And so I had just about the whole team sign it. I wasn't able to get Joe Torre yet."

D'Angelo will soon get his chance for Torre's autograph: Steinbrenner has invited the good-luck batboy to the World Series.

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