For more than 20 seasons, New York Yankees clubhouse assistant Joe Lee has had the best seat in the house for some of baseball’s greatest moments.
This Friday night (March 20), Lee will take the best seat at the racetrack when he drives the trotter Free Rollin in Race 12 at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ in the GSY Amateur Series.
“Baseball is in my blood for sure,” said Lee, a native of the Bronx that started working for the Yankees as a 16-year-old batboy. “But it is such a rush to drive a horse. If there was a race in Alaska and an owner gave me the opportunity to drive their horse, I’d be there in a heartbeat.”
Lee, 35, grew up around horses. His parents owned racehorses and regularly took their son to the races at the Meadowlands, Yonkers, Freehold, and Roosevelt.
“When I was a teenager and first started working for the Yankees, I saw (Hall of Fame driver) John Campbell outside George Steinbrenner’s private box when he was driving for him, it was like meeting Mickey Mantle,” Lee explained. “John Campbell was my idol.”
Lee also rode horses as a child, but always had the itch to sit behind one of the powerful trotters he watched race in the evenings.
2014 HAMBLETONIAN AMATEUR DRIVERS RACE
(Upfrontstrikesgold, driven by Joe Lee, victorious in 1:55.4)
“Sandy Goldfarb put me in touch with trainer Buzzy Sholty who invited me down to his stable and gave me my first chance to jog a horse,” explained Lee. “I started going to help him every Saturday and eventually worked my way to getting my harness driver’s license.”
Amateur harness racing allows men and women to compete in actual races with the same horses that are driven by professional drivers. The amateurs come from all walks of life and have day jobs that range from attorneys, insurance agents, and financial planners.
“No matter how much I practice, I could never be the starting shortstop for the Yankees,” said Lee. “But now that I have my harness license, I can compete on the same ‘field of play’ as the pros. I won’t ever drive 2,000 horses in a year like Tim Tetrick, but on one day and in one race, I have the chance to beat the best. There’s no other sport like harness racing where a guy like me can compete with the pros.”
Besides Lee, the Yankees and harness racing have other connections. General Manager Brian Cashman’s late father, John, is in harness racing’s Hall of Fame. George Steinbrenner was a very active and successful Standardbred horse owner and Whitey Ford was a frequent visitor to Pompano Park in Florida.
Friday’s 13-race card at the Meadowlands begins at 7:15 p.m. The program includes two divisions of the GSY Amateur Series and the second leg of the Shiaway St. Pat for trotters.
For more information about amateur harness racing, click here.
(Meadowlands)