World Series: Yankees hope to be flying high, just like Clarke Schmidt's dad, who brought them here

LOS ANGELES — The Yankees chartered two Delta airplanes for their trip here for the World Series.

One was for players, staff, executives, etc.

The other was for players’ families. That airplane was piloted by a veteran Delta captain named Dwight Schmidt.

Otherwise known as the father of Yankees righthander Clarke Schmidt,  who is slated to start Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night at the Stadium.

“Yeah, it's a special moment,” Schmidt (the pitcher) said before Saturday night’s Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.

Dwight Schmidt, who will pilot the families into Newark International late Sunday morning (the team stayed Saturday night at its hotel in nearby Pasadena), has flown the team plane before.

For instance, in August 2023, he flew the team to Tampa for a series against the Rays in St. Petersburg.

“He's flown us before, and it was a really special moment for him,” Clarke said. “A lot of the guys, they loved it. Staff members, they had a really great time to be able to see some things they don't really get to see.”

Dwight was a pilot in the Marines before embarking on a 20-plus-year career with Delta.

“He's like really into aviation and explaining it to everyone. He's not afraid to talk about it. It's good,” Clarke said before smiling and drawing some laughter. “Everybody feels like the pilot's a little bit more personally invested into the flight, so they feel a little safer.”

Dwight, who like his son is very much a Type A personality, will invite anyone who shows an interest in flying (including reporters he has met over the years) to join him if they happen to pass through Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered, in the airline’s flight simulator.

More than a few members of the traveling party over the years have taken him up on the offer, including manager Aaron Boone.

“It was great. It was really cool,” said Boone, who in the simulator practiced landing at LaGuardia. “Mr. Schmidt said I did a good job, so I got to land a plane. He said this is very, very real . . . I was in there for probably 10, 15 minutes flying and then landing the plane and everything. It was something I was pretty fortunate to get a chance to do.”

Clarke and his brother Clate, older by two years, grew up around flying and got to know their way around a cockpit.

“Growing up, we used to have like the printout of what it was like in a cockpit in my room. So we knew all the buttons and stuff,” Schmidt said. “I didn't really know what it was. We were just messing around. Then I've flown with him a few times in smaller planes and stuff like that. And he's tried to kind of bestow his knowledge on me, but I was always baseball first. But my brother, he used to play baseball as well [at Clemson], and now he's becoming a pilot. He just got hired by an airline, and he's kind of following in the footsteps as well.”

Might that be something Clarke attempts when his big-league career is done?

He smiled again.

“No,” he said. “That’s a hard no on that.”