Yankees honor Miller Gardner with moment of silence on Opening Day

The Yankees and their fans paid tribute to Miller Gardner, the late son of former outfielder Brett Gardner, during Thursday’s Opening Day at Yankee Stadium.

Miller Gardner, 14, died on March 21 after falling ill on a family vacation in Costa Rica. The cause of death has not been determined.

The team held a moment of silence before the game in which public address announcer Paul Olden praised Miller’s “outgoing and feisty personality and warm and loving nature.”

The Bleacher Creatures ended their first-inning Roll Call — in which the fans in the rightfield bleachers chant the names of Yankees defensive players and the players acknowledge the fans with a stylized gesture — by chanting “Miller Gardner!”

Individual fans at the game either dusted off their old Brett Gardner No. 11 jerseys or repurposed their nameless Anthony Volpe No. 11 jerseys as a tribute.

“Brett Gardner’s been my favorite player for as long as I can remember,” said Martin Torres, 26, of Nutley, New Jersey, who wore a No. 11 jersey with Brett Gardner’s last name on the back. “Tragic. My heart goes out to him. I can’t imagine. I have kids of my own. I can’t imagine losing one.”

“He’s been on my mind,” Aaron Judge said after the game. “Even guys that aren’t on this team. I got a lot of phone calls, texts from other guys that we were young guys kind of coming up that, ‘What do we do? Do we reach out with what’s going on?’ Just because of the way that Brett impacted all our lives. He’s may not have been the big superstar with all the All-Stars and MVPs and this and that, but this guy was a leader of all of us, a second dad to some guys.”

“It’s been devastating,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game. “I mean, as much as the excitement of today, there’s no question we’ll be playing with heavy hearts today, and throughout the year, and playing with Miller in mind. Especially us coming back home to New York, getting to see [Boone’s daughter] Bella, who had a relationship with their boys, to see how it impacts your kids.”

Brett Gardner spent his entire 14-year career with the Yankees from 2008-21 and was a part of their 2009 World Series-winning team. The speedy outfielder earned legions of fans with his fiery, gritty play — traits he apparently passed on to Miller.

“Miller,” Olden said, “grew up in the Yankees’ organization and had become a two-sport athlete wearing his father’s No. 11 on his football jersey. The entire Yankees organization grieves this unimaginable loss with Brett, his wife Jessica and their son Hunter. Miller Gardner was just 14 years old.”

Brett Gardner has not appeared at Yankee Stadium since he last played. The team invited him to last year’s Old-Timers’ Day, as the event honored the 2009 champions, but he did not come because he had to attend one of his sons’ football game.

“I talk to our guys a lot about perspective,” Boone said. “While this matters so much to us, right? — it’s our livelihood, we pour so much into this, so many people care about it — it’s baseball. I really think it’s important that we reflect on that every now and then, when we get consumed with this, whether we’re flying high, whether we’re going through some tough moments. Like, man, there’s a lot more important things going on. So we will take the field with heavy hearts today with Miller on our minds and certainly the Gardner family on our minds.”

Many fans also had the Gardners on their minds as they filed into Yankee Stadium on a chilly day for what otherwise was a party-type atmosphere.

“Brett Gardner was one of my favorite players growing up,” said Michael Genito, 21, of Albany, who wore a No. 11 jersey to the game. “I recently bought an 11 jersey for Volpe not having a name on it. When I heard the news, I realized that it would also be a good way to honor the Gardner family.”

Kevin Felten, a 20-year-old from East Rutherford, New Jersey, also sported a nameless No. 11 jersey. “I saw Gardner, obviously, what happened last week,” Felten said. “Figured I’d represent, show some support. Yankee family. That’s what it’s all about. It’s sad. It’s tragic. Doing whatever I can to support.”

The Yankees announced Miller’s death on Sunday during a spring training game. The team included a statement from Brett and Jessica Gardner that read, in part: “We have so many questions and so few answers at this point, but we do know that he passed away peacefully.”

 With Erik Boland

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.