Backstory Behind the Wine Yankees Gave Gerrit Cole at First Meeting is Utterly Insane

It might not have been necessary for the Yankees to go to obscene, non-monetary lengths to add Gerrit Cole, but this trick certainly didn't hurt.

By now, you may have heard the story about how Aaron Boone impressed Cole, a wine snob, with the bottle he brought to greet him. But the reason why the bottle impressed him is downright bonkers, and it means that Yankees clubhouse manager Lou Cucuzza might just need a plaque in Monument Park when all is said and done.

How much of the $324 million does Lou get for remembering an offhand conversation with an opponent?!

Cole has certainly been New York's white whale for over a decade at this point, but we doubt the pursuit ever got so crazed that Brian Cashman sent an all-hands memo to develop a photographic memory, then chat him up about minutiae any chance you get. "Hey, Gerrit, heard you liked Flintstones Vitamins when you were a kid. Well..."

It's attention to detail like this that must've had Cash and company smirking all day Tuesday, long before news of the signing had even leaked.

Cole's a Yankee today, tomorrow, and forever, and it's thanks in part to a keen clubbie and a trip he and his wife took to Florence. Mama mia.