The final Thursday in November doesn’t have a patent on people giving thanks. It’s got a proper title — Thanksgiving Day — celebrated with a splendid parade in Manhattan and family gatherings, and it serves as the red-carpet gateway to the holiday season.
For Yankees third baseman Chase Headley and his wife, Casey, Thursday will simply be a continuation of giving thanks that their 5-year-old son Colt is healthy.
It’s a ritual the parents have experienced often since July, when Colt developed a post-surgery infection and was rushed to a New York-area hospital for an emergency operation.
Colt was born with an underdeveloped soft palate. According to Headley, it was similar to a cleft palate, though not nearly as apparent. Last Christmas, Colt underwent surgery to lengthen the palate, which is responsible for closing off passages in the upper respiratory system. The surgery was a success, but didn’t fully fix the problem. A second surgery followed during the All-Star break in July, which led to the infection and the emergency surgery.
Today, according to his father, Colt is doing really well. He is in school three days a week, and runs around the 150 acres of land the family purchased last year in Tennessee.
“Colt came out of it fine, but when somebody in your family is going through something relatively serious, especially when they are a young child, it tears your heart out,’’ Headley told The Post via phone from the Nashville-area home. “We’re definitely thankful that he’s much better and able to come through that. You appreciate health when something goes wrong. Obviously there are more serious things that other parents have to deal with, but it was a scary time for us.’’
The hope is another surgery will correct the palate problem.
“He’s doing fine. We’re probably going to have to do one more surgery. The surgery he had done before the infection was undone by that emergency surgery,’’ Headley said. “It’s one more surgery like the one he had done before. It’s not a super-complicated process. It’s just a filler injection in the back of his throat. Hopefully, this time we don’t have to deal with an infection. Health-wise and function-wise, he is fine.’’
Headley missed the Yankees’Â game on July 20 and returned to pinch-hit the next day.
“I don’t remember a whole lot of days in my life that were worse, but I’m thankful that he’s got the care that’s needed and he’s doing a lot better. He’s in great condition,” Headley said after returning to the team.
Headley’s perspective on life hasn’t been skewed by money or the adulation that comes from being a big league player. That and coming home to his family helped him get through a horrific first five weeks of last season, when he hit .178 with just four RBIs, no extra-base hits and a .442 OPS.
“Even before he was going through that, just coming home and seeing them [a younger son, Cale, is 2] every day, they helped me get through it,’’ said Headley, 32, who hit .271 with 14 homers and 49 RBIs in the final 115 games. “It wasn’t anything they said or did, but just having a family and being thankful they love you.
“They don’t know the difference if I get two hits or don’t get any hits. Obviously when something a little bigger comes up it really does put things in perspective. It lets you know what’s important even though when you’re playing and not playing well it’s disappointing. It gives you a lot to be thankful for and a perspective how to approach the daily work.’’
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Like a lot of players who aren’t involved in the World Series, Headley didn’t build his daily schedule around the scintillating seven-game Cubs-Indians series. However, he was intrigued by what former Yankees teammates Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman did, as well as offseason workout partner Ben Zobrist, who delivered the go-ahead RBI for the Cubs in extra innings of Game 7.
“If I wasn’t doing anything, I watched it. It was fun to watch Andrew, Chappy and Ben Zobrist,’’ said Headley, whose postseason career consists of the Yankees’ 3-0 loss to the Astros in the 2015 AL wild-card game. “It was fun to keep up with those guys.’’
General manager Brian Cashman recently said other clubs have called the Yankees to see what their plans are for the switch-hitting third baseman who erased a shaky 2015 season in the field with solid defense last year. As usual, Cashman said he listens to everything teams have to say, but didn’t sound like somebody ready to move Headley, who has two years and $26 million remaining on the four-year, $52 million contract he signed after the 2014 season.
That type of money is certainly enough to be thankful for on many days other than the final Thursday of the next-to-last month of the calendar. So, too, is being a big league player.
However, ever since that terrifying day in July, the Headleys have had something far more important to give thanks for.