ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – In his first public appearance since the tragedy, former New York Yankees star Brett Gardner broke down in tears as he spoke for the first time about the pain of losing his youngest son, Miller, 14, who died unexpectedly during a family vacation earlier this year.
“I thought I was strong enough to handle any loss … until I had to sign his death certificate.”
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His voice cracked. His once-sturdy face contorted into wordless pain. And then Gardner said:
“I was a dad. Before I was a Yankee.”
Last March, the Gardners took a vacation to Costa Rica – a trip that seemed normal, before Miller felt sick one evening. The next morning, he didn’t wake up.
“He just had a headache,” Gardner said. “We thought it was the sun, the sports… I picked him up from the bed, hoping it was just exhaustion. But… he was gone.”
After an investigation and medical examination, Miller was determined to have died of a rare internal complication. “There was no warning. Nothing,” Gardner said, his eyes blank. “I held him like I did when he was a baby. And this… was the last time.”
Brett Gardner, who retired in 2021, has been a regular at Yankees events. But after his son’s death, he withdrew from public life.
“I’ve been standing in the dugout for years, and I’ve never seen it so quiet. Every time I hear the bat hit the ball, I think of Miller laughing in the backyard…”
The Yankees held a moment of silence for Miller at the season opener. The entire team wore black armbands. Yankee Stadium fell silent—a rare occurrence in a place that is usually filled with noise.
Gardner said that just days before the trip, Miller wrote him a letter for Father’s Day.
“I’m going to grow up so fast that I can watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox with you next season!”
Miller, March 12, 2025
The letter was never delivered. It was found in Miller’s backpack, along with the ticket to the game they had promised to go to together in June.
Gardner folded the letter, put it in his wallet, and has carried it with him every day since. “I have nothing left to keep, except those innocent words.”
Gardner and his wife, Jessica, have now set up a foundation called Miller’s Promise, which supports families who have lost children to rare diseases. He doesn’t want his story to be “newsworthy,” but rather a wake-up call and a way to share.
“When Miller died, I thought I would never smile again. But then I realized: the pain doesn’t go away, but it can be turned into something useful…”
On July 14 – Miller’s 15th birthday – Gardner will return to Yankee Stadium, throwing out a celebratory pitch in front of tens of thousands of fans. But this time, not as a Yankee, but as a father who has learned to move on.
“I’ll talk about it, everywhere I go… Because it’s the last thing I can do for him.”
As he left the set, Gardner lingered in the wings for a long time. He looked down at his palm – where he had placed a small cloth bracelet that Miller had once knitted for his father during a camp. And then he whispered:
“If there is a next life, don’t be a player… be the sun. So I can see you every day.”