NEW YORK — No matter what TJ Rumfield does at Yankee Stadium this week, it will never replace his favorite New York memory.

It was June 2023 and the former Yankees prospect now turned Rockies first baseman was based in nearby Somerset, N.J., and on the way to Portland, Maine, for the Patriots’ next series. However, a better option for the travel day soon presented itself for TJ and his fiancee, Hayden.

“We were having this big discussion about having a wedding and the stresses and finances of that. We were just looking at each other and decided that didn’t matter and that we loved each other,” Rumfield said. “We decided, ‘Let’s go get married.’”

After a quick push to get the wedding dress to New York, TJ and Hayden exchanged their vows in Central Park, choosing the buzz of Gotham over the hush of a church.

“We took some pictures. I had a suit and she had her wedding dress, and it was beautiful,” Rumfield said with a smile.

It was a day that changed Rumfield’s personal life forever, and Hayden would be a rock for him when his professional life changed as well.

The trade from New York to Colorado on Jan. 28 changed the baseball trajectory for Rumfield, allowing him a clear path to compete for a Major League first base job. That’s something that was not happening with the Yankees with Ben Rice dubbed as the heir apparent at the position.

What the trade didn’t do, however, was change who Rumfield was at the plate and in the field.

To know more about that, you must travel back in time to 2019 and sit in the dugout with the San Luis Obispo Blues of the California Collegiate League. In that dugout, you would find, among others, Rumfield and Dylan Beavers, who is now an outfielder with the Baltimore Orioles.

“I remember him saying he wasn’t playing a ton at Texas Tech,” Beavers recalled of Rumfield during Baltimore’s recent trip to Coors Field. “I also remember playing with him and thinking, ‘If this guy’s not playing, I’m concerned.’ He could play. I thought he could really hit and was good at defense. I remember him being a very good player and a good teammate.”

The recollection from Beavers about playing time is spot on, Rumfield admitted. He was having a hard time finding his place at Texas Tech and came to the CCL trying to figure out his next steps as a baseball player.

“I was fighting for my life,” Rumfield said. “I was getting calls that summer saying my scholarship was taken away from Texas Tech. I’m sitting there and wondering what I’m even going to do. I don’t have a scholarship anymore.

“I chose to go back to Texas Tech and prove to that coach I could play. I ended up doing that.”

Rumfield said those days with San Luis Obispo “fueled my fire” for the challenges that lay ahead. It’s a direct contrast to the calm demeanor shown by Rumfield on the diamond, but he said proving people wrong is a part of his DNA.

“You just want to prove that you can play, and sitting there my whole freshman year, not getting to play at all and really not even being told why,” Rumfield said. “I was sitting there and waiting each week while doing the stuff in practice and trying to perfect every rep in practice, just in case the coach saw me doing it right and was like, ‘Oh, TJ could play this week, maybe.’ That’s what started it all for me.”

Rumfield transferred to Virginia Tech during COVID and played every day once he arrived with the Hokies. It was about finding the place where he could prove he could play.

The irony of what he went through with Texas Tech and Virginia Tech isn’t lost on Rumfield when he looks at his professional career. There are many parallels to prepping every day to star for the Yankees but finally finding his opportunity with the Rockies.

“Isn’t that funny how it works out like that?” Rumfield said as he smiled. “You just never know. It’s always a competition. Even now, I want to prove that I’m the best option out there for them (the Rockies) too. Every single day, I’m trying to do something. For me, it’s just nonstop. It’s about getting 1% better every day.”

Now in the visitor’s dugout for his first visit to Yankee Stadium, this isn’t the path that Rumfield thought he would take to get to the Big Apple. But here he is, soaking in every moment of playing in the Bronx and reminding himself where he has been and where he believes he is going.

“As a player, you’re just waiting for your time in the minor leagues and you perform to the best of your abilities,” Rumfield said. “It might not be the right moment, the right time or whatever it is. It’s just nice to have an opportunity and be able to prove that, hey, I could do this at this level too.”