SAN DIEGO — It was still early on the evening of Nov. 3, 2001, when the camera found Gerrit Cole. He stood in the front row at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, his head covered by a Yankees cap, his body leaning forward, his hands clutching a pinstriped white sign with five words: YANKEE FAN TODAY TOMORROW FOREVER.



Cole, then 11, hailed from Orange County, not far from Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Yet his parents had familia roots in upstate New York, and his father Mark had shared his affection for the Yankees. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Cole came of age during the dynastic period in the late 1990s, or that he revered closer Mariano Rivera. With the team back in the World Series and facing the Diamondbacks in 2001, the Coles traveled to Phoenix for Games 6 and 7.



The Yankees lost both games, coming apart in heartbreaking fashion in Game 7, but the image of a devoted young fan with an artistic sign was enough to intrigue William Perlman, a photographer at...